[ale] USB Boot/Install Question

[johnmills at speakeasy.net (John Mills)]

ALErs -

I would like to install a recent Linux on an elderly server (Tyan S2720 
motherboard) without internal DVD or provision for boot from DVD on USB. 
My SuSE and Fedora installations are on DVDs. The options that occur to me 
are:

  1. CD installation, but I need to make the 'spin' CDs,
  2. Start a CD installation and specify the USB/DVD as my installation 
medium,
  3. Some boot manager I could load from CD of floppy to then boot from the 
USB/DVD, or
  4. Put my distribution DVD on a handy nearby box and export it for a net 
installation.

Approaches (2) and (3) look most attractive to me, but I don't know how to 
do either. Method (3) might be the best for flexibility.

Can someone advise me?

TIA.

  - Mills