Linux on Toshiba Laptop

My brother's Toshiba Portege 3480CT had Windows XP installed when he got it. I was looking into putting Linux on it as well. However, for some reason, it will not boot from a CD. It does not have an internal CD drive. I have tried two different external drives, one USB and the other PCMCIA. I have edited the boot order to boot from CD first. I have also tried hitting F2 and then selecting the CD drive manually. No matter what, it just boots XP as usual. What do I need to do to boot from a CD. I can't even get a live CD running. I have used the CD in other computers, so I know it's not a problem with the CD. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Maybe you'll have better success booting from a USB stick.

Check this out:
http://www.astro.umd.edu/~teuben/lin...p/p3480ct.html

Plus, you should make sure you have the latest BIOS version (1.40), which you can download here:
http://209.167.114.38/support/Downlo...os/b3480ct.exe

You can access the whole download section of the Protege 3480 CT by selecting in the list here:
http://209.167.114.38/support/Download/ln_byModel.asp

I've got a similar laptop (the 3440ct) which will also not boot from a USB CdRom. I took the Hard disk out and mounted it in a desktop PC, copied the install files onto the harddisk using that, then put the hdd back in the laptop and installed.

Remove all the screws on the underside of the laptop from the front to around 1/3 of the way back (below the mouse buttons) and remove the panel the mouse buttons are sitting on, then just slide the disk out.

There's a easier way around this...

You can use grub4dos to load the
grub boot loader while only having windows installed...

check out this page... it has all you need to know to get things going....

regards,

Ricardo