I presume you have a CDROM; you didn´t indicate. I had a similar
problem with a Dell Latitude 4100CX laptop. I wanted to install RH
6.0 but had no CDROM. I removed the hard drive, inserted it into a
USB hard drive enclosure and installed Linux to the hard drive
without configuration. Re-installed it in the Latitude and
configured it. I run a GUI desktop, but its very slow. RAM is maxed
at 32 MB and the internal video card is only 1 MB.

As suggested to another forum member you might try Puppy Linux or
DSL. Puppy is leaner that DSL, but both will work. Since I don´t
have a CDROM/floppy unit for this Latitude I will have to install
Puppy via the same method I used to install RH. I know that Dell had
a combo CDROM/Floppy unit for my 4100CX, but finding a working unit
for purchase has been diffucult. Puppy will run with 16 MB RAM. Good
luck if you decide to use this system.