Utilities for Thinkpad T42 with SXGA

[ZCorker]

I just bought used T42 that is still under warranty and didn't get some of the software that came with it. I noticed that IBM's site allows you to automatically update your computer. Is there a way to do a Network Install from the IBM Site? In essence this would enable me to make my own CD.

I was thinking of buying an external drive, copying the drive that is on the computer now, and running WinXP from the external drive. I would like to install Linux, PostgreSQL, Ruby, and Perl as well as some other development tools on the laptop.