Frugal install

[arkanabar]

I need to reinstall, and I have a couple issues.
I can't boot from USB.  I can try to select USB-FDD, USB-ZIP or USB-CDROM in the boot selection menu, and it boots from internal HD instead.  My MOBO simply doesn't allow it.
I can't boot from my optical drive.  Disks that work fine in my laptop undergo kernel panics.
I can't put the HDD into another computer and try to install there.  I have no other desktop to put it in.
Is there some way to save an .ISO to disk, point GRUB at it, and get it to boot from that?  I have the free space to partition.

[Just17]

Yes a frugal install is possible.

What are you booting the PC with presently?


There is also the option to use a bootable PLOP floppy disk and boot a USB drive from that.

Also it may be possible to boot a USB flash drive if it is set up with a hybrid ISO .....  using one of the available boot options