i need help

i need to upgrade os x on an old ibook but it dosnt have a dvd drive, does any know of a way around this, i know it has to start up from the setup files located on disc so im stumped as to a way around this. i need to put some accounting software on it that wont work with 10.2 it has to be 3.9 or higher i have 4

is there a way to do it over a network or something, i also dont have an external dvd drive so that option is out.

is it possible maybe of a external hard disk on fire wire???

If the iBook has Firewire, you could start up another Mac with a DVD drive in "Target Disk Mode" whereby it will become a glorified external HD + DVD drive. You then just need a Firewire cable to link them.

You could also start up the iBook in Target Disk mode and hook it to another (PowerPC) Mac and then install Mac OS X onto it as if you were installing on to an external HD.

That is a very cool trick. I knew starting a Mac in Target Disk Mode let you use it as an external hard drive, but had no idea that you could also use it as an external optical drive!

The combo drive in my 12" PowerBook has recently packed it in. I haven't needed to replace it so far as I've got an iMac and used my home network and the superdrive in my iMac to get stuff to/from my PowerBook. But this wouldn't work for an OS install (for installing Leopard).

Your tip paid off tremendously. I've now got Leopard running on my PowerBook without the additional expense of buying an external optical drive or the ridiculously expensive option of replacing the internal drive (NextByte quoted me $600, and I think that money would be better spend towards a new Apple laptop down the track a bit).