Installing Windows to PC from Mac?

Honestly, it sounds like your beating a dead horse here.

Buy a CD drive for the poor thing.. Once you do that it will be able to install any compatible flavour of Windblows or 'nix.

No, you won't be able to do that. You will need to buy a new version of Windows XP or Vista for the Dell. Don't waste your time with Windows 98 since you will not find any support for it. Microsoft stopped supporting it a few years ago and there is no way to update it once you install it.

You will need to contact Dell to get an original backup CD/DVD. Assuming your Dell has an XP activation code printed on it somewhere, it will only work for the version of XP that shipped on your laptop. You won't be able to borrow someone elses disc and get the XP key to work on it unless it is from a Dell laptop too. If you know the model number of your laptop then you might be able to find a torrent of the backup disc somewhere, and from there you should be able to use the XP Key printed on your laptop to activate it.