Where to get a known good cd drive for it? Not that keen to risk
ebay.
Is there any way to connect a standard IDE one to it? I know it wouldn't
fit in the case, but seeing as you only need it to for installation that
probably wouldn't matter.
As a (somewhat roundabout) alternative, I think it's possible to put an
Ubuntu minimal install on a hard disk, have the machine boot that and
then install a full system over the top of it (as the minimal install
runs entirely in memory). I've not done this recently, but I can look
into it a bit more if you like.
The standard CD method is probably simpler if it's possible.