HD Install :: Frugal install on flash with a 42MB ram?

I have a toshiba 420cdt (100Mhz pentium, 42 MB) that I would like to do a frugal install on a ide flash drive. I use the laptop almost exclusively as a thin terminal using rdesktop. When booting from a cdrom I end up using something like 1.5 MB of swap used, and as I understand it swap on flash is a big no no. Any suggestions? I am planning on using:
http://www.logicsupply.com/product_info.php/cPath/44/products_id/515
which says it is good for 1M+ cycles.

Also on a frugal install is there is simple way to have it boot to 800x600x16bit. The fb800x600 only affects the console on my machine, not x11.

Try booting with this cheatcode:

lowram

it should use less memory.

If you need to change the resolution for X11, boot this way:

lowram xsetup

and select your resolution

original here.