HD Install :: boot hanging at USB probe

I'm looking into the possibity of installing DSL onto an ages old laptop, and since the machine doesn't boot from a CD, I decided to try bootfloppy.img. The boot goes ok up to the point where it says

Probing USB... usbcore.o

after which nothing happens. Doing "dsl nousb" at the boot prompt doesn't seem to make any difference. Any advice?

The machine is a Pentium 133 MHz laptop, and doesn't have USB.

original here.