I am starting to think I should get an external CD-ROM drive to install Linux on the Toshiba laptop so I can avoid the hassle of putting Linux on the USB stick and pray that it works. My next question is which CD-ROM drive I should buy. Obviously, it has to work with Linux. The info posted on TuxMobil is not giving me a clear winner.
Since you have the LAN port replicator, simply so a PXE netboot install:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/WindowsServerNetboot