Ack, a nim-wit with computers
Someone selling a 40 floppy set of win95 has taken the time to duplicate the CD onto floppies. This person is incredibly stupid.
I suggest getting a serial adapter and connecting that to another computer and using it's CD drive as a shared networking device.
Also, a small cable can still be an IDE... the difference can be the ATA form it is using, or the fact that it is a Laptop. Laptops use tiny cables instead of the normal cables that desktops use because of the condensed size.
I would just go and get a new(er) laptop that atleast has a USB port on it. That way you can plug in a CD drive if you are confused with other cables.