Actually, the length of the install is not as big a problem for me as actually finding 3.5" disks !!
I haven't seen any for sale, for many years. One thing that might work, is to create the disks one at a time, use it, then create the next one, and use it. It would seem like "forever", but it should work. You may even get lucky, and not need all of them.
@Doug Bissett: You mention I need an "older windows machine"... how old do I need that machine to be ? Will the BAT file run from a Windows 7 Command Prompt ?
I suspect that it needs to be a DOS based version. In fact, you may need an IBM DOS, and not a MS DOS, to get the XDF driver.
However, I couldn't mount the ISO corresponding to the actual CD, under OS X. Should that ISO be mountable or is it something weird about OS X ?
It is more likely that the ISO is bad, but it may be okay if it mounts in win 7. It may be some stupid permissions thing in OS X.
This gets complicated...
That is exactly why it isn't done. I did, at one time (25 years ago), try to set up an install over a LAN. I seem to recall getting it to work, but it never did work well. With modern networking, you haven't got a chance. You would need to have OS/2 installed, or some other antique network support, at the other end of the wire, to make it work. Even trying to make the diskettes will probably prove futile, because finding a good diskette is difficult, today. It would probably be easier to find a CD drive for the machine, but most of them would probably be broken, if you do find some.
One thought, is to install OS/2 in a virtual machine (VirtualBox works well under win 7, and probably with OS X too), then set up the network link for the laptop in that. You should be able to attach the floppy, and CD, images to the virtual machine, and install OS/2 that way. Whether you can convince the network to play nice, to connect the laptop, is a question that I cannot answer. In fact, it might be a better idea to use VirtualBox to run OS/2, rather than than trying to get an old laptop, with no CD drive, to work.