Using a distro like Mandrake-Linux usually requires a little more 'horsepower' to install, since it defaults to a graphical setup routine, you can try installing Mandrake-Linux using the text installer option.
When installing Mandrake-Linux, you may want to select the "expert" install options, and then try using the text installer. Of course, it has been a long time since I've used Mandrake-Linux, not since the 6.0 release. So maybe they no longer give that option. Don't see why they would have removed it though.
If you look on the Mandrake-Linux website, and look in the ftp sites, you should be able to find those boot floppy images if your not able to locate them on the CD.
As for installing Mandrake-Linux on a system with a 147Mhz CPU (?)( - overclocked? or an overdrive Intel chip?) It might not be the best choice. The system requirements may be slightly above what you have to work with, and even if the system does install and work, I do not think you will be too happy with the results, unless you don't go with the default desktop, which was KDE on Mandrake-Linux. You might be ok using Fluxbox, and maybe even XFCE instead of KDE.
If you chose not to use a desktop, and instead go for the console-only route, then you won't have many problems using the system. But for a new user, this might not make using GNU/Linux all that appealing, unless you were comfortable in DOS (no GUI).
For a system such as this, you also may not have the RAM or disk space for a decent installation with a powerful desktop environment.
You may want to consider using
TinyX, and opting for the 'Small Linux."
This does not mean you can not get Mandrake-Linux to work on your laptop, but it may not be the best option for you.
I've installed Mandrake-Linux 6.0, Red Hat 6.0, Caldera 2.1 on a desktop machine years ago which only had a 200MHz (non-mmx) CPU, and it worked fine back then, though the box for that time had a lot of RAM (96MBs). But I am sure the requirements were far less back then. Maybe you might want to use an older release of Mandrake-Linux.
There are also floppy distro's of GNU/Linux you can try.
As for getting the COMPAQ system floppy, you just need to look on the COMPAQ website, most likely check under 'Support.'
Fill in your model and you should be able to locate the necessary floppys imgs. can try this link for the COMPAQ
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/s...&lc=en&dlc=en&
some more Floppy based distros:
http://www.online-center.com/minux/
http://www.pocket-lnx.org/