MBP will not start, only has 99Mb free

Hello, I am trying to fix a friends Macbook Pro, which will not start. The logo appears with the spinning cog, but nothing else - it can stay on this screen for hours. I tried to reinstall Tiger, and then discovered that it only has 99Mb free, and Tiger needs more space.
I can access Terminal, but I am not familiar with UNIX to be able to do anything there. Is there a way of accessing the hard disk via my own iMac or wife's MBP through Firewire so we can delete something. I guess Target mode will not work, as there is not enough space to start the OS. Any help appreciated.
Our friends MBP is one of the original, 1.8Ghz Core Duo with 512Mb RAM.

The computer will probably still boot up in TD mode, Simon, even though it can't boot the Mac.
When used as the boot disk the computer needs plenty of free space to set up virtual memory areas and the like. That is one of the reasons why you should always make sure that there are always quite a few Gigabytes free for safe operation (Never let it get below 10% free space and try to maintain around 20% or more if, for example, you ever burn video, or other very large files).
TD mode essentially turns the computer into just another external HD, and the process occurs before it really needs to make use of the internal drive in the boot cycle.
So give it a go (just hold down "t" while starting the MBP). Your iMac should then see it as a second, external, HD.
Don't try and install any OS until you have cleared LOTS of space - 50 Gig or more in a situation like this where many of the files themselves will have become badly fragmented (because the normal OSX processes for defragging can't operate when a drive gets this full) . In fact I'd STRONGLY suggest that you back up or clone the entire drive to an external, or to another computer, wipe the internal, and only then start putting things back on. Otherwise you will have horrendous levels of free space fragmentation.
Cheers
Rod

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