How do I make a portable image of Linux?

["Vince Platt" <Vince.Platt@Born.com>]

Just wondering the best way to make an image of a Linux desktop?  The
objective is to get it from a workstation which is already set up the way
I need it to another workstation.  A network connection between the two is
not available, but I do have Zip drives on both ends.  I'm assuming I
would have to boot from floppy on the destination workstation, then load
the image into a prepared partition (using disk druid or the likes).

I'm aware I could do a tar or gzip, but I'm would like to know if you have
done this and what the best way is that you found (esp. if you found some
nice tools for just this purpose).

TIA!