two quick questions

a friend bought an old pismo and it seems the HD died.

can i boot it up using a firewire cable connected to my ibook g4, so it would basically run off my HD?

he doesn't have the CDs that go with the pismo, will the CDs that came with my ibook be able to install the OS onto his computer, or are they specific to my machine?

Thanks in advance.

You could try Target Disk mode to see if the Pismo HD is readable...Just connect the two books with a FW cable and hold down the "T" key on the Pismo while you reboot it. It should mount on the iBook desktop if the HD is readable.
As for the iBook CD, you could try to boot the Pismo using the CD and running Disk Utility to try to repair the disk. Technically while the CD from your iBook would install the OS onto the Pismo, you can't do that as it is a violation of the EULA.

You might also want to try resetting the PRAM on the Pismo if you haven't already, as that may help get the disk to boot.
If he just needs a new HD, you can get a replacement drive rather inexpensively. They are really easy to replace in a PB G3.