Using Laptop as a Monitor for Desktop Boxes

[m4olivei@xxxxxxxxx (m4olivei)]

I was wondering if there is a way that you can hook a laptop up to a
desktop box and have the video feed from the desktop box come up on
your laptop screen.  I have an Dell Inspiron 8500 notebook and
recently aquired a cheap Compaq PII desktop to use as a file server.
I really would rather not shell out money for a monitor.  The ideal
thing would be to somehow have the video from the dektop come into my
laptop and be able to switch between viewing the desktop and the
laptop on the fly.  Connections that I have on my laptop are standard:
 USB 2.0, IEE 1394, Serial, Parallel, TV Out and VGA out.  Any
suggestions?  Maybe I'm thinking to complicated and the ideal solution
would be just to use a remote desktop situation over a LAN to get at
the desktop.

Thanks