The Big Picture
Because QEMU emulates disk drives using disk files, the end result of all this fiddling will be images that we can copy directly to the DPF's IDE drive or Compact Flash card. The starting point will be zero-filled files into which we'll install all the software.
The FreeDOS and Slackware installation programs run exactly as they do on real hardware, while their virtual (or emulated, as you wish) environment provides much better control over what goes on. That turns out to be crucial due to the hardware's lack of creature comforts.
It turns out that much of what we'll do consists of installing a few programs, tweaking the system's startup scripts, and writing a few bash routines. We'll compile a new kernel to see what that's like and get some idea of what virtualization does to compute-bound performance. We'll also get a detailed view of how Linux progresses from a power-on reset to running a user program, which is less mysterious than you might imagine.
And, I suspect, we'll all learn something new!
Last Tab
Remember that you can go a long way in this project with no hardware at all, which is the whole point of virtualization. In fact, you might want to wait until everybody else stops bidding up 560Zs on eBay, then pick up the cheap leftovers.
You can trick out a laptop-based DPF with an infinitude of configuration options, plug in some wireless networking, do administration with a web browser, and so forth and so on. Remember your user community, though: A USB stick may be the simplest and easiest interface of all.
Chris Buccella presented his 560Z-based DPF at the MHVLUG last year, which prompted me to get off the dime. His blow-by-blow description appears at the virtig01.net URL in the "Resources." I hammered out this project without his code, so all the blunders are my very own.
Resources
Old-school photography: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_halide.
BSOD Primer: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Screen_of_Death.
Techbargains for new tech goodies: techbargains.com.
eBay for old tech goodies: www.ebay.com.
Syslinux and PXELinux booting: syslinux.zytor.com/index.php.
Linux net install: marc.herbert.free.fr/linux/win2linstall.html.
Getting cross-development right: www.kegel.com/crosstool.
Virtual Machine comparison: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_virtual_machines.
QEMU home: www.qemu.com.
Linux on Laptops info: www.linux-laptop.net.
ThinkPad info: www.thinkwiki.org.
ThinkPad tpctl Linux tools: tpctl.sourceforge.net.
ThinkPad DOS configuration: www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/RMIE-3AXE3E.html.
FreeDOS project: www.freedos.org.
Slackware Linux Project: www.slackware.com.
