If you want to do it properly, use the Toshiba bootable sdcard utility and give it a file like rescue.bin as the floppy image. Then when the machine boots, you hit the left arrow a couple times and hit enter when the indicator is under the sdcard icon.
I made a snapshot of a 128M sdcard built this way (it's about 3M gzipped). The toshiba tool formats the card and creates the single file $tosfd00.vfd on it which is the floppy image you provided.
You can make a more generic bootable flash by getting something that will fit in the pcmcia slot. The "Delkin" Devices "eFilm" 4-in-1 adapter works fine for making my sdcard available as an ide device. These adapters are all over ebay if you're looking.
I used a config file XF86Config from Chris Debenham. It worked out of the box.
The RandR X extension apparently doesn't allow for rotation. So I have gdm start up two servers, one rotated. It's not ideal, but if I want to read something in portrait mode, I can switch over to it.
If you want to mirror the LCD output on the VGA output, you have to boot with the monitor connected, hit Fn-F5 until the boot screen appears on both, then run the nvidia X driver. I haven't gotten it to work any other way.
There is a workaround for lacking DPMS support... dim the backlight when the screensaver is active. I run this perl script in the background and it keeps the backlight dimmed when the screensaver is running. It uses a little helper script to write the values to change the lcd.
I decided to try xstroke. The version in debian wants to dock but I can't find a way to get the docker working without a massive gnome upgrade. Instead I compiled it by undefining both USE_SYSTEM_TRAY and USE_PIXMAPS in xstroke.h. That gives you a little window that you can scribble the letters into.
I can't remember exactly how I got the serial stuff set up, but part of it was that I set up the serial ports and had setserial save the configuration once... the result is in my /var/lib/setserial/autoserial.conf.
I ordered an Atheros-based Minipci card from Netgate. You can put this in if you open the case by removing all the screws on the back (as well as from the battery compartment), lift the case enough to disconnect the power cord for a fan, and find the Intel card under its aluminum shield. It pops out just like a ram sodimm. It has two antenna connectors that snap off. You may have to reroute the antenna leads to get them to reach the connectors on the Atheros card.
The card works fine using Madwifi drivers (I use the cvs version). This kernel module has some parts that aren't open (something I didn't realize until I saw the kernel taint message). The driver works with xsupplicant.
In debian, install the powernowd package to cycle down the cpu. It will require a 2.6 kernel I think.
To spin down the drive, I installed files in /etc/acpi/events/ac_adapter and /etc/acpi/ac.sh and also arranged to get /etc/acpi/ac.sh run at boot time by putting the line /etc/acpi/ac.sh in /etc/default/acpid. (They also say the ac.sh settings need to match your fstab.)
I suspend the computer by installing /etc/acpi/events/powerbtn and /etc/acpi/powerbtn.sh so that /usr/local/bin/dosleep is run when the power button is pushed and held for no more than about 3 seconds. In new kernels, the machine wakes up when you open the lid but on older kernels you will have to push the power button over again.
I was hoping to underclock the GPU using nvclock but it doesn't support this particular GPU.