You might try setting core=normal. That will be too slow for the game itself but may get the installer working. You could also try using dos32a.

you should follow the instructions provided by bethesda. They aren't that different for the mac.
I think the creator of Boxer (a dosbox frontend) create some tutorial as well on his site specificly for macs.

Hmm... i didnt mount the dfcd folder as a d: drive last time, tried it this time, same result, both when i tried using the bethesda installation, and the tips for installing it from the UESP wiki site (elder scrolls wiki). both times, froze when i executed the install command.

also tried setting the core to normal without success. i will have to check out the boxer tutorial.
definitely got the commands for mounting the D drive right as per the bethesda tutorial, gotta go back and check my auto exec commands.

seems like a lot of work to play the game though!

Indeed I did! The tutorial is here and covers everything from start to finish, starting with downloads for Boxer and Daggerfall.

(I should note that this depends on a beta version of Boxer, which hasn't been tested on OS X 10.4 yet; if you have any problems with it, please get in touch with me directly and I'll help as quickly as I can.)