Try running it under qemu[1] or bochs[2]. A "virtual machine" software such as VMWare or Virtualbox is not the same as a low-level "bare metal" CPU emulator such as the two I suggested. The latter programs make assumptions about how the guest OS will behave that probably aren't valid for this project.
I suggest starting with bochs since this project has a bochsrc.txt in the git root that will be automatically picked up if you just run "bochs" in that directory.
I suggest starting with bochs since this project has a bochsrc.txt in the git root that will be automatically picked up if you just run "bochs" in that directory.
[1] http://wiki.qemu.org/Main_Page
[2] http://bochs.sourceforge.net/