Apparently yaboot does not get installed in MintPPC 11. You could try to do it manually, by skipping the yaboot installation and just continue with the last steps of the installation. Yaboot can be installed from a 'rescue' session from a Debian Squeeze installation CD.

if you want to try the latter, boot the Squeeze CD with the following option:

and have yaboot installed.

@JD: Personally, IMHO, I don't think there is a general problem with Yaboot not being installed in 11, in each of my three failed installations on the iMac (G4!!!) Yaboot has been installed; I think either the problem is that Debian doesn't know how to run desktop/iMac . . . or they aren't recognizing PPC??? computers???? . . . that is the only conclusion(s) that I can surmise . . . . : - )))) The latest attempt from a couple of Sundays back has probably been the "worst" installation yet, giving me only the Yaboot prompt and quickly moving to a kernel panic . . . . Trying "Linux 1" also leads not to TTY, but to again with the kernel panic . . . haven't had time to try to "rescue" the installation, but even though "hope springs eternal" I don't have high expectation for that actually fixing the problem . . . . In actually trying to understand the phrase "Google is your friend" I did find a thread from late 2011 that was cross posted to the other mac/linux forum by JD, someone was (as did Omeluuck) saying that they had traced the problem to the "initrd" "file"??? (is that the right word?) in the installation/installer . . . and in doing the "expert" installation the choice is presented to me to do something with it, but I, not being an expert, simply went with the default choice . . . whatever that was . . . resulting in a kernel panic OS. Ojordan has posted requesting that I post my "logs" from that installation and have yet to have time to do that, maybe later today I'll get the chance. Point being, there has been a problem getting Debian installed on, perhaps especially iMacs for quite some time without it being addressed or "fixed" . . . and appears to have serendipitous outcomes . . . like gambling, sometimes you win, but the house rules the day. : - 0

e.e.p

I agree with the last poster - I think yaboot installed OK, but for some reason the hfsutils installation was held up (overloaded FTP site?). I tried just installing yaboot, but it just went back to the partitioning stage (which had worked perfectly as part of the Mint install).

I've been retrying a full install all day today, but it seems like all of the ftp sites needed for package download are mostly unresponsive (sometimes not even the debconf file would download!). Are there any recommended ftp sites to use? Also, does anyone know the CDROM device name (in /dev) that Debian expects? This prevents me doing a vanilla Debian CD install.

I'll try again next weekend and let you know all how it goes.

et al: I have to take back what I said about Debian and its installer . . . after trying the MintLive DVD 9, the Lubuntu LiveDVD, the Ubuntu Live DVD trying to get a GUI so I could post the syslogs, demsg, and Xorg log . . . Lubuuntu got me the closest but I couldn't read the letters well enough . . . I tried my plain jane Debian Wheezy installer and, . . . drumroll please . . . I have a GUI!!!!!!!!!!!!!! on the iMac!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's not perfect, it looks like the Xorg file needs to be installed, but it takes me back to the first MintPPC installation . . . before the windows started sliding off, and before the network somehow got broken and making it difficult to repair the installation . . . . I guess it's one of those "darkest before the dawn things." Anyway . . . used the "guided use largest free space" option, and then messed up on the "add extra packages" but . . . I'm typing this in Debian Wheezy . . . !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! More later, I'm just mentally spent after this last installation. : - ))))))

e.e.p.

Hi guys, a bit of help please!
I created a bootable CD with the mini.iso downloaded from the instructions page and followed the instructions but I am getting an error which says that the kernel from the the installer does not match the kernel of the system that is going to be installed or something like that.
I tried several mirror locations with no luck.
Do you happen to know a working mirror location or a different way around it?

Many thanks!

L.E. - I have noticed just now the "kernel updated again" thread, which explains why I'm getting this. Sorry for posting before searching..

Alright I sort of found a workaround. For the first part of it where you choose your server, choose the Netherlands and choose the server ftp.nl.debian.org. This'll get you through most of it, then from there just mess with it, Retry for the few missing files and choose other servers like ones in Korea and Germany, they have some of the missing files, then get back through the ftp.nl.debian.org in the Netherlands. After padiddling with it I got through it.

... and now it's not partitioning my hard drive but oh well.

Hey Everybody,

I was hoping somebody could help me get MintPPC installed on my old iMac G4. I decided to take on a project of fixing up this old computer, so I'm very new to doing anything behind the scenes in regards to installing using anything other than an OS X install disc.

So I followed all of the directions to creating a bootable USB, and I'm pretty sure I did all of that right. When I booted from Open Firmware and then typed in "install url=mintppc.org", I got the screen (which is the picture I attached)


It's been stuck on "Calling quiesce..." for a while, so is it hung up or is it just taking its time installing?

If it is hung up, what did I do wrong and how can I fix it?? I noticed the "Bootstrap partition type is wrong" error message--should I be worried about that?

Thanks (and sorry if I seem incompetent)

I noticed the following message in your screenshot:


I'm wondering if you indeed selected the correct iso image to "burn" onto your USB stick..... and also exactly which method you used to "burn" it.

If all else fails, you could always revert to burning the .iso to a CD, which is what I ended up doing.

Note though, that whenever they (yes.... "they") release an update to the mini.iso (and there's no real way to know ahead of time when they'll do this), the mini.iso that you've burned will no longer work (properly) the next time you try to install or reinstall Linux.... which is a major bummer. You have to burn the new image either to a new CD or format your USB stick and burn the new image on that.

I chose the G3/G4 iso and followed the steps to make a bootable usb because my disc drive sucks. I have an iMac G4, but is it possible that I need to use the other iso instead?

Thanks for the reply

you need the iso for G3/G4.