Installing YellowDog 5 on iMac G5 (PowerMac12,1)

[Cryptobunnie]

Hardware Overview:

Machine Name: iMac G5
Machine Model: PowerMac12,1
CPU Type: PowerPC G5 (3.1)
Number Of CPUs: 1
CPU Speed: 2.1 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 512 KB
Memory: 1 GB
Bus Speed: 700 MHz
Boot ROM Version: 5.2.6f1


Symptoms:

No.1
after the yaboot prompt i hit enter for the default action of "install" after which i am greeted with a quick burst of text then the screen goes black with only the backlight on. keyboard and mouse (both usb) become unresponsive. about 3 mins later the fans kick on as if its a hewy trying to take off. in the end a hard boot is required

No.2
After yaboot prompt i type install video=ofonly and hit enter.
this time im greeted with what appears to be the install system loading up.
then the screen flickers and were now running anaconda (ydl install system)
a couple of mins go by and the screen goes black about 5 mins later i get a very ugly yellowdog install welcome image that seems wrapped around the display (the left half of the welcome menu on the right the right half on the left)
mouse and keyboard seem to be initialised but tab and arrow navigation doesnt seem to respond in the end a hard boot is required

Additional information:
Ive tried unbuntu aswell but the results were the same if not worse.

any and all help is appreciated

P.s after a few more hours of frustrating research i have chosen to abandon the quest for linux on this hardware.
I have neither the advanced knowledge nor will to try and get everything running on what appears to be a legacy architecture the support is laughable at best.

thus we will dip into the bank account ( abeit reluctantly) and design and build a custom box for my linux endeavors.

that being said guess ill be a stranger yet again until i have the hardware thats better geared to being a new linux user.

p.p.s i got horrible hardware luck.... among many other forms of bad luck...murphy loves me i guess

[Cryptobunnie]

Im far to stubborn to walk away.

I refuse to be denied true computing freedom! lol

anyhow like i said im a stubborn son of a .. and continued my search.

I now know for a FACT this exact machine can run linux...

the question is how so far.

Ive read in a couple of documents that a iMac G5 (Rev-C) with the iSight built in can and does run under linux the main issue being Fan/Thermal Control (A.K.A the fans roar u like turbines) This implies linux has an operational status with this system.

Yellow-dog 5 was the first distro i grabbed. after trying to boot with and with out video=ofonly all i got was blank backlit screens with roaring fans and a hard-lock or nothing at all.

Off to unbuntu again blank backlit screen roaring fans and a hard lock or a 8bit looking rendering of the instalation dialog menu but the display was wrapped around thus making what shoud have been outer edges opposing edges. with now mouse or keyboard.

Fedora core 8 Live PPC wont even try t simpy tells me "not supported"

Debain may be the hope i seek with the generic PPC kernel config.

if not then it may be time to get real dirty.

ive noticed that OS X is a nix variant. and boredom has revealed a great deal of the tools needed to say compile an LFS or at the very least a cross compiles tailored kernel to replace on boot media (if possible?)
or maybe cross compile a complete functional text based NO frame buffer usb linux stick I mean thats all one needs if he is willing to learn what it takes is not anything possible with the right motivation?

(it does help to find accounts of success though)

3 hours to go on the debian PPC iso lets hope this works =)

[Cryptobunnie]

We have progress I woke up today with my fresh new debian PPC .iso ready to go.

burned it.

booted it.

used the install64 video=ofonly

..!! we got clear functional debian install menu!!.

but wait we cant rush in though ive found a working installer for my hardware..we still must find a way to resize a HFS+ partition.

Debian steps up to the plate thus far woot!

[dr_te_z]

Good. I was about to advice NetBSD. But you make progress with debian. Good.

[Cryptobunnie]

Massive progress!!! (ill have to write this all up to help other potential iMac G5 PPC users.


as it stands we now have a resized HFS+ partition

how i did it.... well i lost alot of hair my eyes bled from obsessive reading of forums howtos mailing lists etc.

in the end the debian etch PPC install disc held my answer.

I ouldnt get ANY live cd to boot on this machine to save my live.

makeing a parted or gparted live cd required a working linux envrioment which with out a live cd or an installed nix system that wasn't gona happen

so i wondered if the debian etch install cd worked for me if i could switch to a CL and access parted from there and target my HD...at first it looked like i was dead in the water.
i dug around that cd like a mad man ( btw ls with wildcards is a blessing here) but couldnt find anything resembling parted pdisk gparted etc i was like wtf man i just want some linux!!!.

frustrated i said $%#@ it im just gona do a full install over everything and pray!....

set the language and local
set keyboard.
loaded install system...wait (lightbulb!!!!)
hit alt+right arrow back to CL
did on last pass through the cd looking for what i hope was now a memory resident parted!....

YUP!

went ahead and executed a fanatical parted /dev/sdb and were in.

hit a print to show the info i needed.

then i went ahead and gave the resize option a whirl shrinking my HFS+ from 250gb to 100gb fingers crossed with some half hearted temporary faith running through my soul....im returned to the parted prompt with out error.
hit print and BAM! the data show my HFS+ shrunk down.
rebooted into OSX to verify data.

WOOOT! is all i can say!!

im about to go and install debian now...oh man it's a good feeling to overcome adversity in the realm of computing...even more so for a noob like me!

i hope the next update will be about a working linux install or even better from a working linux install