YDL 2.3 install fails

[Gawain]

I'm trying to install YDL 2.3 on a beige G3/300 w/128MB RAM and 
4800MB of space for Linux. This machine previously had YDL 2.0 and I 
wanted to start fresh. I'm now regretting that decision... :-(  I 
deleted the existing partitions, (except for the Mac HFS partitions) 
reformatted new ones and began the process.

As soon as I get to package selection I get an error message:

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Error
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Opening rpm database in read-only mode failed: cannot o

Please correct this manually.

==============

No matter what packages or combinations of custom/default options I 
try the end result is the same. I've tried the graphical installer 
too, but that just ends up with a black screen.

I'm using the 2.2 kernel as the 2.4 kernel hangs as soon as the 
install process begins. I've reinstalled all BootX files and ramdisk 
images, etc.

I think I've nearly run out of combinations of things to try. Any suggestions?

Gawain