YDL install problems on a B&W G3

[Eric Dunbar]

On Thu, 24 Feb 2005 21:26:46 -0500, John Knight <john.johnknight at gmail> wrote:
> I wasted a week trying to install on three different rev a bondi imacs. I tried
> to install ydl 4.0, ubuntu, and knoppix. I could not get imacs to register the
> "c" on boot up. The frustrating thing was a couple of times the imac did
> see the cd and boot up.On other occasions, I was able to get into the
> forth interpreter but didn't know what to do from there. Since I do
> not have access
> to the apple and do not know how to upgrade the firmware, I have given up.
> It would have been nice :=(
> 
> This is my first experience with apple hw and I am not used to having a computer
> be persnickety about booting from a boot device.  I must say I have a very bad
> impression of apple now. I had heard such good things about high quality hw.

Interesting. I've always found i86 hardware to be horribly persnickety
about boot devices.

Anyway, you're using a "rev A" iCrap <ahem, sorry> iMac. They are the
lowest of the low on the totem pole of quality computers. They're not
a lemon per-se but they're in the same leage as Dell for "quality"
<ahem>. Chances are you were running into one or both of two problems:
1. you burned the CDs on cheap media/too fast; and/or
2. the CD-ROMs on the iMac Rev As were failing.

To get the iMac so small (it is small when you think about it... the
size of a 15" monitor and it had a WHOLE computer in-built) Apple used
laptop CD-ROMs. These things are built for size and weight -- not
durability.

As for upgrading FirmWare -- if you ever do lay your hands on them
again, you could check out Apple's FirmWare updaters. They're a free
download, though you do require OS 8 or 9 to apply them (if they
haven't already been applied).

Eric.