imac g3 install?

[dandart]

I tried inserting a xubuntu 7.10 and a debian 4.0r3 disk into my imac g3 (turquoise, 233MHz) but I could not get it to boot from it.

I don't know when to press C, or how long for, i tried but couldn't get it to work
I tried it with Cmnd-option-shift-bksp (i can't find del), no avail
i got Cnmd-option-o-f to work but could not get typing:
boot cd:,\install\yaboot
or
boot hda number),yaboot (after copying kernel, yaboot, yaboot.conf and initrd)

to work

Using boot disk from mac os 9 menu it says the cd doesn't have a system folder so you can't boot from it but i think that's for mac disks

just to clarify, the cd drive works fine in mac os 9

What am I supposed to do to get Linux on that thing?

Some help, please.

the only solution i can think of is that the atapi cdrom drive that comes with the imac is the only one that will do it (I replaced the drive because it was broken)

[techieMoe]

Did you download the PowerPC versions of Xubuntu 7.10 and Debian 4.0?

You press C (or D, I forget which) immediately after you hear the startup sound and hold it until you hear the CD being accessed.

[dandart]

Yes, yes I did.
That still didn't work, the system just flashed question mark/hd and chose the hard disk.

thanks for quick reply

[techieMoe]

Did you obtain these discs by downloading an burning an ISO file? Did you make sure to burn them as an image, rather than just dropping the .ISO onto the CD? Also, did you verify the checksums of the ISO files before burning?

[dandart]

I got the ISO, and used K3b to burn it properly to a disk in "burn ISO file" as I always do with ISOs. The MD5 is fine too...

[techieMoe]

Well, the usual stuff has been addressed, so I'm out of ideas for you on this one. Hang in there, maybe someone else will have a suggestion.

[dandart]

I think it's broken... it must be... or just have the wrong firmware

[Segfault]

My 2 cents
2 years ago somebody gave me an iMac running OS9, I wanted to install OSX 10.3 into it and had similar problem. Surprisingly enough the new firmware was available for download from Apple and did the trick.

[dandart]

Ok, I'll try to download new firmware... thanks for the tip, I'll report back

[cayalee]

Ok, I'll try to download new firmware... thanks for the tip, I'll report back

hope it works for you because i tried and failed using severa different distro's. i figured the problem lay in the fact i wasnt using an apple keyboard but i'm not paying £50 for one