Every time I try to install on powerpc I get a "FATs don't match" error. It suggests I run scandisk to fix the problem; I select "ignore" since AFAIK there is no such thing as scandisk for ppc. I had this problem with breezy and now again with dapper flight 6. What does "FATs don't match" mean on a powerpc system and how do I fix it?!

The system seems to install successfully, but yaboot won't boot the system. I have to use Apple's boot selector thingee just to bring yaboot up, but yaboot won't boot the system.

I finally tried manually configuring yaboot from the installer...edited /etc/yaboot.conf and then ran ybin. /etc/yaboot.conf contained references to /vmlinux and /initrd.img (neither of which exist), so I replaced them with the correct files (/boot/initrd.img-2.6.15-19-powerpc64-smp and /boot/vmlinux). Still, the fixed yaboot.conf gave the same result as above.

I've used ubuntu with great success on my intel-based laptop and I'd like to see it work in ppc too but no luck so far. Is there something special I have to do to make linux install on ppc architecture?

I believe FAT's refers to File Allocation Tables. Not sure if they exist on PowerPC or not... I assume there's some sort of allocation table on the drive. Usually you can fix this by reformatting the drive (not sure if this is an option) and starting with a blank disk.

Seeing as how it appears you have a powerpc kernel, I'm assuming you used a PPC installer and not the x86 installer...

If FATs don't exist on ppc then it's definitely a bug to give an error about them...

Yes, I definitely used the ppc installer (the x86 installer wouldn't have booted on a ppc system)