Hi Sledge, I'm Doctor_Pi in the channel.
I again tried to install 64bit Debian on this 20" Late '06 iMac using the firmware-8.6.0-amd64-i386-netinst.iso and an external 128GB USB key.
The installer still couldn't find the "b43" non-free firmware files.
Was able to use Windows 10 on my laptop to bridge the Ethernet interface with the wireless interface to give the Debian installer on the iMac internet access. I would like to do this in Debian.
When the system rebooted, my refind menu had been replaced by a Grub menu and I tried to boot Debian off the USB key, (I used guided partitioning for the entire disk, with separate partitions for /home, /var, and /tmp).
After the message "loading initial ram disk" and the screen goes blank, this is the text that appears before everything stops.
[ 1.603391] i8042: No controller found
Loading please wait...