Installing Lion on an upgraded mini 1.1

With help from mac-forums I upgraded my core duo mini 1,1 to a core 2 duo recently, fitted a new hard drive, did a clean install of Snow Leopard and a firmware upgrade, and upgraded to 4 gb of ram. It now shows as a core2duo 2,1 in system profiler with the 4 gb (I assume it only uses 3+ as it's a 32 bit efi).

Initially I was only trying to stop repeated kernel panics - which have indeed stopped. But I see from the web that it's possible to install Lion (but not Mountain Lion?) on my upgraded mac but I'm unsure how to do this. I did start following an online procedure but got lost half way through. I have a dmg of Lion on the hard drive.

I'd be grateful for answers to 3 questions:

1. Will installing Lion give me anything I don't currently have?
2. Is it right that ML can't be installed?
2. If Lion can be installed and it's worth it, where can I find a clear explanation of how?

Many thanks

There's quite a good article here about Snow Leopard vs Lion
See if there are any headline features that attract you.

The easiest way to get Lion now (as it doesn't appear on the Mac App Store any longer) is to call Apple who will sell you a redemption code for $20 to use in the Mac App Store to download Lion.
Once downloaded, while not essential, I'd use LionDiskMaker to make a bootable DVD or USB of the installer as a backup, but then you just let the installer run and the upgrade is done in place.

You can't install Mountain Lion as the onboard GMA graphics chip you have is not supported.

Thanks for the comparison piece - very helpful. I have run printer drivers under Rosetta in the past, and my versions of Quark and Photoshop are ancient too - but that's mainly because I don't need them anymore and so haven't bought new ones.

Part of my desire to install Lion is precisely Apple's habit of creating incompatibilities and withdrawing support - e.g. for Leopard - with Snow Leopard looking to be extinct soon I expect.

And I still don't know how to upgrade. I've already got the Lion dmg and if I open it I just get a message that it's not compatible. I see there are procedures online but having selected one I got lost half way through. It looks as though I need to use a second mac connected by firewire but I don't have access to one - but could probably arrange that.

So my original Q is the same - can someone point me to a valid procedure for installing Lion on my upgraded mini?

Many thanks

You've gone 'off piste' by replacing the CPU but the remaining components are from a non-Lion compatible machine. I'd suggest the installer is looking at other information to determine compatibility.

What that is I have no idea but I imagine the only way to resolve it would be to start messing with the Lion installer etc. But that's going to break the EULA etc so it's a non-starter.

May well be to do with the firmware in a Mac Mini 1.1.

I will try this and get back to you so hang in there. With the new 2.1 Firmware installed Lion MIGHT now install without any tricks. Will let you know as soon as I can. If not I can point you to instructions as it's NOT against the law as long as you purchase Lion.

Mountain Lion though will not install on that hardware no matter what you do. It barely works on a 3.1 Macbook with much better graphics chipset than you have there but I had to do a lot to get it to work and it was not that good after messing with it for a while.

Will get back to you on it. Lion looks at the firmware but also the Machine ID. That might stop you from just installing but making it work is quite easy. Just zapping one file. I updated my Firmware the other night but Lion is already on the system. Will try the install Flash drive I have and see if I get the no go message and then tell you what to do.

And remember to all the nay sayers, Leopard would not install on any G4 with less than a 866 G4 but LeopardAssist was even recommended on the forums. Same thing with Lion. If you pay for it and are installing on Apple hardware, no one will say a word. With 4GB RAM (well 3GB and some change) Lion will be fine for you.

EDIT: You don't mess with the installer at all, just one file is removed. I know 1000's who have done it and Apple could care less. It's not Phystar installing OSX on Non Apple Hardware. If it was against the law I would not be doing it for sure. I checked long ago.

Thanks. Any news on how to do it?