install failed - fatal error installing grub

[interestedindividual]

I tried to install ubuntu on my mac mini. I installed it onto the external firewire hard drive. I set grubs install location to 'sdb'.

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/ubiquity", line 166, in ?
    main()
  File "/usr/bin/ubiquity", line 161, in main
    install(sys.argv[1])
  File "/usr/bin/ubiquity", line 57, in install
    ret = wizard.run()
  File "/usr/lib/ubiquity/ubiquity/frontend/gtkui.py", line 305, in run
    self.process_step()
  File "/usr/lib/ubiquity/ubiquity/frontend/gtkui.py", line 856, in process_step
    self.progress_loop()
  File "/usr/lib/ubiquity/ubiquity/frontend/gtkui.py", line 628, in progress_loop
    raise RuntimeError, ("Install failed with exit code %s\n%s" %
RuntimeError: Install failed with exit code 1
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/share/ubiquity/install.py", line 1404, in ?
    install.run()
  File "/usr/share/ubiquity/install.py", line 385, in run
    self.configure_bootloader()
  File "/usr/share/ubiquity/install.py", line 1163, in configure_bootloader
    raise InstallStepError(
InstallStepError: GrubInstaller failed with code 1

[interestedindividual (goodmanjpf)]

This is the syslog

[interestedindividual (goodmanjpf)]

log partman

[Colin Watson (cjwatson)]

Thanks for your report. You need to say /dev/sdb rather than (sdb). However, this won't work anyway because the installer doesn't support Intel Macs yet: this is also bug 46853, and will be fixed soon.