Are there any tools to analyze kernel panics in G4 iMac?

[este.el.paz]

hallo i suggest you to reinstall with Lubuntu CD not DVD to get a clean install
if not CD drive work cant you use firewire or if you are a handy man
change the hard drive
its good to read tings twice

@abtabt:

Thanks for the follow-up, I do appreciate your help . . . so far as it goes I have not been a "handy man" with computers . . . it's only been the last 1.5 years of messing around with Linux that I have started to "look under the hood" in terms of software, hardware is another story . . . . We'll see how it goes, without FW ports any back-up is now going to be very slow . . . and is it the HD that is starting to go, or is it motherboard, so far even on the Apple forums no one was able to point me in a direction as far as testing goes beyond Apple HD Test . . . which shows everything as OK . . . .

Still looking to see if there is some way to repair the software or as the title asks, a way to analyze KPs on the Xu/Lu system . . . it keeps showing the Crash Report error window . . . have yet to be able to run any tests or find a utility to repair the disk like there is in Wheezy . . . but, internet is working and so I can do updates . . . I'm still trying to avoid the 3-4 hour reinstall process since there probably is some physical hardware impending doom in the near or medium short term future . . . . I'm just trying to keep what is going, going, for as long as the computer is working; maybe I'll try to burn an install CD, but what would be the difference between the CD and the DVD as far as installing the system goes? Still not sure why the CD drive seems to work in OSX, but not in Linux?? Is Linux more the "early warning" canary in the mineshaft than OSX?? : = )))

e.e.p.

[este.el.paz]

@ et al:

Latest update . . . seems like the KP thing has stabilized since unplugging the FW port to the ext HD, and after getting the internet connection working again and running updates, I was able to use Synaptic to find a "gnome-disk utility" app and install it, ran a few tets there and it showed "Disk has a few bad sectors" . . . so I googled that phrase and it took me to some threads about installing "smartmontools" . . . so I did that, and then I read a thread about using "GSsmartcontrols" as a GUI interface for smartmontools . . . so being a GUI guy, I did that and ran the test . . . and it shows I have "Two bad sectors" . . . and showing a "pre-failure" status for a few line items . . . . So, compared to some posts tha I saw were saying they had 1107 bad sectors, I guess 2 is "better"??? So, a mild sense of impending doom remains . . . was still looking for some kind of app that could "repair the bad sectors" . . . following a line of thought on going to the HD manufacturer site and getting their tools . . . but nothing seems to be for Mac . . . although there was a "legacy" system for Linux CLI to test the HD??? A bit busy, but perhaps it will lead somewhere . . . .

e.e.p.