so... why can't I get Linux Mint (Debian) to install on ESXi 5.x? it sits at the bootup screen and does *nothing*. I don't have a lot of details beyond that. Any thoughts? I can mount the same ISO on a local Virtual Box installation and achieve a live install scenario, but not on ESXi.

Could you give us a bit more information? Since Mint is based off of Ubuntu, did you try selecting that as the base for the system? Give us more info and we can try to be a bit more helpful.

yeah, turns out its disk corruption -- I put in a couple of new disks, took out the old, and problem solved. Sorry for the vague nature of my initial post, I'm pretty sure I was fairly sauced at the time.

Ah. Good to know.

No problem about lack of detail, you live; you learn.