I installed MDK 8.2 beta2 a couple days ago, and it works pretty darn good for a beta. I do have a few problems though. I am not very technically able to help (no programming skills) but I am hoping to contribute to the development effort by reporting my problems.
1. The login manager is very ugly! Whether I use a flat solid color background or a wallpaper, it does not display properly. The pixelly type of screen, like you get just before X finishes loading, is what you get behind the login window. If you re-login without rebooting, the image will show up behind the login window (which you don't see until the login window disappears). If I select "Tile" and re-login without rebooting, the image tiles properly, but if I reboot, the ugly login manager is back again. The login window itself seems to be pixelly (and sometimes is solid black if I don't reboot). I tried using a full-sized image that would not need to be tiled, and when I rebooted, that did not work either. I still got the pixelly screen. The user icons seem to be ok. Although ugly, the logon window functions properly. I don't think it is my display settings, as these seem to work perfectly everywhere else. I can play tuxracer (which I could NOT do in 8.1), watch mpegs with xine, and realplayer works very well. The desktop looks great after the login manager is done. 2. I tried the new feature to download and install updates during the install (great idea!) but my computer locked up while trying to fetch the mirror list. I waited for about 15 minutes and nothing happened. I tried to go back to a previous place in the install sequence and the computer would not respond to mouse-clicks or keyboard. I finally just restarted the machine, and had to re-install everything over again. I skipped the update feature, and all worked well. 3. Sometimes I have a problem with the cd-rom drive mounting more than once. I have never had this happen in previous versions. The first time it happened, was when using Xmovie. I think the cd-rom was already mounted, and when I loaded the mpeg from the cd-rom drive, it must have mounted the cd-rom again. I could not use the cd-rom drive after that. When I tried umounting the cd-rom, it said that I had more than one cd-rom mounted, and would not let me umount. I also tried this as root, but that did not work either. It also said that I had more than one cd-rom mounted. Nothing else seemed to be affected. Only the cd-rom drive. So I rebooted, and as the system was unmounting partitions, it complained also of not being able to umount the cd-rom, but after complaining repeatedly, it was finally able to reboot. Then all was fine, until I tried using a cd-rom with Software Manager. It would ask for CD 1, and although it was in the drive, could not read it. When I closed the Software Manager, and just clicked on /mnt/cdrom in the file manager, it could not see anything either. The CD is good, cause I had used it previously. When I rebooted, then the Software Manager could see the CD once again. I have not been able to reproduce the problem consistently, and will continue to try to pinpoint the trigger. Is this a problem with supermount? All in all, this beta is very impressive. The only problems that I have had are minor and many previous problems have stopped. Keep up the good work!! Mandrake 8.2 promises to be a truly great distro.
