I ahve been tinkering with different distros (Mandrake. Suse 10.0, 10.1, Ubuntu, Kubuntu and now Mandriva 2007 power pac. I ahve yet to get an operating system.. by this I mean all the different apps I want/ need to work. This latest 2007 powerpac was purchased directly from Mandriva. It installs, however the disk partitions wouldn't allow for the full DVD set to be copied to harddisk. I had to manipulate the partitions to allow enough space on hda1. All looked good until I tried to use some of the apps:
LinDVD won't recognize most DVD's (these are backups on DVD+R disks).
My floppy drive doesn't show up on the hardware allocation table and wont work.
On the hardware allocation table hda1 is listed but not the other partitions. I have no idea what is on them or where they are.
I have other issues, but lets start with these.
I have an i686 machine
AMD processor @1050MHz
80 GB Maxtor HD
Single boot (Linux)
KDE 3.5.4
Mandriva release 2.6.17-5mdv
Radeon VG/7000 video card
Has anyone else had similar problems?
I appreciate any feedback

For the DVD and possibly the floppy issues, you may find the answer in the thread link here. To see all partitions Mandriva has access to, look at /etc/fstab file, it will list all partitions visible. If you need to access any of them listed here, let us know which one and the particulars of the partition. In Mandriva, usually you will find a graphical utility displaying all partitions being used called "kdiskfree" which can be found through the main menu.

Thanks for the feedback.
My problem isn't with mounting a cdrom/dvd but rather the device recognizing an inserted disk. CD's (+,-, R/W) mostly work. Music cd's work. DVD's are another story. The device will not recognize any DVD R/W but will recognize some (2 out of 10) DVD +R.
I finally got the floppy to show up in the desktop devices icon but I can't do anything with it.
I ahve researched the 'net for issues with my disto and found Mandriva has a problem with 2007 not yet ready for us non-technical users. I know my way around windows pretty well, but linux is still pretty new to me. Eventually I'll find where everything is located and I'll experiment... don't really care as right now I only use the distro to learn.
Anyway, thanks again. I'll keep trying.