Fedora 9

[#1]

Hi,
   I've just been messing about with my laptop, and I decided to re-install linux again. I've downloaded Fedora core 9 Alpha, and I must say, that for an Alpha, it is amazing!!! I've only found one bug! It is sleek, and responsive, and the boot time is amazingly fast (compared to previous versions). And the integration of HDD encryption at install is an amazing idea! I have high hopes for the final release. Basically, I was just wondering whether anyone else has managed to check it out yet? And whether anyone has found any major bugs with it? Also, if your comfortable with testing (Alpha/Beta), and comfortable with linux, I would seriously recommend getting a copy of it (you can expect a truly wonderful experience)!

[#2]

I just downloaded the KDE Live cd version late last night and plan to burn it to CD later today to test on a laptop. Currently running latest PCLinuxOS remastered live CD on it (one of only a few distros that can play sound on it - Parsix and latest Kubuntu are the others - disappointingly my favourites, Mepis and Mint don't play any sounds)
Glad it seems to be free of glaring errors - though I would have gone for a live CD runthrough before installing it!

[#3]

Forgive me if this is an egg sucking tutorial, but most Linux distributions have DVD and most video and sound playback restricted by default. This is due to the uncertain legality of the open source decoding software in some countries. Assuming you don't have a soundcard driver problem, you should be able to download a codec pack which will let you play anything. In some cases the players themselves are restricted, so you need to install  a new version of the player as well.
How you do it seems to vary between distros. Suse 10.0 on my desktop PC needed a full new download and install of Mplayer and codec pack. With Ubuntu 7.04 on the lappy I just started the player, it asked me if I wanted to download the additional codecs and sorted itself out.

[#4]

Both Mint and Mepis have additional (mostly non-free) multimedia programs and codecs included as default in most of their live CD distributions and it's why I like using them.
But admittedly most Linux distro's do have the DVD and MP3 playbacks disabled.