Hello again, folks.  Last week I decided Mandrake 8.1 just wasn't new 
enough for me now that I have a cable modem, so I downloaded the 8.2 CDs, 
repartitioned my drive, and attempted to install the new version.  Got a 
kernel panic -- can't mount root partition -- a few seconds into loading 
the installer.  Here's what I've tried so far:

* Are the CDs bad?  No, I checked them against the images, and checked the 
images against the checksums available online.
* Is my drive unsupported?  No, it still works with the 8.1 CDs, and 
swapping out the drive for another doesn't help.
* Is my K6 processor unsupported?  No, it still works with 8.1, and "expert 
nopentium" at the boot prompt doesn't help.
* Is the problem with Mandrake?  No, I downloaded Red Hat 7.3 and the same 
thing happens.
* Would it help to upgrade to 8.2 rather than install directly?  That gets 
around the kernel panic, but a number of packages don't upgrade correctly, 
and the system winds up halfway between 8.1 and 8.2.

Anyway, I'm realizing that the bigger problem here is that I'm not enough 
of a geek to figure out what's going on.  I live in Lyn-Lake -- surely 
there are other Linux folks nearby who are better at this stuff than I 
am.  My roommate and I are pretty good cooks, and Uptown Pizza is only 2 
blocks away.  So if anybody out there is up for a challenge and hungry for 
dinner, please write to me.

Thanks in advance!  --Ben