1.  Quote:  "We will be changing our versioning scheme for this next release to correspond with FreeBSD,"

-- That is a great idea.

2.  Quote:  "what I'm most interesting in is feedback as to hardware support, or installation
problems."

-- I tested the installation of PCBSD 7 Alpha on a basically standard computer, an HP Vectra.  This is an "older" computer with the following hardware:

CPU: Intel Pentium III (863.79-MHz 686-class CPU)
real memory  = 536805376 (511 MB)
avail memory = 511389696 (487 MB)
agp0: <Intel 82815 (i815 GMCH) host to PCI bridge> on hostb0
vgapci0: <VGA-compatible display> mem 0xf4000000-0xf5ffffff,0xec000000-0xec003fff,0xec800000-0xecffffff irq 10 at device 0.0 on pci2
xl0: <3Com 3c905C-TX Fast Etherlink XL> port 0x2000-0x207f mem 0xed000000-0xed00007f irq 5 at device 4.0 on pci1
atapci0: <Intel ICH UDMA66 controller> port 0x1f0-0x1f7,0x3f6,0x170-0x177,0x376,0x1800-0x180f at device 31.1 on pci0
uhci0: <Intel 82801AA (ICH) USB controller> port 0x1820-0x183f irq 11 at device 31.2 on pci0
usb0: <Intel 82801AA (ICH) USB controller> on uhci0
psm0: <PS/2 Mouse> flags 0x1000 irq 12 on atkbdc0
ad0: 19470MB <WDC AC420400D J58OA30K> at ata0-master UDMA33
acd0: CDROM <HITACHI CDR-8435/0010> at ata1-master PIO4
pcm0: <Cirrus Logic CS4299 AC97 Codec>
drm0: <Matrox G400/G450 (AGP)> on vgapci0
info: [drm] AGP at 0xf0000000 64MB

-----------------Messages Output----------------------
May  3 12:34:20 pcbsd root: /etc/rc.d/sysctl: WARNING: sysctl hw.snd.pcm0.vchans does not exist.


I installed PCBSD 7.0 in two ways.  First, an "upgrade" to a 1.5.0 base.  Second, a "fresh install"

"THE UPGRADE"
* The "upgrade" went fine using the default install routine.  It took 20 minutes. 
* Although I selected the install of the programs on "Disk 2", I was able to cancel out without a problem when prompted. 
* X-config correctly detected my Matrox G450 card, and I was able to configure to a wide range of settings.  I did not go past 1920x1200.
* The PCBSD "Edison" KDE splash screen displayed using the "upgrade" method.
* All "old" desktop icons from the 1.5 installation were present.  However, the "older" installs of Opera, Fir
* System Administration reported itself as PCBSD 7.0 Alpha, but the Kernel Tab reports itself as FBSD 6.3 - PCBSD 1.5.  uname -a says it is FBSD 7.0-RELEASE
* In the Tasks tab, I was able to find the fasted CSup server, but I could not retrieve source code.
* In the Tasks tab, I was able to retrieve ports.
* The new desktop menus are interesting, but the dark red on gray them is too hard to read.
* Menu selections functioned correctly.

Summary, upgrade installation presented no unexpected problems.  Old applications do not carry forward.  Some of the strings in system administration still report PCBSD 1.5.

"THE FRESH INSTALL"
* The "fresh install" went fine using the default install routine.  It took 20 minutes. 
* X-config correctly detected my Matrox G450 card.
* The new PCBSD KDE splash screen displayed.
* System Administration reported itself as PCBSD 7.0 Alpha, but the Kernel Tab still reports itself as FBSD 6.3 - PCBSD 1.5
* In the Tasks tab, I was able to find the fasted CSup server, and I could retrieve source code.
* In the Tasks tab, I was able to retrieve ports.
* Menu selections functioned correctly.  There was a little "stutter" or "shaking" or "strobe effect" in the menu display.
* I installed Opera-Devel, Firefox-Devel, and Gwenview from  ports without any problems.
* I played extensively with the new menu scheme and configuration.  I had no problems except the "stutter".  The stutter does not exist with the classic style menu.

IMPRESSION:  This is a great Alpha release!  With the Alpha is this good, this will turn out to be the best PCBSD yet.  Relative speed of most things seems faster.