so, first, thanks for the google link (sincerely, not being snarky).  I appreciate that even though you thought my question or lack of finding a result to be lacking you still took the time to send me a link with some help.  As explanation, I had not considered google (should have) and had only been searching within the forums.  brain-fart moment.

I *have* been able to find lots of info on SolPart menu bugs, etc., many of which are references to SolPart before it was removed.  I've also found lots of references to replacing SolPart with custom menus, etc., again,, from before the DDRMenu introduction and/or before the core removal.  

What I was hoping to find was specific DDRMenu replacements for SolPart functionality.  I have since found one document that describes that, but only at the top-level (skin) - whereas the issue I'm having is at the container level (now) and simply replacing the solpartactions.ascx reference with a ddrmenu\actions.ascx didn't quite fix the problem... 

you're right - should've posted more details.  I should know better...  guess I was hoping it was a common enough issue that there'd be a quick-simple solution but in any case...I'm including a screen cap to (hopefully) illustrate the remaining issue: 

Hopefully you can see the image, but essentially, I edited the container *.ascx file and substituted the DDRMenu file "Actions.ascx" for the previously referenced "SolpartActions.ascx".  The actions menu now display when in Edit mode, however, it does not display as a pop-up or expanded hovering menu, instead it appears in-line and destroys any semblance of layout of the modules.... 

thoughts? suggestions? hints?  all help gratefully accepted and appreciated!