trouble restoring and other bugs

Hi,
openSUSE 12.1
pgadmin version 1.14.0(Oct 30, 2011) REl-1_14_0
Postgres 8.4

I installed pgadmin using Yast.

First I'm new to this interface and it could be that I'm doing something 
wrong.  I have used earlier version of pgadmin for years without issues. 
1. None of the messages that normally appear in dialog boxes - i.e. the 
standard message about saving passwords dialog text is completely blank after 
adding a server.

2.  I can't restore any of the backups I make (I always get an exit with error 
) Yet I don't see anything in the command from earlier versions.  The backups 
exit with a 0.  

Could someone explain the correct procedure to make a restore-able backup and 
what is required to restore the backup. 

Thanks in advance,

Johnf