My laptop has a touchpad and when I want to use a USB mouse I have to plug it into the computer before I boot Mandrake. Plugging it in after Mandrake is up and running and I'm in KDE doesn't do anything. Is there a way to be able to bring up the USB mouse from within KDE?

Also on a side note, how can I start and stop the network from within KDE in a terminal? I see on boot something like "./network start eth1" and I tried it in a terminal session but it didn't work. Sometimes I change locations and my wireless access point is different. I know I can change all of this through the Mandrake control panel but I'd rather do it quickly through a terminal. Any suggestions?

edit your /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 file..

as for the mouse, I'm pretty sure that you'll have to at least log out from KDE.

For the network. I think you are looking for
service network stop
service network start

maybe
service network restart
will do, too.