I have an MSI Wind and just installed Mandriva 2009 on it with the KDE option so it installed KDE 4.1.2.
I know there is an option to install the earlier KDE 3.5.1 using the /contrib repository and installing the task-kde3 package.
My question: I've heard often that KDE 4.* is not stable enough for regular use and have even heard that it won't be for another 1 to 1 1/2 years. I see how Mandriva chose this as the default and heard with OpenSUSE 11.2 it will also be the default and that will be early next year.
Is KDE 4.1.2. ready for regular use or should I stay with KDE 3.5.1 for now? Also, I even tried installing KDE 3.5.1 but am unsure of how I do this. Do I enter this from the terminal or by simply installing additional software. I'm very new to Linux so am just learning about all of this now.

hi,

yes, kde 4.0 is still unstable.

you should have gotten the option to install kde3.5, i do not really know as I have not worked with mandivra 2009.

anyway what would help is : log into the concole as a root and type in 'drakeconfig.real (notsure abt the actual; command, you can use tab after you type in drake) and install kde3.5 from there.

For me kde 4.1.2 that ships with Mandriva 2009 is a lot more stable than 3.5*
The panel doesn't crash the same way that kicker used to, and the dolphin file manager (used in place of konqueror) doesn't crash when adding or removing usb devices.

Give it a try and see how it is for you. Kde 3.5 can be installedalongside kde 4 using "urpmi task-kde" in a terminal/console, just don't remove the 'orphan' packages that you might be told about or kde 4 might disappear in a puff of blue smoke

Up until now Kde 4.1.2 in Mandriva 2009 works fine for me too.
No problems at all , but it is just a short time , so who knows

I also find KDE4.1.2 stable but found switching between kde3.5 and kde4 created a bit of a screw up. Further research uncovered comment that switching back and forth between the two was not wise. Minor elements of instability - and I have not struck them myself - appear to be over shadowed by the additional functionality. For me this means a camera download with the Panasonic Lumix fx33 that I couldn't get before and the Dolphin file manager's split screen that saves opening Konqerour twice or using a package with screen splitting but not a huge lot of functionality.

- Phidor