After re-reading my notes (I keep a log of my activities), I see that I used urpmi to do the upgrade as follows (sorry for the erroneous information first time out):This command will update your urpmi database, then install any upgradable packages. In other words, it will find all the KDE-4.1.x packages installed on your system for which there is a KDE-4.2.2 package, then install the newer package. It will also find any other package installed on your system for which there is a newer package, then install the newer package.

Fred, I have corrected the commands above for the benefit of other readers of this thread . . .

I now see why the commands were outdated. I use the x86_64 platform here. The i586 commands were from when I did the install on an i596 system for another user. KDE-4.2.0 was the current release at that time. I simply did not update my activity log when I upgraded that users system because the upgrades were done at the user's site (not here) and my activity log resides here (if this continues, I will have to get myself a PDA or an EeePC - e.g.:NETbook). I suppose my age is showing .

Thanks again to all for the help. I believe it can't be saved. I think I'll either delete it and restore again or try the RC2 version.

I noticed my restore version is from Oct. '08...maybe it's too old for all the current updates also.

It was a good learning experience with Mandriva and KDE in general.

Thnx.

When I install a new version of Mandriva, I get the all.img file from the ftp mirror of my choice. It is located under either the i586 or the x86_64 directory (depending on your platform) in the /install/images/ directory.

I use dd to put the contents of the image file on a flash drive (dd if=/home/$USER/all.img of=/dev/sdb1). A small flash drive will work OK because the file is less than 20MiB. Caution!: Any existing data on the flash drive will be destroyed. Note: replace sdb1 with the correct device node for your flash drive in the command above.

Next, boot from the flash drive. select ftp install, use dhcp, no proxy. You are then presented with a pre-defined list of ftp servers (or the option to enter server information manually) from which to install Mandriva. After making ypur selection, the installer loads from the ftp mirror. Work your way through the installation steps (about the same as what you see on the CD installer).

If you can not boot from a flash drive, you can get the boot.iso CD image file from the same location and burn it to a rewritable CD (or even DVD), then use the disk to accomplish the same result.

The benefits of using this method are as follows (in no particular order of importance):

1. I get the Internet Media Sources pre-configured for my system (no need to get them set up following installation).

2. I do not use any CD to install Mandriva when I use a flash drive which helps to reduce my carbon foot print. If I use a CD, I use a rewritable one so I can re-use it for the installation of the next version (or for any other purpose) with the same objective in mind (carbon foot print).

3. I only download the files I am actually going to install to my system (although any savings in time or data transfer may be offset by the time or additional data transfer required for the installation program to communicate with the ftp server).

4. When I perform an installation, I have access the the full range of software packaged for Mandriva Linux. For this reason, I use the option to select individual packages so as to take full advantage, allowing me to have all the software I want on my system at first boot.

I present this option because (for me) it seems to be more direct than downloading CD or DVD image(s), burning the image(s) to disk, installing Mandriva, re-configuring my media sources, and finally installing any software (from the Internet software media sources) not included with the installation disk(s). The actual ftp based installation takes more time than when run from a CD or DVD, but I am convinced that the increase in install time is more than offset by the time and effort saved not dealing with image download(s) and burning(s) not to mention the follow-up software media source reconfiguration and potentially additional software package installation. This installation method may not be suitable for everybody (but perhaps for some).

When Mandriva 2009 (Spring) comes out (in about the next week or so) I will take noted and put an article on my LQ blog with greater detail.

HTH,

I guess what you are saying is it's more of a netinstall, if so , that is how I mainly install Debian. But being the type who can't wait, I did download the full livecd and installed MDK from there, and using it now as I write this post.

But I do want the livecd to pass along to family and friends so they can try linux also. I wished I had read this post before installing from the cd and tried the flash drive way.

Thnx again, and I'll keep everyone posted on my travels using MDK-2009.1.