Hi Michael, all:

I got my no-mouse problem solved, finally. Made a couple of changes in
/etc/X11/XF86Config-4 to remove the "dri" line in the line "Load", then
switching the startup to console instead of X.

I just did this:

pico /etc/inittab and changed id:5:initdefault to  id:3:initdefault, to
start it in console. Wrote it out, and on the reboot, I did a startx at the
command prompt and it booted into KDE, WITH THE MOUSE finally being detected
this time. Weird. Why should changing the startup to console make a
difference in the mouse being detected?

Hm. Well, I've got a few more gray hairs in the process, but I'm sure
getting an education in how Linux works. There's a possibility I may even
understand it someday.

Thanks for your input...now, time to play around with X and see what I've
got here...

Jackie