Q I've noticed what appears to be a glaring omission in your tutorials: graphical file management. In Fedora/Gnome, there is a computer icon on my desktop from which I can open windows, create folders, move files around and so on, similar to older versions of Mac OS. How in the world do I launch the Dolphin file manager in KDE? I've had to do file management from the command line. None of your FAQs or 'New to Linux' articles that I've seen discuss file management in Gnome or KDE.
A KDE 4 has moved everything around and a lot of people are having to learn new ways to perform the old tasks. The easiest way to add instant file management to KDE 4 is to right-click on the desktop and select Add Widgets. This opens a list of the various widgets you can have on your desktop. Select the Folder View widget to add a new desktop window containing your home directory. Clicking on any of the directories here will launch Dolphin. If you want to browse removable devices, USB disks, DVDs or suchlike, click on the New Device Notifier icon, next to the main Menu button, to get a list of devices. You can also launch Dolphin by selecting any one of these.
Dolphin is still available in the standard menu, under Tools > System Tools. You can drag it from the menu on to the desktop if you prefer a desktop icon to launch it, or you could use the menu editor (available by right-clicking the Menu button) to move Dolphin to a more suitable (or less well hidden location).
The version of Gnome supplied with Mandriva is similar to what you are used to - Gnome is not undergoing the upheavals that KDE users are having to adapt to - so you should be able to use it in exactly the same way as you do in Fedora. The Computer icon is a Fedora addition, but you get the same window open if you select Computer from the Places menu on the top menu bar. If you want a Computer icon on the desktop, drag it from the menu and drop it on the Desktop. This applies to just about any program, whether you are using Gnome or KDE, just drag it from the menu to create a desktop icon.