i should be working (but i'm fixing my computer).

My kde 4.1.3 desktop was stable for many days. However, that was partly due to the fact that once I arrived at a usable setup, I quit while I was ahead.

Stability, and many updates, having arrived, it was time once again to push the envelope. After all, what is the point of using the cutting edge desktop if you can't use any of the cutting edge tools?

Instabork. Repeataamous. Instabork, instabork, instabork.

So, I laboriously added one widget and/or icon at a time, cautiously creating a "save point" each time. This took just short of eternity.

Now, I will say that there are many widgets and icons I have not tried. But here's where I'm at:

For some bizarre, inexplicable (and apparently brand-new) reason, I cannot drag the "system information" icon from "computer" in the launcher and place it on the panel. Well, I can ... but when I restart plasma, instabork.

It took me a while to realize this was the problem. After all, this icon-on-panel had been part of my "stable" setup for weeks, nay, months.

At the moment, that is the ONLY THING I am aware of that will crash out my plasma and require rebuilding the desktop. Here are things that work:

move panel to right side.
add new panel to bottom.
add yast, software manager and personal settings icon to panel.
add konqueror & konsole profile widgets to panel.
add classic launcher to panel.
add spacer to panel.
add drag and add multiple icons from application launcher to panel so long as they are not "System Information."
remove and add pager.
remove and add notifier
remove and add taskbar
remove and add digital clock
remove and add system tray
add quicklauncher
add quickfolder
add show dekstop
add show plasma desktop
calculator
run command to desktop
to-do to desktop
analog clock to desktop
calculator to desktop
dictionary to desktop
trash icon to desktop
wireless signal to desktop
weather widget to desktop

You may ask why I move around things like digital clock, taskbar, etc.

In an earlier configuration, I found that I could put the "system information", yast and software manager icons on the original panel, but not on the one I add. So, because of the way I wish to cluster my icons, I move the original panel to the side, but I move all of the notifiers/feedback to the bottom and all of the "launchers" to the side. (Just a personal preference.)

BTW, for no apparent reason, the digital clock is now not creating a large enough slot in the panel, so that the beginning of the "day" and the end of the "year" are being cutoff by the adjacent panel items.