KDE/Qt Status in Debian dists

[Terry Hancock <hancock@earthlink.net>]

Hi,
I've installed the "Hamm" (=2.0) distribution of Debian Linux from CD,
and I intended from the
start to install KDE as quickly as I could, but Debian has since gone to
"Slink" (=2.1).

On the Hamm CDs, the "Qt" library required by KDE is not included for
licensing reasons.
However, the Troll Tech website claims the newer versions of Qt are
"free" software,
apparently resolving previous licensing conflicts. (?)

The Qt library debian package _is_ on the FTP site, but unfortunately,
when I try to update
the package from there using dselect, I get a cascade of dependencies --
basically dselect
wants to upgrade my whole system to the Slink distribution.  This would
be okay, except for
the downtime.

I'd prefer to get the "Slink" CDs, but will the Qt library be on them?

I have little time to work with this computer, and I fear that if I get
Slink, "Potato" will be out
before I get the Qt package, and I'll be back where I started. :)

Also, can you get dselect to _downgrade_ your packages?  I've now got
some kind of
mixture of Hamm and Slink packages on this system, and I'm not sure how
stable that is.  I
wish dselect gave you a little more control, but I haven't quite figured
out how to do everything
with dpkg.

Would appreciate any help at all, thanks!

Terry Hancock
hancock@earthlink.net