D. R. Evans wrote:

> More info:
> 
> The background doesn't flicker at all. What is flickering are the panel
> and the default icons on the desktop, many times a second.
> 
> If I succeed in bringing up the TDE menu (which, if I click enough times,
> eventually does appear when I succeed in timing a click at a moment when
> the desktop is accepting input), then the flickering stops for as long as
> the menu is visible.
> 
> Really hoping for some helpful suggestions. I really, really, really,
> don't want to give up and use KDE5.

Try the tderandrtray and set better resolution to match your screen.

flickering comes from many possible places but most often is the requency