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Stormed
July 3rd, 2010, 08:47 PM
Hello,

I'm new to Ubuntu (actually Linux in general) and am trying to get into it. Right now I am just fooling around with the look of my desktop. I have figured out how to mess around with themes and docks a little bit, but I am having two problems. I hope someone can help me. I realize this has most likely been asked before, but I have searched for a while and could not find my answers.



How do I get rid of the default menu system and get a 'task bar' up top like I see in everyone's screen shots? I have uploaded an image to show what I am talking about. (Screen shot -1)
Every once in a while my top bar and bottom dock just disappear visually. Or sometimes my application windows will just disappear visually. I have to reboot to get them back. If I had a video going in youtube for example, I can still hear the sound but I cant see anything (even using alt+tab, etc) I have to attached an image to show this (Screen shot -2)

Thanks for your help,
Stormed

demosthenese
July 3rd, 2010, 10:12 PM
There is a huge variety of docks/launchers/panels you can choose to install to replace the standard panel. You could try awn, or cairo dock, or ...

No idea on your second problem. Sorry.

kerry_s
July 3rd, 2010, 10:40 PM
1.
press-> alt+f2
type-> gnome-panel
(if by chance your using metacity compositing, you need to turn off undecorate in maximus, there not compatible & will make the panel invisible.)

2.
i suspect your using metacity composite with maximus.

Stormed
July 5th, 2010, 08:31 AM
Thanks for the help guys.

What you suggested worked for me Kerry, I turned off undecorate in the gconf-editor.

Now that I know the top taskbar is called a panel in linux I tried doing some research. I found out that I needed to switch to a "desktop" mode, but couldn't figure out how to do that. I went through the process of disabling the start-up applications related to this netbook window management. However, the panel that I am left with is all dumbed down. I cannot add or remove items to it.

I have created a post in the newbie forums, which might be a better place for this. I will just link it here in the interest of not spamming multiple boards with the same problem.

Thanks again,
Stormed

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=9549285#post9549285