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    Desktop is black in Ubuntu

    Discussion in 'Linux Compatibility and Software' started by Thomas, May 3, 2008.

  1. Thomas

    Thomas McLovin

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    Hello, I was playing around with Gnome's panels and all of a sudden my desktop background is black, and right clicking on it doesn't work. Everything else is fine, just the desktop.....
     
    Thomas, May 3, 2008
    #1
  2. John B

    John B Notebook Prophet

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    Have you tried to log out?
     
    John B, May 3, 2008
    #2
  3. Thomas

    Thomas McLovin

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    Yup, even a restart....
    I guess if I can't find the answer I'll reinstall.
     
    Thomas, May 3, 2008
    #3
  4. John B

    John B Notebook Prophet

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    Are there icons on the desktop?
     
    John B, May 3, 2008
    #4
  5. Thomas

    Thomas McLovin

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    Nope, I've tried changing the background, but it doesn't work.
    Even Compiz still works.
     
    Thomas, May 3, 2008
    #5
  6. v1k1ng1001

    v1k1ng1001 Notebook Deity

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    I was going to suggest that maybe you lost the image file for your background but that is obviously not what's going on.

    What were you up to before things went bad?
     
    v1k1ng1001, May 3, 2008
    #6
  7. John B

    John B Notebook Prophet

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    Try in a terminal:

    sudo killall nautilus
    sudo nautilus &
     
    John B, May 3, 2008
    #7
  8. Thomas

    Thomas McLovin

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    I'll Try that John.
    I was editing the panels, that's all.
     
    Thomas, May 3, 2008
    #8
  9. Thomas

    Thomas McLovin

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    That did it John, Thanks!
     
    Thomas, May 3, 2008
    #9
  10. Patrick

    Patrick Formerly beat spamers with stiks

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    silly nautilus, always in the way
     
    Patrick, May 3, 2008
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  11. wearetheborg

    wearetheborg Notebook Virtuoso

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    Imagine the difficulty if a similar problem had arisen in MS windows :D

    John B, why was nautilus messing up the desktop ? Isnt it just a file browser ?
     
    wearetheborg, May 4, 2008
    #11
  12. blackbird

    blackbird Notebook Deity

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    That's the thing, nautilus controls the file browser and the desktop (icons and panels)
     
    blackbird, May 4, 2008
    #12
  13. Amol

    Amol APH! NBR Reviewer

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    John, what does the "&" do in "sudo nautilus &"?
     
    Amol, May 4, 2008
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  14. wearetheborg

    wearetheborg Notebook Virtuoso

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    "&" is for running a process in the background
     
    wearetheborg, May 4, 2008
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  15. John B

    John B Notebook Prophet

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    It's also the shell...IMO it's comparable to Windows' explorer.exe (not IE)

    blackbird is right...with & you can run the process in the background.
    If you just type "sudo nautilus" for example, it will open a window (file manager)
     
    John B, May 4, 2008
    #15
  16. Amol

    Amol APH! NBR Reviewer

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    You mean "weareteheborg is right" :p.

    But thanks, both of you :).
     
    Amol, May 4, 2008
    #16
  17. John B

    John B Notebook Prophet

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    Oops sorry ;)
     
    John B, May 4, 2008
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  18. theZoid

    theZoid Notebook Savant

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    Linux is really very simplistic once you get to understand how it works. That's what I've been told anyway.....lol
     
    theZoid, May 5, 2008
    #18