[SWLUG] brown screen on ubuntu

[Pete Prior]

Rhys Sage wrote:
> I've just installed Ubuntu on a 1.7ghz, 128mb Dell. It
> seems sluggish (as are all the Dells I have
> encountered).

1.7ghz sounds like a celeron.
I was using 192mb back in 2000 - Do keep up :)  256mb is a nice minimum 
amount for Gnome these days, though efforts are underway to reduce the 
amount of memory Gnome eats.

> 
> I have a brown screen that doesn't seem to want to
> change to any other colour and all I can see is the
> top and bottom bars. I can use Ubuntu but it won't
> show me any icons on the desktop. 

Sounds like nautilus may not be running - it's what usually handles 
icons on the Gnome desktop.

Try running the command "nautilus" in a terminal and see if anything 
changes.

You should be able to right click on the desktop to change the colour / 
background.

What do I do? I'm
> downloading Knoppix at the moment just in case today's
> download of ubuntu is a bit stuffed. 

I'm not sure how downloading knoppix will help..

Pete