I don't understand why, but the problem with disappearing taskbar/kicker panel, that I had in my partner Clares' user account, has been cured by moving the .kde file and restarting the X server.

I'm not completely happy with that cure, because I don't understand why it should have worked. Surely anything that gets changed as a user should still mean that the basic "desktop facilities" work, but they didn't. I'm left "none the wiser", but I suppose it will keep...

Well, I've been happily using Kubuntu 6.06 - and have found a few "oddities".

It (the kubuntu) uses sudo for system management. Ok, got that, but I'm familiar with the more conventional root and user account system of long established linux wisdom.

Can I turn it (sudo) off ? Like fuck I can! I'm guessing that it was included as an aid to "ease of use", I just can't get used to it.

I have found a couple of possible solutions, but they're...

Well, I just clicked the "my blog" by accident. I'd forgotten that I'd started one.

So, it's about time that I updated it. Where am I (linux wise)?

I'm now using Kubuntu Dapper 6.06 which I arrived at, via a "soujourn" with SuSE 10.1

How did I get here (at kubuntu)? Well, I'd been happily using Mandriva 2006 - fully upgraded with the Thac/Ze packages to be able to benefit from their kde 3.5.2 packages, when I started reading stuff...

Well, today I've been hovering over my system as I've noticed that there have been new RPMs made available for KDE 3.5.2 (for mandriva 2006) during the last couple of days. You'll have to search over at mandrivausers.org for links to the repositories.

It was a relatively painless experience. Just a case of running the software manager, going to the section where you configure where you want to download packages from, hitting the "add custom" button, pasting the repository...