gnome-terminal not opening right
 

Got me stumped. gnome-terminal opens, and looks great, menu line at the top and all, but there is NO sign-in on it. No place to type anything. Now, here's a clue: If I open "Konsole", and take root, then open gnome-terminal from there, all is well. If I don't take root, it won't sign in. How can that be happening?

what do you mean by "sign-in"? when you open gnome-terminal (or Konsole, or xterm for that matter) you should be presented with a command prompt. what is happening here? a blank window with no prompt?

Yes, exactly. Nothing I have tried causes me to get a prompt in there. Konsole, however is just fine.