exasperating....can 't minimize..there's no "back" arrow...
 

This is just re phrasing a question I asked before.
I cannot minimize. There's no dash, no little square, no x.
There's no "back" arrow..
I can go to "quit" which brings me back to the opening screen..."don't ask me what the name of the screen is...as far as I know, there is no name for it...
I'm using ubuntu 10.4..

I'm not really following you, where is this screen that you are talking about? After you open an application?

Methinks a screenshot would help.

If taking the screenshot on your Linux system is a problem, then take it with a cellphone camera.

I have a screenshot of the desktop, on the desktop.

I can't copy and paste it,I can'd drag and drop it...I can't make the screen any smaller than "full page"

Once I open an application ..it takes up the entire screen. there's no way to minimize it, or reduce its size or to go back to the previous screen...

Is this a new installation?
Have you ever been able to use it properly, do the things you say you can't do in your first post.
Is this a wubi install of Ubuntu? Did you do an actual install to a partition?

We can't see your Desktop so that doesn't help much!!

Specifics. What application(s)? How do you access them?
How old is your machine?

I don't understand how having it on the desktop keeps you from posting it. When you add an attachment, it will open up a little file browser window, and you can browse for your screenshot there.

Having a screenshot on my desktop means nothing, because there's nothing I can do to get it here to show you..

It's not a very new installation. It's two months old. At first it had the wherewithall to minimize..to get new mail (evolution) Cut and paste was more reliable (it works more often than not, but sometimes It wont work)

Off the top of my head, I can't think of any applications I can minimize when they're running...

I can't take a picture of the screen with my cell phone camera. the cell phone has a camera, but I don't use it...so I never bought the cord required to transfer a picture to the hard drive..

(I don't like the cell phone,I rarely use it, but I'm a bicyclist,and my wife wants me to have it for long rides.

The desktop is purple. It has a taskbar across the top, (I'd like to minimize this screen to see if there's anything else, but I can't. I'd have to close out of this app altogether to do that...
There's nothing across the bottom at all...

I hope this has answered some of your questions...I'd like to be able to convey to you, how exasperating and cumbersome this is.

???????

Try navigating to the "Desktop" directory under your home directory.

I wish I knew how.

You have opened files in Windows programs before, right? This is no different.

Anyway, click "manage attachments" (it's under the text box when you post), and it should be obvious from there.

What you describe above is the Ubuntu Desktop after you are logged in. There's nothing open to minimize/maximize/close. In the "taskbar" at the top you should see the Ubuntu logo on the far left, Applications tab, Places tab, System tab and probably the firefox icon. Other icons on the right. Do you have these? If you don't have these, you've got serious problems. In your first post, you said you could go to quit. Where do you see quit?

If you've been using this for two months as you indicated earlier, what happened immediately prior to this problem?

Click the Places tab, the drop down box should show Home Folder as the first item, click that and Nautilus File Manager will open and you can see the Desktop icon there.

I don't think your posts are very clear as to your experience with Ubuntu, how this problem began and details of what you have tried. Some specifics rather than generalities would be helpful for someone to try to help you.

[QUOTE=yancek;4416862]What you describe above is the Ubuntu Desktop after you are logged in. There's nothing open to minimize/maximize/close. In the "taskbar" at the top you should see the Ubuntu logo on the far left, Applications tab, Places tab, System tab and probably the firefox icon. Other icons on the right. Do you have these? If you don't have these, you've got serious problems. In your first post, you said you could go to quit. Where do you see quit?

If you've been using this for two months as you indicated earlier, what happened immediately prior to this problem?


I see all those things.I can go to "quit" under file.
I did have the minimize icons but for reasons unknown to me, I no longer have them.
I'm going to try your suggestions..Thank you

/home/rye/Desktop
I followed the directions..I must have done something wrong because that's all I get when I try to copy it..( I was dubious about copying it in the first place) I can't drag and drop it here.