I hope the traditional Gnome will be kept as an alternative for older machines though, as I have one older machine that does not seem to have the graphic capabilities to run Gnome Shell.

I have completely switched to GS for my office machine and find the working environment so much more practical for everyday use.

I remember when a Microsoft computer was a black screen with green letters, while at the same time a Mac was far more advanced and had everything in separate panes. Eventually Microsoft tried to catch up with their Windows. Some would say they are still trying to catch up with their Linux-like Windows7.

Linux has had its own style and seemed to develop into two main (there are others!) types of desktop environments, Gnome and KDE. KDE seemed to be what Vista was trying to copy with as many bells and whistles as possible (except KDE has always worked). I used KDE as my main Linux desktop for a few years even though I find it irritating that their applications are all named beginning with a ‘K’. Who thought that was either clever or cute?

In contrast, Gnome seemed to shy away from anything that was not very useful or elegant. Shades of William Morris?

Some might say that Gnome looks old fashioned as it looks very much like the first Mac I ever used in the 1990s. But I think it is simple and elegant. It also works as an efficient desktop environment.

Now Gnome looks like it is to be updated with Gnome Shell and I hear it will be part of the new release of Ubuntu in April. I will be happy to see it.

If, like me, you enjoy using it and want to use the most up to date experimental version. Add a new software repository to your software sources so you always have the latest release. You can get details from here.

There are many places to go to get the instructions about downloading and installing, but how to get it to start automatically might be a puzzle to some. One reason for that is that there are some faulty instructions on the web. A good place for instructions on how to use Gnome Shell is live.gnome.org

To start Gnome Shell after it is all installed, go to Applications> Accessories> Terminal. When the window opens with what is called a ‘terminal’ you will see the prompt where to enter your command. Type in

gnome-shell --replace

[Before you hit return remember this tip.  After hitting return/enter key, if the thing does not work properly, and your screen does funny things, hold down the Ctrl key and press the ‘c’ key. This is a short way to bring everything back to normal.  Better than restarting your machine in a panic!

So, type in

gnome-shell --replace

Then you hit return.

Gnome Shell will now be running in that open terminal. if you close the terminal window funny things will happen. So as you try out Gnome Shell just reduce the terminal that is running Gnome Shell.

To stop running Gnome Shell hold down Alt and press the F2 key. A very small window will appear in the centre of your screen waiting for your command. In that tiny window type ‘debugexit’ and this will properly quit Gnome Shell.

To always start Gnome Shell when you log in. You can run the following in a terminal, type it as all one line (you can copy from here and paste it in but I have had to cram it into this post, you must make sure you get rid of the line breaks I have had to put in here):

gconftool-2 --set /desktop/gnome/session/required_components
/windowmanager --type string gnome-shell

To reverse this change run this in a terminal:

gconftool-2 --unset /desktop/gnome/session/required_components
/windowmanager

It is worth trying Gnome Shell as it may be the shape of things to come in the future Linux releases.

Probably not!

The satnav function on Nokia phones is excellent now that it is a free download. It is a dream on the larger touchscreen on the N97 mini I have been trialling, but it is still great on the smaller screen of my Nokia E72. It slots into a holder above the dashboard and I am off.

I have used satnav on my bicycle, but not recently. The problem with a bike is that the mounting has to be right. I solved it with duct tape. Not exactly quick release though.

In a car the unit can be more in line of sight but with a bicycle it will obviously be on the handlebars. with the need to look up and down a lot. Could this projection method be the solution? I am not convinced. In daylight would the projection be seen clearly enough? At night in cities would it compete with the ambient street lighting, shop fronts and signage?

If an earpiece is used so the audio directions are what is being relied upon, then there is no advantage to changing to this system, whether for cyclist or pedestrians.

I looked in the cupboard and saw two small tins of evaporated milk. “Don’t normally have this” I thought, “but one of these will do.”

I took one out, opened it and poured it over. It had no special flavour, which was odd, as it had a caramel colour.

After eating it all up I looked at the tin to see why it was a dark colour.

I found the ‘use by’ date - 2002! Eight years old. That will account for odd colour then.

I have decided not to eat the other tin.

Posted by Wordmobi

Perhaps this is what I should have written.

I was in tears with laughter!

It is a kit called the Ktrak that can be added to a normal bike. Typical, it has been around for a few years and I have only just discovered it!

Looks hard work though. Bet it works up a sweat.

Unlike the iPhone, these Nokias can run more than one app at the same time. That means once logged in the Facebook user can see the small app keeping them informed of their status and the messages coming in while they continue to use their phone for other things.

Some of my Facebook using friends were playing with the N97 last night and they thought this facility was great. One person with an iPhone was admitting the limitations of their machine only able to run one app at a time (I had not realised they were so primitive).

One drawback though on this Nokia. Once into Facebook my friends couldn’t find the chat facility. Is it there and they were not looking hard enough, or is it missing? As I said, I don’t do Facebook so I wouldn’t know.

The general consensus is that this is a great phone. But I still prefer my Nokia E72.

The following is an example of a skirmish with BT hell. Bear in mind that to speak to someone at BT you first have to play the game of ‘find the phone number’ on the BT web site. Next is the hateful experience of choosing options on the phone “If you wish to … please press button 2″. You would think a company whose business was telephony would try to avoid anything that would make using telephony an unpleasant experience. You would think they would want to be an example of excellence in the telephone experience.

I have two telephone lines at my house from the days of dial-up internet when my main office was there. I recently decided I only need one line so I would like to switch my broadband ISP from one line to the other. I have used Freedom2surf for a few years now and have found their customer service very good.

Freedom2surf told me I must cancel my ISP on the one line and order a new one for the other line. Sounds simple. I made the order and awaited developments.

19 February 2010 - From Freedom2surf, email
After conducting a further investigation in to the post code discrepancy with your order, we have deemed the difference to be too great between the post code you have supplied for 01904XXXXXX and what BT say the post code is.

You have given us: YO32 XXX. BT say the post code is: YO3 8TJ

If you are positive the details you have supplied are correct, then please contact BT and have them fix their records. Once this has been done please let us know by reply to this email or by calling.

19 February 2010 - Me, email
Dear Freedom2surf

I checked my postcode on the Royal Mail postcode searcher and the post code I gave you is correct for my address:

XXX XXXX XXXXXXX
YORK
YO32 XXX

I have just spoken to BT customer services (a lady in India called Rashmi) and she insisted that the postcode I have given to you is the correct one for my BT account, YO32 XXX. She was unable to explain where YO3 8TJ could have come from.

Is there anything else I can do?

Regards

Graham

22/02/2010 - Freedom2surf, email
Dear graham,

Thank you for contacting the freedom2surf Provisioning Team.
We are unable to process your order as BT hold the post code YO3 8TJ for this line. You will need to contact BT again to get them to update their systems. If you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact us.

Many Thanks and Kind Regards

22/02/2010 - Me, email
Dear Freedom2surf

I have just spoken to BT (1:50pm, spoke to Lisa XXXX) and they say they have no authority over BT Wholesale. They admit that BT Wholesale has the incorrect postcode for my address but say that my new ISP are the ones that must have it corrected as I am not a customer of BT Wholesale.

22/02/2010 - Me, telephone
I telephoned Freedom2surf and they said they were not yet the customer and had no more authority over my telephone line that I did. They said BT had simply not updated the tags on my line and should update them. They said the postcode discrepancy was too great to ignore (YO3 instead of YO32). They said they would try BT again]

22/02/2010 - Me, telephone
I telephoned BT and after waiting, spoke to a very pleasant man in India who eventually said he could not help me and said I must speak to a different department. He put me through to someone else, an English voice, and I started to tell my story again.

As I told my story, sitting in front of the computer, an email came it:

22/02/2010 - Freedom2surf
Dear graham,

Thank you for contacting the freedom2surf Provisioning Team.

We have been in contact with BT and they have now updated your postcode to YOXX XXX in their systems. We have therefore resubmitted your order for processing.

If you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact us.

Many Thanks and Kind Regards

22/02/2010 - Me
I am currently skipping with delight. Relief? I hope so, it has not been connected yet.

Lent observance is not an important part of Pentecostal expression of faith and spirituality. I am not sure why that is so. I have been thinking it over. If anyone thinks they have an answer I would be interested to hear it.

It may be because Pentecostalism is, in part, an attempt to rediscover a very early type of Christianity. Pentecostals tend to try and recapture the sort of primitive New Testament style of Christianity, before Lent was observed. I say ‘attempt’ as I realise that it is not something that is possible to accomplish completely. These are different times, with a very different culture from those ancient places. However, people are much the same.

Some Christians are suspicious of Lent as they see it to be too similar to an ancient Babylonian tradition of celebration using baked cakes like we do with hot-cross buns.

I do not want to knock anything to do with Lent but I do think that commitment and dedication should not be confined to a particular moment in the calendar, I aim for it all year round. There is also the fact that Christians go through spiritual seasons that have nothing to do with the seasons of the calender. Some Christians will be going through a ‘winter’ time of the soul when others around them are experiencing the exuberance of a spiritual ’spring’. We must not envy the experience of another but learn from our own ’season’ and find contentment and fulfilment in it.

One value of the celebration of Lent of course is that it is something a group or community all do together. Like a community pilgrimage. Perhaps in our age of individualism such corporate acts of spirituality as Lent may take on new expressions to fit our time.

Apart from the keyboard though, the N97 is a good phone.

The operating system is Symbian and until recently I would have thought that OS had a short life expectancy. Now Symbian has gone Open Source I think it will rise again. It is after all an OS that works, can run more than one application at the same time, is stable and is easy on the eye.

So what is good on the N97? I watched the already installed Shrek trailer and it looked great on the small screen. I could see this phone making a good travelling companion as it is also a good reader for ebooks. If you are reading Nokia, I think a good ebook reading programme would be good. There are ebooks ready to download that are combined with the reader, but what about a reader that can cope with various ebook formats? I installed MobiReader but it lacked the style that a good reader programme could make of the quality N97 screen.

Something that makes excellent use of the N97 screen is ViewRanger a GPS programme that uses Ordinance Survey maps.