I hosed my Ubuntu install on my junkbox yesterday. Turns out the kernel image packages do something with X settings, and I change a lot of X settings. Thus, X fails to start. I could have manually edited the document from the command line and gotten it back up, but what’s the fun in that? Instead, I slicked the drive, made a 40GB partition for WinXP MCE 2k5 (only to stream vids to my Xbox360) and reinstalled ubuntu on the rest of the 250GB drive. Works like a charm might I add. In the process, I found out there’s a new version of Synergy, and that there’s a package on the ubuntu site, but strangely not in the repositories, so I ended up installing from source (which I wrote the wiki article on btw). Next, I installed Automatix, which pretty well hosed my PreSession and Init scripts to run Synergy prior to login, then proceeded to look for Beagle and Banshee, which apparently aren’t in the repositories either. WTF?! What’s a linux n00b supposed to do if the best programs aren’t even available without some serious research! Tonight I’ll get on and see what else I can get into, as well as building both Beagle and Banshee from source, and installing Picasa and Google Earth Beta, which both rule hard.