I don't think going around in circles with the command line is fun.
There is always an easier way to do things.
The desktop has problems, that's why I said do a clean install. It solves the problem.
After Dorothy uses ubuntu for a time, it will probably come to her what went wrong.
It is possible the desktop was removed in Synaptic Package Manager.
The gnome desktop comes up if everything is okay.
ubuntu is for end users. To make it easier. User friendly.
I do tech and what works is what I do.
If you want difficult, use Windoz or Apple.

You know what I'd do? I do a clean install and use 10.04. I have no idea how to get out of terminal or why it's doing that.
It would be easier on you nerves to start over.

You can run the live ubuntu cd and have a look around.
You can't save anything on it, but it would give you an idea of how it works.

Kyoungman wrote:
[quote]I tried that and ran into the same problem. So i got rid of the flash player completely. and now i run into this problem.

Read my last post. That's how I install flash all of the time. You can also try a game site and see if the banner shows up that says missing plugin.

When I do a clean install, I go to google and put ubuntu jre6and plugin command.
Go into the site Kabatology.
There will be an install missing plugin at the top of the page. Click on it and choose adobe falsh. It will install it. Wait until it is done.
I open the terminal and install jre by highlighting the command line and pasting it into the terminal.
This is for playing online games.