As not everyone likes Gnome, there is a part of the Ubuntu project that implements KDE. Installing it was a matter of running a command and accepting some options. It actually said there were some errors with some of the packages, but everything seems to be working nicely. It picked up my existing configuration that I had been using on Knoppix. For some reason I just prefer the feel of KDE, but that's probably because I have been tainted by years of Windows.

I sought medical advice on my shoulder and the opinion is that it's been strained. So I'm on painkillers, heat packs and rest. I've not suffered an injury this serious that I can remember, although I picked up a few aches at Aikido. I've managed to get through nearly four decades with no broken bones.

You may have noticed that the site is wearing a Make Poverty History band. I saw a few other sites doing this. It's a bit of Javascript that you can see in the page source and use on your own site if you like. I thought the Girl in the Cafe drama at the weekend put the point across well, even if it was an unlikely scenario.

I spent a while trying to get various things working last night. I had some success with RealPlayer (that I use for BBC radio) and Skype (for free internet phone calls). Both of these had problems on Knoppix with their sound. It wasn't all plain sailing. RealPlayer needed me to edit /etc/esound/esd.conf to disable auto-spawn and Skype needed me to install kcontrol (KDE configuration). Google and the Ubuntu forums were a great help. I would have been stuck with out them.

Other things I need to look at are audio (Ubuntu comes without MP3 support due to licence issues), digital images (organising my camera pictures), scanning, video (possibly Xine), personal accounts (GnuCash does the job) and various other stuff to keep the family happy. At some point I want to get into digital viedo and audio, but that's for when I have more time.

Weather news: big thunder and lightning storm last night. Then it poured with rain.