With regards to my part of the problem, it is basically done.. It was apparently a conflict with SVN beryl packages. Once I uninstalled them, the problem disappeared. Gnome-panel still occasionally crashed when certain windows were open sometimes, but that has since receded with subsequent upgrades.
tarek : ) -- Keyboard applet does not work in gnome-panel https://launchpad.net/bugs/90155 -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs