Okay, so the workspace "bug" doesn't seem to be a bug after all. I was experiencing that because of how Compiz handles workspaces differently. "make sure you have only 1 workspace set in gnome which will give you 4 viewports "default" in beryl"
http://forum.compiz-fusion.org/showthread.php?t=1351 After changing the gnome workspaces to 1 (or turning Compiz effects off all together), my problem went away, although I still can't explain why the panels and desktop would disappear -- gnome-panel gutsy crashes when switching workspace https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/150346 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is the bug contact for Ubuntu. -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs