X died on me today. For the uninitiated, I mean the graphical environment -- the GUI, if you will.

The cursor moved, but the mouse and keyboard otherwise had no effect. I'm running Debian Squeeze with the default GNOME desktop environment.

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After months and months on Linux kernel 2.6.39 from Debian Backports on my Squeeze laptop, I decided to give a newer kernel a try.

I'm only using newer kernels than the 2.6.32 that ships with Squeeze because the version of the ALSA sound system built into that kernel doesn't mute the audio on my Lenovo G555 laptop when I plug in a headphone jack. Kernels after 2.6.35 or so, which include a newer ALSA, fix this bug, and that's pretty much the only reason I'm not running the stock Squeeze kernel, which is updated regularly for security patches.

The Debian Backports kernels don't seem to update on their own. You need to periodically go in there, see what new kernels are available and install one.

I've had few kernel panics here and there in 2.6.39, so I figured that dipping into the 3.x era of Linux kernels was warranted.

There are two 3.2.0 kernels right now in the Debian Backports repository -- 3.2.0-4 and 3.2.0-15. I used 3.2.0-15, and so far all is running well. Sound works as expected. So does suspend/resume. And in a couple of days, I've experienced no kernel panics.

Absent my sound issues, I would have never used a "newer" kernel, and by the time I move this laptop to Debian Wheezy (or any other distribution with a post-2.6.35 kernel), I should be able to run that system's default kernel for the duration.

I have a dual-boot Ubuntu/CentOS laptop that my daughter has been using for the last few years. I'm about to decommission it (is that the proper terminology, decommission?) due to the fact that the laptop pretty much falling apart. Even so, I'm in the process of updating both the CentOS 5.2 and Ubuntu 10.04 installations.

While I do have a Linux/Windows dual-boot on my main laptop (the 2010 Lenovo G555), these days I don't stuff more than one Linux or BSD on a single machine. (For the most part, dual-booting is just not worth the trouble, though I reserve the right to change my mind.)

On the CentOS/Ubuntu dual-boot, the Ubuntu side started out as Xubuntu and eventually morphed into GNOME-running Ubuntu that survived an upgrade from 8.04 to 10.04.

Now that I have the laptop -- the old 2002-era Gateway Solo 1450 -- plugged in, I decided to update the CentOS 5.2 side first, just to see if it would work after years of being neither booted nor upgraded. It's in the process of downloading and installing some 350+ packages and is taking its own sweet time despite a very fast network connection.

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I've been wondering how you adjust the number of virtual workspaces on the Unity desktop in Ubuntu 12.04.

Well, you can add more or take some away. This AskUbuntu.com article shows you how to do it.