Okay, so the install worked... that's good... I've also had the same problem with 8.4 as well as earlier versions with accessing some of the administrative tools on the system menu. As for shell commands, that I can help ya there. To run a command do the key combo of alt-f2 which will be pretty self explanitory. Type in gnome-terminal don't miss out the dash, and you'll hear ubuntu at ubuntu. There's your command promt, and with speech too. As for getting speech from the text console, I mean the real one, you'll have to get a kernel package from someone who's compiled a custom kernel, or roll your own containing speakup, because the removed it from this version. Hth... must get back to work now... Cheereo! -- Email services provided by the System Access Mobile Network. Visit www.serotek.com to learn more about accessibility anywhere.