My box is running Ubuntu 10.10. I installed GNOME Shell to experience Gnome 3 from the Ailurus Package Manager. It installed fine. I ran the shell by typing the following in the terminal
gnome-shell --replace
This replaced Ubuntu 10.10's Gnome's 2 GNOME Panel with GNOME Shell. I tinkered around a bit and changed a few things like enabling Alt-Tab. However if I close the terminal which was used to launch gnome-shell, Ubuntu is left without a shell. I cannot restart GNOME Shell since keyboard input is somehow disabled when gnome-shell is closed and all I am left with is the desktop with the Computer and Home icon's and the windows which were open without their titlebars. Mouse works but keyboard input does not work.
I had to reset my machine, which then loads the default Ubuntu shell, GNOME Panel. On re-running gnome-shell, I find that my custom settings were not saved (Alt-Tab is disabled). So I created a launcher to point towards gnome-shell. This makes it difficult to close gnome-shell (and get a shell-less Ubuntu), but restarting still leaves me with Ubuntu's default shell.
How do I load Ubuntu's default shell? How do I set which shell to use as default?
I am afraid I may not be using the correct terminology.