Dear Kai:
I am the OP and you are correct. The issue is that after doing the
wheezy update, all the desktop icons are missing, that is, those items
defined in ~/Desktop for the normal user do not appear anymore and I
am trying to get back to seeing them on the desktop with "gnome
classic" at this point. I see the same effect with just "gnome", only
there are other things which bother me, but for now, I am trying to
understand how the display of items in the users home directory
~/Desktop/ which all still exist and are displayed with other window
managers have disappeared in "gnome classic".
I do have a "gnome-panel" panel and I can manipulate it to some
extent. Meaning I have an application item, my several virtual
desktops which I can rename normally, the clock and a few other
goodies.
The key right now is the missing desktop items causes me to have to
navigate a menu if I want a terminal which is a bit annoying.
Additionally, I have a few PDF files, a file browser, internet browser
and a couple of source files I refer to regularly and being able to
click on them on the desktop is quite convenient.
I would expect that the window manager should read the users
~/Desktop/ directory as it has before, so my question two goes to "How
does this work in gnome now?" so I can navigate myself to an
understanding.
I am also trying to use this as a opportunity to understand the window
manager a bit more. I am a software developer and have worked in Linux
for many years, but have not dug into the details of window managers
as all my work is in developing embedded designs with ARM, PowerPC,
MIPS, so I am a user of desktops but not a developer of desktops.