This is my last thread butchery for the day, promise!
I found out what the "problem" is, if there really is one. Its more like user error, certainly not a problem with Chirp its self.
The "problem" is the Unity interface under Ubuntu. The menu bar is taken away from the app window, and stuck up at the top of the screen but kept invisible until mouseover. When Chirp starts up, it is not full screen and has nothing to display. However, if the user moves the mouse to the top of the screen, the menu bar appears and the app is quite useable. The most intuitive way around this is simply to maximise Chirp - the top of its window then sits below the menu bar and everything feels reasonably good! Chirp seems to be programming my UV-3R very nicely indeed - I'm over the moon that I can have the same memories in my 3R and my VX-6 with ease!
Unity is pretty, but it does have its usability problems from time to time, hi!
Thanks and 73,
Dave M0MYA.