unity misbehaves in ubuntu 12.04 after uninstalling gnome-panel

OK running Ubuntu 12.04 on a Samsung N110 netbook. Here's the problem. Installed gnome-classic (gnome-panel) in the 12.04 system, then decided that I didn't need it / wasn't using it, and so, since space was getting a bit tight on my hard drive, I uninstalled it; but, sadly, the unity interface seems to have been damaged by this operation. The launcher came back all right, but the “Ubuntu Desktop”-indicator has gone permanently awol from the left-side of the top panel (applications, like say, firefox, correctly advertise themselves on the top panel when opened). Worse, I can no longer paste files onto the desktop. When I right-click the desktop, no menu comes up. I can certainly open a window onto the desktop with nautilus, and paste a file into the newly-opened window, but the newly-pasted file will not display on the desktop proper. Odd.

I have tried resetting unity with "unity --reset". No improvement. Here's the terminal output:

"azed@azed-N110:~$ unity --reset
WARNING: Unity currently default profile, so switching to metacity while resetting the values
Checking if settings need to be migrated ...no
Checking if internal files need to be migrated ...no
Backend : gconf
Integration : true
Profile : unity
Adding plugins
Initializing core options...done
compiz (core) - Warn: failed to receive ConfigureNotify event on 0x1600002

compiz (core) - Warn: failed to receive ConfigureNotify event on 0x1800002

compiz (core) - Warn: failed to receive ConfigureNotify event on 0x2600003

compiz (core) - Warn: failed to receive ConfigureNotify event on 0x38000e3

Initializing composite options...done
Initializing opengl options...done
Initializing decor options...done
Initializing vpswitch options...done
Initializing snap options...done
Initializing mousepoll options...done
Initializing resize options...done
Initializing place options...done
Initializing move options...done
Initializing wall options...done
Initializing grid options...done
Initializing session options...done
Initializing gnomecompat options...done
Initializing animation options...done
Initializing fade options...done
Initializing unitymtgrabhandles options...done
Initializing workarounds options...done
Initializing scale options...done
compiz (expo) - Warn: failed to bind image to texture
Initializing expo options...done
Initializing ezoom options...done

(compiz:3105): GConf-CRITICAL **: gconf_client_add_dir: assertion `gconf_valid_key (dirname, NULL)' failed
Initializing unityshell options...done
compiz (core) - Warn: unhandled ConfigureNotify on 0x3e00090!
compiz (core) - Warn: this should never happen. you should probably file a bug about this.
compiz (core) - Warn: unhandled ConfigureNotify on 0x3e00093!
compiz (core) - Warn: this should never happen. you should probably file a bug about this.
compiz (core) - Warn: unhandled ConfigureNotify on 0x3e00096!
compiz (core) - Warn: this should never happen. you should probably file a bug about this.
compiz (core) - Warn: unhandled ConfigureNotify on 0x3e00099!
compiz (core) - Warn: this should never happen. you should probably file a bug about this.
WARN 2013-06-28 20:21:54 unity.libindicator <unknown>:0 Desktop file '/usr/share/applications/libreoffice-writer.desktop' is using a deprecated format for its actions that will be dropped soon.
WARN 2013-06-28 20:21:54 unity.libindicator <unknown>:0 Desktop file '/usr/share/applications/libreoffice-calc.desktop' is using a deprecated format for its actions that will be dropped soon.
WARN 2013-06-28 20:21:54 unity.libindicator <unknown>:0 Desktop file '/usr/share/applications/libreoffice-impress.desktop' is using a deprecated format for its actions that will be dropped soon.
Initializing annotate options...done
Initializing blur options...done
Initializing clone options...done
Initializing colorfilter options...done
Initializing commands options...done
Initializing cube options...done
Initializing imgjpeg options...done
Initializing kdecompat options...done
Initializing mag options...done
Initializing neg options...done
Initializing obs options...done
Initializing opacify options...done
Initializing put options...done
Initializing resizeinfo options...done
Initializing ring options...done
Initializing rotate options...done
Initializing scaleaddon options...done
Initializing screenshot options...done
Initializing shift options...done
Initializing staticswitcher options...done
Initializing switcher options...done
Initializing thumbnail options...done
Initializing water options...done
Initializing winrules options...done
Initializing wobbly options...done
ERROR 2013-06-28 20:21:59 unity.glib-gobject <unknown>:0 g_object_unref: assertion `G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed
Setting Update "main_menu_key"
Setting Update "run_key"
Starting gtk-window-decorator
compiz (decor) - Warn: No default decoration found, placement will not be correct
compiz (decor) - Warn: No default decoration found, placement will not be correct”

And at this point the terminal "hung".

The rest of the system seems to be functioning OK.

All right, it's only a small problem, but it's getting to be really irritating.

PS: I've got "Ubuntu Desktop" on the top panel in Ubuntu 2D, but I have the same difficulties pasting / displaying files on the desktop. Is it possible that I have two quite different problems here?