# Thread for ICEWM lovers (ICEWM tips)

## amittp

I don't remember the number of times I have changed my desktop but always came back to icewm. Somehow it really doesn't come between the way, and it has feeling of completness to it. The most decent and "non-crashing" toolbar/taskbar I have ever seen. It supports Icons for quick launching. Super_L key that brings up menu, ppp0/eth0 and process monitoring devices set nicely by deafult. Now it also has a gaim tray.. wowie..  :Smile: . Started this thread so that we can share tips to make it more loveable.

(btw i forgot to mention that it also has a decent application switcher menu/ whatever u call it.. its funny most window managers lack it)

Things I like to share are,

It lacked nice icons for the toolbar. Grab a copy from link below: and untar it in ~/.icewm/icons

http://themes.freshmeat.net/redir/iceicons/35147/url_tgz/iceicons-default-0.9.4.tar.gz

here is how ~/.icewm/toolbar looks

```

prog XTerm xconsole xterm

prog Nautilus enhanced_browsing nautilus --no-desktop

prog GVim gvim gvim

prog GEdit notepad gedit

prog Firebird mozilla_navigator3 MozillaFirebird

prog Xchat xchat xchat-2

prog Gaim gaim gaim

prog Evolution email evolution-1.4

prog Gqview gqview gqview

prog xmms xmms xmms

prog Volume smixer gnome-volume-control

```

Thats for start.

Does anyone have idea how to bring sounds for events in icewm?

----------

## amittp

has anyone trued icewmcp?

nice control panel program,

i cant make sound manager work though, anyone has ideas about it?

----------

## amittp

seems no one uses ICEWM anymore  :Sad: 

----------

## charlieg

Haha evidently not!  :Twisted Evil: 

----------

## choco

I use IceWM, so there must be at least two of us!  If someone's been maintaining the ebuilds, then there's probably someone else too...at least three of us then  :Smile:   .

Seriously, I know the feeling amittp describes.  I try out other DE/WM, but I return to IceWM because it fits my concept of the ideal window manager.  Puny resource use for its feature set.  Themes but not an insane amount of unneeded theming.  Keyboard control.  Configuration by simple text file.  I want a WM that performs the functions of a WM well, but then gets out of my way.

No need to ALT-TAB through a long list.  Press the right windows key and then the first letter of the window to switch to.  Watch it snap right there, no delay.  Every window full sized.  Do a left windows key plus spacebar, type in the program, and it launches.

I don't know about a Gaim tray icon built in, but anything can be given a tray icon by clicking 'Tray icon' in the window menu.  This isn't all that useful unless it has a good icon assigned.  I opt for a left-windows-key+letter keyboard shortcut to launch programs rather than icons in the bar.  Just add entries to the 'keys' file.   I haven't experimented with the sounds.

The most annoying thing about IceWM for me is having to restart it to make configuration changes take effect (but since the user doesn't need to stop X or log out, all programs stay open and unaffected by the restart).  My current theme is the darxx theme from version 1.1 of the axxrom theme collection, from themes.freshmeat.net .

----------

## amittp

Phew .. finally a post. Good to see Icewm user; lol.

Well at the moment I just want to add two things to icewm...

1> A sound manager for events

2> Finding way to start gnome-apps like epiphany and nautilus fater.. 

any idea?

----------

## garn

I use ice on my desktop but flux on my laptop.

in your ~/.icewm/winoptions

```

Gaim.tray: Exclusive

```

will make gaim default to the tray, you don't need to send it there.

----------

## jago25_98

IceWM can do something most other window managers can't:

- try setting F11 to `tile windows vertically`

- and ctrl+F11 to `tile windows horzontally`

- F12 to maximise / unmaximise window

- alt+c to close window

- alt+x to execute program bar

- alt+tab window cycle

- alt+arrow keys cycle desktops

 With those shortcuts there's little need for a mouse.

----------

## hook

icewm is nice ...not my favourite, but nice ...i run it on an old celeron on our faculties PC - it's there to be a interenet/gimp/OOo point  :Very Happy: 

----------

## beandog

Ah sweet, yet another thread to watch ... I'm an IceWM devotee too ... it's great, so much better than KDE and minus the bloat.  Starts up super fast too, and does everything I want it too.  It's the best DE I've ever used.

Coming from Windows, I got used to having a lot of my apps in the system tray.  Thank goodness IceWM makes it easy.  Here's a great way to stick XMMS where it belongs:

in your .icewm/winoptions file, add this:

```
xmms.icon: xmms

xmms.tray: Exclusive
```

and it will always be in the system tray, even on startup.  :Smile: 

----------

## amittp

I just wonder where will the ICEWM development go from here. 

Everything seems to be in place, although it could do with themes with better fonts.

 BTW, I didn't know about that run command.. umm and I used to associate grun with alt+f4

Btw, question still remains.. how to get sound for icewm events?

----------

## jago25_98

hmm, sounds... should be easy to add. 

There's probably a dirty hack round this with config files...

----------

## beandog

 *amittp wrote:*   

> Btw, question still remains.. how to get sound for icewm events?

 

```
steve@boo steve $ emerge -s icesndcfg

Searching...   

[ Results for search key : icesndcfg ]

[ Applications found : 1 ]

 

*  x11-misc/icesndcfg

      Latest version available: 1.1

      Latest version installed: 1.1

      Size of downloaded files: 361 kB

      Homepage:    http://icecc.sourceforge.net/

      Description: IceWM sound editor.

```

----------

## amittp

icesndcfg is not working for me.

Do we need to run esd or some other sound daemon before hand?

----------

## beandog

Actually, I'm not sure ... I never use sound events anyway.

What are you using for audio right now?  I don't think it's really depdent on esound.  I would figure it uses whatever sound system you've got set.

Personally, I'm using OSS.  Works great for me.

If you are using esound though, make sure the daemon is started on boot: rc-update add esound default

----------

## Dracnor

 *choco wrote:*   

> The most annoying thing about IceWM for me is having to restart it to make configuration changes take effect ... 

 

You can have changes take effect without restarting it by 

```
kill -SIGHUP Pid of icewm
```

IceWm was my wm of choice when I was using Linux From Scratch.  Since then I've tried Flux, Kahakai, Gnome, and a few others.  I'm now on the 2.6.0 kernel and I'm giving Ice another go.  So far I've used all the tips in this forum and it's making it a much better WM than I remember  :Smile:   Keep them coming   :Very Happy: 

----------

## beandog

Not really a tip, but related -- has anyone found another place for a bunch of IceWM icons other than the one on freshmeat?

I really can't stand searching for icons ... Maybe we should work on getting a bonus package created or something.

----------

## amittp

oh you mean special icewm-icon packages? wish I had some graphic skills ..!

----------

## beandog

No, I just mean adding to it some icons from gone / kde / other packages that aren't in there.  Personally, I hate hunting for icons.

locate application | grep xpm

locate application | grep png

locate application | grep gif

etc.

Then I check to see if the rpm has one that comes with it.  It's a tedious process.

----------

## Hackeron

 *jago25_98 wrote:*   

> IceWM can do something most other window managers can't:
> 
> - try setting F11 to `tile windows vertically`
> 
> - and ctrl+F11 to `tile windows horzontally`
> ...

 

hey, I'm on IceWM 1.2.13 and none of those shortcuts work, any ideas?

----------

## beandog

I think you have to edit ~/.icewm/keys

It's a lot easier using the Keys Editor in icecc though.

emerge icewm-tools

----------

## Chewi

I usually use XFCE but I'm having to use IceWM for my little Toshiba Libretto 70CT (Pentium 120 MMX, 32MB...) and I'm even having to run it through freedesktop.org's X server because XFree86 was waaay too slow. I can't say I like it as much as XFCE but I haven't had much of a chance to get to know it yet so there's still time. Questions.

Can you tell IceWM to use a terminal other than xterm? freedesktop.org actually doesn't have xterm so I guess I could just symlink to Eterm but I'm just curious to know if there's another way to do it.

I turned on TaskbarDoubleHeight to give me the command line thing but it looks a bit silly. I was expecting it to appear below the regular taskbar. Can you change that?

----------

## braindead0

I just started using IcwWM on my laptop under a VMWare session (needs Windoze for work)...  Harkens back to the good old days, I don't remember the last time I had to edit menu config files  :Wink: .  Or use mmaker for that matter.

Anybody have any problems when logging out?  If I <ctrl><alt><backspace> i get a shell with "icewm-session: <pid>" over and over and over and over.  If I use the menu logout I don't...odd..

kinda a hassle <alt>Fx into a new shell and killing it...

----------

## Chewi

I've got a similar but different problem. It doesn't seem to like freedesktop.org when it comes to logging out. IceWM shuts down but I just get brought back to a blank X screen. I have a solution for you though! The preferences file allows you to specify the command used to logout. Heh gotta admit, I was very impressed by that. I've used killall Xvesa. You'd use something different but I'll let you figure that out.  :Razz: 

Oh wait sorry, that's only if you kill it directly. Hmmm guess that wouldn't work then. Oh well. Errm oh I know what you could do! Put killall icewm-session at the end of your .xinit or /etc/X11/Sessions/icewm file.

----------

## braindead0

 *Quote:*   

> Oh wait sorry, that's only if you kill it directly. Hmmm guess that wouldn't work then. Oh well. Errm oh I know what you could do! Put killall icewm-session at the end of your .xinit or /etc/X11/Sessions/icewm file.

 

I suppose that would work, not very elegant... but work.  I may just re-emerge and see if perhaps I blew come dependancy when I removed (Yeah!) Gnome  :Wink: 

----------

## undrwater

OK...new icewm user...and happy so far...somewhat.

I'm experiencing a weird problem.  my windows are invisible, unless i have them full screen.

Desktop shows up ok on start...taskbar looks good...but if i start a terminal, the handles and top bar show up...but not the rest of the window...and the only way i can see it is if i view it full screen.

hope someone can help me out.

russell

----------

## amittp

Try this..

Exit icewm and work from console (icewm should not be running).

```

mv ~/.icewm ~/.icewm-save

```

Start icewm again

Check if problem persists.

If not, something must have been messed up in your previous setup (most probably preferences file).

----------

## undrwater

 *amittp wrote:*   

> Try this..
> 
> Exit icewm and work from console (icewm should not be running).
> 
> ```
> ...

 

Hmm...this didn't work, but i set X to start at 16 bit color...and everthing showed up.  Strange...i don't know if this is just an icewm thing now, or if other WM's would show the same behavior.  maybe i should try blackbox or another WM to test.  It just seems strange that the taskbar, window title bars and menus show, while window contents do not.

If you have any ideas, let me know.

----------

## X-Ryl669

How does your configured ICE WM look like ?

Could you post a screenshot please ?

Thanks by advance

----------

## Jefklak

Yes indeed, show us some screenshots and convince us IceWM is better than Fvwm  :Razz: 

----------

## Remenic

IceWM is totally awesome once you've configured it right. What really sold me  is the extremely low memory usage (with fancy features disabled, like xft etc.).

I've made a custom theme for it, but I haven't released it (yet).

Anyways, here is how it looks:

http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/~remenic/screenshots/icewm-alloy.png

----------

## beandog

Has anyone ever gotten the "Run" option to show up on their IceWM main menu?

Or is there any keyboard shortcut to map to it at all?

----------

## regeya

Ah, this thread makes me feel nostalgic...back when IceWM was relatively new, I was an IceWM user for a time.   :Very Happy:   Wasn't as avid an IceWM user as Window Maker, but it was nice all the same, especially when one wanted something lighter than the Big Two Desktops.

I'm looking to get my grubby hands on a cheap laptop; I'm betting that if I do, I'll be running IceWM on it.  Nice to see a somewhat active thread about it.   :Very Happy: 

----------

## X-Ryl669

Nice screenshot, however it looks to M$ to me...

Ah... waiting from DR17....

----------

## ap viper

Is there anyway in icewm to scroll through different desktops with the mouse wheel?  One of the only things I liked about KDE, and I'd like to do it in icewm

----------

## Remenic

 *sdibb wrote:*   

> Has anyone ever gotten the "Run" option to show up on their IceWM main menu?
> 
> Or is there any keyboard shortcut to map to it at all?

 

I have added this to my menu file:

```
separator

prog "Run..." run bbrun -w
```

And this to my 'keys' file:

```
key "Alt+F2"            bbrun -w

key "Print"     screenshot
```

just emerge bbrun first. For some reason the ebuild depends on blackbox/fluxbox/whateverbox, but if I remove that dependency from the ebuild it will still compile and install fine.

----------

## beandog

 *Remenic wrote:*   

>  *sdibb wrote:*   Has anyone ever gotten the "Run" option to show up on their IceWM main menu?
> 
> Or is there any keyboard shortcut to map to it at all? 
> 
> I have added this to my menu file:
> ...

 

Sweet man, thanks -- Ive been wanting to get that fixed for the longest time.

Just two things:

1) I didn't have to edit the ebuild.  I just ran emerge -O bbrun and that worked

2) I didn't add a separator and Run entry.  Just edit ~/.icewm/preferences, set 

ShowRun = 1 and RunCommand="bbrun -w"

Steve

----------

## X-Ryl669

What emerge -O stands for ?

Thanks.

----------

## beandog

 *X-Ryl669 wrote:*   

> What emerge -O stands for ?
> 
> Thanks.

 

Ignore dependencies.

----------

## Remenic

 *sdibb wrote:*   

> Sweet man, thanks -- Ive been wanting to get that fixed for the longest time.
> 
> Just two things:
> 
> 1) I didn't have to edit the ebuild.  I just ran emerge -O bbrun and that worked
> ...

 

Cool, I didn't know that.

Say, does anyone know how to get my fonts smaller when using the freetype useflag? On 96dpi, the fonts are huge!

----------

## beandog

 *Remenic wrote:*   

> 
> 
> Say, does anyone know how to get my fonts smaller when using the freetype useflag? On 96dpi, the fonts are huge!

 

I think you can change it with switch (gtk-switch)

----------

## Meeuw

Awhile ago I've chosen icewm as windowmanager for our Linux solution (at work), the target users are mostly woman and I was searching for a windows-a-like, non windowmaker, lite, lockdownable interface.

icewm has it all  :Wink: 

----------

## phreaqy

I am a new ICEWM user here and I was wondering if anybody knows about a good file manager for ICEWM, ie konqueror

----------

## beandog

I like xfe

----------

## phreaqy

Thanks man, that was exactly what I was looking for

PS I Live by your quote

----------

## Epyon

Maybe someone can help me with a simple problem. I can't get a background image to show up when I start icewm. I set DesktopBackgroundImage in ~/.icewm/preferences and I have icewmbg running before I start icewm but still no background image shows up. Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong here?

----------

## beandog

What does your line currently say in preferences?  For some reason I kinda remember I had to do something weird to mine, but can't remember what it was.  Using the full location of the image, maybe?  Anyway, here's mine: 

```
DesktopBackgroundImage = "/home/steve/pictures/castles/CastleNeuschwanstein.jpg"
```

----------

## Epyon

Mine says:

DesktopBackgroundImage="home/tom/pictures/anime/Bishi Wallpaper Art Collection vol 1-5\Ghost in the Shell 01.jpg"

----------

## beandog

 *phreaqy wrote:*   

> Thanks man, that was exactly what I was looking for
> 
> PS I Live by your quote

 

Cool man.  :Smile:   I just noticed IceWM 1.2.14 was released on 5/22 and marked as stable .. has anyone else installed it?  There's no ebuild for it yet.

I'm running mine now -- so far seems great.  My menu fonts are much nicer.  That's about the extent of what I can tell.

If you do install it, let me know how to get it to play with kdm correctly -- I switched to xdm for the time being.

To install it, I just downloaded the source code, ran emerge -C icewm, then did ./configure, make and make install.  I have it working with xdm -- I had to edit /etc/X11/Sessions/icewm:

```
#!/bin/bash

#/usr/bin/icewm-session #old

/usr/local/bin/icewm-session #new
```

If you do wanna install it from source, be sure to trick portage into thinking it's emerged so you don't have any dependency issues:

```
emerge -i x11-wm/icewm-1.2.13
```

good luck

steve

----------

## Epyon

There is an ebuild for it. Its just masked.

----------

## beandog

 *Epyon wrote:*   

> Mine says:
> 
> DesktopBackgroundImage="home/tom/pictures/anime/Bishi Wallpaper Art Collection vol 1-5\Ghost in the Shell 01.jpg"

 

Add / in the front:

```
DesktopBackgroundImage="/home/tom/pictures/anime/Bishi Wallpaper Art Collection vol 1-5\Ghost in the Shell 01.jpg'
```

If that doesn't work -- is "1-5\Ghost" part of the filename or is that a new directory?

Steve

----------

## Epyon

I can't believe I missed the problem with the slashes... Still doesn't work though.

----------

## beandog

 *Epyon wrote:*   

> There is an ebuild for it. Its just masked.

 

Doh!  I just ran emerge sync and there it is.

Hey, some of us enjoy doing it the hard way.  :Smile: 

p.s. does anyone know of a good place for icewm themes?  What's your favorite, anyway?  I'm using icedesert because I'm plain and boring.  :Smile:   and here's a screenshot just because I'm bored:

http://blog.nephi.org/ss/2004-06-14-205730_1024x768_scrot.png

----------

## beandog

 *Epyon wrote:*   

> I can't believe I missed the problem with the slashes... Still doesn't work though.

 

Try this -- just copy the image to /home/tom/desktop.jpg and set that as the background, just to see if it works.

----------

## beandog

Idea #2 -- emerge icebgset and run that.  :Smile: 

----------

## Epyon

It works now. Thanks  :Very Happy: 

It seems icewm didn't like the directory or file name.

----------

## crusti

Hey there, I have two IceWM problems:

1)  No icewm preferences file.

# emerge icewm

# env-update && source /etc/profile

This completed ok it seemed, but I have no preferences file in ~/.icewm.

Q.Does that sound logical?

(On my other box running Mandrake 9.1 IceWM was loaded with a preferences file an a config tool for editing that file. I copied the Mdk 9.1 file over to ~/.icewm which seemed to work ok, but will need a bit of tweaking of course.)

2)  When I'm in non-X console mode, my keys work fine, but when I startx into IceWM and fire up xterm, suddenly I start getting french characters instead of normal keys like \ and |, and some keys are mapped to give me other punctuation. I've edited the /etc/rc.conf file in a few ways, but can't seem to make it work.

Here are the rc.conf edits I've tried.

Original:

KEYMAP="us"

SET_WINDOWKEYS="no"

EXTENDED_KEYMAPS=

CONSOLEFONT="default8x16"

#CONSOLETRANSLATION="8859-1_to_uni"

CLOCK="UTC"

EDITOR="/bin/nano"

PROTOCOLS="1 2"

#DISPLAYMANAGER="xdm"

XSESSION="icewm"

Then I tried the following combinations:

KEYMAP="us"

SET_WINDOWKEYS="yes"                                   [changed]

EXTENDED_KEYMAPS=

CONSOLEFONT="default8x9"                              [changed]

#CONSOLETRANSLATION="8859-1_to_uni"

CLOCK="local"                                                      [changed]

EDITOR="/bin/nano"

PROTOCOLS="1 2"

#DISPLAYMANAGER="xdm"

XSESSION="icewm"

reboot

KEYMAP="us"

SET_WINDOWKEYS="yes"

EXTENDED_KEYMAPS=

CONSOLEFONT="drdos8x14"                             [changed]

#CONSOLETRANSLATION="8859-1_to_uni"

CLOCK="local"

EDITOR="/bin/nano"

PROTOCOLS="1 2"

#DISPLAYMANAGER="xdm"

XSESSION="icewm"

reboot

KEYMAP="us"

SET_WINDOWKEYS="yes"

EXTENDED_KEYMAPS="backspace keypad"       [changed]

CONSOLEFONT="drdos8x14"

#CONSOLETRANSLATION="8859-1_to_uni"

CLOCK="local"

EDITOR="/bin/nano"

PROTOCOLS="1 2"

#DISPLAYMANAGER="xdm"

XSESSION="icewm"

reboot

KEYMAP="us"

SET_WINDOWKEYS="yes"

EXTENDED_KEYMAPS="backspace keypad"

CONSOLEFONT="default8x16"                            [changed]

CONSOLETRANSLATION="8859-1_to_uni"         [changed]

CLOCK="local"

EDITOR="/bin/nano"

PROTOCOLS="1 2"

#DISPLAYMANAGER="xdm"

XSESSION="icewm"

reboot

KEYMAP="us"

SET_WINDOWKEYS="yes"

EXTENDED_KEYMAPS=                                     [changed]

CONSOLEFONT="default8x16"

#CONSOLETRANSLATION="8859-1_to_uni"      [changed]

CLOCK="local"

EDITOR="/bin/nano"

PROTOCOLS="1 2"

DISPLAYMANAGER="xdm"                                 [changed]

XSESSION="icewm"

reboot

KEYMAP="uk"                                                      [changed]

SET_WINDOWKEYS="yes"

EXTENDED_KEYMAPS=

CONSOLEFONT="default8x16"

#CONSOLETRANSLATION="8859-1_to_uni"

CLOCK="local"

EDITOR="/bin/nano"

PROTOCOLS="1 2"

DISPLAYMANAGER="xdm"

XSESSION="icewm"

reboot: now my non-X console keys are a bit messed up.

Finally, changed to:

KEYMAP="us"

SET_WINDOWKEYS="no"

EXTENDED_KEYMAPS="backspace keypad"

CONSOLEFONT="drdos8x14"

#CONSOLETRANSLATION="8859-1_to_uni"

CLOCK="local"

EDITOR="/bin/nano"

PROTOCOLS="1 2"

DISPLAYMANAGER="xdm"

XSESSION="icewm"

If anyone has some light to shed on this, I'd sure appreciate it!

Meanwhile, I'll keep looking for an answer, and if I find it I'll post a resolution.

cheers,

crusti

Gentoo 2004.1 with vanilla sources

PentiumII 333 MHz MMX (i686)

192Mb RAM

384 Mb swap

ASUS P2L97 Rev 2.05

ATI 3D Rage Pro AGP 2x 4096Kb

Kingston KNE100TX Fast Ethernet

Creative Tech 94 sound card

----------

## crusti

Hey there.

I resolved my keymap problem.

In /etc/X11/XF86Config I edited the following line from:

          Option  "XkbLayout"      "ca"

to

          Option  "XkbLayout"      "us"

Logged out, logged in, and voila! My keys do what they're supposed to now.

 :Surprised: )

I won't sweat the IceWM config problem, but I'm curious to know if anyone has had the same issue, or if there is a separate emerge to do for an icewm config tool.

Have a great day!

crusti

----------

## beandog

For your own icewm prefs,

```
mkdir .icewm

cp /usr/share/icewm/* ~/.icewm
```

For fixing keyboard settings, I recommend xkeycaps.

----------

## genstef

Does anyone know a battery status monitor that works in the icewm taskbar?

----------

## crusti

Thanks sdibb for the help   :Smile: 

xkeycaps is pretty neat.

Sorry genstefan, I don't know of such an app  :Sad: 

cheers

eric

----------

## TFK

I'm a new user of Gentoo in general and IceWM in particular, looks very neat  :Smile:  . However, I miss a few features from GNOME, namely:

The keyboard layout switch thingie - I use three different keyboard layouts, no idea if there's a tray-thingie for them or how to change them.

Sound control applet - visual sound control program like in GNOME.

Dictionary lookup tool.

Also, it would be nice to add another panel or to enlarge the existing one to accomodate all the open windows/tray icons.

----------

## crusti

 *Quote:*   

> The keyboard layout switch thingie - I use three different keyboard layouts, no idea if there's a tray-thingie for them or how to change them. 

 

The only way I can suggest is through an app called xkeycaps.

I know a tray icon would be handier, but someone else will have to provide a can/can't on that.

# emerge --pretend xkeycaps

That' will show you what would be done upon installing xkeycaps.

# emerge xkeycaps

That will install xkeycaps.

For me, the executable is installed in /usr/X11R6/bin/

 *Quote:*   

> Sound control applet - visual sound control program like in GNOME. 

 

You might try aumix or xaumix.

Somehow I have an app installed called xaumix, though 'emerge --search xaumix' didn't show any results. The settings for xaumix are superseding the settings for aumix, so now I just run xaumix. It's also a gui app, but it's not as pretty as aumix. I use aumix on my Mdk 9.1 box.

 *Quote:*   

> Also, it would be nice to add another panel or to enlarge the existing one to accomodate all the open windows/tray icons.

 

I make use of the different desktops. I've re-labelled them with letters.

I have a desktop where I open mail and ftp clients, one for browsing and word-processing, one for audio/video. It just means that I use the same desktops for the same kinds of things, and it makes switching more intuitive after a little while.

You can use a double-height taskbar in icewm.

In the file ~/.icewm/preferences

TaskBarDoubleHeight=1  # 0/1

Hope this helps,

crusti

----------

## beandog

 *crusti wrote:*   

> 
> 
> You might try aumix or xaumix.
> 
> Somehow I have an app installed called xaumix, though 'emerge --search xaumix' didn't show any results. The settings for xaumix are superseding the settings for aumix, so now I just run xaumix. It's also a gui app, but it's not as pretty as aumix. I use aumix on my Mdk 9.1 box.
> ...

 

xaumix is part of aumix.

```
$ which xaumix

/usr/bin/xaumix

$ qpkg -f /usr/bin/aumix

media-sound/aumix *
```

I'd suggest creating an .aumix in your ~ directory.  aumix -S or something like that.

steve

----------

## beandog

Woo ... 1.2.15-pre1 is in portage.  Seems nice so far.  :Smile: 

Plus I found a cool keyboard shortcut -- Alt+F10 maximizes the window.  Good stuff...     :Very Happy: 

----------

## beandog

Yet another nice shortcut -- shift+click on "X" in the toolbar of the program will force kill it.  :Smile: 

----------

## jkroon

Gotta add my vote for IceWM being the coolest, most flexible WM ever!  I've tried a few (including both gnome and kde) and Ice is just the best.

Learned a lot in this thread, brilliant work all.

Someone also mentioned the "keys".  Just as an example,  I've got some xmodmap statements in ~/.icewm/startup:

```
xmodmap -e 'keycode 234=F15'    # Mail

xmodmap -e 'keycode 233=F16'    # Forward

xmodmap -e 'keycode 222=F17'    # Stop

xmodmap -e 'keycode 236=F18'    # Mail

xmodmap -e 'keycode 230=F19'    # Search

xmodmap -e 'keycode 230=F20'    # Favourites

xmodmap -e 'keycode 178=F21'    # Web/Home

xmodmap -e 'keycode 235=F22'    # My Computer

xmodmap -e 'keycode 161=F23'    # Calculator

xmodmap -e 'keycode 225=F24'    # Sleep

```

Yes, the two 230 lines are correct.  according to xev these keys map to the same value, only using either one of them atm so I don't think it really matters.  Then in ~/.icewm/keys you can make these do whatever you want to...

```
# These are custom keys, those across the top

# (mapped to F15 -> F24 using xmodmap)

key "F15"                               xmms --rew

key "F16"                               xmms --fwd

key "F17"                               xmms --play-pause

#key "Shift+F17"                xmms --stop

key "Shift+F17"                 xmms_toggle_stop_start

key "F18"                               mozilla -mail

# key "F19" -> Search (unused)

# key "F20" -> Favorites (unused)

key "F21"                               mozilla

key "F22"                               aterm

# key "F23" -> Calculator (unused)

key "F24"                               xscreensaver-command -lock

```

Very cool.  Just a shame those two keys map the same - this worked under xfree86 but xorg is just so much better in almost all other regards.[/u]

----------

## res0r9lm

I made a theme for IceWM based on a gnome theme call AquaExtremeSunken uses mouse rollover so when you mouse over the buttons on titlebar a +, -, or x just like the orginal theme

http://www.themedepot.org/itemdetail.php4?id=1569

----------

## dark_priest

 *Epyon wrote:*   

> Mine says:
> 
> DesktopBackgroundImage="home/tom/pictures/anime/Bishi Wallpaper Art Collection vol 1-5\Ghost in the Shell 01.jpg"

 

its the spaces/slashes

use tab completing in terminal to find out where the tabs/slahses should be

for example

```

bash-2.05b$ ls *.pdf

d20 - Ravenloft - Gazetteer Volume 1 - WW 15020.pdf

bash-2.05b$ kpdf d20\ -\ Ravenloft\ -\ Gazetteer\ Volume\ 1\ -\ WW\ 15020.pdf

```

notice where the slashes are?

so should the be in your pref file

----------

## genstef

res0r9lm, nice theme but the titlebar uses 25 px, pretty much space on a laptop. And I do not really like the background of the taskbar and titlebar.

I think this looks better: http://www.kde-look.org/content/show.php?content=685

but in Smooth aqua the taskbar is blackish and the titlebar rollover buttons do not work they are only shown on click  :Sad: 

----------

## res0r9lm

which theme do you mean rollovers don't work? The one I made rollover do work if it's not working for you one of your prefernce files is overriding it. If you like the theme that you posted there is already a theme very similar on freshmeat

----------

## NetHawl

Hi Guys, well I wanted to use IceWM but I have a question, or mazbe 2.....well 1. Do I need Xorg-X11 first?Well...the other is...the last time I installed IceWM i got a funny Login Manager....but then I onlz had "Fail Safe" session....Dont know what it is...and also I had no panel...just some kind of it with 4 buttons:ShutDown, Log, Programs Runnig...and another one I cant remember.Well....coud you tell me how to get IceWM Working pls.  :Smile: )

----------

## Seather

First time I actually saw this thread,

I've been using icewm for quite some time. Some time ago I actually filed a bug report and wrote an ebuild "icewm-themes" which is now in portage.

Just figured I'd mention it if there were people that didn't know about it. I was thinking of adding all the themes thats in the debian icewm themes package. At the moment there's only a few themes in the ebuild.

----------

## elfo

Hello !

another good'ol boy using IceWM for a while (some 3-4 years.. don't remember very well...).

I intensively use the winoptions and the keys configuration files:

   * to make most used application to open in the workspace i want at the size i want (normally MAXIMIZED  :Wink:  ).

   * to fire-up most used application with a shortcut (ctrl+shift+app's first letter)

on the first workspace i have aterm+screen (it is started when icewm launches itself --> 'startup' file). I launch aterm with transparent background, no borderds, no scrollbar, maximized.... it's like a console  :Wink: 

For the battery issue: i configured screen (.screenrc) to display some useful-coloured-autoupdate informations such as time, date, xterm-title, currently open windows (the SCREEN's windows), the song played by XMMS (with time elapsed+time remainig), the system load, uptime and.... the battery status!

for the XMMS song i sed out the "current" script that comes with XMMS, for battery i sed/grep out the acpi command.

If you want to give a look at my .screenrc, aterm command line options or my scripts, send me a mail (i don't check very often the forums).

i'm elfo on the autistici.org mail server.

----------

## choco

 *Seather wrote:*   

> First time I actually saw this thread,
> 
> I've been using icewm for quite some time. Some time ago I actually filed a bug report and wrote an ebuild "icewm-themes" which is now in portage.
> 
> Just figured I'd mention it if there were people that didn't know about it. I was thinking of adding all the themes thats in the debian icewm themes package. At the moment there's only a few themes in the ebuild.

 

While you're doing that, don't forget the iceicons ebuild.

Yes, it is just the same freshmeat iceicons link from the first post in this thread, but hey, the more you can leverage Portage for tracking system changes, the better.  :Smile: 

----------

## mattheweast

Good thread! Icewm rocks. I use it on my low spec desktop. Thanks especially for the advice with icons.

My small contribution: this problem was bothering me for a while: for decent fonts, make sure you compile icewm with the "truetype" USE flag enabled.

Good work on the iceicons and icewm-themes ebuilds, more themes please!!!

Thanks again, Matt

----------

## shickapooka800

sweet, icewm kicks ass.  i sue it on my high-end dell laptop (i said high end beecause most of you guys are using icewm for your 'extra' machines layin around)

the only problem I have (since everybody is spilling theirs),  is that after continually editing my ~/.icewm/preferences file, i see no changes whatsoever.  i even made a copy of my /usr/share/icewm/preferences file and edited that original to no avail.  is there another location for icewm defaults?  icewm is running just fine with what seems like the default settings, i have a cpu monitor and other amenities that are commented out in the original and ~/ preferences file, so what gives?  

also of note, this may be trivial to more mature users, but as a noob, it might help:   dont leave out imlib in your use flags when you compile icewm.  i know once again this is trivial as im sure many of you didn't forget imlib (because you wanted an image library for jpegs and such - duh) but man it cause me some headaches when i wanted a .jpg background on my desktop.  its always the little mundane problems that kill me...

----------

## mattheweast

If I've understood you correctly, you haven't uncommented the lines in your preferences file. You need to uncomment the line! If you don't want the cpu monitor for example: you have to set that value to 0.

Then restart icewm. Just edit the ~/.icewm/preferences file, not the one in /usr/share/icewm...

Good luck!

Matt

----------

## shickapooka800

ya ive got that concept, if i expected a large file full of comments to do something other than look ugly, i would expect a royal flaming immedietly!    

i uncomment, and uncomment to my hearts content, my ~/.icewm/preferences file and no dice every time.  don't get me wrong, the mysterious defaults that icewm seems to find work marvelously, but i still dont understand where these defaults are, nor do i understand how my uncommenting seems to do nothing.

is there is another config file that icewm defaults too other than /usr/share/icewm/preferences or ~/.icewm/preferences ?  if there is, why isnt it being over-ridden by my ~/ preferences file?  i know theme configs have the power to override the /preferences file (it says so in the file), but i have even tried using themes that icewm came with to see if it was what was making icewm avoid my config files.   

yell at me if im not being clear plz

----------

## mattheweast

Ok sorry i misunderstood your previous post, this one was quite clear  :Smile: 

Have absolutely no idea why this is happening: the behaviour _should_ be as you describe: the default file is /usr/share/icewm/ and this should be overridden by ~/.icewm

Only some of the settings are overridden by themes (such as fonts): the cpu applet shouldn't be.

The only solution is to uninstall icewm, and delete all the config files, then reinstall.

Perhaps you would paste a section of your preferences file (for example the section dealing with the cpu applet which you don't want), list the permissions of your ~/.icewm directory ("ls -al ~/.icewm"), and describe the behaviour that is happening.

M

----------

## shickapooka800

i looked into the permisions for the files in ~/../.icewm and made them so that everybody can execute and read them, still no changes.   i emerged icewm-tools but that, unfortunatly, is nothing special, just a gui for the changing the config files.  i can change everything that isnt in the preferences file, except the default background image.  i can set that to an image and, if the themes im using has no background, it will indeed use the one i have specified in the preferences file.  wierd.    i will keep trying, i will probably start from the ground up and make a blank preferences file and add things line by line to see if they do anything.  im sure its a small personal error thats messing it all up,  it runs flawlessly.

well flawlessly except for one thing,  there was no ~/.icewm/startup file so i made one.  but anything i put in there gets no recognition.  i just wanted to put icewmbg in it but it looks like nothing is read out of that startup file.   as soon as i am back at the comp i will look for what version of icewm i have, it seems like for some reason, icewm is missing a few small pieces in it.  although ithis is the second time i have compiled it -  it happened the first time too.   (i re-compiled to include imlib for jpeg, gif ,etc.. usage in backgrounds)

edit:   just an afterthought - not related -  how long does it take, usually, to compile openoffice suite?  mine went on for over 6 hours last night on a 1.4ghz centrino ?!  i think thats a bit long dont you guys think?  i never tried it on my 500mhz p3, looks like i will never try, it might take an eternity.

----------

## res0r9lm

the files in ~/icewm that are used as default config are preferences and prefoverride as for running program at start up the startup file does work for me eithier but you can use ~/.xinitrc to start your programs.

----------

## shickapooka800

ya i thought about doing that but after trying it i am sure i am missing something.....

in my .xinitrc file i have only 

```
exec icewm 
```

i then wanted to add the program icewmbg, but i wanted it to run in the background so i put 

```
exec icewmbg& 
```

now i am prety noobish so work with me here.... the aforementioned two line .xinitrc file does not execute icewmbg at all.  so i am sure i have the concept there but i have writen it incorrectly.  what would be the syntax for starting icewm and icewmbg one after another, in one go.  as to say, i think the way i have it, icewmbg only executes after icewm is done running, which is not obviously what i want.

----------

## res0r9lm

It should be 

```
icewmbg &

exec /usr/bin/icewm-session
```

----------

## TheNull

 *shickapooka800 wrote:*   

> ya i thought about doing that but after trying it i am sure i am missing something.....
> 
> in my .xinitrc file i have only 
> 
> ```
> ...

 

If I recall correctly, a script exits after running an app if exec is used, so you can only use exec for the last app.  Anything that follows will not be executed.

----------

## shickapooka800

thanks guys for the clarification.  its seems to me that only the remedial stuff gets me everytime.  its funny, i never seem to have some of the large scale problems that people have, and if i do i seem to be able to fix no prob, but for some reason, the little things get me...

----------

## Stefan Pantiru

Just curious: is there someone else (apart from me) that would consider useful having icons on the desktop? Is there such a plugin? 

I don't know.. maybe i've got too much KDE...

Later Edit:

And how do I set an shorcut for minimizing/ maximizing/ closing a window. I can assign shortcuts to programs... say... from icecc, but how to minimize something?

Later Later Edit:

Oh! The settings were not in "keys" but in "preferences"...

However, my question remains: is there a plugin for desktop icons? What's the name of the ebuild?

----------

## ekki

 *Stefan Pantiru wrote:*   

> Just curious: is there someone else (apart from me) that would consider useful having icons on the desktop? Is there such a plugin? 

 

When I look at the themes on freshmeat, I can see some themes have icons on the desktop. Maybe you can try to find out why: http://themes.freshmeat.net/browse/925/

Some examples:

http://themes.freshmeat.net/projects/jimmac/

http://themes.freshmeat.net/projects/icegtk/

http://themes.freshmeat.net/projects/area51/

Well, I want to know something, too. But I'm not English, so it's hard for me to explain my problem in English. I will try (I hope you can understand my terrible English):

I have two screens (dual head) and xinerama is on. It works well most of the time. The taskbar is at the left screen. At the right screen, there is no taskbar (I want no taskbar at that screen). But at the place of the taskbar, it's black (because my background is black  :Wink: ): there's nothing. On my second screen, I want the windows to be maximized, and I don't want to have a 'black' space under the window.

Does anyone know how to solve this problem?

----------

## res0r9lm

idesk is for icons on desktop

----------

## Stefan Pantiru

I'm not sure ekki, if you have or not a taskbar on the second screen. Because if you haven't, there's no explanation for the "black" space.

Anyway, try setting Panel Menu->Configure Panel -> Hiding (tab) -> Allow other windows to cover the panel. This is if you have some sort of taskbar that show 'black' but you can't or dont' want to close it.

Or, if the taskbar in the first screen somehow expands to the second, try adjusting Panel Menu->Configure Panel -> Length (for the Main Panel or whatever panel trubles you) so that it doesn't expand beyond the first screen.

Actually I have never used xinerama and I have no ideea what I'm talking about, but this is what I would try if I had your problem.

Good luck!

----------

## ekki

I have no taskbar on the second screen. And I have no Configure Panel, because I can't compile that with amd64 (so I have to use the text files  :Wink: ).

I want the taskbar to be always on my screen (I don't want it to go away when it has no focus and come back on mouseover). I tried to make the taskbar smaller, but that doesn't work. 

I made a screenshot, so you can see what I mean with the 'black space'  :Wink: .

http://ekki.nl/screenshot.jpg

(for a bigger one: http://ekki.nl/screenshot2.jpg)

In this screenshot my taskbar has the double height, so you can see better what I mean.

Oh, because of gaim (in the background on the right screen) it looks like I can just maximize the window, but that's not true. I can't change the window height.

PS what's wrong with the img tag?? [img:561c7ae7af]http://ekki.nl/screenshot.jpg[/img:561c7ae7af] ????

----------

## Stefan Pantiru

Sorry, can't help you with that... as I said, I never used xinerama and never got the problem...

Try posting on another forum, like Desktop Environements...

Sorry

----------

## ekki

It's ok. Maybe someone else knows  :Wink: . And I will post on another forum, thank you for that tip.

----------

## Arainach

I run an LTSP server in a primarily Windows-based school environment.  Since we're running 32 terminals off of one server, we use Ice to save CPU and RAM load while still looking just as good as (arguably better than) Windows 98.  But can someone tell my how to disable that stupid "Windows" menu on the Start Menu?  I've looked through all the config files multiple times, and I can't figure out how to get rid of it or (at the very least) rename it.  Any ideas?

----------

## beandog

 *Arainach wrote:*   

> I run an LTSP server in a primarily Windows-based school environment.  Since we're running 32 terminals off of one server, we use Ice to save CPU and RAM load while still looking just as good as (arguably better than) Windows 98.  But can someone tell my how to disable that stupid "Windows" menu on the Start Menu?  I've looked through all the config files multiple times, and I can't figure out how to get rid of it or (at the very least) rename it.  Any ideas?

 

ShowWindowList = 0

----------

## choco

I was looking around earlier for a program or script for autogenerating icewm menu entries from .desktop files, the freedesktop standard.  I got annoyed enough that I took the opportunity to bang out some python that seems to do the trick:

```
#!/usr/bin/env python

import sys, os

outputlist = []

dirparams = sys.argv[1:]

for inddir in dirparams:

        dirlist = os.listdir(inddir)

        for filename in filter(lambda a: a[-8:] == '.desktop',dirlist):

                curfile = open(inddir + '/' + filename,'r')

                for curline in curfile.readlines():

                        if curline[0:5] == "Exec=":

                                curcommand = curline[5:-1].split()[0]

                        if curline[0:5] == "Name=":

                                curname = curline[5:-1]

                outputlist.append("prog \"" + curname + "\" - " + curcommand + "\n")

                curfile.close()

outfile = open(os.path.expanduser('~/.icewm/desktop'),'w')

outputlist.sort()

for app in outputlist:

        outfile.write(app)

outfile.close()

```

Any python experts out there can feel free to laugh if you like.  Anyhow, the script takes any number of directories as parameters, looks in those directories for .desktop files, and writes out simple menu entries into the ~/.icewm/desktop file.  Just include the desktop file in your menu file with a line like

```

menufile Autogenerated desktop desktop

```

Note that any parameters that are part of the Exec line in the .desktop file are not captured.  This is to prevent substitution variables like %U and %F from going into the generated file.  /usr/share/applications and /usr/share/gnome/apps/* seem to be popular directories on my system for .desktop files.

EDIT: Added a line to sort the menu entries before writing out to the file.  Thought about adding code so the Categories line in .desktop files maps to icewm submenus, but I personally prefer having a sorted, flat list rather than a labyrinth of submenus each containing one app.  Plus, I start all my common apps with the keyboard using entries in the keys file anyway.

----------

## TRauMa

 *choco wrote:*   

> I was looking around earlier for a program or script for autogenerating icewm menu entries from .desktop files, the freedesktop standard.  I got annoyed enough that I took the opportunity to bang out some python that seems to do the trick:

 

Hehe, icewm actually can use the fd.o-menus right away. In the menu file, just start a helper program that spits out a list in icewm-format. If you emerge icewm with gnome in USE, there already are two such programs: icewm-menu-gnome1 and icewm-menu-gnome2. I use them like this:

```
menuprog Standard gnome icewm-menu-gnome1 --list /usr/share/applnk
```

For the other posters asking for a nice filemanager and/or desktop with icons: I use rox and I'm very very happy with it. It has it's own taskbar, but you don't have to use it. Using it for desktop background is optional, too, but then you get desktop icons and drag'n'drop background image changing (I never could stand the icewmbg-hassle).

What I love most about icewm is the posibility to customize program behaviour via the winoptions file. For example, I made XMMS nad Psi tray only/every desktop programs. Much more is possible.

```
main.psi.ignoreTaskBar: 1

main.psi.layer: OnTop

main.psi.allWorkspaces: 1

xmms.tray: Exclusive

xmms.layer: OnTop

xmms.allWorkspaces: 1

```

Here's a little Screenshot.

----------

## beandog

 *mattheweast wrote:*   

> Good thread! Icewm rocks. I use it on my low spec desktop. Thanks especially for the advice with icons.
> 
> My small contribution: this problem was bothering me for a while: for decent fonts, make sure you compile icewm with the "truetype" USE flag enabled.

 

Ive got truetype enabled with my ebuild, and the fonts still seem crappy.  I'm running 1280x1024 now, and the fonts are larger.  How do you change them anyway?

----------

## odocoileus

Can I have volume control in the form of a tray icon that I can use the scroll wheel on? I don't see how it can be done with aumix, and I don't have kde, so I don't have kmix like I use on my other box with icewm.

----------

## chrism

I was wondering how to change the buttons in the taskbar(Windows list menu, Show desktop). Is there a config file for that as well?

Thanks,

Chris

----------

## beandog

 *yellowhippy wrote:*   

> I was wondering how to change the buttons in the taskbar(Windows list menu, Show desktop). Is there a config file for that as well?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Chris

 

Just look for the images (.xpm format) in ~/.icewm/themes/<theme I'm using>/

Thats the ones they use.  Once you change them, restart IceWM for the new ones to show up.

----------

## chrism

And how can I get rid of the network treffic monitor in the taskbar(especially ppp0)?

I'd also like to get rid of the 4 Workspace buttons.

Thanks,

Chris

----------

## odocoileus

You can get rid of the ppp0 in the .icewm/preferences.  On mine it is at line 479

----------

## chrism

 *odocoileus wrote:*   

> You can get rid of the ppp0 in the .icewm/preferences.  On mine it is at line 479

 

Everything in .icewm/preferences is commented out. Is there another file which is read first?

Thanks,

Chris

----------

## beandog

 *yellowhippy wrote:*   

>  *odocoileus wrote:*   You can get rid of the ppp0 in the .icewm/preferences.  On mine it is at line 479 
> 
> Everything in .icewm/preferences is commented out. Is there another file which is read first?

 

Its commented out because those are your defaults.  It might be reading /usr/share/icewm/* though

----------

## odocoileus

So if you want to change the default, just uncomment the line, and change the value, and if you just change it in ~/.icewm/preferences, it should overide the prefs in /usr/whatever

----------

## beandog

 *odocoileus wrote:*   

> So if you want to change the default, just uncomment the line, and change the value, and if you just change it in ~/.icewm/preferences, it should overide the prefs in /usr/whatever

 

Yah, that's right.

----------

## chrism

Thanks again,

Chris

----------

## SubTexel

Hey, new IceWM user... Having problems, as I have no desktop icons (this is probably normal, just not used to it..), and no programs populated in the start menu.. How do I go about setting this up? I have nothing in ~/.icewm/ except the directory themes, should there be anything else? Thanks in advance!

----------

## psutokth

 *Quote:*   

> as I have no desktop icons

 

I'm just learning this too but a few hours ahead of you it seems  :Wink: 

IceWM, and all window managers cannot put icons on the desktop, only desktop environments like Gnome and KDE can.  This is explained in the IceWM FAQ, on the IceWM site http://www.icewm.org/  There is also a good manual there.

More good information to get you going is at http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=7774&page=1

These links will show you how to add programs to the menu by editing files or using GUI tools.  But first someone else may have to help you as I think you are missing a lot in your .icewm directory.  Did you follow this instruction from the HOWTO IceWM on the Gentoo Wiki? 

 *Quote:*   

> # cp /usr/share/icewm/* ~/.icewm -r

 

to copy the system wide files into your home folder so you can edit them?  Good luck.

----------

## SubTexel

 *psutokth wrote:*   

>  *Quote:*   as I have no desktop icons 
> 
> I'm just learning this too but a few hours ahead of you it seems 
> 
> IceWM, and all window managers cannot put icons on the desktop, only desktop environments like Gnome and KDE can.  This is explained in the IceWM FAQ, on the IceWM site http://www.icewm.org/  There is also a good manual there.
> ...

 

Thanks!  :Smile:  Well, the reason I am asking is because a lot of photos of Themes for IceWM show dekstop Icons, so I was just wondering if something went wrong. Thanks for the help, copying the files from /usr/share fixed the one problem  :Wink:  Now to figure out the other.

----------

## 0kupa

hi,

how to shutdown Icewm in blank X screen:

 *Chewi wrote:*   

> I've got a similar but different problem. It doesn't seem to like freedesktop.org when it comes to logging out. IceWM shuts down but I just get brought back to a blank X screen. I have a solution for you though! The preferences file allows you to specify the command used to logout. Heh gotta admit, I was very impressed by that. I've used killall Xvesa. You'd use something different but I'll let you figure that out. 
> 
> Oh wait sorry, that's only if you kill it directly. Hmmm guess that wouldn't work then. Oh well. Errm oh I know what you could do! Put killall icewm-session at the end of your .xinit or /etc/X11/Sessions/icewm file.

 

a better form, go to /usr/share/icewm/preferences and write:

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> # Command to start logout -> don't touch
> 
> # LogoutCommand=""
> ...

 

it's works fine  :Wink: 

----------

## vorticies82

Ok, I am also having a shutdown problem.  On my laptop, I am running a gnome-panel above my icewm bar so I can have my battery applet, wifi monitor, etc.  The problem is, while the gnome-panel is running, I can't shutdown icewm by using ctrl+alt+del.  I have tried altering my shutdown and reboot commands in several ways.  I have tried this:

pkill gnome && sudo /sbin/shutdown -h now

or this

pkill gnome & sudo /sbin/shutdown -h now

I have also tried the one 0kupa suggested

ShutdownCommand="killall -QUIT icewm | sudo /sbin/shutdown -h now"

I have even tried writing my own script that will first kill the gnome-panel and then shutdown.  None of them work.  However, the commands seem to get suspended somehow, because if I later pull up a terminal and say pkill gnome, the panel dies and then the other commands execute and shutdown the machine.  It's really strange to watch.  I can hit ctrl+alt+del, press d, say ok, and leave it sitting there for an hour, then pull open a terminal, pkill gnome, and it kills the panel and proceeds to shutdown.  Does anybody have any idea how I can make my ctrl+alt+del get rid of that and shutdown?

----------

## 0kupa

hi vorticies82,

if u want to load a bash script, u have to write:

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> # Command to shutdown the system
> 
> ShutdownCommand="bash /home/youruser/.yourscript.sh"
> ...

 

if doesn't work, change & to |:

```
ShutdownCommand="pkill gnome | sudo /sbin/shutdown -h now" 
```

because:

&: does the actions at same time

|: run actions when the previous whas finished

taste it!  :Smile: 

----------

## vorticies82

This is really strange, but none of those solutions work.  For some reason, while that panel is open, there is no command that I can give to icewm to actually make it shutdown the system.  I have tried all the ideas listed in this forum and some others also and no luck.  Does anybody have any idea why icewm can't kill a gnome-panel?

----------

## Toastbrot

Hello,

I love icewm, too! It runs stable as well as quick, but I can't autostart some x-apps. What's the name of the autostart config?

Thanks a lot.

----------

## beandog

 *Toastbrot wrote:*   

> Hello,
> 
> I love icewm, too! It runs stable as well as quick, but I can't autostart some x-apps. What's the name of the autostart config?
> 
> Thanks a lot.

 

~/.icewm/startup

----------

## Carpi

Hi,

I chose Icewm and am happy so far. Maybe I can contribute to this topic in the future.

Thanks so far for the hints!

----------

## bart

I'm a long term IceWM user and still loving it  :Wink: . There was one small annoying problem with the mailbox icon: it counts the total number of mails in my inbox. I wanted it to count the number of unread mails only. My not so elegant solution:

Run "emerge icewm" and make it sleep (ctrl-z) right after unpacking the sources. Go to /var/tmp/portage/icewm-x.y.z/work/icewm-x.y.z/src and open amailbox.cc in your favorite editor. Replace all "(MESSAGES" by "(UNSEEN". Make it a bit nicer by replacing all "mail messgae" by "new mail message". Save your changes and finish the merge (fg).

Now the mailbox icon changes colour if there's one or more unread messages and when pointing the mouse cursor on top of the icon it tells you the number of unread messages.

For those of you who like the diff:

```

amailbox.cc

266c266

<                                   " (MESSAGES)\r\n", NULL));

---

>                                   " (UNSEEN)\r\n", NULL));

273c273

<             if (sscanf(bf, "* STATUS %127s (MESSAGES %lu)",

---

>             if (sscanf(bf, "* STATUS %127s (UNSEEN %lu)",

430,431c430,431

<                     _("%ld mail message.") :

<                     _("%ld mail messages."), // too hard to do properly

---

>                     _("%ld new mail message.") :

>                     _("%ld new mail messages."), // too hard to do properly

```

----------

## maximan

 *Remenic wrote:*   

> IceWM is totally awesome once you've configured it right. What really sold me  is the extremely low memory usage (with fancy features disabled, like xft etc.).
> 
> I've made a custom theme for it, but I haven't released it (yet).
> 
> Anyways, here is how it looks:
> ...

 

It's very nice you theme, could you send me it??

here is my screenshots

http://static.flickr.com/29/61327753_d870051954_o.jpg

Maximiliano

AMD64  3500+ - Slamd64 10.2 - ASUS v9520-X/TD - 512Ram - Icewm 1.3dev

----------

## depontius

I see that later versions of icewm support xinerama.

I have some co-workers who have dual displays, both with and without xinerama. But they're running mwm, and when you start the Cadence design system on one window, it and all of its children are pretty much stuck on that one window. We'd really like to spread the children windows over both displays, but aren't able to. While xinerama lets the mouse go from display from display, something (xinerama or mwm) won't let windows drag or move in any other way from display to display.

When xinerama support is compiled into icewm, will it allow me to move a window from one display to another, either by dragging or some other mechanism?

----------

## suby

 *choco wrote:*   

> I return to IceWM because it fits my concept of the ideal window manager.....Themes but not an insane amount of unneeded theming.

 

Exactly

----------

## Dont Panic

I know this thread is kind of old, but I had an issue in IceWM that has been bugging me for months, and I just figured it out.  So I thought I'd add it to the knowldege pile.

I've been having trouble getting png and jpg icons to show up on my menu, although xpm icons would show up just fine.  I discovered that the 'imlib' USE Flag needs to be set for png and jpg icons to show up in the menu.

I guess I was just jumping the gun on figuring that most packages were moving on from imlib.

----------

## rbalasus

Hello I use icewm since years... 

I remember ther where button to switch of the toolbar.... But in the last versions I can't found the button, I can't found a configuration option for this. And in the whole documentation is none hint.

I want to switch off the toolbar/taskbar when I run big windows, no more no less.

Can anybody tell me the right option in the preference file?

Regards Randolf Balasus

----------

## Dont Panic

I also noticed that button was missing in my Gentoo version of IceWM.

I was able to restore that button by adding the following line to my ~/.icewm/preferences file:

```
TaskBarShowCollapseButton=1
```

I also noticed there was another setting to enable a disappearing taskbar:

```
#  Auto hide task bar after delay

# TaskBarAutoHide=0 # 0/1
```

I tried that option out, but I also prefer just having the button.

----------

## rbalasus

great ! it works !!!

yes now I see As I changed to gentoo the button was missing...

very special thanks..

----------

## aleunix

Hello i use icewm from some days.

I like this small environment.

I have some questions.

How could run scripts or execute commands with line pipe calling from menu items?

Bye Ale  :Smile: 

Note:

Even if I do not use gentoo I subscribed to this forum for this section on icewm.  :Smile: 

----------

## rbalasus

Hello, can you explain more detailed, what you exactly want to do.

You want run scripts from menu ??

REGARDS Randolf Balasus

----------

## aleunix

Thanks rbalasus for you availability.  :Smile: 

I would like add a voice on file menu with start a script that i using for take a screenshot of my screen.

This is the content:

xwd | convert -  ../snapshots/$(date -j +%Y%m%d%H%M%s).png

----------

## ilborg

I have tried icewm couple of times but everytime I get frustrated with tweaking it to a bit more usable. 

-Now trying to find firstly how to get that ugly default theme changed from the menu.

-I don't like flashy things in my desktop so I would prefer clock to show only hours and minutes. 

-That crappy windows-style start menu. It's faster to write a command than to try find anything from submenus submenu.

-There is no icons in desktop pager to show what programs are running on which desktop.

To menu problem I found a partly solution. Make "quick launch", but instead of making them to start program, make to menu. That way you get more programs to "quick launch" and allmost as fast. Icewm default settings are something awful and before I think it's ready the defaults should been made better, so that you can use it for a while before tweaking. Fast and lightweight indeed anyway and quite configurable. I have replaced openbox with icewm in couple of systems when using lxde-desktop.

I have been using fvwm-crystal for some time and there is couple of great innovations what I just can't find in any other window manager. One of the greatest are a really nice quick launch: with left mouse button you open a submenu of that program category. Right mouse button quick launches categorys default program. Like with left button you open internet category and right runs a browser. Really neat. Otherwise it's just fvwm with quite nice default settings. Just problem came with virtual desktops which arent really virtual deskop by xorg definition. They are just different cordinates and relativities and some programs remember their cordinates where they are closed. Nice when program remembers that it was closed in 15000x,10y and next time starts in that non existing position(or virtual) :Laughing: 

----------

## Tony0945

Cut and paste doesn't seem to work in IceWm.  Any hints or tips on how to turn it on?

Also, does anyone have a download link to the fake95 theme? I'm building a gentoo installation to replace a crashed WinME (the champion crashing machine) on an old Compaq Pentium3 box.

Icewm would seem to be the best choice for memory footprint and familiarity to a Windows user.  I'm using Gnome on my machine, but unless you have Gigs of memory and a dual core (which I do), it doesn't seem to be the choice.

----------

## Dont Panic

Cut-and-Paste is working fine for me.  

Can you give an example of where Cut-and-Paste is working in Gnome, but not working in IceWM?  Maybe Gnome has another way of performing this operation that I haven't run across.

----------

## yabbadabbadont

 *Tony0945 wrote:*   

> Also, does anyone have a download link to the fake95 theme? I'm building a gentoo installation to replace a crashed WinME (the champion crashing machine) on an old Compaq Pentium3 box.

 

http://themes.freshmeat.net/projects/fake95/

Or you could tell them that you are upgrading them to XP by using this one:

http://themes.freshmeat.net/projects/1in1-xp/

 :Twisted Evil: 

----------

## ssokolow

Definitely lots of great tips in this thread. Here are mine:

1. The IceClearlooks2 theme.

2. x11-misc/gmrun

3. IconPath="/usr/share/icons:/usr/share/pixmaps:/usr/share/icons/hicolor/16x16/apps"

The first gives you the benefits of Clearlooks window frames (easy on the eyes, compact, modern enough in appearance, ) without having to use Metacity.

The second is the only Run dialog I've ever found which is lightweight yet as flexible and feature-rich as IceWM itself. (Tab completion, history, URL and extension-based launcher associations, and more)

The third lets you reference the vast majority of application icons using the same concise, relative syntax you'd use with x11-themes/iceicons or inside /usr/share/applications/*.desktop

EDIT: Oops. Almost forgot the best part. x11-misc/pcmanfm will give you a file manager with a lot to recommend it: 

 It looks and feels like Thunar (familiar and comfortable)

 Unlike Thunar and Nautilus, it has a tabbed UI (Big reason I used to use Konqueror 3.x on desktops like GNOME and Xfce while experimenting)

 Despite being a GTK+ 2.x app, its GUI is more responsive than Xfe's (feels more lightweight despite not being ugly and Motif-like  :Razz:  )

 Optionally but without noticeable extra bloat, it can handle drawing filesystem-backed desktop icons and setting a background using a preview-enabled dialog and it can pass non-icon right-clicks through to IceWM. (Perfect for migrating less tech-savvy family members over to IceWM or for getting a right-click launcher menu and desktop icons without resorting to KDE 3 or Xfce)

[/list]

----------

## Dont Panic

I'm seeing more activity in the IceWM project than I've seen in a while.

They have picked up the pace of releases in the 1.3.x series.

I am currently using 1.3.7_pre2, and it's working well for me.

To be honest, though, I'm not sure what improvements are incorporated in the 1.3 series over the 1.2 releases.

But at least it's re-assuring to see a somewhat steady stream of minor releases.

I was able to use a 1.3.6 ebuild supplied in Gentoo's Bugzilla (https://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=316641) and rename the ebuild to 1.3.7_pre2 without any additional changes.

There is also a very similar 1.3.7_pre2 ebuild in another Gentoo forum topic (Startup file in IceWM not working [SOLVED])

I would suggest against enabling the 'gnome' USE flag.  This enables an internally generated menu scheme which is a great idea, but it isn't doing a very useful job of interpreting the .desktop entries in /usr/share/applications.

Anyhow, it's good to see some activity in this project again.

----------

## Dont Panic

I see where an icewm-1.3.7 final was released on Oct. 31 a few days ago.

I think you can get an ebuild from the jasiu overlay (I just renamed my 1.3.7_pre2 local ebuild and it worked fine).

Although it doesn't appear there are too many changes from the 1.3.7_pre2 release other than a few bug fixes.

----------

## b105

Hello Gentoo users! Check out my IceWM look: http://postimage.org/image/29ukmoxic/ .

----------

## valerios

 *charlieg wrote:*   

> Haha evidently not! 

 

I use icewm.  :Razz: 

----------

## jonathan183

My tip for IceWM is to setup the menu with your favourite apps in the same place and use menumaker to generate a program list covering most other things ...

I have /etc/icewm folder with menu, toolbar, preferences etc. An example menu file is

```
menufile "All Programs" - /etc/icewm/mmaker-menu-output

separator

prog FireFox /usr/share/icons/Mint-X/apps/48/mozilla-firefox.png firefox

prog claws-mail /usr/share/icons/Mint-X/apps/48/evolution.png claws-mail

prog "LibreOffice" /usr/share/icons/Mint-X/apps/48/openofficeorg-writer.png soffice

prog "Thunar File Manager" /usr/share/icons/Mint-X/apps/48/Thunar.png Thunar

prog Mousepad /usr/share/icewm/icons/file_32x32.xpm mousepad

prog xterm /usr/share/icons/Mint-X/apps/48/terminal.xpm xterm

separator

menufile "Net" - /etc/icewm/favourites-net

separator

menufile "Office" - /etc/icewm/favourites-office

separator

menufile "Other" - /etc/icewm/favourites-other

separator
```

an example submenu file is

```
prog FireFox /usr/share/icons/Mint-X/apps/48/mozilla-firefox.png firefox

prog claws-mail /usr/share/icons/Mint-X/apps/48/evolution.png claws-mail

separator
```

I generate the list of programs using a simple script

```
### create mmaker output for IceWM

mmaker -ci IceWM > /etc/icewm/mmaker-menu-output
```

----------

