Dressing Up IceWM



IceWM with xp-new theme and LongHorn Grass background. No dfm.


IceWM with xp-new theme, field background, dfm icons, and
IceWM Control Center to configure it.

The how-to:

1. Login then select IceWM from the xwmmenu.
It should create the default configuration at ~/.icewm.
If not, copy the files from /usr/X11/share/icewm.

Code:

mkdir ~/.icewm
cp /usr/X11/share/icewm/* ~/.icewm



2. Prepare an XP-ish background. Longhorn Grass and it's derivative would do.

3. Edit ~/.icewm/preferences. See the listing.

4. Edit ~/.icewm/toolbar. See the listing.

5. Edit ~/.icewm/menu. See the listing.

6. Logout then restart IceWM.

7. Click start button, select Themes, xp-new. Nice ?


However, I could not figure out how to make IceWM 1.2.7 remembers the last theme. The newest IceWM version 1.2.13 does.
Download it from www.icewm.org .

See, IceWM can be beautifull. More over, IceWM is fast and light.
I compared 3 windows manager on my pentium II laptop,
here is the result:

* Launch time
I tried to launch each windows manager 3 times from the console (startx). The time they took are (seconds):

Code:

N-run  IceWM   XFCE4     KDE
1        9          16           32
2        6          9             15
3        6          8             15



* Memory consumption
The memory (KB) they took from console to ready (empty, no other apps).

Code:

N-Run   IceWM   XFCE4   KDE
1          10408   15908    40932
2          10752   16240    41480
3          10940   16400    42004



So I choose IceWM, compare to KDE.
I think I can spare 30 MB without loosing too much functionality/eye candy.

If you want the lightest and fastest windows manager, try Fluxbox.
However, it's no non-sense look & feels may bite you a litle bit.

File $HOME/.icewm/preference
Only part that need to be changed

Code:

# preferences(1.2.7) - generated by genpref
# This file should be copied to /etc/icewm/ or $HOME/.icewm/

#### Options to mimicing Windows
#  Opaque window move
OpaqueMove=0 # 0/1
#  Opaque window resize
OpaqueResize=0 # 0/1
#  Menus track mouse even with no mouse buttons held
MenuMouseTracking=1 # 0/1
#  Support win95 keyboard keys (Penguin/Meta/Win_L,R shows menu)
Win95Keys=1 # 0/1
#  Support mouse wheel
UseMouseWheel=1 # 0/1
#  Alt+Tab window switching
QuickSwitch=1 # 0/1
#  Alt+Tab to windows on other workspaces
QuickSwitchToAllWorkspaces=1 # 0/1

#### Options for taskbar
#  Show clock on task bar
TaskBarShowClock=1 # 0/1
#  Show APM status on task bar
TaskBarShowAPMStatus=1 # 0/1
#  Task bar clock/APM uses nice pixmapped LCD display
TaskBarClockLeds=1 # 0/1
#  Show CPU status on task bar (Linux & Solaris)
TaskBarShowCPUStatus=1 # 0/1
#  Show network status on task bar (Linux only)
TaskBarShowNetStatus=0 # 0/1

#### Options for background
#  Display desktop background centered and not tiled
DesktopBackgroundCenter=1 # 0/1
#  Support for semitransparent terminals like Eterm or gnome-terminal
SupportSemitransparency=1 # 0/1
#  Desktop background color
DesktopBackgroundColor = midnightBlue
#  Desktop background image
DesktopBackgroundImage = "/usr/share/pixmaps/LonghornGrass.jpg"
#  Color to announce for semi-transparent windows
DesktopTransparencyColor=black
#  Image to announce for semi-transparent windows
# DesktopTransparencyImage=""



File $HOME/.icewm/toolbar
This file controls the small icons for launching programs on the taskbar.
The format is
prog Label Ikon nama_program [paramater ...]
Here is the example

Code:

# This is an example for IceWM's toolbar definition file.
#
# Place your variants in /etc/icewm or in $HOME/.icewm
# since modifications to this file will be discarded when you
# (re)install icewm.
#
prog ATerm xterm aterm -tr -sh 40 -fg white
prog Firebird phoenix firebird
prog OpenOffice ooo_global ooffice
prog Bluefish bluefish bluefish
prog Gimp gimp gimp
prog XMMS xmms xmms
prog MPlayer mplayer gmplayer



File $HOME/.icewm/menu
This file controls the menu. The format is similar with the tollbar

Code:

# IceWM Menu

# Menu Level 1
prog "Shutdown" shutdown sudo shutdown now
prog "Kill" bomb xkill
separator

# Line
separator

menu "Console" folder {

    # Level 2
    menu "Remote SSH" folder {
       prog "Jawa" - aterm -e ssh papua
       prog "Papua" - aterm -e ssh jawa
    }
    menu "Local" folder {
       prog "Midnight Commander" - aterm -e /usr/bin/mc
       prog "Mail" - aterm -e /usr/bin/pine
       prog "Chat" - aterm -e /usr/bin/bitcxx  #sensor
       prog "VIM" - aterm -e /usr/bin/vim
    }
}

menu "File_Managers" folder {
    prog "ROX" /usr/share/pixmaps/rox. /usr/bin/rox
    prog "XFtree" xftree xftree
}
menu "Editors" folder {
    prog "BlueFish" bluefish bluefish
    prog "NEdit"  nedit nedit
    prog "VIM" gvim gvim
    prog "PDF Viewer" pdf xpdf
}
menu "Graphics" folder {
    prog "Xv" xv xv
    prog "The GIMP" gimp gimp
    prog "GQview" gqview gqview
}
menu "Multimedia" folder {
    prog "XMMS" xmms xmms
    prog "Mplayer" mplayer gmplayer
    prog "Xcdroast" xcdroast xcdroast
}
menu "Internet" folder {
    prog "Firebird" phoenix firebird
    prog "Dillo" galeon dillo
    prog "E-Mail" email sylpheed
    prog "X-Chat" xchat xchat
    prog "ICQ" icq licq
    prog "TkPPPoe" isp tkpppo
}
menu "Office" folder {
    prog "OpenOffice" ooo_global ooffice
    prog "AbiWord" abiword AbiWord
}

## Include the toolbas as favourite
menufile Favourite toolbar toolbar