Copyright © 2006 Jim Brooks
IceWM [sourceforge] is a quick light-weight X window manager with only the necessary ingredients.
IceWM doesn't run a bunch of bloated cache-thrashing processes as do GNOME, KDE, and Mickeysoft
This should apply to a distro using gdm or kdm for the GUI login screen (exact details may vary).
If gdm/kdm isn't installed, this describes how to use ~/.xsession.
Build and install RPM from icewm's source code:
rpmbuild -ta icewm-*.tar.gz cd /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i386 rpm -ivh icewm*
To add IceWM to the gdm (or kdm) login screen, create the file icewm.desktop:
(Both gdm and kdm understand *.desktop files)
/etc/X11/dm/Sessions/icewm.desktop: [Fedora 3] /usr/share/xsessions/icewm.desktop: [Fedora 5, Suse 10] [Desktop Entry] Encoding=UTF-8 Name=IceWM Comment=IceWM Exec=/usr/bin/icewm-session Icon= Type=Application
Create a gdm session script:
Fedora 3 only (icewm.desktop suffices on Fedora 5, maybe 3 too)
/etc/X11/gdm/Sessions/ICEWM: #!/bin/bash exec /etc/X11/xdm/Xsession IceWM
IceWM usually auto-detects changes to files in ~/.icewm. If not, run Logout/Restart IceWM.
Format for a program line is: prog menuItemName icon command
To add items in drop-down menu:
~/.icewm/menu: prog xterm xterm xterm -vb -bg gray -fn 7x14 prog emacs emacs emacs prog xemacs xemacs xemacs prog firefox firefox firefox
To add items in toolbar:
~/.icewm/toolbar: prog XTerm xterm xterm -vb -bg gray -fn 7x14 # this overrides the default Xterm which allows audible bell
To have 8 virtual desktops with a background wallpaper:
~/.icewm/preferences: TaskBarAtTop = 1 WorkspaceNames=" 1 ", " 2 ", " 3 ", " 4 ", " 5 ", " 6 ", " 7 ", " 8 " DesktopBackgroundImage="wallpaper.png"
To auto-start xscreensaver, add IceWM startup and shutdown scripts:
~/.icewm/startup: #!/bin/sh xscreensaver -no-splash & ~/.icewm/shutdown: #!/bin/sh killall xscreensaver
Adding themes:
Just download a theme tarball, extract it into ~/.icewm/themes.
It'll auto-magically appear in IceWM's Themes menu.
IceWM themes at freshmeat.net