Thread for ICEWM lovers (ICEWM tips)

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mattheweast · Post by **mattheweast** » Tue Jan 18, 2005 1:02 pm

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 · Post by **shickapooka800** » Tue Jan 18, 2005 8:49 pm

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 · Post by **mattheweast** » Tue Jan 18, 2005 9:10 pm

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 · Post by **shickapooka800** » Tue Jan 18, 2005 11:32 pm

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 · Post by **mattheweast** » Wed Jan 19, 2005 12:14 am

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

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 · Post by **shickapooka800** » Wed Jan 19, 2005 10:52 pm

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 · Post by **res0r9lm** » Wed Jan 19, 2005 11:25 pm

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 · Post by **shickapooka800** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 12:10 am

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

in my .xinitrc file i have only

Code: Select all

exec icewm

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

Code: Select all

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 · Post by **res0r9lm** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 1:12 am

It should be

Code: Select all

icewmbg &
exec /usr/bin/icewm-session

TheNull · Post by **TheNull** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 3:40 am

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
Code: Select all
exec icewm 
i then wanted to add the program icewmbg, but i wanted it to run in the background so i put
Code: Select all
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.

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 · Post by **shickapooka800** » Fri Jan 21, 2005 6:43 am

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 · Post by **Stefan Pantiru** » Sat Jan 22, 2005 12:23 pm

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 · Post by **ekki** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 1:32 pm

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

): 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 · Post by **res0r9lm** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 8:58 pm

idesk is for icons on desktop

Stefan Pantiru · Post by **Stefan Pantiru** » Thu Jan 27, 2005 11:25 pm

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 · Post by **ekki** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 11:30 am

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

).

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'

.

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??

????

Stefan Pantiru · Post by **Stefan Pantiru** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 8:25 pm

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 · Post by **ekki** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 9:40 pm

It's ok. Maybe someone else knows

. And I will post on another forum, thank you for that tip.

Arainach · Post by **Arainach** » Fri Feb 11, 2005 1:31 am

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 · Post by **beandog** » Fri Feb 11, 2005 4:16 am

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 · Post by **choco** » Fri Feb 18, 2005 4:11 am

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:

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#!/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

Code: Select all

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 · Post by **TRauMa** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 6:49 am

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:

Code: Select all

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.

Code: Select all

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 · Post by **beandog** » Sat Mar 12, 2005 6:44 am

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 · Post by **odocoileus** » Wed Mar 16, 2005 11:39 pm

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 · Post by **chrism** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 11:54 pm

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