[SOLVED] Lost in IceWM

[jayd512]

Okay... So I got IceWM installed, posting from it now in fact. But I'm having some problems getting it customized in any way. I found the preferences file in my /usr/share/icewm directory. I decided to start small with it, figured I would go for a desktop background and such. Added the files for the image, removed the hash mark to enable it. Logged out, logged back in... no changes.
I also tried to add Firefox to the menu bar as a program, that didn't go over to well either. I was already hooked up with a link to get me started on it, but I must be goofing somewhere.
Anybody wanna throw a few suggestions my way?

[oz]

I've always found the IceWM Manual and their HowTos and FAQ to be good sources for information. Have you tried those already?

Dapper Dan uses IceWM quite a bit, so I'm sure he'll be in here with some added clues.

[Dapper Dan]

Hi jayd512, saw your post on the screenshots thread and thanks! I just haven't got to the point of responding to you in a thoughtful and considered way but I was going to. Hang on, I'll have a lot of good info for you shortly.

[Dapper Dan]

jayd512, which distro are you running? I think I remember Slackware? If you haven't already, download and install icewm-themes. (This is for Slackware 9.1 but will still work). After the themes are installed, you should be able to choose from them in your IceWM menu.

Look in your home directory and see if you have a hidden configuration directory called:

.icewm

If so, cd into it, do ls and see if you have the following files:

menu  preferences  taskbar  theme  toolbar

If they are there that's good! If not, do below: (Since I don't know your home directory's name, I'll use "jayd512")

cp -r /usr/local/icewm /home/jayd512

mv icewm .icewm

chown -R jayd512:users .icewm

Now you should have a functioning .icewm in your home directory. Time to configure!

Editing background

It's just easier to scale your desired background image to the same size as your resolution. Then open the preferences file with your favourite editor as regular user:

kate .icewm/preferences

Scroll to the bottom of the file and look for:

#  Desktop background image
# DesktopBackgroundImage=""

Put the path to your desired background image inside the quotes. and uncomment that line. Here's mine as a reference:

#  Desktop background image
DesktopBackgroundImage="/home/dapper/treebluesky.jpg"

#  Color to announce for semi-transparent windows
# DesktopTransparencyColor=""

#  Image to announce for semi-transparent windows
# DesktopTransparencyImage=""

To make the image take effect, run:

icewmbg

The image will load thereafter when you boot into IceWM from kdm.

Editing Menu

Again, using your favourite editor:

kate .icewm/menu

For your apps and programs, start with "prog." The second entry is where the name of the program goes, followed by the path to the icon you prefer (I don't use this, but something needs to be here), and lastly, the command itself. Here's a portion of mine:

prog Konsole konsole konsole
prog Oldhome oldhome konqueror /mnt/hda11/dapper
prog Xchat xchat xchat
prog VirtualBox virtualbox VirtualBox
prog konqueror konqueror konqueror /home/dapper
prog OpenOffice stock_openoffice.png soffice -writer
prog Cedega cedega cedega
prog GTK-Gnutella GTK gtk-gnutella
prog Totem totem totem 
prog Xmms icon xmms

Save and exit. Items should now appear in your menu.

Editing Toolbar

Edit the same way:

kate .icewm/toolbar

I DO use icons here. If you don't use them, it will use the name you've given the app. Here's a portion of mine:

prog Evolution /mnt/hda14/opt/kde/share/icons/crystalsvg/48x48/apps/evolution.png evolution-2.6
prog Firefox /mnt/hda14/opt/kde/share/icons/crystalsvg/48x48/apps/firefox.png firefox
prog konqueror /mnt/hda14/opt/kde/share/icons/crystalsvg/48x48/apps/konqueror.png konqueror /home/dapper
prog OpenOffice /mnt/hda14/usr/share/icons/Rodent/48x48/apps/ooo_writer.png soffice -writer

Log out of X and back in to see your new toolbar buttons.

Hope this helps some...

[jayd512]

Hi guys!

Oz, actually, I have the info pages for IceWM that you mentioned bookmarked I got a lot of use out of them and managed to find and edit some of the necessary files. I ran into trouble when I tried to put my changes into effect.

Dan, this is an awesome amount of info! Thanks a bunch! I'm at work posting right now, so I'll have to wait to try it when I get home tonight. The only thing that might make a difference is this... I botched a few things in slack, so I went back to Fedora 7 for the time being. Will all this info still work for me? Or do I need to make a few changes as far as the syntax of the commands?

Thanks again, Dan!

[Dapper Dan]

Everything should get installed to the same place(s) although I'd try to find an RPM version of icewm-themes and install that instead. Is IceWM listed as a sessions choice in gdm?

[jayd512]

I installed IceWM using yum, and it got placed in my /usr/share directory. And it is listed as a session choice. In fact, I can get logged in to IceWM without a problem.

And this might help some:

cd /usr/share/icewm
ls -a
. .. menu  preferences  taskbar  theme  toolbar

Like I said, I'm at work right now, so I won't be able to execute anything yet.

[Dapper Dan]

Looking good! The reason I asked is because when I was using Red Hat 9, you had to edit files to make IceWM appear as a sessions choice in gdm. In .icewm/preferences, you might just want to look through all the hundreds of ways you can configure your desktop. I don't fool with most of it, but there is a whole lot available to configure there.

[jayd512]

Looks great, Dan! I'll give this a shot and report back on how it goes. Before I do though, i just wanna make sure I did the menu options correctly. if I happen to use an icon (whether for the menu or the taskbar), is the path to these icons typically part of the IceWM directory? Or are they stored in the directory with the app 9i.e. mozilla directory for the Firefox icon)?

[Dapper Dan]

I'm a sucker for doing everything easy... What I do is just do a "locate" on the app's icon. For instance, if I wanted the firefox icon on the taskbar, I'd first locate it...

locate firefox.png

Which would return:

/usr/ports/opt/firefox/firefox.png
/usr/share/icons/crystalsvg/16x16/apps/firefox.png
/usr/share/icons/crystalsvg/32x32/apps/firefox.png
/usr/share/icons/crystalsvg/48x48/apps/firefox.png
/usr/share/pixmaps/firefox.png

Choose one, then copy the path and add it into the toolbar configuration for that app:

prog Firefox /usr/share/icons/crystalsvg/48x48/apps/firefox.png firefox

The app's name plus ".png" will usually turn up a choice of icons.