Revisiting lxp-icewm
Posted: Sun 15 Apr 2012, 17:02
Hello, all.
Here's a little gem of a window manager, derived from icewm, called
"lxp-icewm", from http://lxp.sourceforge.net/
New download URL (as of 2014-04-18):
http://www.datafilehost.com/d/c1db7f05
Screenshots:
http://lxp.sourceforge.net/Vista_1024.jpg
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... h&id=54257
Its interest lies in that it uses an extra image library. Because of that, it
has one feature not readily available in the regular icewm:
1) it's advertized as being able to mimic XP -- but it does an even better
job of mimicking Ubuntu!
And with some of the themes provided in the package (e.g. ekexinfonia),
you can even give it the look of the pekwm or oroborus window
managers. So lxp-icewm is very versatile.
And because it uses its own directory in ~/root/.lxp-icewm, the menu in
~/.icewm can be processed differently than in the regular icewm:
2) from the standpoint of configuration, lxp-icewm makes it very easy to
get the maximum out of the icewm taskbar and menu. What happens is
this: it uses the icewm menu called from the usual fixmenus to process
the bar and the menu in an original way.
The way this is done, the actual "menu" file is freed so the user can insert
his favorite programs and utilities, while preserving access to the Puppy
menu. You find a similar approach to the menu in openbox and pekwm,
for example.
This archive (~7.9- Mg) contains:
1 ) the wm itself
2 ) adapted icons (~800 K)
3 ) two original backgrounds and one original screenshot
4 ) localizations
5 ) the imlib library for better rendering of icons and pictures (a peculiarity
of lxp-icewm; the regular icewm doesn't need it).
6 ) 29 themes (including the original lxp themes, with some additional ones);
7 ) full docs for icewm (since that's what it is, beneath the pretty costume).
And for convenience:
8 ) stalonetray, and
9 ) the icewm menu editor.
I compiled it for lupu, but I believe that my main merit is that I've
gathered all of the elements needed to provide the user with a complete
package. No need to roam for various "parts" of a program on the web
or in the Puppy forum with this one: it's all here!
It works very well on lupu 5.25 retro and dpup 4.85. It probably will work
on all Puppies, since it is not new: member "gray" (known for his NOP
Puppies) based a Puppy on it in 2008.
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 5552fd7918
It is provided with no menu button: since all the sub-menus have buttons
on the taskbar, you don't actually need a menu button. As to the taskbar,
I've tried to make it as compact as possible, on one line only.
It is recommended to use an independent tray called stalonetray
(included in the package).
If you don't like compact taskbars, you can restore the defaults by
copying them from /usr/share/lxp-icewm to ~/.lxp-icewm, or by
re-processing the "preferences" file.
Voilà!
Tell me if you like it?
BFN.
Here's a little gem of a window manager, derived from icewm, called
"lxp-icewm", from http://lxp.sourceforge.net/
New download URL (as of 2014-04-18):
http://www.datafilehost.com/d/c1db7f05
Screenshots:
http://lxp.sourceforge.net/Vista_1024.jpg
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... h&id=54257
Its interest lies in that it uses an extra image library. Because of that, it
has one feature not readily available in the regular icewm:
1) it's advertized as being able to mimic XP -- but it does an even better
job of mimicking Ubuntu!
And with some of the themes provided in the package (e.g. ekexinfonia),
you can even give it the look of the pekwm or oroborus window
managers. So lxp-icewm is very versatile.
And because it uses its own directory in ~/root/.lxp-icewm, the menu in
~/.icewm can be processed differently than in the regular icewm:
2) from the standpoint of configuration, lxp-icewm makes it very easy to
get the maximum out of the icewm taskbar and menu. What happens is
this: it uses the icewm menu called from the usual fixmenus to process
the bar and the menu in an original way.
The way this is done, the actual "menu" file is freed so the user can insert
his favorite programs and utilities, while preserving access to the Puppy
menu. You find a similar approach to the menu in openbox and pekwm,
for example.
This archive (~7.9- Mg) contains:
1 ) the wm itself
2 ) adapted icons (~800 K)
3 ) two original backgrounds and one original screenshot
4 ) localizations
5 ) the imlib library for better rendering of icons and pictures (a peculiarity
of lxp-icewm; the regular icewm doesn't need it).
6 ) 29 themes (including the original lxp themes, with some additional ones);
7 ) full docs for icewm (since that's what it is, beneath the pretty costume).
And for convenience:
8 ) stalonetray, and
9 ) the icewm menu editor.
I compiled it for lupu, but I believe that my main merit is that I've
gathered all of the elements needed to provide the user with a complete
package. No need to roam for various "parts" of a program on the web
or in the Puppy forum with this one: it's all here!
It works very well on lupu 5.25 retro and dpup 4.85. It probably will work
on all Puppies, since it is not new: member "gray" (known for his NOP
Puppies) based a Puppy on it in 2008.
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 5552fd7918
It is provided with no menu button: since all the sub-menus have buttons
on the taskbar, you don't actually need a menu button. As to the taskbar,
I've tried to make it as compact as possible, on one line only.
It is recommended to use an independent tray called stalonetray
(included in the package).
If you don't like compact taskbars, you can restore the defaults by
copying them from /usr/share/lxp-icewm to ~/.lxp-icewm, or by
re-processing the "preferences" file.
Voilà!
Tell me if you like it?
BFN.