IceWM is a very clean desktop and, even though it is not highly configurable, it is a fairly serviceable desktop. With that in mind let’s take a look at what most will consider a blast from the past.

Features

Let’s take a look at the IceWM feature set.

Panel: The IceWM panel serves the same function as any panel from any other desktop.Don’t expect, however, to be able to do much configuration with the IceWM panel.

Notification Area: This is your typical notification area. By default this holds a CPU meter, a mail watch app, and a clock. If you use wireless tools, such as Network Manager applet, it will appear in this area as soon as you start the applet.

Menu: The main menu of IceWM will appear either by clicking the IceWM button on the left side of the panel or by clicking the right mouse button anywhere on the desktop. We’ll discuss editing this menu later.

GNOME/KDE Support: In early releases it was necessary to roll in GNOME and KDE support when IceWM was installed. Now, however, this support is built in.

Keyboard Shortcuts: There are plenty of default keyboard shortcuts. You can even configure your own keyboard shortcuts by editing a simple text file.

That’s the bulk of the features of IceWM. Now let’s take a look at how some of these features work.

Editing the menu

Figure 1

In order to add/remove/edit items to the IceWM menu you have to edit a text file. This text file will, once saved, update the menu in real time. In other words you do not have to restart the desktop to see the changes. As you can see, in Figure 1, the menu is pretty basic (And this has a few small personalization.)

Take a look in your ~/.icewm directory. You should find a file called menu. If you do not then you have to copy this file from the /usr/share/icewm directory with the command (either with root privileges or using sudo):

cp /usr/share/icewm/menu ~/.icewm

Once that file is copied you can start to edit it to add menu entries.

A menu entry for IceWM looks like this:

prog “APPLICATION_NAME” /PATH/TO/APPLICATION/ICON EXECUTABLE_COMMAND

Where:

• APPLICATION_NAME: Is the name you want to appear in the menu.
• /PATH/TO/APPLICATION/ICON: Is the explicit path the icon image file.
• EXECUTABLE_COMMAND: Is the command used to launch the application.

An example would be:

prog "Firefox" /usr/share/icons/Bluecurve/32x32/apps/mozilla-icon.png firefox

For a Firefox entry.

Make sure you save this file. Once you save it your new entries will appear.

Keyboard shortcuts

You will also notice a file in the ~/.icewm directory called keys. If this file is not in your ~/.icewm directory you will have to copy it from /usr/share/icewm. In this file are all of the keyboard shortcuts you can use with IceWM. A typical entry will look like:

key "Alt+Ctrl+t"                        xterm

You can add your own shortcuts using any of the following modifiers: Alt, Ctrl, Shift, Meta, Super, and Hyper.

Once you have added your keyboard shortcuts you will have to log out of IceWM for the new shortcuts to take effect. These shortcuts can make your work highly efficient. Imagine rarely having to take your fingers off of your keyboard!

Final thoughts

IceWM is not going to win any awards for being the prettiest desktop around. But for efficiency, and speed it very easily could win that tiara. If you are a fan of efficient computing do yourself a favor and give IceWM a try.