(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

IceWM - Alternative idea concept.

This is about collecting different ideas on IceWM window manager,
and how to integrate it more closely with PuppyLinuxOS.

Official development of IceWM appears to be stopped at version 1.3.8.. or so.
There is unofficial but maintained fork developed at github
with the latest ( for time of post.. ) version IceWM-BRANCH-1.4.2

I would suggest IceWM-BRANCH-1.3.12.144 for testing.
It has a lot of bugfixes applied and I have not noticed any
runtime problems with it.
1.4.2 version from git (bbidulock/icewm) builds only with cmake on my system.
While the source looks a lot cleaner than the usual - where it comes to pixmap
related code etc., it appears to have some new and not resolved bugs.
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Alternative idea concept - Why?

To provide a version of IceWM that is easy to build for / install on PuppyLinuxOS.
Also to rework some design mistakes, that are kept in mainstream for "legacy theme support".
And to remove overlapping, hidden and/or obsolete features.

Maybe to integrate it with ROX filemanager ( desktop ) and Gtkdialog4 ( settings, dialogs.. )
more deeply, as those come preinstalled with most Puppy versions.
( I would not worry about Puppy versions that use XFCE/Thunar etc. )

Why IceWM ? It has most needed ( and some unneeded ) details already onboard and figured out.
It should be less work to fine-tune it, than start anew with some obsolete wm or to
start picking out the pieces of de and struggle with dependencies.
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The difference.

It should be smaller, more simple and solid, starting with the source.
More work for the theme designer and less for the user, to get things going and look right.
Easy to use and update.

In other words, something of a "sport" version, with balanced speed, weight and look.
Not the "light" version that, almost works, while without the features one would be
interested in..
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..how ?

For now it would be a place where anyone can make the suggestions.
If You feel like maintaining the project and/or moving it to github etc. please,
do say so. The way I see it, there is a lot of puzzles to resolve first.

Some notes about software env...
Most, if not all of the development is done using regular TahrPup606 32bit version.
Please try to find those five minutes to install and configure TahrPup (frugal with savefolder) before asking
how to track any unforseen dependencies ( etc. ) in "vanilla" Linux distros, custom Puppy builds and alike.

You will need at least:
--- gnome-menu library version 2.14.* ( libgnome-menu.so.2.0.2 ? ) for xdg-menu
Mostly preinstalled in Puppy.
---GTK2 and gtkdialog4
used for GUI in the configuration and setup,
also in some extra apps shipped with the package.
Mostly preinstalled in Puppy.
---ROX filemanager
used for autoupdated browseMenu to open folders and files, different setup items, panel items, etc.
Mostly preinstalled in Puppy.

That said..
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Looking at the first post from 05 jan 2018.. I must point out that
it is a window manager that is only based on IceWM, and not in any way compatible with regular IceWM.
I hope it has different look and feel, while it should work in the most
boring and predictable manner as possible, for both JWM and IceWM users.

The stripped binary of ArktisWM is expected to build around 1/3 smaller than IceWM.
There is no useful changelog and no real plans to write one.

Now the current version is.. not finished but usable, for those who would like to experiment.
Also, the gtkdialog4-based dialogs, documentation, translations and themes will get
the finished state in the last order. For example - xorg setup dialog window is
only a "empty placeholder" at the moment. And some dialogs will need to be
reworked for external dependencies missing in some Puppy 32/64 bit versions.
It is a suggestions section, so feel free to share all ideas.

Maybe someone should review the default english labels, before making any translations,
as english is not my native language, only learned some along the way..
Translation files and scripts are included also in precompiled package,
well, devx.sfs must be loaded for msgfmt and stuff..
And then the HTML files..


For clarification.
Codename for version 04 is ArktisWM.
Version 03 is skipped.


Some standalone parts ( desktop-clock, calendar, new-gtk2 ) are separately posted here:
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 6&start=30

Known build-time dependencies.

autopoint
at least ver. 0.18 to 0.19.8.1

In general, same or better as "gettext" version on the system.
Included autopoint in source package works for both 32/64 bit systems.
autopoint must be installed before the compile, and can be removed after that.
The system must accept the "xz" compression to access it.

devx.sfs for the puppy must be loaded to build the source.
Currently only versions of puppy 6'th series or better ( tahr, .. ) are supported,
as older versions have too old build toolchains in use.
That is not my personal selection, just "something" from IceWM-BRANCH - and
may change over time, if there is a better way, please lead..

Edit:
I get the impression that LTS releases of Ubuntu starting with Trusty Tahr are more likely to work OOTB,
while there may be gettext version mismatches with Slackware based Puppys
and missing/different libs and headers in Debian based systems ( Puppy and EasyOS ) .
Older systems will need build tools starting with autoconf 2.69 and automake 1.14 versions.

The source.

README file in source top directory has information about
how to use the simple build script.

Also a step-by-step build should be possible, with the same build order.

NB! When in any doupt, skip to the next post below..
Please, do not try to install over previous install of ArktisWM or nIceWM
window manager or separate components ( calendar, clock etc. ) !

You can download current version of ArktisWM source here:
https://archive.org/details/arktiswm_04_source.tar

Precompiled packages.

Below are precompiled pet packages for testing on some puppy versions.

Note:

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

Warning:
Using any other filemanager than ROX-filer, or default window manager other than JWM will
have untested and, most likely, unwanted results.
Please use "ArktisWM Setup" to change window manager, this is _the_only_ supported method.
Please do not attempt to install the pet package on any other version of Puppy than one is built for.
There can be changes to scripts for specific Puppy version workarounds.
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After pet install there should be "ArktisWM Setup" item in the "Desktop" section of the JWM rootmenu
that allows to directly switch from JWM to ArktisWM ( and back, if needed.. ) - see the
screenshot below this post.
Simple as that, I hope..


ArktisWM_04-tahrpup606_32bit.pet can be downloaded here:
https://archive.org/details/arktiswm04tahrpup60632bit

ArktisWM_04-xenialpup64-75_64bit.pet can be downloaded here:
https://archive.org/details/arktiswm04x ... p647564bit

ArktisWM_04-bionicpup64-80_64bit.pet can be downloaded here:
https://archive.org/details/arktiswm04b ... p648064bit

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torm,
Hi, have you got your modified source online?

I was looking around at window managers recently, to run in the Xephyr X server in a container, in my latest EasyOS, as JWM did not play nice.

I briefly looked at that icewm source 1.4.2, but... trying to recall, think that I had some problems with compiling it.

Anyway, settled on pekwm and lxpanel:

http://bkhome.org/news/201807/petget0-a ... asyos.html

Many years ago, in Puppyland, we used icewm, and it was nice. I would like to consider it again, and your changes to the source look very interesting!

Above pet files are the only online source for now..

Edit: source and pets are separated downloads now, from version 04.

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updated to version 04