There are a bunch of light window managers
that I built from source on a slax platform
(6.1.1 and 6.2.0) and, of course, could be built
on slackware. But there still remain to
figure out the startup scripts, configs
(eg, xinitrc.windowlab, ..., menu generators, etc.)

If anybody is interested in having a look at it
I can post the slax modules (the slaxbuild is included)
and write then post SlackBuilds

###
WindowLab is a small and simple window manager of novel design.
It has a click-to-focus but not raise-on-focus policy, a window
resizing mechanism that allows one or many edges of a window to
be changed in one action, and an innovative menubar that shares
the same part of the screen as the taskbar. Window titlebars
are prevented from going off the edge of the screen by
constraining the mouse pointer, and when appropriate the
pointer is also constrained to the taskbar/menubar in order
to make target menu items easier to hit.

http://nickgravgaard.com/windowlab/

###
pekwm is a window manager that once up on a time was
based on the aewm++ window manager, but it has evolved
enough that it no longer resembles aewm++ at all.
It has a much expanded feature-set, including window grouping
(similar to ion, pwm, or fluxbox), autoproperties, xinerama,
keygrabber that supports keychains, and much more.

o Lightweight and Unobtrusive,
a window manager shouldn't be noticed.
o Very configurable, we all work and think in different ways.
o Automatic properties, for all the lazy people, make things
appear as they should when starting applications.
o Chainable Keygrabber, usability for everyone.

http://pekwm.org/projects/pekwm

###
ion is a tiling enabled window manager
designed with keyboard users in mind.

It requires the presence of lua.

http://iki.fi/tuomov/ion/

###
JWM is a window manager for the X11 Window System.
JWM is written in C and uses only Xlib at a minimum.
The following libraries can also be used if available:
o libXext for the shape extension
o libXext for the render extension
o libXmu for drawing rounded windows (shape extension also needed)
o libXinerama for Xinerama support
o libXpm for XPM backgrounds and icons
o libjpeg for JPEG backgrounds and icons
o libpng for PNG backgrounds and icons
o libxft for antialiased and true type fonts
o libfribidi for right-to-left language support

http://www.joewing.net/programs/jwm/

You do a good job but don’t count to win the popular contest.

I just counted data published on http://1-million-tux.linux-befehle.org/indexen.php. Only 2.84% Linux users use Slackware. Only 26.54% Linux users use desktop environments or window managers different from the five most popular (see: below). Among them are a lot managers more familiar than WindowLab, pekwm, ion, and JWM. For example I’m a humble user of Slackware and Window Maker. I’m very glad of both my operating system and window manager so I don’t intend to try any others. The same is with the other Linux users. This is the reason for which nobody replies to your post.

Operating systems:
Ubuntu; 54.98%
OpenSuse; 9.95%
Debian; 9.0%
Fedora; 4.74%
Arch Linux; 3.32%
Kubuntu; 2.84%
Slackware; 2.84%
Linux Mint; 2.37%
Mandriva; 1.42%
Sabayon; 1.42%
Gentoo; 0.95%
Mepis; 0.95%
Sidux; 0.95%
Other; 4.27%

Window managers:
Gnome; 45.97%
KDE; 21.33%
Fluxbox; 2.84%
Xfce; 1.9%
Openbox; 1.42%
Other; 26.54%

Xfce only 1.9 % while Fluxbox 2.84 %? Or KDE 21 % while GNOME 45% ?
I think the data published on this website are not representative. (And they say about it on this site.)

There are only 160 registered with GUI till now. It couldn't be representative. Maybe, you want take a look again when we reached up to 10000 users.

By the time this happens, half of the people who registered earlier will change their distro and/or desktop environment/window manager. . And many of them will not update their record.
Seriously, polls are much better.

I think the closest to reliable numbers is the linux counter project, and even there the rule applies: not everybody has registered, nor does the number of registrants have to be representative to the whole... But according to LC, about 7.5% of the Linux users run Slackware. http://counter.li.org/reports/machines.php

I know it. I needed some sample statistics -- not necessarily some representative one.

You're too modest. When I counted these statistics on http://1-million-tux.linux-befehle.org/all.php was 211 users. Now they are 216.

I was too inattentive and I omitted words with GUI.

LinuxQuestions' polls hardly ever reach over 200 respondents.

I agree.

Take into consideration that three most popular distributions -- Ubuntu, Debian, and OpenSuse -- use by default Gnome. According to the site quoted above it's total of 73.93% of Linux users and according to Linux Counter it's 47.07% of Linux users.

Thanks to the original poster.

I have to second that; while I doubt I will ever go and use a light WM (but you never know) it's great people put effort in this! I guess I have come to love a bit of bloat, given the amount of resources linux requires and what's available... such a waste to not use those resources as well ;-)

I agree. Even now having the fastest computer I've ever owned, I'm still interested in trying even lighter window managers to see if I get a more responsive system.

I'm really enjoying Enlightenment 0.17, which can be built from SlackBuilds. It's very quick and rather attractive.

I'm interested in trying the other window managers mentioned in the first post. At the very least, it will be fun to play with them for a little while.

Regards,

Here's another one who agrees.
Still very fond of IceWM, even on a recent machine.

Since my first post I built 2 more slax modules for
these window managers:

icewm
openbox

### description
icewm (IceWM Window Manager)

IceWM is a window manager for the X Window System.
The goal of IceWM is speed, simplicity,
and not getting in the user's way.

Homepage: http://www.icewm.org/
####
openbox (Openbox window manager)

Openbox is a standards compliant, fast, light-weight,
extensible window manager. Openbox was written first to comply
with standards and to work properly.

Openbox is fully functional as a stand-alone working environment,
or can be used as a drop-in replacement for the default window
manager in the GNOME or KDE desktop environments.

http://icculus.org/openbox/

#################
Right now I'm building them on slax to try them on this live
system. Yesterday I tried to launch openbox but failed
either as the standalong or with kde
I have to figure out what to put into a startopenbox by
copying some parts of startfluxbox (also to make the script
create ~/.config/openbox/* the first time it launches, etc.)

Once the tests are successfull I'll write SlackBuilds
(which are basically the same as the slaxbuilds for the
building part: ./configure, make, make install)

###################
@Lufbery:
Wasn't enlightenment used to be the default window manager
in the debian distros?
Are you using it on a slackware box?
I'd be interested by any info about how to operate it in
slackware (startup scripts, configs). I'll look for the sources

Let me know which on the list interests you and I could
share my building scripts with you if you're interested
(right now they are slaxbuilds, but I could write SlackBuilds
or you could just do it yourself from my slaxbuilds ...)

Speaking of light apps, maybe I should start another thread
for apps for the console (like framebuffer-based web browsers,
image viewers, etc.). I got a couple of these and I'm on the
lookout for others

There are slackbuilds for openbox/obconf on slackbuilds.org that I've used successfully in the past. Might save you some effort.

Thanks vonbiber.
I'm an icewm user (but playing with xfce right now). PCLinuxOS released a version with lxde/openbox that looks really nice.
Anything that helps this 500mhz machine run faster is great