I am running Debian Sarg with 2.6 and iceWM. Over all, I've been pleased with iceWM but there are a couple of issues that are driving me crazy and I was hoping that someone can point me in the right way to resolve:

1. My desktop background "disappears". My "theme" and the default background that goes along with it is restored but I want my "theme" and the background that I selected to go along with it to remain intact. The option to change the background when right-clicking the background isn't available when my background isn't there...
2. Cannot logout or exit the system from within iceWM. When I 'control-alt-delete' - the "lockstation" "reboot" and "shutdown" options are white and are un-executeable from the menu. I am forced to "powerdown" via the command line.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

@lilohatea

For 2 I think you need to specify the commands for each of those in ~/.icewm/preferences (copy the sample config if it doesn't exist already). Can you elaborate on 1?

IceWM Tips
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...icle&artid=307

This will give you some idea on how to do the basics.

Edit your ~/.xsession, add this line:

exec icewm-session

if you just write 'exec icewm' it will start the wm but it will not show the bg image.

Go to your ~/.icewm/preferences and enable the third option from the bottom up:

# Desktop background image
# DesktopBackgroundImage=""

Put the background image location between the quotation marks for e.g.:

# Desktop background image
DesktopBackgroundImage="/home/macondo/cancun.jpg"

save/exit
logout/login

it should be there, when you enter X.

As for getting out, i installed sudo, executed 'visudo' as root, and added this line:

username ALL = (ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL

replaced 'username' with my user name, save/exit

and from the terminal (aterm), i just issue the command:

$ sudo halt or reboot

simple...

Thanks to the both of you.

Some other interesting side-effects:

When my background is default -

* my xterm display is also set to default background and font.
* the logout option off of the start menu works
* when pressing "control-alt-delete" only "lock workstation is unavailable. All other options are available.

When my custom background "appears" -

* my xterm custom settings return.
* the logout option off of the start menu does not work.
* the "lockstation" "reboot" and "shutdown" options are white and are un-executeable from the menu.

I'm still trying to "find a method to the madness" and find out if there is something that I am doing to make it appear because it does seem to be random...

macondo -

You are the one that actually got me to revisit and give iceWM another chance. I did a search and found an old post from you pointing out the key bindings, etc. I tried it out years ago but was unaware of the key bindings. That changes everything for me and I really like it so far. I've doubled the task bar and have nearly the entire extra row displaying my CPU. I am running the "Jaywalk" theme and it seems to go together rather well. So...thanks for turning me on to icewm.

Ok, I have followed your instructions to the best of my ability and it has not worked. Let me detail exactly what I have done and you can tell me if I missed a step or if I did something incorrectly:

1. Edited my /etc/X11/.xsession~ file. Wasn't sure where to enter the "exec icewm-session" line but entered it directly above the 'exec >>"$ERRFILE" 2>&' line.
2. Added my background to the .icewm/preferences file. (I think I'm ok here).
3. Logged out/in.

Thanks!

@lilohatea

"Ok, I have followed your instructions to the best of my ability and it has not worked. Let me detail exactly what I have done and you can tell me if I missed a step or if I did something incorrectly:

1. Edited my /etc/X11/.xsession~ file. Wasn't sure where to enter the "exec icewm-session" line but entered it directly above the 'exec >>"$ERRFILE" 2>&' line.
2. Added my background to the .icewm/preferences file. (I think I'm ok here).
3. Logged out/in."

*********************************************************

Ok, go back to your /etc/X11/.xsession and erase what you did. Save/exit.

The instructions were to go to your ~/.xsession, which means your home dir: e.g. /home/your user name/.xsession, this file does not exist, you will have to create like so:

# nano /home/your user name/.xsession

this will open an empty file, write/paste this:

exec icewm-session

Ctrl+O <Enter>
Ctrl+X <Enter>

now the file is created.

(the letters O and X are not caps)

then logout/login (Ctrl+Alt+Backspace)

then re-enter the X environment with 'startx' or whatever you use. You should have IceWM with the background image if you correctly set the path in the icewm Preferences file. =)

On your ~/.icewm/preferences on line 457 you will see these two options:

# Command to shutdown the system
# ShutdownCommand=""

write this btwn the quotations marks:

shutdown -h now

# Command to reboot the system
# RebootCommand=""

ditto here:

shutdown -r now

then when you are at the terminal try to shutdown first with:

# halt

and reboot with:

# reboot

logout/login or reboot to make sure.

it it doesn't work, then write the whole expression:

shutddown -h now or -r now, depending on what you wanna do.

Later on you will inquire about 'sudo' that's another story.

Ah, that is what I did initially but when I saw that I was creating a file and not editing a file, I assumed you were referring to the X11 file. I'll try it when I get home.

I know about SUDO, I just don't think that I want it. Having to type SUDO before everything seems to be more of a pain in the *** than just logging in as root. Certaintly I can add the authorization to shutdown with my regular user id, no? There is another way when using iceWM, right? I also want the option to click on the start button and logout from there. That is my problem.

I finally found out that it is when I open Nautilus that my background appears...