I've flipped between IceWM and Window Maker, but cannot see how to browse files in either.


(The reason I want to browse files is that I've downloaded the JRE from Sun using Firefox, and it has downloaded it to the Desktop. But there is no icon on the Desktop to show the file is there)

To see where the file really went open firefox and click on edit/preferences/downloads/show folder.

Not that my show folder button really works with mandriva 2006 but I can read what the folder is so thats ok.

Open a terminal
$ find $HOME -name downloaded_file_name

where downloaded_file_name is the exact name of the file that you downloaded probably jre*.bin

Thank you both for answering - unfortunately, I already know where the file is (it's in /home/euan/Desktop/ ) and what it is called. (I have downloaded both /home/euan/Desktop/jre-1_5_0_06-linux-i586.rpm and /home/euan/Desktop/jre-1_5_0_06-linux-i586-rpm.bin ) and I've even I've chmod-ed them in a terminal session.

BUT[/B] (and this is a big but) it is not visible as an icon on the desktop. In fact, no icons are visible on the desktop.

I've now seen screendumps of what a KDE desktop is supposed to look like, and I do not have the nice friendly icons (e.g. Home) on my desktop. I am restricted from choosing from the Window Maker and IceWM in the System | Session | Window managers submenu

Why is there no KDE window manager option? And should IceWM or Window Maker really prevent me seeing the contents of my /home/euan/Desktop folder as icons on my desktop?

How do I get my desktop to display the icons for the files in my Desktop folder?

You probably haven't installed KDE, you have to install KDE before you can use it. Open a terminal and
# rpmdrake
Install KDE and all packages.
Now

#drakconf
I am not too sure what the name of exact module is but you will find some entry Madrake Control panel to select the Window manager.

Some of the more basic window managers don't show icons on the desktop, I'm pretty sure this includes window maker and IceWM. It seems like you want to install KDE to have some more functionality, but there are ways to browse using these managers in case you ever want to experiment with them. One option is to install rox, you can use this to browse through files, and there's also a way to set it to show icons on the desktop, though personally I kind of like having the clean fluxbox desktop without icons.

Desktop icons are not a standard thing. They're mostly unnecessary in my opinion. Most window managers won't do icons by themselves and some of the more basic WMs won't even draw your wallpaper as they don't define the root window as being their job to control. If your making the move from Windows to linux it's best not to make assumptions about things, chances are it'll be different from what you expect. Different OS and stuff you see?

As a former GEM, OS/2, Windows (1, 2, 3, 3.1, 95, 98, NT3, NT4, Me, XP) and NeXTStep (2,3,4) user, I am actually aware of the differences between windowing systems - thank you though CS-CAM for drawing my attention to the fact that differences between windowing OSs and window managers exist.

That is, however, slightly beside the point of my original query:

How do I browse files (in either of IceWM or Window Maker)?

(I was a bit disappointed in the lack of obvious browser in Window Maker, given it is intended as GnuStep's clone of several aspects of the NeXTStep WIMP user interface, but c'est la vie)

In the end, I discovered that there was a file browser called FileRunner available for installation via
System | Configuration | Configure Your Computer

and installed it.

I also installed KDE Desktop using
System | Configuration | Configure Your Computer

Both now appear in the App Startup button menu.

I later tried FluxBox. It didn't show an Application Startup Menu button - this was scarey - it meant I could not regress easily to IceWM. I ended up deliberately crashing the PC in the vain (but as it turned out, justified) hope that on re-boot, it would still be using IceWM.

What obvious widget or setting was I missing, mcmillan?

Thank you for your sarcasm. You infinitly detailed original post should have told me that, unfortunately I must have missed the finer print somewhere

Window Maker is not intended to be a full clone of the NeXT UI, simple a window manager that mimicks it's basic looks. I suggest you just use KDE, you seem to be looking for a full desktop environment so you don't have to worry about the little things and KDE fits that well. Fluxbox won't be any good to you, it doesn't support desktop icons out of the box and it doens't have a file manager or even an easily configurable menu.

Using FileRunner seems to be the right direction to browse files, I'm not familiar with it but that doesn't mean much. If you run the command in a terminal that you open in whichever gui you're in that will start that up and you can browse.

I'm a bit confused about having KDE Desktop in the App startup button. It seems like that would be an option when you logon, not as an app. There are a lot of KDE apps that get installed with it that show up in other gui menus. Are you sure it's not one of these if you're not seeing this in the session login menu?

As for the lack of a menu in fluxbox, you probably just didn't know where to look for it since it's a bit unusual if you're used to looking for a toolbar, or maybe you didn't recognize it for what it is. The fluxbox menu (as well as xfce and probably a few others that I haven't used) is the right click on the desktop. The default fluxbox menu is very minimal, but it has the xterm in it, which is enough to get you to the point that you can start configuring it in a text file, though there are some ways to automate this process. This is the common theme of fluxbox, the defaults are pretty dull, but if you're willing to put in the time it's incredibly configurable. If you want to start experimenting with fluxbox there's a decent manual you can download off the fluxbbox website.

Now saying this, I'd probably agree with cs-cam. It seems like you're looking for more options without having to configure things so KDE is probably a better fit.