I want to run X with no window manager, just a firefox browser window, so I did 'echo firefox > ~/.xinitrc' then 'startx' and it loads firefox just fine but the geometry is not what I would like it to be. The length is fine but width is a little less then half the screen.

per 'firefox -h' there is a -width and -height parameter but this does not effect anything. I think it might rely on the window manager to use this, but I am not positive.

So I searched around a bit and I keep seeing info that says you can do something like 'firefox -geometry 782x909+0+0' but this doesn't seem to effect anything either. All of the text I read that mentions doing this refers to the Ice Windows Manager. Is '-geometry' specific to IceWM, and is it possible to take that functionality from it and use it with just a plain X session?

I have also found a little bit of information here claiming that you can not pass window geometry on the command line without patching the mozilla source. Unfortunately the link to this patch is dead and I was unable to locate it anywhere else.

I really don't know a lot about using '-geometry' so any information on this will be greatly appreciated. I'm not really sure where to look for information. If this is not specific to IceWM, is there anything I can read that talks about it's correct use?

Also, if there is any better way to get a full screen browser without running any window manager, please share what you know.

Thanks for your time!
...drkstr

well I think I am giving up on running a web browser without a windows manager. I am however still interested in any information on the topic if any one is willing to share. I'm going to try my luck with twm and see if I can get it to do what I want.

regards,
...drkstr

Let me know if you find anything new about this because it sounds like you trying to implement an idea I've been turning over in my mind.

I had to do the same thing once and modified some parts of a window manager to achieve that. There are a lot of really small window managers that will let you do what you want, like ratpoison, tinywm, evilwm (or yeahwm).

So far I have had the most success with fvwm, but I am still experimenting with it so I can't say for sure as of yet if it will do exactly what I want. It seems to be the best combination between size and configurability, and has a sizable amount of documentation on the web as well. I am basically takeing the default fvwm slackware configuration and stripping all functionality out of it so it will do nothing but run the firefox browser. The problem I'm getting is when I take out all menu items from the config file, it seems to leave a default menu when you click on the desktop.

I'll let you know when I figure it out.
...unless anyone already knows and feels like saving me some time

regards,
...drkstr

This thread has kind of turned into the topic on my other thread here. Please refer to it for any further discussion on this topic since that thread more adequately represents this discussion.

Sorry about that, wasn't trying to double post.

regards,
...drkstr

**edit**
FYI:
My ultimate goal here is to create a a minimal web client and then write some documentation on how I did it. Someone was asking me how to do this and I thought it would be interesting to play with. I am just kind of learning as I go so I would more then happy if anyone else would like to join in on the project and share any input/experiences they have with it. Right now I'm just trying to get the web browser part working, then I'm going to start working on security issues (preventing hax0r Joe Web User from #$$%^@ your web client box up)
**edit**