IceWM 3.0 Released For This Speedy & Simplicity-Minded X11 Window Manager

[phoronix]

Phoronix: IceWM 3.0 Released For This Speedy & Simplicity-Minded X11 Window Manager

IceWM 3.0 was released today as the latest major update to this X11 window manager that has been development since the late 90's with a particular focus on simplicity and speed...

https://www.phoronix.com/news/IceWM-3.0-Released

[pmorph]

Very nice! I keep running this on all of my systems.

The goal of IceWM is speed, simplicity, and not getting in the user’s way.

Looking at the version info in my icewm dotfiles (passed on to every new pc build), they have succeeded at that.

.icewm/preferences

# preferences(1.2.25) - generated by genpref
...

[waxhead]

I don't use icewm myself (xfce is the way I roll), but this is Innovation the way it should be. Useful features instead of nonsensical GUI changes. Well done!!

[sinepgib]

Did hell freeze? I haven't seen a release in many many years. I used it briefly about 10 years ago, I liked it but I wasn't a fan of text configuration at the time.

[lethalwp]

i loved icewm, used it for a dozen of years. did exactly what i wanted. but he stated he wont follow wayland(maybe he ll change his mind someday, also i have no idea about the complexity, surely very high: total rewrite). so i changed for gnome, it took me a while to find the extensions i needed "to feel at home", i think i wont go back to icewm. x11 is dying. wont recommend it atm unless you have a 10 year old linux

[Danielsan]

Cool! I used it a lot on the past! I may use it again in the future!

[MastaG]

Ice Ice Baby!

[fitzie]

I love icewm for a lightweight vncserver. I use that for general use and spectrwm for vncservers dedicated to coding.

[sinepgib]

i loved icewm, used it for a dozen of years. did exactly what i wanted. but he stated he wont follow wayland(maybe he ll change his mind someday, also i have no idea about the complexity, surely very high: total rewrite). so i changed for gnome, it took me a while to find the extensions i needed "to feel at home", i think i wont go back to icewm. x11 is dying. wont recommend it atm unless you have a 10 year old linux

I think it's more reasonable to expect someone to make a spiritual successor based on wlroots (or be that someone!) than expecting a migration. As you said, it's a total rewrite, so a new project makes sense. I'd love to see if an XCB version provides any advantages over Xlib tho.

[ehansin]

I cannot wait to see more stuff like this for Wayland. It will happen, and I can envision some really cool stuff. I'd love to see more shareable, composable parts that can be reused by different window managers. Not saying they are not there yet, just more maybe, or documented well in a single place. That said, as a non-coder (well, cannot do this kind of thing!), I have considered taking on this kind of documenting / referencing of composable stuff under Linux as my own way to give back to what open source has given to me. Hmm, now I got myself thinking a little