'Windows Manager' + 'File Manager' = 'Explorer' in Win XP
The windows Manager that comes with Puppy 1.0.5 is called JWM. Personally I prefer another WM called IceWM (available as a DotPup), which is very easy to use. FVWM95, the default WM prior to version 1.0.5, is now available as a PupGet package. The behaviour of WM is steered by configuration files, e.g. for jwm this is /root/.jwmrc. They are loaded once the graphical desktop boots up. So if you make changes to these files, you may need to restart the WM (e.g. by Start -> Shutdown -> Restart...)
All modifying can be done by editing the config files
in /root/.icewm (hidden).
Define Hotkeys:
Edit /root/.icewm/keys (backup first!). It's in a hidden
directory. To see the directory, right-click in Rox, choose
'Display -> Show Hidden'. See a sample file here.
Set Preference:
Edit /root/.icewm/preferences. Use the search function
of any text editor to find the item you want to change.
Example:
# ShowTaskBar=1 # 0/1
this entry means that task bar is shown by default,
to hide the task bar, change the line to:
ShowTaskBar=0 # 0/1
symbol '#' is used to comment out the line,
you need to remove it after making any changes.
Example:
prog Bubbles ballorange16 bubbles.tcl
below the line menu Games face-win24 {
will add a program called "Bubbles" in the Games
sub-menu, with the icon "ballorange16" (located in
/usr/local/lib/X11/mini-icons). Click on the entry will
execute "/usr/local/bin/bubbles.tcl"
Press 'Ctrl+Esc' to bring up the Start Menu.
Move the menu and sub-menus up and down by rolling
the mouse wheel.
Press 'Ctrl+Alt+Space' to get a quick command line in
task bar
To put an icon on the right side of the task bar: right-click
a window's title bar and select Tray Icon.
If you don't want IceWM set the background, exit to the
prompt (Ctrl+backspace) and restart X by typing "startX
icewm"
Themes:
If the theme is available as a DotPup, install it like
you would with any DotPup. If you downloaded a
theme.tar.gz file from somewhere else:
1. From the start menu select
"Utilities --> guiTAR archiver" (or TkZip)
2. Open the downloaded file
3. Extract the file. It extracts to a new folder.
4. Move the whole folder to: /root/.icewm/themes
5. Your new theme will appear in the 'Themes' menu of
the start menu.
Since Puppy 1.0.5 we now has a GUI configuration tool,
jwmConfig. Launch from the menu: Start -> Control Panel ->
JWM configuration.
Fvwm95
Define Hotkeys:
Edit root/.fvwm95rc (backup first!). It's in a hidden
directory. To see the directory, right-click in Rox, choose
'Display -> Show Hidden'.
For example, adding this line:
Key F1 A A Exec dillo /usr/share/doc/index.html
to root/.fvwm95rc, Puppy help pages will popup when you
press F1.
If you configure your keys here, they can not be used in
applications. So you might want to setup more rarely used
keys. To run rxvt by pressing Ctrl+F2 you can use
Key F2 A C Exec rxvt
See the difference to the example above ?
C is the modifier to use Ctrl+ key combinations. Other
alternatives would be: "A" single key, "S" shift+key,
"M" alt+, "SC" shift+control+key, ... see the .fvwmrc95rc for
other examples.
XFCE
Install:
Download it from this page. Click to install. See the page
for more information.
You also need to download the xinitrc.pup from the same
page. This will ask you to overwrite .xinitrc, click on ok.
Please reboot before and immediately after installation.
To start XFCE:
- kill X (press ctrl+alt+backspace)
- type: xwin xfce4
- to start XFCE with ROX as the icon manager type
xwin xfce-rox instead
To start JWM:
- kill X (press ctrl+alt+backspace)
- type: startx jwm
Other Window Managers
Using a WM other than the default one can be risky.
Use at your own discretion. If encounters problem,
press Ctrl+Alt+Backspace to kill X and type startx jwm
to switch back to the default WM.
