Anyway, XFCE4 does all I need for this "always on" box EXCEPT give me the nice Suse popup menu with the fetching reptile's mug grinning on the green button.

It would be nice to have that available for some of the apps and functions.

How can I put it onto a toolbar? i.e. what is it "called" - if it is a single item?

I don't know about putting it on the toolbar, but if you just want to make sure your system is getting updated you don't need the icon for that. I'm running many text only mode Suse boxes and use YOU (Yast Online Update) to keep them up to date. I simply configure YOU to do fully automatic updates. I'm sure that there is a log that one could check to verify the updates are working. Anyone out there who knows off the top of their head what log this is? ~Daniel