Hi Keith,

You are right about Blackbox and Icewm not being "environments". They are window managers with a few extra bells and whistles. However, depending on what you want, sometimes less is more. For example, with Icewm, you don't get desktop icons (gmc or nautilus can create these if you want them). However, have you noticed that the new Windows XP desktop comes with few if any icons? MS said they are moving away from desktop icons and in most cases, I prefer NOT to have desktop icons. Once again, this is a personal choice. Some people love to have 100 icons scattered across their desktop.

I tend to dump things on the desktop then get irritated at them and clear them all up ... it would be better to have few though a huge open space can feel rather daunting (perhaps a new psychiatric condition: deskagrophobia, a fear of open desktops)! However I agree that less can often be better (or more). Despite the fact that it (IceWM) is not an "environment" I presume you can still do more-or-less the same things yu can in anything else in Linux as long as the support libraries are there? In other words could you still run K Office in IceWM much like I can currently run Evolution, Galeon, Abiword etc. even though they need Gnome.

The environment that Icewm gives you is like an enhanced Windows 95. You have a main program start button, taskbar, quick launch buttons, a few tray icons, desktop switch buttons, integrated clock, CPU and network monitors. You can configure the mouse buttons to give you various menus when you click on the desktop, etc. But the main thing you get is consistent, stable behaviour and speed, speed, speed. It takes seconds to start Icewm and seconds to shutdown. Programs start fast and run fast. The menus are easy to understand and customize (compared to the complex maze that is Gnome or KDE). There are some nice GUI tools for customization (icepref and iceme).

Sounds like a good idea since, though I think my Linux config is faster than my Windows one (which I Keep on a removable disk drive) it sometimes doesn't feel it so something that feels fast would be very cool.

I might go back to KDE after another point release or two. Konqueror is very, very nice. But for now, I am enjoying the raw speed of a lean setup.

I will try it tonight (I haven't got my Linux source at work). James James C. Rocks Equant Archway House Canary Wharf London E14 9SZ Phone: 0207-5226856 Fax: 0207-5126087 Mobile Phone: 07771-767405 http://www.equant.com