Where are Desktop icons ?

IceWM is only a Window Manager. To hold the icons on Desktop we need a Desktop Manager. I have no problem with out Desktop icons, but you may prefer having Desktop icons.

idesk

idesk needs very little memory and very fast. Ideal for slow and old system, even IceWM and idesk combination is used with latest Hardware to enjoy SPEED. idesk displays programs as icons on desktop. It can use PNG images as icon including transparency support and supports antialiased fonts too. idesk allows the binding of different actions to every mouse button. After installing idesk create a hidden file .ideskrc under your home directory. Here is my .ideskrc

table Config
FontName: tahoma
FontSize: 10
FontColor: #ffffff
PaddingX: 35
PaddingY: 25
Transparency: 100
HighContrast: true
Locked: true
Shadow: true
ShadowColor: #000000
ShadowX: 1
ShadowY: 1
Bold: false
end

table Actions
Lock: control right doubleClk
Reload: middle doubleClk
Drag: left hold
EndDrag: left singleClk
Execute[0]: left doubleClk
Execute[1]: right doubleClk

This one is a very simple configuration. One can add more advanced features. Now create a hidden directory .idesktop under home directory. We have to create the .lnk files under .idesktop for those application which we need on the Desktop. I have abiword.lnk, beaver.lnk, gimv.lnk, synaptic.lnk, xfe.lnk under .idesktop. Below are the configurations of those files in my system

beaver.lnk table Icon Caption: beaver Command: beaver Icon: /usr/share/pixmaps/beaver.gif X: 18 Y: 332 end	gimv.lnk table Icon Caption: gimv Command: gimv Icon: /usr/share/pixmaps/gimv.gif X: 98 Y: 232 end	abiword.lnk table Icon Caption: abiword Command: abiword Icon: /usr/share/pixmaps/abiword.gif X: 18 Y: 432 end
synaptic.lnk table Icon Caption: debian-package Command: gksu /usr/sbin/synaptic Icon: /usr/share/pixmaps/synaptic.gif X: 18 Y: 232 end	xfe.lnk table Icon Caption: File Manager Command: xfe Icon: /usr/share/pixmaps/xfe.gif X: 98 Y: 332 end

To start the idesk we have to add (sleep 5; idesk &) & to .xinitrc. sleep 5 assures that idesk starts after loading the IceWM. The sleep duration should set according to the machine performance. The .xinitrc should look like

xpenguins -p -b -t Bill -t Penguins -n 3 --nice 0.10 0.15 &
gdeskcal &
dclock -geometry =171x69+783+0 &
xscreensaver &
(sleep 5; idesk&) &
chbg -scenario chbg.list &
icewm-session

Below is the screen shot of my IceWM and idesk combination.