GUI to manage (essential) IceWM settings

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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RE:

cd /usr/share/wallpaper/ ; mywallpaper=$(yad --file --width=800 --height=600 --add-preview --text ="Selecione imagem ou texto:":FL "@kill -USR1 YAD_PID" --file-filter="Image Files (*.jpg *.jpeg)| *.jpg *.JPG *.jpeg *.JPEG *.png *.PNG") ; echo $mywallpaper ; mywallpaper_conf="DesktopBackgroundImage = \""$mywallpaper"\"" ; echo $mywallpaper_conf

I copied this code and checked it out from the command line. Just copying it and pasting, then running it in a terminal, it worked fine.
I also tried, while still in the script, navigating to another folder, my own personal ~/Pictures folder, and that also worked.

Thanks for the quick wallpaper switching script; it’s handy and it works.

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Brian Masinick

[Member oops]

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Hi Brian … You’re welcome.

[Member PPC]

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There are some important zzzfm features that need my attention, but my focus went to fixing and adding a few more features to the IceWM Manager GUI script:

Fixes:
– It now always starts maximized
– The function to change Themes is not perfect, but I removed a bug that allowed for an empty space at the top of the list of available Themes, that had unforeseen effects, if clicked…

New features:
– Added a “Show collapse button” to the toolbar toggle – this is very handy on small screens, like netbooks, or screens with low resolution- it allows the toolbar to be rolled up instantly to the lower right side of the screen, releasing screen real-state without “auto-hiding” the toolbar.
– Added a not so well named “Show only used network devices”- what this does is fix the default Icewm toolbar configuration, that shows “info squares” for each of the available technologies to connect to a network- if your computer has a Ethernet card and a Wi-Fi card, by default, the system tray will show a square with info on each of those cards- which for me, does not make sense- most people only use a kind of network connect at a time (either cable or wireless connection). This option, when on, makes the toolbar display only info on the network connection technology that is being used – releasing a bit of toolbar space and making the info squares easier to read (by default I use only 2: network and CPU/RAM/SWAP)

Note: if this new version of the script is accepted by anticapitalista, the names of the 2 new buttons will have to be localized- thankfully, this is easy, since all text is inside variables- this means only 2 new texts will have to be localized, no further change is needed. To get the correct translation for “Collapse Toolbar”, please run the script and enable that feature. If you over the mouse over the arrow that appears next to the toolbar clock, a tool-tip will show the exact translation for that feature…

Please test the new script, the only changes are those referred above, everything else remains the same.

P.

• This reply was modified 3 days, 10 hours ago by PPC.

Attachments:

1. icewm-manager-8-5-23.zip

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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I downloaded the file and tried most of the options; only omitted one or two that I’ve definitely checked before (that didn’t appear to be changed). In any case, it looks good to me, it does come up maximized, explicitly tested the “Show only used network devices” and “Show collapse button” to the toolbar toggle. I think I clicked everything now too; my use cases all work.

Hopefully others test too in case 1) I missed anything or 2) the behavior differs, depending on equipment.

Anyway, looks good to me!

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Brian Masinick

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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I also ran the other icewm-manager-gui from my 03-21 test instance. It still works, and I noted that by default it comes up in a much smaller size, so that’s one of the 3-4 differences between the tools; for my needs, either of them get the job done; nice to have the choice and now I do since I kept both of them.

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Brian Masinick

[Member PPC]

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Thanks for testing this newer version, Mr. Masinick.
There has not been feedback from anyone else, so I’m not sure that the default version used in antiX will be upgraded to it (since it allows only for a tiny UI change, fixes a small bug and offers 2 options probably most people never even know exist, but that can be handy, particularly if you have a netbook with a tiny screen)
I’m not sure if the final antiX 23 version will still ommit the Control Centre option to manually edit icewm config files (I made a suggestion of adding the GUI to the CC and still keep the old way of opening the config files for manual edition, pleasing both basic users and more advanced users). If that entry is permanently deleted from future antiX versions, I offer @anticapitalista, one extra option: I can add a “Manually edit config files” button, that launches geany with each of he config files open, even prefoverride, if it exists)

Now entering on the completely superfluous suggestions – since my “weather app” suggestion nor my “use skippy-xd to preview all non minimized windows” were never accepted (they were buit into ft10), I can “side-load” those two, sometimes handy options as available buttons on the IceWM Manager, something like, “Weather toolbar icon on/off” and “Preview open windows on/off”.
The “weather icon” does not require users to install anything, would just turn on a toolbar entry similar to this:
prog "Wttr.in" /usr/share/icons/papirus-antix/24x24/apps/org.gnome.Weather.png bash $HOME/.icewm/antix-weather.sh

after creating, in ~/.icewm/ this simple on-liner script, called “antix-weather.sh”:

#!/bin/bash
geoip="$(wget -O- -q http://geoip.ubuntu.com/lookup)" ; area="$(sed -r 's/.*<RegionName>(.*?)<\/RegionName>.*/\1/g' <<< $geoip)"; corrected_area=$(echo "${area// /_}"); langu=$(locale | grep LANG | cut -d= -f2 | cut -d. -f1); l1=$(echo $langu |cut -d_ -f1); WINID=$(wmctrl -lx | grep 'Wtrr.in' | awk 'NR==1{print $1}'); if [ $WINID ]; then  wmctrl -ia $WINID & else roxterm --hide-menubar --title "Wtrr.in" --zoom=0,85 --geometry 130x40 -e bash -c "curl 'http://wttr.in/$corrected_area?lang=$l1'; read -N1;" & fi

The only complex part (from my side) is adding the script to create the antix-weather.sh file.
Why am I so insistent with antiX having a “weather app”? – because it’s something most people are used to, from mobile devices to OS applets. And having this feature available costs zero system resources, only requires a one-liner script and a internet connection, does not even require a web browser (which is nice for devices that do not run browsers very well).

My other suggestion, about providing an icon for skippy-xd, is just “eye candy”, but it can be a nice feature, when you need to watch the contents of several windows and do not want to “tile” them- I used that a lot, on the past. The required package is tiny and it’s available in the repo, with no dependencies, so all my script would have to do is check if skippy-xd is installed, if not, offer to install it, and then add this line to the toolbar’s first line:
prog "Preview all non minimized windows" /usr/share/icons/papirus-antix/48x48/actions/dialog-rows-and-columns.png skippy-xd

Would any, or both of this proposed features be considered bloat?
As always, all feedback is welcomed.

P.

• This reply was modified 1 day, 9 hours ago by PPC.

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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I think the most likely scenario, at least to start with, is to create a .deb package that is placed in the antiX package repository, and a second one could be to get tools added to the package installer. Either way it makes it possible for interested parties to conveniently obtain the tools.

Then, if there’s sufficient interest, get a respin or remaster created. If there’s a demand for the tools, one way or another these steps will help. If hardly anyone is even checking out or providing feedback then it’s going to be something that a few people at most use, but if it’s packaged that makes a difference and it could lead to more.

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Brian Masinick

[Member PPC]

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Thanks, for your insight, Mr Masinick.

I previously discussed on the forum that I don’t think my small additions to antiX creating a new distro. I already created a .deb, ft10-transformation, that adds this changes to antiX (even if you do not enable any change to the UI, the new scripts are made available from the menu). There were previous suggestions to create several .deb packages for each of my scripts included on ft10, so users could install only what they need. I won’t do that, but ft10 is opensource, and I give my blessing for anyone to create those packages and ask anticapitalista to include them on the repository…

Adding a “Weather app” to the Icewm toolbar is relatively easy and does not require the user to install anything at all… This is the function that I propose to add to the IceWM Manager GUI:

cat > "$HOME/.icewm/antix-weather.sh" << 'FILE_TEMPLATE'
#!/bin/bash
geoip="$(wget -O- -q http://geoip.ubuntu.com/lookup)"
area="$(sed -r 's/.*<RegionName>(.*?)<\/RegionName>.*/\1/g' <<< $geoip)"
corrected_area=$(echo "${area// /_}")
 langu=$(locale | grep LANG | cut -d= -f2 | cut -d. -f1)
l1=$(echo $langu |cut -d_ -f1)
WINID=$(wmctrl -lx | grep 'Wtrr.in' | awk 'NR==1{print $1}')
if [ $WINID ]; then  wmctrl -ia $WINID & else roxterm --hide-menubar --title "Wtrr.in" --zoom=0,85 --geometry 130x40 -e bash -c "curl 'http://wttr.in/$corrected_area?lang=$l1'; read -N1;" & fi

FILE_TEMPLATE

file=$HOME/.icewm/toolbar
if cat $file | grep antix-weather.sh; then
   # echo found, remove line
   sed -i "/antix-weather.sh/d" $file
   else
   # echo not found, add line
   echo "prog \"Wttr.in\" /usr/share/icons/papirus-antix/24x24/apps/org.gnome.Weather.png bash $HOME/.icewm/antix-weather.sh"  >> $file
fi
#restart icewm, to see the change:
 icewm -r

Edit: I just tried copying and pasting the above script in the terminal to enable/disable that feature on icewm toolbar and it seems to work flawlessly. As always, I recommend that you should backup any config file, before messing with it, in this case, backup your $HOME/.icewm/toolbar file, before testing this.

P.

• This reply was modified 1 day, 6 hours ago by PPC.
• This reply was modified 1 day, 5 hours ago by PPC.

[Member PPC]

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The proposed script, that includes a button to add/remove a quick launch icon that launches wttr.in in a terminal window. For now I will refrain from adding anything that requires the installation of any package… The new button is listed on the right column.

P.

Attachments:

1. icewm-manager-10-5-23.zip

[Member marcelocripe]

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Hello PPC.

There has not been feedback from anyone else, so I’m not sure that the default version used in antiX will be upgraded to it (since it allows only for a tiny UI change, fixes a small bug and offers 2 options probably most people never even know exist, but that can be handy, particularly if you have a netbook with a tiny screen)

You need to be more patient, you published the “icewm-manager-8-5-23.zip” version here on 05-08-2023, but I could only test it today, now with the “icewm-manager-10- 5-23.zip”.

Adding a “Weather app” to the Icewm toolbar is relatively easy and does not require the user to install anything at all… This is the function that I propose to add to the IceWM Manager GUI:

The result of the weather forecast shortcut icon in the toolbar was fantastic! The icon was added, with a click the weather forecast for my city was displayed and the texts were all in Brazilian Portuguese. You reached perfection in the “antix-weather.sh” program, congratulations!!! Glad I was able to find your newest program, it will be shared on the Internet Archive along with the .desktop file with the translations.

I was happy with the scrollbars of the new version, in a resolution of 800×600, everything can be seen thanks to the scrollbars.

The new button “<<Collapse Toolbar>> button on/off” is fantastic, it allowed to “collapse” or “hide” the entire toolbar on the right side in the arrow that points to the left. This is really “something from another planet”.

There were previous suggestions to create several .deb packages for each of my scripts included on ft10, so users could install only what they need. I won’t do that, but ft10 is opensource, and I give my blessing for anyone to create those packages and ask anticapitalista to include them on the repository…

I gave this idea and today I could make .deb packages with almost all of your FT10 programs, but it’s a waste of time to do all this work if .deb packages are not added in the antiX repositories. How reachable is my GitLab or Internet Archive to end users compared to antiX repositories?

I can add a “Manually edit config files” button

This button would make proportional amount of button in left and right column.
This is another one of his wonderful programs where the end user clicks to activate and clicks again to deactivate several very interesting options and features in IceWM.

Thank you very much!

– – – – –

Olá PPC.

There has not been feedback from anyone else, so I’m not sure that the default version used in antiX will be upgraded to it (since it allows only for a tiny UI change, fixes a small bug and offers 2 options probably most people never even know exist, but that can be handy, particularly if you have a netbook with a tiny screen)

Você precisa ter mais paciência, você publicou aqui a versão “icewm-manager-8-5-23.zip” no dia 08-05-2023, mas eu só pude testar hoje, agora com a versão “icewm-manager-10-5-23.zip”.

Adding a “Weather app” to the Icewm toolbar is relatively easy and does not require the user to install anything at all… This is the function that I propose to add to the IceWM Manager GUI:

O resultado do ícone de atalho da previsão do tempo na barra de ferramentas foi fantástico! O ícone foi adicionado, com um clique foi exibido a previsão do tempo da minha Cidade e com os textos todos em Português do Brasil. Você chegou a perfeição no programa “antix-weather.sh”, meus parabéns!!! Ainda bem que eu consegui encontrar o seu mais novo programa, ele vai ser compartilhado no Internet Archive junto com o arquivo .desktop com as traduções.

Eu fiquei contente com as barras de rolagem da nova versão, em uma resolução de 800×600, tudo pode ser visualizado graças às barras de rolagem.

O novo botão “<<Collapse Toolbar>> button on/off” é fantástico, ele permitiu “recolher” ou “esconder” toda a barra de ferramentas no lado direito na seta que aponta para a esquerda. Isso é mesmo “coisa de outro planeta”.

There were previous suggestions to create several .deb packages for each of my scripts included on ft10, so users could install only what they need. I won’t do that, but ft10 is opensource, and I give my blessing for anyone to create those packages and ask anticapitalista to include them on the repository…

Eu dei esta ideia e hoje eu conseguiria fazer os pacotes .deb com quase todos os seus programas do FT10, mas é uma perda de tempo fazer todo este trabalho se os pacotes .deb não forem adicionados nos repositórios do antiX. Qual é o alcance do meu GitLab ou do meu Internet Archive aos usuários finais quando são comparados aos repositórios do antiX?

I can add a “Manually edit config files” button

Este botão iria tornar a quantidade proporcional de botão na coluna da esquerda e direita.
Este é mais um dos seus maravilhosos programas onde o usuário final clica para ativar e clica novamente para desativar diversas opções e funcionalidades muito interessantes no IceWM.

Muito obrigado!

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