Blogarious
allencch.wordpress.com › 2023 › 03 › 20 › switching-from-openbox-to-icewm
Switching from Openbox to IceWM – Blogarious
March 19, 2023 - I tried Xfwm, but it fails to run. Probably needs extra configuration, but I didn’t continue trying. I tried Fluxbox long time ago, can’t remember the feature. Then I found that, compare to Openbox, IceWM is still in development.
Reddit
reddit.com › r/linux4noobs › bspwm vs fluxbox vs openbox vs icewm which one have more graphical tools to config ?
r/linux4noobs on Reddit: BSPWM vs Fluxbox Vs Openbox Vs IceWM which one have more graphical tools to config ?
November 16, 2018 - No problem decided to go with openbox.
Videos
19:09
Part 8 - Wrapping up the series with awesomewm, openbox and fluxbox ...
39:32
Icewm Guide|Legacy vs modern look|Features and more - YouTube
26:25
94: IceWM, Openbox & Sawfish - BLFS 11.0 on iMac - YouTube
07:41
Entorno de Escritorio Vs Gestor de Ventanas [DE vs WM] - YouTube
23:30
Installation of KDE+Openbox+IceWM desktop using advanced install ...
SaaSHub
saashub.com › home › linux › window manager
IceWM VS Openbox - compare differences & reviews?
Minimalist Approach The minimalist approach, while beneficial for resource usage, might not cater to users looking for a fully integrated and richly featured desktop environment. Lightweight Openbox is a highly efficient window manager that requires minimal system resources, making it an excellent ...
Reddit
reddit.com › r/linux › does anyone here use fluxbox, openbox, etc. on a recent machine (i3/i5)? what is the use case?
r/linux on Reddit: Does anyone here use Fluxbox, Openbox, etc. on a recent machine (i3/i5)? What is the use case?
February 11, 2016 -
The question says it all. I've found Fluxbox to be doing great on ubuntu, especially when I load lots of "heavy apps". My nature of work (web programming) is such that I have to keep running a bunch of apps at the same time which include php, mysql, apache/nginx, geany, eclipse, firefox (for stackoverflow, reddit, etc.) and thunderbird (checking emails).
These are the minimum. Once in a while, I have to open xchat to get to the IRC channels, open Libreoffice Calc to see a file sent by client, open pinta to do a quick edit on an image, etc. Sometimes, I even have to open remmina if a client wants me to login to an aws box.
Lets face it (or rather, I've faced it), both GNOME and Unity will be hard-pressed to handle when all or even most of these apps are opened at the same time. With fluxbox, I've felt this manageable, so far. I would like to know what others are doing who use linux and have a similar use case? Do you too get rid of GNOME/Unity and install Fluxbox, or are you successfully able to tweak GNOME/Unity to your command? I'd love to hear.
Top answer 1 of 5
3
I've worked with openbox and fluxbox on a great deal of machines and everytime I touch them I go right back to iceWM. All of these environments are fantastic, minimalistic window managers, but I absolutely recommend iceWM over either of the *box WM's any day of the week. I recently got a 4k monitor that is prompting me to prefer a tiling window manager as I tend to lose stuff on my screen with floating windows, but I still use iceWM pretty heavily on most of my machines. My profession involves a great deal of resource intensive tasks, though most of those take the form of CLI tools and ticketing systems, so I tend to just have a lot of browser tabs open and a lot of terminal tabs/windows open. For your use case, iceWM would shine.
2 of 5
2
Well for me (as very much a KDE person) I still slink back to openbox from time to time because... well because it was my first Linux love. I don't have a good reason why, I just enjoy using it, I can edit a lot of things and I feel comfortable using it... This may not be the reply you're looking for but its one persons reason for it. Nostalgia + comfort
Experts Exchange
experts-exchange.com › questions › 21454170 › IceWM-or-openbox.html
Solved: IceWM or openbox | Experts Exchange
June 10, 2005 - Openbox *is* a window manager. It just has a slightly different feature set. From wkipedia.org, this definition should help define for you the differences between "other" window managers (KDE, IceWM, etc) and openbox: "In Unix computing, Openbox is a free window manager for the X Window System, licensed under the GNU General Public License.
Arch Linux Forums
bbs.archlinux.org › viewtopic.php
[SOLVED] LXDE with icewm instead of Openbox / Newbie Corner / Arch Linux Forums
According to the guide "OpenBox, the default window manager of LXDE, can be easily replaced by any one you like, such as fvwm, icewm, dwm and awesome...
LinuxQuestions.org
linuxquestions.org › questions › linux-desktop-74 › fluxbox-blackbox-openbox-icewm-or-other-496264
Fluxbox, Blackbox, Openbox, IceWM, or other?
October 27, 2006 - Im looking for the most lightweight as im running a P3 500mhz 192mb RAM. Im willing to learn, experiment, and tinker with stuff to get it working.
urukrama's weblog
urukrama.wordpress.com › 2008 › 04 › 26 › a-comparison-of-four-window-managers
A comparison of four window managers | urukrama's weblog
May 5, 2008 - Openbox, for example, does not support pixmap themes, but its theme options are the most complex and elaborate theme options of these four window managers (which makes creating themes for Openbox so much more fun!). Some features may also be primitively implemented: Pekwm supports dockapps, for instance, but its harbour is not very well developed. Nor does this chart provide an exhaustive list of features for these window manager. Icewm, for example, has a number of unique features that are not mentioned in this table (such as an email indicator and some system monitoring tools for the taskbar), and a lot of the basic features of window managers are left out.
Wordpress
kmandla.wordpress.com › 2008 › 10 › 23 › openbox-the-one-way-window-manager
Openbox, the one-way window manager | Motho ke motho ka botho
October 23, 2008 - I switched from Openbox to IceWM mainly because I can use Win+Space to bring up a launch dialog box which comes up almost instantaniously or instantaniously (on Openbox I have to bind it to gmrun which takes about a second to load).
Slant
slant.co › topics › 1903 › versus › ~openbox_vs_icewm_vs_i3
Slant - Openbox vs IceWM vs i3
February 6, 2024 - Openbox does away with many traditional ... they can be added through others apps (e.g. tint2 for taskbar). ... IceWM has a great toolbar with monitoring applets....
Reddit
reddit.com › r/debian › icewm vs fluxbox for debian?
r/debian on Reddit: IceWM vs Fluxbox for Debian?
September 15, 2025 -
Which window manager do you guys prefer?
Also looking into Window Maker as well.
Top answer 1 of 12
5
Honest question: What is the point of Window Maker nowadays other than wanting some "retro feeling"? (If you are old enough to remember Nextstep) It replicates Nextstep from the 90s, meanwhile nextstep has moved on to become modern macos. It's like writing a window manager "replicating" Windows 3.1.
2 of 12
5
cwm
l3net
l3net.wordpress.com › 2013 › 03 › 17 › a-memory-comparison-of-light-linux-desktops
A Memory Comparison of Light Linux Desktops | l3net – a layer 3 networking blog
January 20, 2015 - This is a series of three window managers. BlackBox is the original, Openbox and Fluxbox are forks.
Reddit
reddit.com › r/linuxquestions › jwm or openbox ?
r/linuxquestions on Reddit: JWM or Openbox ?
October 13, 2020 -
Hey there !
I'm trying out BionicDog DebianDog (32bit) on an old netbook with 1 GB RAM. It comes in 2 versions: One has JWM and the other Openbox.
Which would be better/faster and more lightweight ?
Top answer 1 of 2
2
jwm is very slow in my experience, so i suggest IceWM instead.
2 of 2
1
JWm I imagine will be a lighter wm. but that's only a small part of the os footprint. open box is going to have a few more features and may look better. try them both? you can always install both Window managers on the same base install and try either one.
PCLinuxOS
pclinuxos.com › board index
https://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php?topic=15...
Openbox Desktop Help with your Openbox desktop · Topics: 9 · 9 Topics · 32 Posts · Last post Re: How-To: Post-Installation… by present_arms View the latest post Thu Jun 04, 2026 9:37 am · LXQT Desktop Help with your LXQT Desktop · Topics: 10 · 10 Topics · 77 Posts ·
AlternativeTo
alternativeto.net › software › icewm
IceWM Alternatives: Top 12 Window Managers & Similar Apps | AlternativeTo
May 10, 2024 - Is i3 a good alternative to IceWM? 78 likes · Openbox is a highly configurable, next generation window manager with extensive standards support.78 Openbox alternatives · Free · Open Source · Window Manager · Canada · Discontinued · Linux · BSD · More about Openbox ·
YouTube
youtube.com › watch
Openbox,icewm tiling is a reality, the zen way | tested on Antix - YouTube
Floating window manager can experience automatic tiling thanks to a small program zentile. You can transform your workspace into a tiling rule with a simple ...
Published October 25, 2022 Views 4K
Reddit
reddit.com › r/linuxquestions › is openbox a de or wm? and is there a replacement?
r/linuxquestions on Reddit: is openbox a DE or WM? and is there a replacement?
September 30, 2024 -
i used to use openbox many years ago because of hardware limitations. it just felt like lighter XFCE to me who only needed to use office and gimp. i wanted to set up an old core2duo laptop with it for some fun and maybe to have a spotify box. turns out last update was 2015 apparently, so i thought id try some tiling windows managers as thought they might be closer to open box than most modern DEs, well i3 seemed nothing like it and strongly disliked that.
what is open box and if i wanted to replicate that feel how would i achieve that? or would a simpler answer be to install bunsenlabs or archbang as they mention openbox? this will be an old core2duo dell laptop with surpringly good speakers and limited recources 3gb ram no ssd, Spotify app and cd playing/burning.
Top answer 1 of 11
8
Openbox was a WM. Probably the closest WM you’ll get to it is FluxBox, but also check out IceWM. Either way, sounds like a good system for AntiX. It’s a really lightweight distro that can run with 256MB of RAM
2 of 11
7
Openbox is a simple Window Manager, there have been other "box" named window managers such as 'fluxbox' and I think a few others. It was the WM in use by the LXDE project. That may be what you are thinking of, that project i think moved onto using stuff from KDE and is now 'lxqt'. tiling windows managers as thought they might be closer to open box I dont recall openbox ever having any Tiling features. From https://openbox.org/ Openbox is a minimalistic, highly configurable, next generation window manager with extensive standards support. The *box visual style is well known for its minimalistic appearance. Openbox uses the *box visual style, while providing a greater number of options for theme developers than previous *box implementations. The theme documentation describes the full range of options found in Openbox themes. Openbox lets you bring the latest applications outside of a full desktop environment. Most modern applications have been written with GNOME and KDE in mind. With support for the latest freedesktop.org standards, as well as careful adherence to previous standards, Openbox provides an environment where applications work the way they were designed to. Openbox makes desktop environments better. By running Openbox inside the GNOME or K desktop environments, you can combine their ease and functionality with the power of Openbox. Your desktop becomes cleaner and faster, and is in your control, when you use Openbox. Almost any Distro should be able to install and run Openbox. I have used it on my low end raspberry pi's to high end gaming systems. I use openbox when i need something very simple for a project, or as a backup WM for troubleshooting.
Reddit
reddit.com › r/linux › which linux desktop environment is better for older computers? lxde, xfce, openbox, or other?
r/linux on Reddit: Which Linux desktop environment is better for older computers? LXDE, Xfce, Openbox, or other?
October 23, 2014 - Xfce, Lxde, or IceWM are all very good and useable options. My favorite is Xfce, but the other two are just as useable. ... Openbox is really lightweight.
Fedora Magazine
fedoramagazine.org › home › fedora project community › icewm – a really cool desktop
IceWM - A really cool desktop - Fedora Magazine
October 11, 2019 - IceWM is a very lightweight desktop. It’s been around for over 20 years, and its goals today are still the same as back then: speed, simplicity, and getting out of the users way. I used to add IceWM to Scientific Linux, for a lightweight desktop. At the time, it was only a .5 Meg rpm. […]
SaaSHub
saashub.com › icewm-alternatives
IceWM Alternatives & Competitors - SaaSHub
... Fluxbox is a window manager for X that was based on the Blackbox 0.61.1 code. ... Openbox is a highly configurable, next generation window manager with extensive standards support.