First screen, captured 19 hours ago. Open the video.

IceWM

What HN thinks

A nostalgia trip that, as is tradition, took a detour through the X11 vs Wayland trenches.

Still a daily driver today
Many commenters use IceWM now for remote desktops, audio work and old hardware, praising its all-in-one, works-out-of-the-box design.
Fond memories, moved on
Others remember it from the early 2000s and have since settled on fluxbox, Openbox, AwesomeWM, i3 or Xfce, often keeping the same config for a decade.
X11 vs Wayland flamewar
A large subthread argues whether X11 is legacy, with Wayland fans citing cleaner design and critics citing missing features, scripting and network transparency.

Consensus: Most agree IceWM is fast, lightweight and usable without fuss, and that older users mostly want a WM that stays out of the way; the display-server debate has no consensus.

Recommended in the comments

Fluxbox ↗ (tool): Fans find it snappy and easier to configure than IceWM, and it is seeing renewed activity.
JWM (tool): Suggested as an IceWM-like option that includes window snapping.
awesome (tool): Stable for years and handles floating windows gracefully alongside tiling.
Openbox (tool): Starts instantly and just works once configured.
dwm ↗ (tool): Offered as a modern minimal alternative to IceWM.
CTWM ↗ (tool): Surprisingly configurable.

Summarised by Claude from the comment thread 8 hours ago.

Points: 349
Comments: 202
Best rank: #2
Posted: 2026-11-13 by inatreecrown2
Category: Open source

icewm window-manager x11 linux desktop-environment cpp

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