Qvwm window manager

for X Window

Qvwm is a simple, lightweight window manager, which is built to be similar to Windows 95 interface. It features a start menu, a task bar, a system tray and windows-like task-switching.

Unlike Windows 95, qvwm’s menus and almost every other feature is controlled by a textual configuration file. The changes done to it in a session would not be restored unless you write them to the conf file. But otherwise it provides a nice, simple and light environment for fresh Linuxoids.

The original author of Qvwm, Kenichi Kourai, does no longer maintain it. I took original version 1.1.12, applied Debian’s patches to version 1.1.12-3 and worked on it. I fixed some bugs / issues, and added some new stuff.

What it looks like?

Here are some screenshots.

A screen with the start menu:

A screen with the task switcher:

A screen with the deeper levels of the start menu:

Changes from version 1.1.12-3

I mainly worked to fix issues, and to remove unnecessary clutter, make things cleaner, lighter. I removed some stuff which made things look like Windows, but was not functional. For instance, the picture along the left side of the start menu; I’ve made it optional.

Here are some highlights from list of CHANGES, that I did to qvwm:

Fixed: window and taskbar button naming is now based on WM_NAME window property primarily and WM_ICON_NAME as the second best. This avoids “Untitled” name for some applications/windows.
Two new configuration variables for menu look preferences: DefaultMenuItemIcon and DefaultFolderIcon.
Window maximization is now more intuitive: if a window is maximized already, it is restored when you press Alt-Enter.
Respect INIT_MAXIMIZE and INIT_MINIMIZE window options (as configured in .qvwmrc) on qvwm restart.
Removed useless lines from the taskbar (between the start button and the task buttons, and between the task buttons and the system tray area).
Menu item icons are now centered in their little cells.
For sub-menus a little folder icon is now hard-coded default, but there is no longer a default for non-folder menu items. (Looks cleaner!)
Startmenu’s logo (which is usually a vertically-laid text) is now optional. (see a shot)
Fixed tooltip flicker, which happened sometimes at screen bottom.
Menu and positioning improved. Care taken to avoid putting a menu out of the visible screen boundary, if possible.
Reimplemented task switcher layout. It is now vertical, like a menu. (see a shot)

In case, when there are lots of windows open, it will scroll vertically as you go through the window list. It will keep the appropriate part of it visible.

Also, system does not longer freezes while you switch tasks.
Fixed a bug which stopped qvwm from reading the .qvwmrc file on restart, if it had found a syntax error there in the past. So, even if you had corrected the rc file, you still were forced to quit and start again. Not anymore.

Download

Grab the latest package from it’s own directory.

Copyright and great thanks

The copyright of qvwm belongs to Kenichi Kourai. It is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License.

This page history

2006-03-25: published first version

2006-03-27 21:39: added some screenshots