Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 1:19 pm Post subject: Cursors Too small
I've tried setting the cursor to a large red arrow from the KDE control center, which works only as long as the cursor is over the desktop. Once the mouse cursor is moved over a window, such as firefox, konqueror, konsole, or kate, it reverts to a small black arrow, which is not very easy to see on a large 30" monitor. How do I get the entire system to use the large red arrow cursor(s) set by KDE? I suspect that the small black arrow cursor is some sort of default X11 setting
Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 5:47 pm Post subject: Cursor too small -- Further info
I'm using gentoo kernel 2.6.24-gentoo-r8 (so I'm not a complete id10t) and KDE v3.5.9.
I'm not currently using compiz or beryl.
As I stated, as soon as the large red arrow cursor moves over an open window (it doesn't seem to matter what the application is), the cursor shrinks to a small black arrow cursor immediately. Given the plethora of configuration files for X11 and KDE, you would think that the default cursor settings would be located somewhere and not hard-wired into the operating system.
Joined: Aug 13, 2004 Posts: 335 Location: Maysville, KY
Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 11:51 pm Post subject:
I love gentoo, used it for years but eventually switched to sabtoo (what I call sabayon linux that I have highly customized with gentoo ebuilds). I don't use kde every day but can hopefully offer a few places to look that don't seem so obvious for controlling mouse cursor.
This is actually three different answers (first, most logical - 2nd if it only affects non kde applications - 3rd I am guessing now):
First, try another cursor theme and see if that works. Make sure you log out of kde and restart X (ctrl+alt+backspace) . A lot of older kde cursor themes do not always have the correct naming conventions for newer versions of kde desktop.
Second, if it affects non-kde applications only - I have a feeling that your cursor problem may not be related to kde at all, but likely to the way non-kde applications use kde's cursor settings (being firefox, thunderbird, openoffice, etc). A way to check this is to create a link to your default mouse cursor theme, logout, restart x, and log back in.
Here are the steps for setting System Wide (all Users):
First, make sure the default setting does not exist and if it does, make sure it is linked to the correct theme (each of these run as root from a terminal/konsole/whatever you use):
# ls -la /usr/share/icons/default
If the above says it doesn't exist, that is great, we will create it now. Find out what your default cursor theme is called (located in kcontrol - peripherals - mouse - cursor themes) I will use PolarCursorTheme in the examples below - replace PolarCursorTheme with your theme name.
Create the directory to hold the default theme:
# mkdir /usr/share/icons/default
Create the file to hold the information about the default theme:
Now we need to log out of kde. After you log out, restart X by using CTRL + ALT + Backspace
Here are the steps for specific individual user (also make sure this directory doesn't exist if you used the System Wide steps above, because the user settings will over-ride system settings):
Replace all commands /usr/share/icons/default with:
~/.icons/default/
and replace all commands /usr/share/icons/default/index.theme with
~/.icons/default/index.theme
----------------------------
Third - If the above doesn't work, here are a few others to try.
A couple of areas I know that control cursor in kde are (try to change each one, then log out and log back in to see if it changed it, if not change it back and try the next):
kcontrol - Desktop - Window Specific Settings - (Default) Disable Focus Stealing Prevention for APPLICATION_NAME <<--- make sure application_name is replaced with the ones you are having trouble with.
I believe that this has fixed the problem. What I don't understand is why settings pertaining to cursors would be found in a directory labeled icons. It can't possibly be due to an unwillingness to add another directory or configuration file -- there's too many now in my opinion. At any rate, thanks for solving this problem, my eyesight is getting worse the older I get and tiny flyspeck-sized cursors were just getting lost in the text in open windows/apps.
"Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana."
Joined: Aug 13, 2004 Posts: 335 Location: Maysville, KY
Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2008 12:23 pm Post subject:
thanks for letting me know what fixed the problem - a lot of times people come here and get the answer they are after and then just vanish leaving me to wonder if the problem was fixed. Hope you can stay around! If you ever need help again, just post a question. Sometimes it takes me a day or two to answer but if it is urgent you can send me an email or call (contact info in signature or profile)
The real reason and cause of this problem is that Firefox and many other non-native kde applications actually get their configuration from Gnome settings. So, even though you are in KDE, firefox/Thunderbird/Gnome/Openoffice/etc will still use gnomes settings for its display inside KDE.
I know that sounds crazy but a couple of years ago I was pulling my hair out over the exact same thing - I think mine was with gimp though.
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