Replacing the I-beam cursor system wide.

[Gene Heskett]

On Tuesday, January 18, 2011 07:58:58 pm Thomas Dickey did opine:

> On Tue, 18 Jan 2011, Gene Heskett wrote:
> > On Tuesday, January 18, 2011 05:17:14 pm Thomas Dickey did opine:
> >> On Tue, 18 Jan 2011, James Cloos wrote:
> >>>>>>>> "r" == rhubarbpieguy  <rhubarbpieguy at gmail.com> writes:
> >>> r> Is it possible to replace the I-beam cursor system wide through
> >>> X?
> >>> 
> >>> Sure.  You need to change the (server-side) cursor font used by
> >>> older applications and also change the cursor theme used by most
> >>> newer apps.
> >>> 
> >>> Google should point to decent explanations of how to do those.
> >>> 
> >>> You probably want to start by editing your favourite cursor theme
> >>> to use something other than a I-beam in that spot (I beleive that
> >>> cursor's name is 'xterm') and re-generate it.  You may find that
> >>> to be sufficient for your needs.
> >> 
> >> man xterm (resources)
> >> 
> >>         pointerMode (class PointerMode)
> >>         
> >>                 Specifies when the pointer may be hidden as the user
> >> 
> >> types.  It will be redisplayed if the user moves the mouse, or clicks
> >> one of its buttons.
> >> 
> >>                 0  never
> >>                 
> >>                 1  the  application  running  in  xterm has not
> >> 
> >> activated mouse mode.  This is the default.
> >> 
> >>                 2  always.
> >>         
> >>         pointerShape (class Cursor)
> >>         
> >>                 Specifies the name of the shape of the pointer.  The
> >> 
> >> default is "xterm."
> > 
> > That it is, but where is the list and description of the other options
> > so that we can make considered choices?
> 
> The list is buried away in X's documentation (as suggested, google can
> help).  Since you want a smaller cursor, I also pasted in the part of
> xterm's manpage which shows that you can hide the cursor - that's
> simpler.

True I guess, but I may see if I can dig up the list of choices.  My fav is 
a bright red, outlined and shadowed arrow, but on a text screen it reverts 
to the I-Beam.  On the arrow, I know the hit point is not more than 1 teeny 
pixel away from the tip of the arrow.

Thanks Thomas.

-- 
Cheers, Gene
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