[SOLVED] The bug: feature to show the invisible cursor on the screen in Linux

Pingvin1 · 03-17-2020, 02:05 AM

It is likely that each computer user could not always find the cursor position on the screen. At the same time, there is an active movement of the mouse, or driving a finger on the touchpad in an attempt to find it.
Linux systems have a built-in feature that will help you locate the cursor on the screen by pressing the assigned key. By default, this feature is not enabled in all shells, so it often has to be enabled.
I found the locate-pointer function in the dconf editor at

Code:

org/gnome/settings-daemon/peripherals/mouse

and made it active (in Russian): https://cloud.mail.ru/public/CanK/9fwbEnJNv .
By default, it will be enough to press the Ctrl key and the cursor will be highlighted on the screen, but I have a bug in Gnome 3.30.2 or in ZORIN OS 15.2 based on 18.04.1-Ubuntu and this does not happen (the cursor does not change its shape and not highlight when pressing left and right Ctrl).
What to do other than wait for an update?

P.S. View of the editor dconf (Translation from Russian into English phrases with the screenshot):
Summary Подсвечивает текущее положение указателя при нажатие клавиши Ctrl. = Summary Highlights the current position of the pointer when you press Ctrl.
Type Логическое = Type Logical

shruggy · 03-18-2020, 02:51 AM

Have you tried to do this from the command line?

Code:

gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.peripherals.mouse locate-pointer true

Pingvin1 · 03-18-2020, 05:10 AM

I activated the "locate-pointer" function by another method:

Code:

$ dconf write "/org/gnome/settings-daemon.peripherias/mouse/locate-pointer" true

, but there is no difference. After all, after the command I gave, the value of the "locate-pointer" function changed, I checked it and showed it in a screenshot.

Pingvin1 · 03-18-2020, 06:10 AM

What 's your Operating System, shruggy?
Does the cursor highlight when you press ctrl?

shruggy · 03-18-2020, 06:24 AM

Code:

$ grep -Po '^PRETTY.*=\K.*' /etc/os-release
"CentOS Linux 8 (Core)"
$ rpm -q gnome-shell
gnome-shell-3.32.2-9.el8.x86_64

It works in an X11 session, but doesn't in the default Wayland session.

Pingvin1 · 03-18-2020, 08:12 AM

Can the cursor position be displayed in a X11 session or in a Wayland session?
Now I 'm studying how to switch?

Pingvin1 · 03-19-2020, 07:23 AM

I have Xorg (x11) by default. Switched from Xorg (x11) to Wayland. The cursor is not highlighted, the same way.

Pingvin1 · 03-19-2020, 08:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shruggy

It works in an X11 session, but doesn't in the default Wayland session.

This means that the cursor is highlighted (when pressing Ctrl) in an X11 session, but doesn't in Wayland session?

shruggy · 03-19-2020, 08:37 AM

Yes, on CentOS 8.

Pingvin1 · 03-20-2020, 03:43 AM

Surprisingly, after using your

Quote:

Originally Posted by shruggy

Have you tried to do this from the command line?

Code:

gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.peripherals.mouse locate-pointer true

command in x11 session, when you press Ctrl, the cursor is highlighted and in Wayland session is not highlighted.
Thank you very much, shruggy!