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List:       kde-core-devel
Subject:    Re: Three separate discussions about mouse pointers on three different lists
From:       Matthias Hoelzer-Kluepfel <mhk () caldera ! de>
Date:       2001-03-08 9:28:27
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Am Thursday 08 March 2001 02:45 schrieb Christian A Strømmen 
[Number1/NumeroUno]:
> I'm now starting to seriously wonder if I'm the only person in the whole
> world that's subscribed to these three lists (kde-devel, kde-core-devel,
> kde-look), 'cause each of them are having discussions about mousepointers,
> without the discussions being related at all.
>
> Situation: X only allows two-colored mouse pointers (xsetroot has
> possibilites of having mouse pointers with many colors though)
> Problem: Most people (no, I'm not talking about the coders, you're the
> minority) hate the black cursor that X uses.
> Solution: kde-look had an interesting solution to this, something that
> probably will work (don't complain about cpu/memory usage for these
> reasons: 1. if you don't want it, then don't enable it. 2. it's a freakin
> mouse pointer, it DOESN'T take up that much memory), to make it easy I've
> pasted the mail with the solution below:
>
> <snap>
> You know those toy programs that have a "cat" chase the "mouse"
> cursor?  Well, what if you created a program that removed the real
> cursor and just "followed" the pointer around by always being directly
> on top of it.  If you had a fast enough machine, there shouldn't be
> all that much lag.
>
> Because the "cursor" would be a separate program, you could make it
> any size or shape you wanted.
> <snap>
>
> some followups:
> <snap>
> Yeah, we could port the swarm screensaver to chase your mouse!
> --
> Actually, that's a really clever suggestion!  Not just for color and
> animation, but for some more mundane uses such as magnification of the
> mouse cursor, mouse trails, etc.
> --
> And how about a mouse cursor with a drop shadow ;-)
> --
> Oh, hell, why not?  A transparent, multicoloured, animated, drop-shadowed,
> mouse cursor with swarms of little cats chasing it and making swishing
> sounds as they move across the screen.  Oh, and if the cats catch the
> mouse, it should scream.
> </snap>
>
> So, if everybody interested in this take the journey over to kde-devel (I
> believe that's the most appropriate place for this..?), there's a chance
> that we could make this.
>
> /me is getting tired of hearing about the ugly mouse pointer in XFree/kde
> the last 3-4 years...
>
> Let's fix this people!  Anybody up for the job?

I tried this once, and it sucks. First of all, the mouse image will be way 
behind where the X-Server thinks the mouse is, and secondly, you will loose 
the differently shaped cursors for example on the corners of the window, if 
you chase the hotspot with your image.

I remember that I tried to catch these changes, but didn't came up with a 
solution. Ok, this was 2 years agon, perhaps the speed is not problem 
anymore, and I just didn't find the right trick, but I guess the only clean 
solution would be an X extension :(


Bye,
Matthias.

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