X11 cursor size

X11 cursor size

[alex]

Dear all,

I know this is basically not directly a guix question but somehow all
the hints I find in the internet don't seem to work on guix.

My problem is the following: I use guix with X11 and EXWM as (only)
window manager. I have a 13" laptop with 4k screen and therefore the
X11-pointer/cursor is so small, that most of the time I don't even see
it. All solutions to increase the cursor size without using gnome or
similar tools involve the installation of a scalable font and then
incresing the size of the cursor. However I don't manage to make this
work on guix.

Does anyone maybe have a working solution for this which they can share?

Cheers, Alex

X11 cursor size

[alex]

Dear all,

I know this is basically not directly a guix question but somehow all
the hints I find in the internet don't seem to work on guix.

My problem is the following: I use guix with X11 and EXWM as (only)
window manager. I have a 13" laptop with 4k screen and therefore the
X11-pointer/cursor is so small, that most of the time I don't even see
it. All solutions to increase the cursor size without using gnome or
similar tools involve the installation of a scalable font and then
incresing the size of the cursor. However I don't manage to make this
work on guix.

Does anyone maybe have a working solution for this which they can share?

Cheers, Alex

Re: X11 cursor size

[Gary Johnson]

alex@soeven.de writes:
>
> My problem is the following: I use guix with X11 and EXWM as (only)
> window manager. I have a 13" laptop with 4k screen and therefore the
> X11-pointer/cursor is so small, that most of the time I don't even see
> it. All solutions to increase the cursor size without using gnome or
> similar tools involve the installation of a scalable font and then
> incresing the size of the cursor. However I don't manage to make this
> work on guix.
>
> Does anyone maybe have a working solution for this which they can share?
>
> Cheers, Alex

Hi Alex,

I also run EXWM as my window manager under Guix System. I manage my
keyboard and cursor settings in my ~/.xsession file. For the cursor
settings, I use xsetroot like so:

```
# Change cursor to left arrow
xsetroot -cursor_name left_ptr
```

Take a look at its man page for quite a few options related to setting
the cursor file and size.

Happy hacking!
  Gary

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Re: X11 cursor size

[Alexander Asteroth]

Dear Gary,

I tried this already an the effect is, that the default pointer (in X11
outside of any window) changes from a cross to a left_ptr but the size does
not change. If I understand correctly, I need to have type1 fonts for
that which I included in my config by adding `font-xfree86-type1` to my
systems package list (but the corresponding path doesn't show up in the
X11-fontpath).

Also I'm wondering how to set the cursor size because by just executing
`xsetroot -cursor_name left_ptr` I set the cursor shape/type but how do
I specify the size? Recepies from the net suggest to do this via a
`fonts.alias` but that doesn't seem to have an effect either.

Cheers,

	Alex


On Fri, Jul 15 2022, 18:13:06, Gary Johnson <lambdatronic@disroot.org> wrote:

> alex@soeven.de writes:
>>
>> My problem is the following: I use guix with X11 and EXWM as (only)
>> window manager. I have a 13" laptop with 4k screen and therefore the
>> X11-pointer/cursor is so small, that most of the time I don't even see
>> it. All solutions to increase the cursor size without using gnome or
>> similar tools involve the installation of a scalable font and then
>> incresing the size of the cursor. However I don't manage to make this
>> work on guix.
>>
>> Does anyone maybe have a working solution for this which they can share?
>>
>> Cheers, Alex
>
> Hi Alex,
>
> I also run EXWM as my window manager under Guix System. I manage my
> keyboard and cursor settings in my ~/.xsession file. For the cursor
> settings, I use xsetroot like so:
>
> ```
> # Change cursor to left arrow
> xsetroot -cursor_name left_ptr
> ```
>
> Take a look at its man page for quite a few options related to setting
> the cursor file and size.
>
> Happy hacking!
>   Gary

Re: X11 cursor size

[alex]

Dear Gary,

I tried this already an the effect is, that the default pointer (in X11
outside of any window) changes from a cross to a left_ptr but the size does
not change. If I understand correctly, I need to have type1 fonts for
that which I included in my config by adding `font-xfree86-type1` to my
systems package list (but the corresponding path doesn't show up in the
X11-fontpath).

Also I'm wondering how to set the cursor size because by just executing
`xsetroot -cursor_name left_ptr` I set the cursor shape/type but how do
I specify the size? Recepies from the net suggest to do this via a
`fonts.alias` but that doesn't seem to have an effect either.

Cheers,

	Alex


On Fri, Jul 15 2022, 18:13:06, Gary Johnson <lambdatronic@disroot.org> wrote:

> alex@soeven.de writes:
>>
>> My problem is the following: I use guix with X11 and EXWM as (only)
>> window manager. I have a 13" laptop with 4k screen and therefore the
>> X11-pointer/cursor is so small, that most of the time I don't even see
>> it. All solutions to increase the cursor size without using gnome or
>> similar tools involve the installation of a scalable font and then
>> incresing the size of the cursor. However I don't manage to make this
>> work on guix.
>>
>> Does anyone maybe have a working solution for this which they can share?
>>
>> Cheers, Alex
>
> Hi Alex,
>
> I also run EXWM as my window manager under Guix System. I manage my
> keyboard and cursor settings in my ~/.xsession file. For the cursor
> settings, I use xsetroot like so:
>
> ```
> # Change cursor to left arrow
> xsetroot -cursor_name left_ptr
> ```
>
> Take a look at its man page for quite a few options related to setting
> the cursor file and size.
>
> Happy hacking!
>   Gary

Re: X11 cursor size

[Gary Johnson]

alex@soeven.de writes:

> I tried this already an the effect is, that the default pointer (in X11
> outside of any window) changes from a cross to a left_ptr but the size does
> not change. If I understand correctly, I need to have type1 fonts for
> that which I included in my config by adding `font-xfree86-type1` to my
> systems package list (but the corresponding path doesn't show up in the
> X11-fontpath).
>
> Also I'm wondering how to set the cursor size because by just executing
> `xsetroot -cursor_name left_ptr` I set the cursor shape/type but how do
> I specify the size? Recepies from the net suggest to do this via a
> `fonts.alias` but that doesn't seem to have an effect either.

Hi Alex,

In my last message, I suggested that you should read the man page for
xsetroot, as it provides several options for changing your cursor
settings in X. The example I gave was just of the way that I use it.

If you want to use xsetroot to increase your cursor size, try adding
this line to your ~/.xsession file:

xsetroot -xcf /run/current-system/profile/share/icons/Adwaita/cursors/left_ptr 32

For this Xcursor file to be available, you'll need to make sure that you
have installed the following package into your system profile.

- adwaita-icon-theme

If you would prefer a different cursor than the left_ptr, feel free to
pick any file in the `cursors` directory.

Have fun and happy hacking!
  Gary

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Re: X11 cursor size

[alex]

Thanks for pointing out the Adwaita-Icon-Theme along with the path to
the system wide icons/pointer directory. Now I'm able to set the pointer
and size for the X11 session. Unfortunately emacs (when exwm is started)
seems to override this setting and for all child frames of exwm. Someone
else reported the same effect using guix installed emacs in arch-linux
(I'm using guix system). Also a similar (x-pointer) topic was discussed
in the exwm issues (with no obvious solution (issue was closed
unsolved)).

So question now is: how do I increase the x-pointer size under exwm in
guix emacs?

Cheers,
Alex

On Sun, Jul 17 2022, 19:45:12, Gary Johnson <lambdatronic@disroot.org> wrote:

> alex@soeven.de writes:
>
>> I tried this already an the effect is, that the default pointer (in X11
>> outside of any window) changes from a cross to a left_ptr but the size does
>> not change. If I understand correctly, I need to have type1 fonts for
>> that which I included in my config by adding `font-xfree86-type1` to my
>> systems package list (but the corresponding path doesn't show up in the
>> X11-fontpath).
>>
>> Also I'm wondering how to set the cursor size because by just executing
>> `xsetroot -cursor_name left_ptr` I set the cursor shape/type but how do
>> I specify the size? Recepies from the net suggest to do this via a
>> `fonts.alias` but that doesn't seem to have an effect either.
>
> Hi Alex,
>
> In my last message, I suggested that you should read the man page for
> xsetroot, as it provides several options for changing your cursor
> settings in X. The example I gave was just of the way that I use it.
>
> If you want to use xsetroot to increase your cursor size, try adding
> this line to your ~/.xsession file:
>
> xsetroot -xcf /run/current-system/profile/share/icons/Adwaita/cursors/left_ptr 32
>
> For this Xcursor file to be available, you'll need to make sure that you
> have installed the following package into your system profile.
>
> - adwaita-icon-theme
>
> If you would prefer a different cursor than the left_ptr, feel free to
> pick any file in the `cursors` directory.
>
> Have fun and happy hacking!
>   Gary

Re: X11 cursor size

[Gary Johnson]

alex@soeven.de writes:

> Thanks for pointing out the Adwaita-Icon-Theme along with the path to
> the system wide icons/pointer directory. Now I'm able to set the pointer
> and size for the X11 session. Unfortunately emacs (when exwm is started)
> seems to override this setting and for all child frames of exwm. Someone
> else reported the same effect using guix installed emacs in arch-linux
> (I'm using guix system). Also a similar (x-pointer) topic was discussed
> in the exwm issues (with no obvious solution (issue was closed
> unsolved)).
>
> So question now is: how do I increase the x-pointer size under exwm in
> guix emacs?

I am also running EXWM under X11 on Guix System. Using `xsetroot` in my
~/.xsession file is all that I have needed to do, and my pointer
settings persist under EXWM as expected. My guess is that you have
overriden your emacs cursor settings somewhere and need to undo that.
Here are the usual places to look:

- ~/.emacs.d/init.el
- ~/.exwm
- ~/.Xresources

Good luck,
  Gary

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Please avoid sending me MS-Office attachments.
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