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MacOS Accessibility Cursor (i.stack.imgur.com)
submitted 6 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

So I like this MacOS feature where your cursor displays in large. I was hoping if anyone knew of such software that replicates this functionality for Linux. Considering MacOS and Linux are both Unix, and libraries are different, could X or Wayland help replicate this?

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[-] [email protected] 100 points 6 months ago

jiggle

This is just the first thing I found, but I'm sure there's others for whatever you're using.

[-] [email protected] 9 points 6 months ago

Well you win, this looks like exactly what's been asked for. Seems pretty cool will give it a try

[-] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago

What's gnome? Is it already installed? Not a linux user

[-] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

gnome may be the desktop environment, depending on your distro. it looks like this:

1000001639

if your desktop looks like that, it's gnome (Pop_! OS, Ubuntu/Kubuntu, and a few others come with it by default)

[-] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago

None of the GNOME distros use this version anymore actually.. GNOME changed its design with version 40 onwards

[-] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

Isn't the entire point of kubuntu being KDE instead of gnome...?

[-] [email protected] -5 points 6 months ago

Gnome is a desktop environment for Linux. It does not come with gnome out of the box and needs to be installed by the user as it is a extension.

[-] [email protected] 35 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

KDE Plasma has a desktop effect called "Track Mouse" after you activate it you can use it by pressing Ctrl+Meta. It doesn't look like the MacOS variant, but it does the job.

[-] [email protected] 11 points 6 months ago

Thanks for pointing that out, I found the setting on my laptop and tried it out. I do like the jiggle approach better, though, simply because that is something many people (myself included) instinctively do when losing track of the mouse cursor.

[-] [email protected] 10 points 6 months ago

I just added it because the current answer (jiggle) is a Gnome shell extension. So this is just my answer for Plasma.

[-] [email protected] 30 points 6 months ago

Such an underrated feature

[-] [email protected] 13 points 6 months ago

Apple software team is on another level. You don’t even have to try to find the feature. We all instinctively shake the mouse to locate the cursor, so it just happens.

[-] [email protected] 26 points 6 months ago

I think KDE plasma 6 has that by default

[-] Secret300 6 points 6 months ago

I think KDE had something like this when I used it years ago

[-] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago

It depends on your desktop environment. For GNOME, you can try jiggle. For me, Jiggle is listed as incompatible, unfortunately.

The built-in accessibility setting for finding your mouse is the Windows-style "press left ctrl to highlight the mouse". KDE has the same feature, though they're working on including a macOS-like jiggle feature in the upcoming Plasma 6 release.

[-] [email protected] -2 points 6 months ago

On my Mac running yabai it sometimes gets into this weird state where the mouse does this as it toggles rapidly back and forth between some windows. No idea what causes it...

On Linux I run i3 which kinda negates the need for the mouse finder since it will move the cursor to the active window.

I guess I didn't remotely answer you question though!

this post was submitted on 24 Dec 2023
128 points (92.1% liked)

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Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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