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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This is just the first thing I found, but I’m sure there’s others for whatever you’re using.
Well you win, this looks like exactly what’s been asked for. Seems pretty cool will give it a try
What’s gnome? Is it already installed? Not a linux user
Gnome is the desktop environment. You may have gnome already installed if that’s what your OS uses, otherwise you probably have KDE. There are others but those are the 2 big ones.
The Desktop Environment is what gives the OS its look, and typically which GUI programs are installed by default.
Wow…Linux has a lot of options compared to Windows
That’s just scratching the surface. You can go even deeper and „make your own” desktop environment. Desktop environment is kind of like a pack of software that has a cohesive look and feel. You can leave that and pick and choose programs on your own and configure them to your liking. You can configure KDE or gnome, but this gives you even more control :)
Look up unixporn and see what’s possible 😋
gnome may be the desktop environment, depending on your distro. it looks like this:
if your desktop looks like that, it’s gnome (Pop_! OS, Ubuntu/Kubuntu, and a few others come with it by default)
None of the GNOME distros use this version anymore actually… GNOME changed its design with version 40 onwards
Isn’t the entire point of kubuntu being KDE instead of gnome…?
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.
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.
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.
I just added it because the current answer (jiggle) is a Gnome shell extension. So this is just my answer for Plasma.
Wow, it’s even easier to find on the screen. Thanks!
Such an underrated feature
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.
I think KDE plasma 6 has that by default
FWIW, this entire comment section:
https://lemmy.world/post/1940961?scrollToComments=true
Back to the to the topic, yes, Linux is not technically Unix by pedigree. In practice, it doesn’t matter that it isn’t and it wouldn’t matter if it were, both for this issue in particular and for most others you are likely to encounter.
The actually relevant technology here is the graphics subsystem, and MacOS’s Cocoa has always been radically different from anything else in the Unix/Linux space. There is no relation whatsoever to either X11 or Wayland. The only thing worth “porting” here is the basic idea. Which is pretty neat, though. Let’s hope Apple hasn’t patented it.
I feel like this was something back on windows 7 for some reason
If it was, I don’t think it was a default. I had been using Windows 7 for quite a while back in the day, and I cannot remember ever seeing something like this. On the other hand, I can certainly remember losing track of where on my monitors my mouse cursor was on various occasions…
IIRC, the windows version of this is a setting where you can hit CTRL and it makes a moderately large circle that contracts towards the pointer. It’s been in since at least W7/Vista, possibly XP. I’ve used it on and off for years (especially with 3 27" monitors) because of how easy it is to lose the cursor.
And that functionality is in Gnome, but disabled by default IIRC. I’ve had it on for years in both PopOS and Debian so I may be wrong but I do believe it’s a Gnome feature.
It’s within the accessibility features
I know Windows has the option to shake a window and all other windows get minimised. Nothing like shaking the mouse to find the cursor, though.
Quartz is the old macOS graphics framework, but the mouse shaking is probably just a cool show off feature of Core Animation. There’s uncontested Windows ports on GitHub, so I doubt Apple will throw any fits for Linux.
🤓
I think KDE had something like this when I used it years ago
Beyond what people have posted, I also believe I saw something about GNOME planning to implement something like this soon™️
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!
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.
