Puppy 8.0: Mouse Pointer Disappears After Start-Up

[3guesses]

Fresh install of Puppy Linux 8.0 (19.03) 32-bit installed to hard drive on a Samsung NP-N130 netbook: ~10 seconds after displaying the drive icons, the mouse pointer goes invisible. Happens every time.

"Leave->Restart graphical server" does bring it back (permanently).

[Flash]

Do you mean it doesn't come back into view when you move the mouse?

[3guesses]

Do you mean it doesn't come back into view when you move the mouse?

Yes, the pointer still acts as though it were there (eg. you can bring up the menu by right-clicking on the desktop) it's just that you have no idea whereabouts on the screen the pointer actually is. Doesn't happen with earlier versions of Puppy (5.7.0, 6.0, 7.5).

[rcrsn51]

You never finished the discussion you started here.

[davids45]

G'day,

I have the same problem with my ~6 years-old Samsung RV510 laptop which has Windows 7 and runs Puppies from a ext partition on the hard-drive. Data partition is ntfs as I could not find a package for Windows 7 to read ext partitions (like I do in XP).

Only Puppies affected by the disappearing cursor here are recent Bionic, Cosmic, Dingo and Ermine Pups.

Slacko Pups are fine (using one now on this laptop as I'm interstate for Christmas) as are older Ubuntu-based Pups such as Xenial and Tahr.

With the cursor lost , I do a Ctrl+Alt+Backspace then 'xwin' from the prompt and everything is then fine . Seems to be an issue on initial start-up not a re-start.

Happy Solstice to all, winter or summer.

David S.

[bigpup]

Is this when using the touchpad or using a mouse?

[3guesses]

Is this when using the touchpad or using a mouse?

Both/either as I recall.

[Flash]

3guesses, did you try davids45's solution of restarting Xwindows?

[s243a]

In "~/.xinitrc" Try commenting out the following code:

Code: Select all

#v2.01 hide cursor when not moving... (setup in /usr/sbin/input-wizard)
if [ -f /etc/mousehide ];then
 IDLETIME="`cat /etc/mousehide | cut -f 1 -d ','`"
 [ ! "$IDLETIME" = "0" ] && unclutter -idle $IDLETIME &
fi

Typically when I run puppy in a virtual machine I comment out the above code. If you can't see your mouse you might need to use a terminal text editor to edit the file or alternatively you can edit your save file externally from a working puppy.

To exit to the terminal use the keyboard combination "cntrl-alt-backspace". You can can edit the file with nano as follows:

Code: Select all

nano /root/.xinitrc

you can edit the file with minimum proffit as follows:

Code: Select all

mp /root/.xinitrc

also if you install sc0tmann's package manger (i.e. pkg) you can install these programs from the command line if they aren't already installed.

[3guesses]

3guesses, did you try davids45's solution of restarting Xwindows?

Is that not just the equivalent of "Leave->Restart graphical server"?

[3guesses]

In "~/.xinitrc" Try commenting out the following code:

Code: Select all

#v2.01 hide cursor when not moving... (setup in /usr/sbin/input-wizard)
if [ -f /etc/mousehide ];then
 IDLETIME="`cat /etc/mousehide | cut -f 1 -d ','`"
 [ ! "$IDLETIME" = "0" ] && unclutter -idle $IDLETIME &
fi

Typically when I run puppy in a virtual machine I comment out the above code. If you can't see your mouse you might need to use a terminal text editor to edit the file or alternatively you can edit your save file externally from a working puppy.

To exit to the terminal use the keyboard combination "cntrl-alt-backspace". You can can edit the file with nano as follows:

Code: Select all

nano /root/.xinitrc

you can edit the file with minimum proffit as follows:

Code: Select all

mp /root/.xinitrc

also if you install sc0tmann's package manger (i.e. pkg) you can install these programs from the command line if they aren't already installed.

That didn't work unfortunately, although I did stumble upon another way of getting the pointer back: wait for the screen to blank, then when you wake it up the pointer reappears (permanently, I think). Definitely some weird bug in the windowing code methinks.

[bigpup]

I am using Bionicpup32 8.0 and not having this problem.

I have seen a fresh download of the iso and a completely new fresh install fix stuff like this.

Make sure you get the latest version of Bionicpup32 8.0
http://distro.ibiblio.org/puppylinux/pu ... cpup32.htm

If you download the iso to a partition formatted fat32 or ntfs.
It could be fragmented and that will cause the iso to be fragmented.
Need to defrag the partition before, downloading the iso to it.

This also applies to installing Puppy to a fragmented fat32 or ntfs partition.

If it is a partition you can reformat.
(nothing on it you could not loose)
Best to do a fresh format of partition, before installing Puppy.

[s243a]

In "~/.xinitrc" Try commenting out the following code:

Code: Select all

#v2.01 hide cursor when not moving... (setup in /usr/sbin/input-wizard)
if [ -f /etc/mousehide ];then
 IDLETIME="`cat /etc/mousehide | cut -f 1 -d ','`"
 [ ! "$IDLETIME" = "0" ] && unclutter -idle $IDLETIME &
fi

Typically when I run puppy in a virtual machine I comment out the above code. If you can't see your mouse you might need to use a terminal text editor to edit the file or alternatively you can edit your save file externally from a working puppy.

To exit to the terminal use the keyboard combination "cntrl-alt-backspace". You can can edit the file with nano as follows:

Code: Select all

nano /root/.xinitrc

you can edit the file with minimum proffit as follows:

Code: Select all

mp /root/.xinitrc

also if you install sc0tmann's package manger (i.e. pkg) you can install these programs from the command line if they aren't already installed.

That didn't work unfortunately, although I did stumble upon another way of getting the pointer back: wait for the screen to blank, then when you wake it up the pointer reappears (permanently, I think). Definitely some weird bug in the windowing code methinks.

Thanks for the tip . I'll give this a try if I encounter this problem and my above suggested fix doesn't work.

[davids45]

G'day,

Trying to concentrate on this while watching grandchildren attack presents.....

My remembered experience is this disappearing cursor only happens on my laptop. Desktops are fine with all Pups.

It looks to be a Samsung problem as we both have Samsung laptops - Bigpup, what hardware are you using?

I do not have any 64-bit Ubuntu Pups on this laptop so I don't know if this odd behaviour is restricted to recent 32-bit Ubuntu Pups on this Samsung laptop.

On this laptop for older Ubuntu Pups, the desktop will go black then almost immediately re-appear after several seconds as though there is a quick restart of X. Cursor comes back when the desktop re-appears.

On recent Ubuntu Pups from peebee (Bionic, Cosmo, Dingo, Ermine - not just Bionic), after several seconds of desktop displaying, only the cursor "arrow" disappears . The cursor is still "there" as clicking the mouse will get a response corresponding to wherever the invisible cursor is.

3guesses,
Have you tried a different, non-Ubuntu Pup on your laptop? Or a much earlier Ubuntu Pup (Xenial or Tahr, say)?
My 'xwin' console method would be equivalent to your 'Leave' then 'Restart-X'.
Once you restart-X, is everything then OK? For my laptop, it's only a ONE-OFF first-start issue. Once fixed, no further cursor loss. But each re-boot of a recent Ubuntu Pup on the laptop, it's there again (or not there, to be pedantic).

David S.

[3guesses]

I am using Bionicpup32 8.0 and not having this problem.

I have seen a fresh download of the iso and a completely new fresh install fix stuff like this.

Make sure you get the latest version of Bionicpup32 8.0
http://distro.ibiblio.org/puppylinux/pu ... cpup32.htm
If you download the iso to a partition formatted fat32 or ntfs.
It could be fragmented and that will cause the iso to be fragmented.
Need to defrag the partition before, downloading the iso to it.

This also applies to installing Puppy to a fragmented fat32 or ntfs partition.

If it is a partition you can reformat.
(nothing on it you could not loose)
Best to do a fresh format of partition, before installing Puppy.

I install from a USB stick using (the most excellent) WinSetUpFromUSB which defragments the ISO after copying it onto the USB stick. As davids45 remarked, this seems to be a problem specific to Samsung laptops/netbooks and Bionic Puppy 8.0 x32 as I've not encountered it on my other machines nor earlier Puppy versions running on the machine in question. Are you really going to make me do a completely fresh download and install???

[3guesses]

G'day,

Trying to concentrate on this while watching grandchildren attack presents.....

My remembered experience is this disappearing cursor only happens on my laptop. Desktops are fine with all Pups.

It looks to be a Samsung problem as we both have Samsung laptops - Bigpup, what hardware are you using?

I do not have any 64-bit Ubuntu Pups on this laptop so I don't know if this odd behaviour is restricted to recent 32-bit Ubuntu Pups on this Samsung laptop.

On this laptop for older Ubuntu Pups, the desktop will go black then almost immediately re-appear after several seconds as though there is a quick restart of X. Cursor comes back when the desktop re-appears.

On recent Ubuntu Pups from peebee (Bionic, Cosmo, Dingo, Ermine - not just Bionic), after several seconds of desktop displaying, only the cursor "arrow" disappears . The cursor is still "there" as clicking the mouse will get a response corresponding to wherever the invisible cursor is.

3guesses,
Have you tried a different, non-Ubuntu Pup on your laptop? Or a much earlier Ubuntu Pup (Xenial or Tahr, say)?
My 'xwin' console method would be equivalent to your 'Leave' then 'Restart-X'.
Once you restart-X, is everything then OK? For my laptop, it's only a ONE-OFF first-start issue. Once fixed, no further cursor loss. But each re-boot of a recent Ubuntu Pup on the laptop, it's there again (or not there, to be pedantic).

David S.

Yes, earlier versions of Puppy (slacko, tahr, xenial) work no problem. Everything seems fine in 8.0 once the pointer reappears (either by re-starting X or after the screen blanks) ie this problem seems limited to when first starting Bionic Puppy 8.0 - not tried Cosmo, Dingo, Ermine that you mention.

[3guesses]

If it's any consolation, antiX 19 seems to be afflicted with the same bug - does it and Bionic Puppy 8.0 share the same codebase?

[3guesses]

Quick update: this also happens for me on a second Samsung NP-N130.

[Pirla]

I have a Samsung N140 with exactly the same problem. All my other branded Atom based machines are fine.

But I have a sort of fix. In the mouse properties tick the hide pointer when not moving box. Then it always comes back when you move it!!