Thanks for this suggestion.
Rhialto wrote:
> maybe you want "xrdb -merge .Xdefaults", because without it the default
> action is "-load", which removes all previous contents of the resource
> database.
I actually tried with and without -merge. I also tried removing everything from
.Xdefaults except the lines to set the cursor size and style, or the size on its
own. It had no effect.
Other things in .Xdefaults worked as expected, e.g. default number of lines and
columns in Xterm window.
That was on my desktop PC running Fedora 19
However, I have now tried on my laptop (Dell E6410, running Fedora 20) and use
of .Xdefaults and xrdb has the required effect: I can change cursor size, though
it doesn't affect the root window.
Moreover, it does affect the non-text area in the 'atril' pdf browser. So if I
have the variable set in both .Xdefaults and in .xinitrc then the pointer
is large whether in text mode or not.
I previously wrote
> In some contexts, e.g. 'atril' (part of the 'mate' desktop) which I use for
> displaying PDF in preference to evince, the value seems to affect only the
> 'text' cursor (vertical). The arrow used outside the text area does not
> change.
> Perhaps there's a different environment variable for that.
That was when I used only the environment variable to change cursor size.
I have not tried restarting the X server on the Desktop F19 machine. I may
somehow have set the X server running in a way that disables some changes after
it starts, whereas on the F20 laptop it runs in a different way.
On both machines it starts in XFCE login mode, and I select ctwm as window
manager from the menu available when I log in.
When I get time I'll try more experiments on the F19 machine re-starting X.
But I would have to lose my current desktop contents to do that (I've been
running for 99 days using only hibernate/resume and that preserves a lot of
information about files I am working on etc.) So I'll try the experiment next
time I have to reboot. (F19 isn't really supported any more, but I am trying to
postpone upgrading for as long as possible.)
This recently found web page has some useful-looking tips:
http://shallowsky.com/linux/x-cursor-themes.html
thanks.
Aaron
