this post was submitted on 21 Aug 2024
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
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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I like to use
unclutter
to hide my mouse pointer after a few seconds without being moved.Now, the thing is, it doesn't just visually hide the cursor, it actually removes it, so UI elements triggered by hovering disappear. Sometimes that's great, other times it's infurriating, like when reading a tooltip or menu.
I mostly use a touchpad, and so I developed a habit to wiggle my finger while I'm intentionally hovering something, so that there was enough mouse movement for
unclutter
to not remove my pointer.Then I found a setting for the jitter threshold of the touchpad. Basically, with the threshold on, it ignores tiny movements, because the hardware reports finger wiggling, even if you hold your finger perfectly still. Which is perfect for me to turn off.
Now when I have my finger on the touchpad, it automatically wiggles and allows me to read hover elements. If I take my finger off, it stops wiggling and removes the cursor.
It's almost like someone designed an OS with touchpads in mind, rather than them being an afterthought.
That reminds me of this
https://xkcd.com/1172/
Everything here reminds everyone of that.
thats really cool actually
What is
unclutter
?Uh, well, I kind of already wrote most of what there's to say in the comment above, it hides your mouse pointer when you don't move it for a few seconds.
In most distros, it's available as the
unclutter
package, directly from the repos. On Debian-based systems, the package you want is calledunclutter-xfixes
.https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Unclutter
It is built for X11 and won't work on Wayland.
But KDE recently shipped a built-in feature as part of Plasma 6.1 (a Desktop Effect called "Hide Cursor"), which also works very nicely. That one does not cause hover elements to disappear.