How do I change mouse cursors on Ubuntu 14.04?

[grumblebum2]

All those comix cursors need a cursor.theme file to register with alternatives.
Tell me exactly which cursor you want to use and I'll help.

The key to having a consistent theme is installing it to alternatives.
To do this the theme whether installed through the repos or downloaded must have a cursor.theme file
as explained in post #7.

The comix cursors in the repos draw with a box shadow here, and they do not have cursor.theme files.
097.jpg
I would uninstall and use the ones from the download link posted earlier.

Extract the downloaded archive then choose one of the themes to install.
099.jpg

The rest of the procedure is in post #7 remembering the key is to first create a cursor.theme file
for any theme you chose to move to /usr/share/icons
100.jpg

P.S. I don't need replies like "this xxxx isn't working".
I don't work for canonical and I'm not a developer.
I have just found a way to make something that is broken work for me.
It may seem a little complicated but that's just the way it is because
no-one seems to give a crap about cursors in the new world of touch devices.

[joe_cool2]

My notebook has a touch screen and I hate it, these "new world of touch devices" are pure crap. They are iinaccurately as hell and they are definitely not suitable for FPS games. Anyway, I want Comixcursors-black-small-slim. When I select it, I get 2 problems:

1. This box shadow you mentioned
2. The theme is mixed with some Dmz-White cursors.

[grumblebum2]

Firstly use synaptic or the software center to uninstall the comix cursors you installed from the repos.

I downloaded from your previous gnome-look link the ComixCursors-Opaque-0.8.2 themes archive.
I extracted to reveal the themes and added a cursor.theme file to the ComixCursors-Opaque-Slim-Black theme.
I have attached an archive of the theme with the added cursor.theme file.

Download the attachment and extract the theme.
Place the ComixCursors-Opaque-Slim-Black folder in your home folder.
101.jpg

Move the ComixCursors-Opaque-Slim-Black folder to /usr/share/icons
Terminal....

sudo mv ComixCursors-Opaque-Slim-Black /usr/share/icons

Now you need to install and select the theme to alternatives and set the theme in dconf
Terminal... 3 commands to run.
The first command sets the variable $CURSOR which is used in the next 2 commands.

CURSOR=ComixCursors-Opaque-Slim-Black

sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/share/icons/default/index.theme x-cursor-theme /usr/share/icons/$CURSOR/cursor.theme 20

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface cursor-theme "$CURSOR" && sudo update-alternatives --set x-cursor-theme /usr/share/icons/$CURSOR/cursor.theme

The cursor may be smaller than what you want but let's deal with that once you've logged out/in
and confirm you have a consistent cursor.

[Kurt_Alan]

Sorry if this is a repeat. To change a cursor in Unity 14.04:

  sudo update-alternatives --config x-cursor-theme

An * will mark the default. Select a number of your choice. Enter. Log off, on.

To make that cursor larger:

  echo "Xcursor.size:48" > ~/.Xresources && gsettings set com.canonical.Unity.Interface cursor-scale-factor 2

Log off, on.

Thanks to sudodus and grumblebum2 for this.

[grumblebum2]

@Kurt_Alan those commands are part of a set of commands to change the theme and size.
To be listed in the update-alternatives command, a downloaded theme needs to first be installed to alternatives which we
are dealing with now.

[joe_cool3]

Sorry if this is a repeat. To change a cursor in Unity 14.04:

  sudo update-alternatives --config x-cursor-theme

An * will mark the default. Select a number of your choice. Enter. Log off, on.

To make that cursor larger:

  echo "Xcursor.size:48" > ~/.Xresources && gsettings set com.canonical.Unity.Interface cursor-scale-factor 2

Log off, on.

Thanks to sudodus and grumblebum2 for this.

By doing this I do not see comix cursor option

[joe_cool3]

Firstly use synaptic or the software center to uninstall the comix cursors you installed from the repos.

I downloaded from your previous gnome-look link the ComixCursors-Opaque-0.8.2 themes archive.
I extracted to reveal the themes and added a cursor.theme file to the ComixCursors-Opaque-Slim-Black theme.
I have attached an archive of the theme with the added cursor.theme file.

Download the attachment and extract the theme.
Place the ComixCursors-Opaque-Slim-Black folder in your home folder.
101.jpg

Move the ComixCursors-Opaque-Slim-Black folder to /usr/share/icons
Terminal....

sudo mv ComixCursors-Opaque-Slim-Black /usr/share/icons

Now you need to install and select the theme to alternatives and set the theme in dconf
Terminal... 3 commands to run.
The first command sets the variable $CURSOR which is used in the next 2 commands.

CURSOR=ComixCursors-Opaque-Slim-Black

sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/share/icons/default/index.theme x-cursor-theme /usr/share/icons/$CURSOR/cursor.theme 20

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface cursor-theme "$CURSOR" && sudo update-alternatives --set x-cursor-theme /usr/share/icons/$CURSOR/cursor.theme

The cursor may be smaller than what you want but let's deal with that once you've logged out/in
and confirm you have a consistent cursor.

It finally worked and size is perfect, thanks. But does it have to be opaque?? I prefer the translucent ones, but when I installed them the last time, they had a strange square around them.

[grumblebum2]

The semitransparent cursors are in the ComixCursors-0.8.2.tar.bz2 download on the gnome-look page.
You have more than enough info now to
understand how to do it yourself.

1) Download and extract the theme.

2) Look in the theme folder for a cursor.theme file and create one if necessary.
105.jpg 106.jpg

3) Move the chosen theme to /usr/share/icons ....You can do this by opening another instance of nautilus as root and
drag and drop your theme folder to /usr/share/icons.
107.jpg

gksudo nautilus /usr/share/icons

4) Run the 3 commands substituting your theme name for <NAME OF THEME> in the first command.

CURSOR=<NAME OF THEME>

sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/share/icons/default/index.theme x-cursor-theme /usr/share/icons/$CURSOR/cursor.theme 20

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface cursor-theme "$CURSOR" && sudo update-alternatives --set x-cursor-theme /usr/share/icons/$CURSOR/cursor.theme

5) Log out.


P.S. What happened to joe_cool2

[bzhao]

ComixCursors-Opaque-0.8.2.tar.bz2 is downlaoded at:
http://gnome-look.org/content/downlo...2&tan=54753354

[cmcanulty]

This is crazy complicated for a simple mouse cursor. I have tried everything mentioned to have a consistent DMZ-Black-Large at 48pt it never shows as an option in the alternatives. I think the issue is getting my theme into the .themes list I have no clue how to do that. This has been a Ubuntu bug for many years. Here is my .index.themes file, but it never shows as an option in alternatives I need large black to see and only firefox will do it

[Icon Theme]
Inherits=DMZ-Black-Large