In 14.04, the dconf-editor and gconf-editor show no entries

[oldefoxx]

I have been struggling with getting a higher contrast theme and larger cursor size on Ubuntu 14.04. After about two weeks of plowing through online searches, I am close to settling on the contrastLarge theme I downloaded from gnome-look.com. The problem left is the resizing, because none of the posts I've gone through work for me. If anybody knows how to make this work, you have my attention.

But the reason for this post is to make the point that dconf-editor and gconf-editor fail to populate any fields when they open up. Therefore you can't do anything with them. Take dconf-editor for example: All I see with it are a column in the left panel that read "apps, ca, com, desktop, org, system" vertically. For none of these is anything displayed under :Name" or "Value" iin the right panel. And I have used apt-get install to reinstall dconf-tools.

Then I try gconf-editor, and it dairs almost as badly. In the left panel I see "/, apps, desktop, schemas, system", and nothing in the right panel at all. Under system in the left panel I can open up a subfolder named gstreamer, which itself has two subfolders,one named 0.10 and the other 1.0. And under 0.10 you have a folder named default, and under 1,0 you have audio

And that's it. I have no chance of seeing if either -editor can help me in my goals.

Oh, yes. I can report a complaint from the terminal window when dconf-editor tries to do its thing:

$ dconf-editor &
[1] 3045
oldefoxx@Don-gm5661e:~$ 
** (dconf-editor:3045): WARNING **: dconf-schema.vala:330: Unknown property on <schema>, extends

** (dconf-editor:3045): WARNING **: dconf-schema.vala:330: Unknown property on <schema>, extends

Not much else to say at this point. I;m looking for a workaround or fix. Thanks for any help.

[Dennis N]

But the reason for this post is to make the point that dconf-editor and gconf-editor fail to populate any fields when they open up. Therefore you can't do anything with them. Take dconf-editor for example: All I see with it are a column in the left panel that read "apps, ca, com, desktop, org, system" vertically. For none of these is anything displayed under :Name" or "Value" iin the right panel. And I have used apt-get install to reinstall dconf-tools.

You need to click on the little triangles to the left of each category - its like a directory tree. Repeat and you will soon reach the actual settings.

[Dennis N]

This stuff is much easier if you use a different desktop environment than Unity. I used Ubuntu MATE, tried your cursor, and just needed to click on it in the cursor selections. Worked immediately - everywhere. No need for things like dconf-editor, gsettings, and galternatives.

[monkeybrain20122]

You probably want to check out the unity-tweak-tool. http://sourcedigit.com/8266-15-power...-ubuntu-14-04/

About dconf-editor, if you click on the categories on the left the sub categories will appear, eventually you will see the values on the right side.

[Dennis N]

The problem left is the resizing, because none of the posts I've gone through work for me. If anybody knows how to make this work, you have my attention.

The contrastLarge cursor may not be resizable. Not all cursors are. When installed in the old gnome 2 desktop of Ubuntu 8.04, the slider for resizing is greyed out (inoperable), while others like DMZ-White, DMZ-Black, Redglass and Whiteglass are resizable with the slider tool. See attached images from Ubuntu 8.04.

(In fact, DMZ-White can be made larger than contrastLarge by resizing. It has the same style, using a thick black border on the cursors. Assuming resizing is still an option for cursors in today's Ubuntu.)

[oldefoxx]

I know how to click on objects in the left side panel to get them to expand and open up so you can see the contents, which would be subfolders in the left side panel, or other objects having names and values that would then be displayed in the right side panel. How do you think I got down to the subfolders when trying to use gconf-editor?

It's not working on my machine, which is a Toshiba Satellite L355 laptop.

Mate, eh? I wasn't insisting on Metacity, but it came as part of my efforts to get back to the classical view of the gnome desktop. It's so much handier when exploring what you have. I've also tried gnome-tweak-tool and currently have unity-tweak-tool installed.

As to resizing the cursor, none of the approaches I've been advised to try have resulted in a resizing of the cursor, except for actually replacing the cursor theme with a larger cursor theme, which has proven to be extremely awkward and uncertain at best. There was one page I recall (but don't recall how I got there) where you had a checkbox in the lower left corner where you could check it dor Large Cursors. Had no effect that I recall, but I can'r find my way back there. Oh there it is, in unity-tweak-tools (done as a terminal line command).

Galternatives comes closest to giving me a choice screen when it comes to cursors for x-cursor-theme (short of using terminal commands), but nothing there about sizing. There was a YouTube video on setting the x-cursor size in a hidden file, file you create with a text editor like gedit named ~/.Xdefaults.(this is in your home folder). I currently have that set at 36. That file incidently was discussed in the readme file that came in the contrastLarge download.

There is a problem with contrastLarge's name, in that it cannot be entered for copy or anything because it does not match what you see visually. I had to copy and paste it's name from the displayed dir (or ls) command in the terminal window, or go under properties (right click) on the folder of that name and copy its name as it appears there.

The most complete sequence of steps I found for adding a downloaded cursor theme to your range of choices was provided by grumblebum2 in this thread: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2221942
This thread is also valuable since it covers the use of symbolic links (made with ln -s in a terminal): http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2235265&page=2

Okay, I found the thread I wanted to pass on related to symbolic links for cursor themes: http://askubuntu.com/questions/47213...ursor-on-14-04


This thread is suppose to be about why dconf-editor and gconf-editor are not working at all for me, not about cursor issues. But with neither one working, I have a real problem figuring how to adjust my cursor size, so it all ties together. And what is my problem may be another's problem as well. There was a link I found earlier about creating two symbolic links in two of the direcories under /usr/share/icons/, one in the default subfolder and the other in the directory (actually a subdirector of that named cursors) and for the symlink name of cursors, but I can't find the source again. Hey, I found it: http://askubuntu.com/questions/47213...ursor-on-14-04. This change immediately preceeded the constant change of one cursor for another, and so I guess it was important, which is why I was trying to find the post again. I found a similar one for a different linux distro:

sudo ln -s /usr/share/icons/your-ptreferred-theme-name/ default

Okay one more question about cursor resizing befor I let go of this post: If you pick a cursor theme that comes in multiple sizes, how do you adjust there for size? I can't find anywhere that this point is discussed. And how do you know if a gicen cursor theme can be scaled or not? Okay, that make it two questions, right? But who's counting? Nope. Make it four.

[oldefoxx]

Okay, you apparently don't believe me about dconf-editor or gconf-editor. Well, I offer some screenshots as evidence. Now I can get stuff to show uo in gconf-editor's right pane, but nothing there seems to relatr to either cursor theme or size, but at least it populates the right side, based on what I select on the left side.

But dconf-editor is a different story, and I show what gets reported in the terminal window as well. Maybe this will help someone understand what is going on.

You know, I am an invalid retiree, and can't afford much. So I was very pleased to find a site like pCloud that offers free file storage, as long as you don't get greedy.

My 'Stuff' folder on my pCloud virtual drive

I now have a url link that others can access for downloading images and other files, and I want to see how that works out in practice here. Let me try that next, then I will edit this post to add more to it.

Ah, I did not get quite the results I was going for. I have to provide a url from where the image file can be drawn, but I can't add the image file name to the path reference I get from pCloud, so the best I can do is just provide a link to the folder, and leave it to those interested as to whether they choose to download them (mark the checkboxes by each one, then choose Download Selected above), or they may just want to view them where they are (double-click on the one to be seen). You can also begin your own free (unless you choose otherwise) account with pCloud and copy the files to that account.

So the image option does me no good on these forums because I have no web host to provide a downlink from, but this is a good workaround. And I can set up one folder and give a single link to it, and you can pick and choose which files to make use of from that one link. Not a bad way to go. So see what you can tell me from my efforts.

[steeldriver]

I think what you are seeing is normal: there are just no schemas at the top level - and (on my system) only a couple at the second level:

org.onboard
org.compiz

Everything else is at level 3 or below i.e. something.something.something or something.something.something.something

The error messages when dconf-editor is run from a terminal are also 'normal' - usually people run from the dash and so don't see them

I haven't trawled back through the thread to see exactly what issue you are having, but on my system there are some cursor configuration options under org.gnome.desktop.interface :

Screenshot from 2015-05-19 07:27:55.png

On your image issues, you should be able to attach image files to your posts directly using the 'Manage Attachments' button in the 'Additional Options' pane of the advanced post editor.

[Dennis N]

I have found that the newest Xubuntu 15.04 now handles resizable cursors correctly. Below is a screenshot of the cursor over the forum editor window with redglass at maximum size. The setting is easy in the Mouse and Touchpad settings under the Theme tab.

redglass-resized-2.png

In the past, I know this resizing of cursors in Xubuntu did not work correctly. A discussion from 2014 is here:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2232013

I've been using and testing this giant red cursor now for a half-hour or so and see no reversions or cursor switches.

So if you are willing to go the extra mile and switch desktop environment, this could be your answer.

[Dennis N]

One more screenshot - whiteglass over the cursor dialog. At its largest size.

whiteglass.png

Added comment:
This correct implementation of resizable cursors is not evident in a Xubuntu 14.04.1 system with the upgrades to xfce 4.12. I needed to use Xubuntu 15.04 to get the correct handling.