X With No Mouse Cursor

innocent_white_lamb writes "I am using an X-based menu that doesn't recognize a mouse. Keyboard input only. I load the menu with the command "startx -e menu", which loads the menu and gets stuff going without any need for a window manager. The problem is that the mouse cursor sits in the middle of the screen and, without a mouse attached, there appears to be no way to move it or get rid of it. I've asked around and nobody seems to have run into this situation before. So my question is, how do you get rid of the mouse cursor under X without using a window manager?"

Comments

Use the force Luke!

[Ashran]

Set the X/Y init position somewhere off the screen and recompile.

Re:unclutter

[halfnerd]

Even found you an url:
http://packages.debian.org/stable/x11/unclut ter.ht ml

change the cursor

[dj.delorie]

xfd -fn cursor

then choose a cursor that's blank as the default. Or substitute a cursor font that's nothing but blanks.

Moving the cursor without a mouse

[ion_]

without a mouse attached, there appears to be no way to move it or get rid of it.

You can move the cursor by pressing Ctrl-Shift-Num Lock and then using the numpad. You move the cursor with the keys around 5, click with 5, etc. A quick googling brought up this webpage.

Just write a small program

[metalhed77]

that uses XWarpPointer[sic] to move the pointer wherever on boot.

from XJ.cpp in the mythtv distribution

[benwb]

void XvVideoOutput::hide_cursor(void)
{
Cursor no_ptr;
Pixmap bm_no;
XColor black, dummy;
Colormap colormap;
static char no_data[] = { 0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0 };

colormap = DefaultColormap(XJ_disp, DefaultScreen(XJ_disp));
XAllocNamedColor(XJ_disp, colormap, "black", &black, &dummy);
bm_no = XCreateBitmapFromData(XJ_disp, XJ_win, no_data, 8, 8);
no_ptr = XCreatePixmapCursor(XJ_disp, bm_no, bm_no, &black, &black, 0, 0);

XDefineCursor(XJ_disp, XJ_win, no_ptr);
XFreeCursor(XJ_disp, no_ptr);
}