So I like this MacOS feature where your cursor displays in large. I was hoping if anyone knew of such software that replicates this functionality for Linux. Considering MacOS and Linux are both Unix, and libraries are different, could X or Wayland help replicate this?
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This is just the first thing I found, but I’m sure there’s others for whatever you’re using.
Well you win, this looks like exactly what’s been asked for. Seems pretty cool will give it a try
What’s gnome? Is it already installed? Not a linux user
Gnome is the desktop environment. You may have gnome already installed if that’s what your OS uses, otherwise you probably have KDE. There are others but those are the 2 big ones.
The Desktop Environment is what gives the OS its look, and typically which GUI programs are installed by default.
Wow…Linux has a lot of options compared to Windows
That’s just scratching the surface. You can go even deeper and „make your own” desktop environment. Desktop environment is kind of like a pack of software that has a cohesive look and feel. You can leave that and pick and choose programs on your own and configure them to your liking. You can configure KDE or gnome, but this gives you even more control :)
Look up unixporn and see what’s possible 😋
gnome may be the desktop environment, depending on your distro. it looks like this:
if your desktop looks like that, it’s gnome (Pop_! OS, Ubuntu/Kubuntu, and a few others come with it by default)
None of the GNOME distros use this version anymore actually… GNOME changed its design with version 40 onwards
Isn’t the entire point of kubuntu being KDE instead of gnome…?
Gnome is a desktop environment for Linux. It does not come with gnome out of the box and needs to be installed by the user as it is a extension.
KDE Plasma has a desktop effect called “Track Mouse” after you activate it you can use it by pressing Ctrl+Meta. It doesn’t look like the MacOS variant, but it does the job.
Thanks for pointing that out, I found the setting on my laptop and tried it out. I do like the jiggle approach better, though, simply because that is something many people (myself included) instinctively do when losing track of the mouse cursor.
I just added it because the current answer (jiggle) is a Gnome shell extension. So this is just my answer for Plasma.
Wow, it’s even easier to find on the screen. Thanks!
Such an underrated feature
Apple software team is on another level. You don’t even have to try to find the feature. We all instinctively shake the mouse to locate the cursor, so it just happens.
I think KDE plasma 6 has that by default
Beyond what people have posted, I also believe I saw something about GNOME planning to implement something like this soon™️
I think KDE had something like this when I used it years ago
It depends on your desktop environment. For GNOME, you can try jiggle. For me, Jiggle is listed as incompatible, unfortunately.
The built-in accessibility setting for finding your mouse is the Windows-style “press left ctrl to highlight the mouse”. KDE has the same feature, though they’re working on including a macOS-like jiggle feature in the upcoming Plasma 6 release.
On my Mac running yabai it sometimes gets into this weird state where the mouse does this as it toggles rapidly back and forth between some windows. No idea what causes it…
On Linux I run i3 which kinda negates the need for the mouse finder since it will move the cursor to the active window.
I guess I didn’t remotely answer you question though!
