While I like Mikeserv's answer for cleverness, it has the downside that it will create a window which "steals" the focus and has to be clicked away. I also find it takes just slightly too long to start: about 0.2 to 0.3 seconds, which is just slightly too slow for a "smooth" experience.
I finally got around to digging into XLib, and clobbered together a basic C program to do this. The visual effect is roughly similar to what Windows (XP) has (from memory). It's not very beautiful, but it works ;-) It doesn't "steal" focus, starts near-instantaneous, and you can click "through" it.
You can compile it with cc find-cursor.c -o find-cursor -lX11 -lXext -lXfixes. There are some variables at the top you can tweak to change the size, speed, etc.
I released this as a program at https://github.com/arp242/find-cursor. I recommend you use this version, as it has some improvements that the below script doesn't have (such as commandline arguments and ability to click "through" the window). I've left the below as-is due to its simplicity.
/*
* https://github.com/arp242/find-cursor
* Copyright © 2015 Martin Tournoij <martin@arp242.net>
* See below for full copyright
*/
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <X11/Xlib.h>
#include <X11/Xutil.h>
// Some variables you can play with :-)
int size = 220;
int step = 40;
int speed = 400;
int line_width = 2;
char color_name[] = "black";
int main(int argc, char* argv[]) {
// Setup display and such
char *display_name = getenv("DISPLAY");
if (!display_name) {
fprintf(stderr, "%s: cannot connect to X server '%s'\n", argv[0], display_name);
exit(1);
}
Display *display = XOpenDisplay(display_name);
int screen = DefaultScreen(display);
// Get the mouse cursor position
int win_x, win_y, root_x, root_y = 0;
unsigned int mask = 0;
Window child_win, root_win;
XQueryPointer(display, XRootWindow(display, screen),
&child_win, &root_win,
&root_x, &root_y, &win_x, &win_y, &mask);
// Create a window at the mouse position
XSetWindowAttributes window_attr;
window_attr.override_redirect = 1;
Window window = XCreateWindow(display, XRootWindow(display, screen),
root_x - size/2, root_y - size/2, // x, y position
size, size, // width, height
0, // border width
DefaultDepth(display, screen), // depth
CopyFromParent, // class
DefaultVisual(display, screen), // visual
CWOverrideRedirect, // valuemask
&window_attr // attributes
);
XMapWindow(display, window);
XStoreName(display, window, "find-cursor");
XClassHint *class = XAllocClassHint();
class->res_name = "find-cursor";
class->res_class = "find-cursor";
XSetClassHint(display, window, class);
XFree(class);
// Keep the window on top
XEvent e;
memset(&e, 0, sizeof(e));
e.xclient.type = ClientMessage;
e.xclient.message_type = XInternAtom(display, "_NET_WM_STATE", False);
e.xclient.display = display;
e.xclient.window = window;
e.xclient.format = 32;
e.xclient.data.l[0] = 1;
e.xclient.data.l[1] = XInternAtom(display, "_NET_WM_STATE_STAYS_ON_TOP", False);
XSendEvent(display, XRootWindow(display, screen), False, SubstructureRedirectMask, &e);
XRaiseWindow(display, window);
XFlush(display);
// Prepare to draw on this window
XGCValues values;
values.graphics_exposures = False;
unsigned long valuemask = 0;
GC gc = XCreateGC(display, window, valuemask, &values);
Colormap colormap = DefaultColormap(display, screen);
XColor color;
XAllocNamedColor(display, colormap, color_name, &color, &color);
XSetForeground(display, gc, color.pixel);
XSetLineAttributes(display, gc, line_width, LineSolid, CapButt, JoinBevel);
// Draw the circles
for (int i=1; i<=size; i+=step) {
XDrawArc(display, window, gc,
size/2 - i/2, size/2 - i/2, // x, y position
i, i, // Size
0, 360 * 64); // Make it a full circle
XSync(display, False);
usleep(speed * 100);
}
XFreeGC(display, gc);
XCloseDisplay(display);
}
/*
* The MIT License (MIT)
*
* Copyright © 2015 Martin Tournoij
*
* Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
* of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to
* deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the
* rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or
* sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
* furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
*
* The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
* all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
*
* The software is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind, express or
* implied, including but not limited to the warranties of merchantability,
* fitness for a particular purpose and noninfringement. In no event shall the
* authors or copyright holders be liable for any claim, damages or other
* liability, whether in an action of contract, tort or otherwise, arising
* from, out of or in connection with the software or the use or other dealings
* in the software.
*/
My "solution" was to pick a transformation matrix that keeps the cursor in place when it is centered.
The matrix you want to use is:
Where s is the scaling factor you want for your mouse, e.g. 0.5 for half speed.
And x and y are the coordinates for the center of your screen.
An easy way to get the x,y value is with xdotool getmouselocation before a jump.
Example
I wanted my sensitivity s = 0.4
After opening my inventory in minecraft, xdotool getmouseloation reports my x = 960 and y = 1729.
Calculating my offsets (1-s)*x = 0.6*960 = 576 and (1-s)*y = 0.6*1729 = 1037.4
I then changed the Coordinate transformation matrix accordingly
xinput set-prop 8 'Coordinate Transformation Matrix' 0.4 0 576 0 0.4 1037.4 0 0 1
(My mouse is device 8 will likely be different for you.)
Flaws
This only fixes the issue for a specific coordinate.
For something like Minecraft where you are generally keeping the window in the same position this fix is good enough and your mouse will no longer jump at all when going into your inventory.
In other use cases you'll still experience jumps, but the jumps will be smaller when your mouse is close to your chosen x,y.
Math Details
For extra details of the mathematics see https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/2954781/calculating-the-translation-of-an-affine-matrix-so-that-it-centres-during-scalin
Best Answer
bashhas the built-in ability to call an external editor to edit the current command line you're working on. Mouse support depends on the editor used.If you're using
bash's emacs-like mode, use Ctrl-XCtrl-E to access the editor.If you're using vi-like keybindings, use ESCv
You can also use the built-in
fccommand to edit any previous line.BTW, one small annoyance with this (in any of its forms):
There may be some simple way to abort an edit or to make bash return to editing the line itself and NOT execute it immediately, but I've never found one (I haven't looked very hard).
Quit-without-saving just executes the line as it was before you called the editor.
The only way I've found is to delete the entire buffer in the editor, then save and exit. Or add a
#comment at the beginning, of course.PS: I use emacs-mode line editing and Ctrl-XCtrl-E for
vimwhen i need real editing power. I don't know why, I loveviandvim, but I just don't like vi-mode on the command line.