(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum
Puppy 8.0: Mouse Pointer Disappears After Start-Up
Puppy 8.0: Mouse Pointer Disappears After Start-Up
#1 Post by 3guesses » Sat 21 Dec 2019, 00:07
Fresh install of Puppy Linux 8.0 (19.03) 32-bit installed to hard drive on a Samsung NP-N130 netbook: ~10 seconds after displaying the drive icons, the mouse pointer goes invisible. Happens every time.
«Leave->Restart graphical server» does bring it back (permanently).
Flash Official Dog Handler Posts: 13071 Joined: Wed 04 May 2005, 16:04 Location: Arizona USA
#2 Post by Flash » Sat 21 Dec 2019, 03:08
#3 Post by 3guesses » Mon 23 Dec 2019, 00:00
Yes, the pointer still acts as though it were there (eg. you can bring up the menu by right-clicking on the desktop) it’s just that you have no idea whereabouts on the screen the pointer actually is. Doesn’t happen with earlier versions of Puppy (5.7.0, 6.0, 7.5).
rcrsn51 Posts: 13096 Joined: Tue 05 Sep 2006, 13:50 Location: Stratford, Ontario
#4 Post by rcrsn51 » Mon 23 Dec 2019, 10:09
davids45 Posts: 1326 Joined: Sun 26 Nov 2006, 23:33 Location: Chatswood, NSW
Samsung laptop issue confirmation
#5 Post by davids45 » Tue 24 Dec 2019, 06:29
I have the same problem with my ~6 years-old Samsung RV510 laptop which has Windows 7 and runs Puppies from a ext partition on the hard-drive. Data partition is ntfs as I could not find a package for Windows 7 to read ext partitions (like I do in XP).
Only Puppies affected by the disappearing cursor here are recent Bionic, Cosmic, Dingo and Ermine Pups.
Slacko Pups are fine (using one now on this laptop as I’m interstate for Christmas) as are older Ubuntu-based Pups such as Xenial and Tahr.
With the cursor lost , I do a Ctrl+Alt+Backspace then ‘xwin’ from the prompt and everything is then fine . Seems to be an issue on initial start-up not a re-start.
Happy Solstice to all, winter or summer.
#6 Post by bigpup » Tue 24 Dec 2019, 10:14
The things they do not tell you, are usually the clue to solving the problem.
When I was a kid I wanted to be older. This is not what I expected
YaPI(any iso installer)
#7 Post by 3guesses » Tue 24 Dec 2019, 16:27
Flash Official Dog Handler Posts: 13071 Joined: Wed 04 May 2005, 16:04 Location: Arizona USA
#8 Post by Flash » Tue 24 Dec 2019, 16:33
#9 Post by s243a » Tue 24 Dec 2019, 16:41
#v2.01 hide cursor when not moving. (setup in /usr/sbin/input-wizard) if [ -f /etc/mousehide ];then IDLETIME="`cat /etc/mousehide | cut -f 1 -d ','`" [ ! "$IDLETIME" = "0" ] && unclutter -idle $IDLETIME & fi Typically when I run puppy in a virtual machine I comment out the above code. If you can’t see your mouse you might need to use a terminal text editor to edit the file or alternatively you can edit your save file externally from a working puppy.
To exit to the terminal use the keyboard combination «cntrl-alt-backspace». You can can edit the file with nano as follows:
also if you install sc0tmann’s package manger (i.e. pkg) you can install these programs from the command line if they aren’t already installed.
Find me on [url=https://www.minds.com/ns_tidder]minds[/url] and on [url=https://www.pearltrees.com/s243a/puppy-linux/id12399810]pearltrees[/url].
#10 Post by 3guesses » Tue 24 Dec 2019, 19:44
#11 Post by 3guesses » Tue 24 Dec 2019, 20:21
#v2.01 hide cursor when not moving. (setup in /usr/sbin/input-wizard) if [ -f /etc/mousehide ];then IDLETIME="`cat /etc/mousehide | cut -f 1 -d ','`" [ ! "$IDLETIME" = "0" ] && unclutter -idle $IDLETIME & fi Typically when I run puppy in a virtual machine I comment out the above code. If you can’t see your mouse you might need to use a terminal text editor to edit the file or alternatively you can edit your save file externally from a working puppy.
To exit to the terminal use the keyboard combination «cntrl-alt-backspace». You can can edit the file with nano as follows:
also if you install sc0tmann’s package manger (i.e. pkg) you can install these programs from the command line if they aren’t already installed.
That didn’t work unfortunately, although I did stumble upon another way of getting the pointer back: wait for the screen to blank, then when you wake it up the pointer reappears (permanently, I think). Definitely some weird bug in the windowing code methinks.
#12 Post by bigpup » Tue 24 Dec 2019, 21:51
I am using Bionicpup32 8.0 and not having this problem.
I have seen a fresh download of the iso and a completely new fresh install fix stuff like this.
Make sure you get the latest version of Bionicpup32 8.0
http://distro.ibiblio.org/puppylinux/pu . cpup32.htm
If you download the iso to a partition formatted fat32 or ntfs.
It could be fragmented and that will cause the iso to be fragmented.
Need to defrag the partition before, downloading the iso to it.
This also applies to installing Puppy to a fragmented fat32 or ntfs partition.
If it is a partition you can reformat.
(nothing on it you could not loose)
Best to do a fresh format of partition, before installing Puppy.
The things they do not tell you, are usually the clue to solving the problem.
When I was a kid I wanted to be older. This is not what I expected
YaPI(any iso installer)
#13 Post by s243a » Tue 24 Dec 2019, 22:23
#v2.01 hide cursor when not moving. (setup in /usr/sbin/input-wizard) if [ -f /etc/mousehide ];then IDLETIME="`cat /etc/mousehide | cut -f 1 -d ','`" [ ! "$IDLETIME" = "0" ] && unclutter -idle $IDLETIME & fi Typically when I run puppy in a virtual machine I comment out the above code. If you can’t see your mouse you might need to use a terminal text editor to edit the file or alternatively you can edit your save file externally from a working puppy.
To exit to the terminal use the keyboard combination «cntrl-alt-backspace». You can can edit the file with nano as follows:
also if you install sc0tmann’s package manger (i.e. pkg) you can install these programs from the command line if they aren’t already installed.
That didn’t work unfortunately, although I did stumble upon another way of getting the pointer back: wait for the screen to blank, then when you wake it up the pointer reappears (permanently, I think). Definitely some weird bug in the windowing code methinks.
Thanks for the tip . I’ll give this a try if I encounter this problem and my above suggested fix doesn’t work.
Find me on [url=https://www.minds.com/ns_tidder]minds[/url] and on [url=https://www.pearltrees.com/s243a/puppy-linux/id12399810]pearltrees[/url].
davids45 Posts: 1326 Joined: Sun 26 Nov 2006, 23:33 Location: Chatswood, NSW
Samsung laptop problem
#14 Post by davids45 » Tue 24 Dec 2019, 22:51
Trying to concentrate on this while watching grandchildren attack presents.
My remembered experience is this disappearing cursor only happens on my laptop. Desktops are fine with all Pups.
It looks to be a Samsung problem as we both have Samsung laptops — Bigpup, what hardware are you using?
I do not have any 64-bit Ubuntu Pups on this laptop so I don’t know if this odd behaviour is restricted to recent 32-bit Ubuntu Pups on this Samsung laptop.
On this laptop for older Ubuntu Pups, the desktop will go black then almost immediately re-appear after several seconds as though there is a quick restart of X. Cursor comes back when the desktop re-appears.
On recent Ubuntu Pups from peebee (Bionic, Cosmo, Dingo, Ermine — not just Bionic), after several seconds of desktop displaying, only the cursor «arrow» disappears . The cursor is still «there» as clicking the mouse will get a response corresponding to wherever the invisible cursor is.
3guesses,
Have you tried a different, non-Ubuntu Pup on your laptop? Or a much earlier Ubuntu Pup (Xenial or Tahr, say)?
My ‘xwin’ console method would be equivalent to your ‘Leave’ then ‘Restart-X’.
Once you restart-X, is everything then OK? For my laptop, it’s only a ONE-OFF first-start issue. Once fixed, no further cursor loss. But each re-boot of a recent Ubuntu Pup on the laptop, it’s there again (or not there, to be pedantic).
#15 Post by 3guesses » Mon 30 Dec 2019, 20:13
bigpup wrote: I am using Bionicpup32 8.0 and not having this problem.
I have seen a fresh download of the iso and a completely new fresh install fix stuff like this.
Make sure you get the latest version of Bionicpup32 8.0
http://distro.ibiblio.org/puppylinux/pu . cpup32.htm
If you download the iso to a partition formatted fat32 or ntfs.
It could be fragmented and that will cause the iso to be fragmented.
Need to defrag the partition before, downloading the iso to it.
This also applies to installing Puppy to a fragmented fat32 or ntfs partition.
If it is a partition you can reformat.
(nothing on it you could not loose)
Best to do a fresh format of partition, before installing Puppy.
I install from a USB stick using (the most excellent) WinSetUpFromUSB which defragments the ISO after copying it onto the USB stick. As davids45 remarked, this seems to be a problem specific to Samsung laptops/netbooks and Bionic Puppy 8.0 x32 as I’ve not encountered it on my other machines nor earlier Puppy versions running on the machine in question. Are you really going to make me do a completely fresh download and install.
(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum
Hi All — well I thought I’d dip my toes into the water with my first go at Linux. I found Puppy and it seemed well matched to an old PC that I have sitting around: AMD K6 350, 2x4GB HDD, 64MB RAM, CD Drive (OK I know the RAM’s a bit light but I’ll fix that when I get Puppy up and running).
Amazingly, Puppy was up and running from the CD in no time — with only one problem — the mouse does not work. It is attached to Serial Port 1 (on board serial controller) and works fine under Windows 98 which is installed on the hard disk.
I have CTRL-ALT-Backspace to the command line interface, typed «rm /etc/mousedevice» and rerun XWIN numerous times, selecting each mouse option at least three times — but no joy. No matter how much I move the mouse, the pointer stays depressingly still.
Any suggestions would be gratefully received — if I can fix this problem I’m going to have to abandon my forray into Linux territory and slink back to my Mac and Windows world
#2 Post by nos4a2 » Fri 04 Nov 2005, 17:45
I have had a similar problem — anyone have any ideas for a newbie?
#3 Post by nos4a2 » Fri 04 Nov 2005, 19:58
Ian Official Dog Handler Posts: 1234 Joined: Wed 04 May 2005, 12:00 Location: Queensland
#4 Post by Ian » Fri 04 Nov 2005, 20:33
Could you please describe the exact procedure that you are using for your serial mouse, also have you tried a ps/2 mouse.
#5 Post by nos4a2 » Fri 04 Nov 2005, 21:12
I created the ISO image CD of Puppy Linux 1.05 and booted from it.
In a DOS type environment — black screen and text — Puppy asks me what sort of mouse I have: serial, PS/2 or USB — as my mouse is serial (well actually a Microsoft Intellimouse PS/2 with serial adaptor) connected to onboard serial port 1 (and working fine under Windows 98 ) — I type «serial» at the prompt.
Next I am asked which port and I type «ttys0». Puppy then boots into a graphical environment and the mouse does not work. A little trial and error discovers that CTRL-ALT-BACKSPACE gets me back to the text environment and I can see instructions that if I type «rm /etc/mousedevice» I can choose the mouse type again before typing «xwin» to go to the graphical environment. So off I go, choosing «ttys1» this time. And so on until I have tried all of the possible combinations (including PS/2 and USB even though I do not have USB available on the machine!) but no matter what I choose, the mouse refuses to work.
Booting back to Windows 98 give a perfectly working rodent.
I hope that this explains what I’ve been doing clearly.
#6 Post by nos4a2 » Fri 04 Nov 2005, 22:25
Ok — the latest update on the non-working mouse saga.
I found some info on a web site that suggested:
«You should make a visual inspection and make sure that you have one or more serial ports on your motherboard or add-in PCI card. Most motherboards have two built-in ports, which are called COM1: and COM2: in the DOS/Windows world. You may need to enable them in BIOS before the OS can recognize them. After your system boots, you can check for serial ports with the following commands:
[root@oscar root]# dmesg | grep tty
ttyS0 at 0x03f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A
ttyS1 at 0x02f8 (irq = 3) is a 16550A»
I followed the advice (although I havn’t a clue what «dmesg | grep tty» means but I guess that it reports on the available serial ports).
I received the following answer:
«ttyS00 at 0x0f8 (IRQ = 4) is a 16550A»
So I tried the «rm /etc/mousedevice» and «xwin» merry-go-round again, this time with «serial» and «ttys00» as the options. And guess what — NO MOUSE within the graphical environment. Arrgh.
Time for a large glass of Rioja.