How to enable larger mouse pointers under X

[Joel Roth <joelz@pobox.com>]

Hi list,

I need larger mouse pointers.

I'm running sid, using i3 and icewm as window managers.
AIUI cursor images are set through X, and do not belong
to the window manager.

My first attempt was:

% apt-get install big-cursor

Restarting X brings no change. The docs suggest commenting
out "Xcursor.theme: whiteglass" in /etc/X11/xdm/Xresources,
however this didn't help.

Next I read the technical background[1] for the big-cursor
package, and as advised, tried putting big-cursor.pcf into
$HOME/fonts, and putting these lines into .xinitrc:

xset +fp $HOME/fonts
xset fp rehash
xsetroot -cursor_name X_cursor

I also tried this in .xinitrc:

xsetroot -xcf $HOME/fonts/big-cursor.pcf 96

No change in cursor size on restarting X.

Another reference[2] suggests installing an appropriate
cursor theme.

Here is one possibility:

dmz-cursor-theme - Style neutral, scalable cursor theme

"Scalable" means can get bigger, so where do I command this?

Another reference[3] suggests I set a size in .Xdefaults
Xcursor.size: 96

But it doesn't help.

Yet another reference[4] has a few more ideas.
Among theme are to select a cursor theme like this:

sudo update-alternatives --config x-cursor-theme

This changes the file /etc/alternatives/x-cursor-theme
to contain, for example,

[Icon Theme]
Inherits=DMZ-Black

However, I find no way to select the cursor size.

I also consulted the Debian Accessibility Project, however
the only reference to improving GUI accessibility is
with reference to GNOME, which I am not using.

I sincerely welcome any assistance! I cannot be the only 
person who has struggled with this.

Regards,

Joel

1. http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/X-Big-Cursor
2. http://www.xaprb.com/blog/2006/04/24/beautiful-x11-cursors/
3. http://www.gentoo-wiki.info/HOWTO_Large_Mouse_Cursors
4. http://debian.2.n7.nabble.com/How-do-I-change-cursor-mouse-pointer-td2271405.html


-- 
Joel Roth