On Wed, Jul 06, 2016 at 11:13:03PM +0100, Lisi Reisz wrote:

> > > Use an opaque mouse cursor theme???
[...]
> > And where can I find one of those critters, my dear lady?
[...]
> When you find a nice one, let me know what it is.

Obviously somebody has created these mouse cursors, and they probably 
didn't do it by typing a series of zeroes and ones into a file. Is there 
a standard "cursor editor" software application? Or at least a standard 
way to create a cursor theme?

Back in Ancient Days, when dinosaurs roamed the earth and I used an 
Apple Macintosh, there was an Apple product called "Resedit". It was a 
marvel, created for the Apple developers themselves, and then passed 
around to non-Apple developers. It let you open up all sorts of 
applications and other binary files and edit their internal resources, 
such as menu names, error message strings, icons and cursors. Apart from 
the four standard Apple cursors which were baked into ROM (the arrow, 
wristwatch, crosshairs and fat cross), you could edit any cursor using a 
simple point-and-click interface.

Given that the state of computing is now about 30 years more advanced 
than when Resedit came out, I wonder whether there is a cursor editor 
around somewhere? I found this link:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-software-2/cursor-editor-283532/

but like many tech threads, it follows the "how to make muffins" school 
of thought:

  HOW TO MAKE MUFFINS

  To make muffins, you will need flour. Flour is the ground up grain
  of the plants Triticum aestivum, Triticum durum or Oryza sativa.
  You can purchase flour from a supermarket or grocery store in
  exchange for money, which is typically made from paper or gold.

  Prepare to cook your muffins by turning your oven on and letting
  it pre-heat to 380°F or 210°C. In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar,
  baking soda, salt, blueberries, eggs, oil, milk or water. Put the
  mixture in the oven.

  Now you have muffins!



-- 
Steve