# KDE mouse disappears after switching back from virtual console.



## OldSchoolDroid (Jan 15, 2022)

I have created a new install of FreeBSD 13 in Vmware Fusion on my Macbook Pro.   After finally getting everything sorted out, everything is good and KDE Plasma is working.
So I decided I would like nicer consoles, so I added vbe_max_resolution="1920x1200" to my /boot/loader.conf and it does exactly what I was wanting.  But now I have a mouse issue.
When I switch back to KDE (ctrl+alt+F9) from any console (ctrl+alt+F1-8), the mouse cursor is gone.  If I wait for the screen to lock, or lock it with ctrl+alt+L, the cursor immediately comes back and starts working again.

Also, when the cursor is missing, if I 3-finger swipe back to my MacOS screen from the cursorless KDE screen, the MacOS cursor is in the bottom right corner of the screen.  If I 3-finger swipe back to the MacOS screen from the virtual console, the MacOS cursor is in the upper left corner of the screen.  If I do NOT switch to any virtual console everything works as expected and the mouse cursor stays in the same exact location when I 3-finger swipe between the desktops.

This issue didn't start until I changed the console resolution to 1920 x 1200, so I'm thinking that has to be the cause of the problem, but I have no idea what to do to try to fix it.
I would really like to keep the console resolution at 1920 x 1200.  Any ideas?


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## grahamperrin@ (Jan 15, 2022)

What's the virtualised pointing device?


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## OldSchoolDroid (Jan 15, 2022)

grahamperrin said:


> What's the virtualised pointing device?



The Trackpad on the Macbook Pro.


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## OldSchoolDroid (Jan 15, 2022)

I have changed the cursor theme, but there wasn't any change.  I've been looking through settings to see if there is a "Hide Cursor While Typing" setting or anything similar, but haven't found any.


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## grahamperrin@ (Jan 16, 2022)

Sorry, I mean, the virtual pointing device. Like, with VirtualBox there's a choice of three:


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## OldSchoolDroid (Jan 16, 2022)




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## grahamperrin@ (Jan 16, 2022)

Does the guest have the required packages?

<https://docs.freebsd.org/en/books/handbook/virtualization/#virtualization-guest-vmware-configure> point 4.


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## OldSchoolDroid (Jan 16, 2022)

I changed the KB and Mouse profile to each of the other 3, rebooting each time.  No change.


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## OldSchoolDroid (Jan 16, 2022)

Well.....I missed xf86-input-vmmouse.  I already had xf86-video-vmware and open-vm-tools.  Unfortunately, installing xf86-input-vmmouse didn't change anything or fix it.
I had forgotten FreeBSD needed kern.hz=100, so I'm really glad that you pointed to that spot in the Handbook.  Interestingly enough, the first times I virtualized FreeBSD years ago, not having kern.hz=100 configured dogged the machines enough it was impossible to not notice it was missing.  Not so much lately.

But the cursor problem still exists.


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## grahamperrin@ (Jan 16, 2022)

OldSchoolDroid said:


> When I switch back to KDE (ctrl+alt+F9) from any console (ctrl+alt+F1-8), the mouse cursor is gone.



If you _again_ switch to the console (ttyv7) then back to the desktop environment (ttyv8) without attempting movement during the switches, does the pointer reappear? 

Is the pointer usable but invisible, i.e. can you click on things?


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## OldSchoolDroid (Jan 16, 2022)

Once you switch to ANY console, the cursor is gone when you switch back to KDE, regardless of the number of times you switch back and forth.

However, I have found out that the cursor is in fact just "invisible" and I can use it, just not see it.  That was a good call 

I opened up a full screen of balls with the Klickety game and switched out to a console and then back to KDE.  Once back in KDE I can see different groups of balls outlined as I move the mouse around and they clear from the game once I "click" them with the Trackpad.  I just can't see the "invisible" cursor until I lock (ctrl+alt+L) the screen and it turns visible again.

So now what?


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## grahamperrin@ (Jan 16, 2022)

Try <https://superuser.com/a/1332242/84988>


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## OldSchoolDroid (Jan 16, 2022)

Well I tried all the different things and none of them made any difference.  But I have noticed something I can reproduce.
If I can make the cursor change video "layers" it will reappear.  IE: If I move the "invisible" cursor all the way to the bottom of the screen it will reappear as it crosses the threshold of the taskbar.  If I move the "invisible" cursor towards an opened window on the desktop it with reappear once it crosses the edge of the opened window.  If I click and drag the "invisible" cursor to the left and up/down it will create a "box", but if I right-click the "invisible" cursor it will make the cursor reappear because the cursor is over the top of the new window of the dialog box.

So what is it about moving the "invisible" cursor over a new object that causes it to reappear?  Perhaps a bug in KDE?


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## grahamperrin@ (Jan 16, 2022)

OldSchoolDroid said:


> … Perhaps a bug in KDE?



Perhaps, although in my experience with Plasma on real hardware† I should describe it as close to *faultless* with regard to layering, and visibility of objects. 

I reckon, try VMMare support first. Then KDE chat or KDE Community Forum: 

<https://webchat.kde.org/#/room/#kde:kde.org>
<https://forum.kde.org/>


† driven by radeonkms, drm-devel-kmod on FreeBSD 14.0-CURRENT.


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## OldSchoolDroid (Jan 16, 2022)

I really appreciate your input Grahamperrin.  I'll keep plugging away at this.

If you or anyone else has any other thoughts or new ideas on this please jump in.


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## OldSchoolDroid (Jan 22, 2022)

Just throwing this out there real quick...I did another clean install with 11.3, and it does the exact same thing.
I did the EFI install instead of BIOS this time, so the console was much higher res to begin with, so no manual/editing changes there, but the same end result.
Completely a click-click-click on all the defaults install, follow the KDE quick setup, and same issue.


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## grahamperrin@ (Jan 22, 2022)

Thanks, did you also ask in VMMare and KDE areas?


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## OldSchoolDroid (Jan 22, 2022)

No, I haven't had a chance yet.  I did the 11.3 install last Sunday but couldn't post because the forum was down.
But I wanted to follow up with that info before I forgot about it.


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