Comment # 2 on bug 1227354 from Lawrence Somerville

Really I worked toward making the pointer arrow become and remain visible over
the Lightweight X Windows System, Version 11 (X11) Desktop Environment (LXDE)
window and, at least from my perspective, to improve on some matters in the
Leap-15.6 login screen which I reported in my https://bugzilla.opensuse.org/,
so-called “bug” report numbered 1227354.  There is some question of which one
of the following operations which I performed on July 11, 2024 made the pointer
arrow remain visible over the LXDE window.  So I discuss all of them here.  And
I have all of the following paragraphs in this “bugzilla” posting numbered
1227354 in my “bugzilla” posting numbered 1226910.

There was a problem of an occasionally invisible pointer arrow reported in
posting number 1 in the “thread” of postings on
https://forums.opensuse.org/t/opensuse-12-1-1-gaps-between-panel-icons-in-lxde-2-invisible-pointer-arrow-when-choosing-desktop/74522/6
on the Internet.  Based on that report I decided to consider some settings
within the LXDE of my Leap-15.6 installation.

My action 1: Among them via a software “button” on the left side of my widget
panel or taskbar, similar to the “Start button” in a Windows operating system,
then “System, Desktop Session Settings” on the “Automatically Started
Applications” tab I clicked on the empty check box on the left side of “GNOME
XSettings” to have a check mark placed in that previously empty check box and
then clicked on an “OK” software “button”.  (GNOME stands for GNU’s Not Unix
[GNU] Object Model Environment.)  Then, following the instructions on
https://www.reddit.com/r/xfce/comments/6p8edb/mouse_cursorpointer_becomes_invisible_after_login/?rdt=62326
to attempt to make the pointer become visible,

My action 2: as a so-called “root” user I entered the command

gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.cursor active false

and afterward received a “response” including

“No such schema ‘org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.cursor’”.

So “My action 2”, aside from possibly automatic writing in a log file, probably
did not change anything else in my Leap-15.6 computer software.

From the Internet I learned that a so-called “display manager” is or makes the
login screen in at least some Linux operating systems.  From the following
command I could learn that the display manager running in my Leap-15.6
installation was the “X Display Manager”:

systemctl status display-manager
.
Given the unusual visual phenomena in my Leap-15.6 login screen which I
reported in my “bugzilla” report numbered 1227354 and perhaps my switch to
“GNOME XSettings”, it made sense for me to try a
GNOME-desktop-environment-related display manager as a Leap-15.6-replacing
login screen.

My action 3: So I chose the GNOME Display Manager, or gdm, and installed it in
my Leap-15.6 installation via, as a “root” user, the following two commands

zypper refresh
zypper in gdm (or else “zypper install gdm”)
,
in which “in” in the above command is I think short for the word “install”.

My agreement to that installation resulted in 69 software packages being
installed in my Leap-15.6 installation.

My action 4: Next, according to the instructions on
https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:Change_Display_Manager, I made gdm my Leap-15.6
display manager via the commands

update-alternatives –set default-displaymanager
/usr/lib/X11/displaymanagers/gdm

and afterward “rebooted” toward the LXDE of Leap 15.6.

Along the way toward the LXDE I needed to become acquainted with what to do on
my new, Leap-15.6 login screen.  It gratefully looked good and more like I have
been accustomed to login screens appearing concerning texts and a
light-colored, almost rectangularly shaped edit control into which black or
dark-colored discs would be entered corresponding to the characters entered via
a computer keyboard for a password.  I first clicked on my Leap-15.6 user name.
 That made the edit control for the password appear.  At first I thought that I
had only the LXDE option for the type of desktop session into which I could
enter.  But eventually at this stage of the login process near the
lower-right-hand corner of that login screen I noticed a small icon appearing
like a gear.  I clicked on it and saw a list of choices for the desktop session
which included the Plasma (X11), LXDE, and some other choices plus one new
choice for me of “GNOME on Xorg”.  With LXDE selected in the list of
desktop-session options there, as indicated by a white disc on its left side, I
could enter my Leap-15.6, regular-user password, probably briefly press down on
computer keyboard’s “Enter” key, and then see an entry into the LXDE. 
Gratefully there I finally I saw that the pointer did not disappear, but
remained in view even after all of the LXDE desktop shortcut icons were
displayed!  The cause for the appearance and remaining of the pointer arrow
over the LXDE window would have been among my above actions 1, 3, and 4.  And
the causes for the change of the display manager, or login screen, which I have
begun to use, were my above actions 3 and 4.

I do not think I had to make these kinds of changes, which have all been
external to openSUSE, kernel-default- and virtualbox-...-related source codes,
after my year-2022 and year-2023 upgrades of openSUSE Leap.  Therefore its
seems at least possible that such source codes could be prepared so that such
changes external to such source codes would not have to be made.  But, writing
figuratively and as one saying goes, it seems possible that there could be
“more than one way to skin a cat.”

The “trio” of messages, including the strong one of “unsupported hypervisor” of
VirtualBox 7.0.18, that I reported in my “bugzilla” report numbered 1227357
also appeared after performing my above actions 1-4, still using VirtualBox
7.0.18.  But so far, despite the look of severity of the message “unsupported
hypervisor,” gratefully that message does not seem to be of any consequence in
the LXDE of my Leap-15.6 installation

with version 6.4.0-150600.23.7.3.x86_64 of kernel default running,

the Graphics Controller of VirtualBox 7.0.18 set to VMSVGA (Virtual “Machine”
Super Video Graphics Array), and

with my relying on the VirtualBox Guest Additions which I assume are included
by openSUSE in that version of kernel-default and depending well on the
installed software packages virtualbox-kmp-default
7.0.18_k6.4.0_150600.21-lp156.1.4 and virtualbox-guest-tools 7.0.18-lp156.1.6!