Originally posted by unimatrix
View Post
Having multiple pointers is already possible with a reasonably up to date distro. (Within a year).
Use ?xinput list? to get a list of all attached input devices. You can refer to these by either their full names, or their ids.
?xinput create-master? creates a new master pointer. You can attach input devices to that master pointer using ?xinput reattach.? Attaching both a keyboard and a mouse to a pointer essentially permits you to enter text in two places at once.
Lots of interesting stuff emerges, like touch screen / tablet interaction that doesn't interfere with the mouse, but acts in its own distinct fashion.
Naturally there's a long way to go. This feature started with MPX, and it's making its way through the stack. With support in GTK, it is possible for an application to make use of all the extra information provided by xinput 2, including multiple distinct pointers. Right now, if you use two pointers in the same app, it gets really confused.
Hopefully, given love and time, we will see distros using the new functionality in smart ways
This is a spot where Linux has a real chance to innovate.
Leave a comment: