Oneko..! Fun with your cursor...

[mikewalsh]

Morning, all.

Oneko

Here's a bit of desktop "silliness" for those of you that like such frippery. This has been around since Unix days, before Linux even existed...

(Originally called just Neko, this was re-named sometime back in the 90's:- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neko_(software) This particular 'port' has been re-named Oneko-sakura, because there's apparently other characters available besides the cat...)

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Oneka-sakura, when you launch it from Menu->Fun, will turn your mouse cursor into a 'literal' mouse.....and moments later, a tiny white cat (Oneko) appears, and begins to chase the mouse all over the desktop.....anywhere your cursor goes. When Oneko catches the mouse, he goes to sleep on top of it. As soon as you move the cursor/mouse, Oneko wakes up and starts chasing it again. Apparently, the Oneko 'sprite' has been 'borrowed' by hundreds of game engines over the years, so don't be surprised if Oneko looks familiar..!

One of our regulars over at BleepingComputer mentioned this yesterday. I tracked down a copy over at /ubuntu/pool, in the 'Universe' repo, and 'petted' it.

This doesn't have an 'off switch', as such. It's killed by the closure or re-loading of whatever window it's started in. If started from the terminal, Oneko can only chase the mouse inside the terminal. Close it, and Oneko's gone. Same thing applies to any window that's in focus at the time you start this.

If Oneko is started when on the desktop without anything else open, the only way to kill Oneko is to re-start 'X'.

(I think that's right, anyway. The man page takes you to a URL in your default browser, and the site's a bit awkward to navigate around...)

[Click to enlarge:-]





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I've attached both 32- and 64-bit .pets for this below. Being statically-compiled, it appears to run fine in all the Pups I've tried it in, 32-bit & 64-bit alike. Have fun!


Mike.

[galbi]

That cat it's unstoppable !!!

Continues to chase the pointer even if switch to a virtualized Windows7!!!

[01101001b]

If started from the terminal, Oneko can only chase the mouse inside the terminal.

No problem here. Oneko chases the mouse all over the screen, beyond terminal's borders It worths explaining I didn't install the pet, just decompressed it and run "Oneko" directly from (lx)terminal (32bit Oneko in Dpupbuster64)
Thx Mike!

[mikewalsh]

If started from the terminal, Oneko can only chase the mouse inside the terminal.

No problem here. Oneko chases the mouse all over the screen, beyond terminal's borders It worths explaining I didn't install the pet, just decompressed it and run "Oneko" directly from (lx)terminal (32bit Oneko in Dpupbuster64)
Thx Mike!

TBH, having said that, after a re-start of 'X' and re-starting Oneko, it's now doing the same for me. The little beggar's all over the place, and even if the cursor changes image from one open window to another, or even switching from one workspace to another, Oneko still chases after it! This is one pussy with MORE than the usual 9 lives, I suspect...

Good fun, though, ain't it?


Mike.

[tosim]

Out of curiosity-Why the use of the word "Sakura"? It means cherry/cherry tree, in Japanese.

[mikewalsh]

Out of curiosity-Why the use of the word "Sakura"? It means cherry/cherry tree, in Japanese.

No idea, tosim. That's what the version in the Ubuntu archives is called. I wondered if it was anything to do with the Sakura terminal emulator....one of my favourites. Dunno....

If you visit the Wikipedia link in the first post, you'll see that loads of different ports have been created for it over the years. Many of those have been named somewhat differently, too. The original, Neko, was written by a Japanese guy who worked for NEC in the late 80s. It seems that quite a few of the character names that have been employed across the various ports hail from Japanese anime and manga comic series. Go figure.

If you can make head or tail of what Japanese culture is all about, you're doing better than 99% of Westerners......

(*shrug*)


Mike.

[tosim]

Thanks for the reply.

[OscarTalks]

Since we are Puppy you might want to use the -dog option. Cursor is then a bone.
You can do things with the colours as well.

Code: Select all

oneko -dog -bg red -fg yellow

I grabbed the source and compiled it in Wheezy, works OK, thanks.

[rburkartjo]

i have used off and on for years. still amusing