I've found a better workaround for this problem which works without needing to calculate the correct placement of a remedial xterm.
Install the xsetroot package and run the following once the X server has started up: # Traditional X11 X-shaped cursor xsetroot -cursor_name X_cursor or # Normal left-pointing arrow cursor xsetroot -cursor_name left_ptr Setting the cursor in this way fixes both the keyboard focus and missing pointer problems. Also - can anyone tell me how to respond correctly to messages in a digest or from the mailing list archive? I've just pasted in the subject heading for this email and Scott's original email below (minus the email addresses), but I'm guessing this email won't show up in the right thread location in the overal email structure of the archive. Regards, Patrick From: Scott Merrilees To: Cc: Date: Thu, 14 Jun 2012 16:05:22 +1000 Subject: Re: startx - no keyboard or mouse focus with single xterm, repeatable error I upgraded yesterday, and am similarly afflicted Thanks Patrick for a workaround, +200+200 works for me. Mario's suggestion of startxwin doesn't solve the problem because startxwin doesn't allow single root window mode. Another minimal way to demonstrate the problem: DISPLAY=:0; export DISPLAY XWin & twm & notice that twm doesn't have focus, and pressing button1 on the root window doesn't show a menu. Howewver if you then force twm to ask where to place a window by doing: xclock & then once the window has been placed I can see the button1 menu, and subsequent xterms etc work properly. When I tried fvwm as an alternative window manager, it worked ok. -- Scott Merrilees -- Unsubscribe info: http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple Problem reports: http://cygwin.com/problems.html Documentation: http://x.cygwin.com/docs/ FAQ: http://x.cygwin.com/docs/faq/