Lock the mouse cursor to one screen in Linux / Ubuntu

This isn't too much of a fix as it is an annoyance minimizer, but in System->Preferences->Monitors, drag the 2nd monitor to the edge so that they only touch corners. Theoretically, that means it'll only transfer over if you pull the mouse into a corner. On the Gentoo Wiki, they posted a small program that might work also. I bade you luck.


Got it working! Better than in Windows !!

The trick is to separate the 2 screen by a virtual space in xorg.conf , then use a tool called mouse-switchscreen to "jump" between the screens.

My config: Ubuntu 10.04 x64, ATI Mobility RadeonHD , ATI Catalyst Control Center correctly installed, screens in mode "Single Display Desktop" (each screen has it's own Desktop)

These are the steps that I made:

  1. Download dualscreen-mouse-utils from http://digamma.cs.unm.edu/trac.dmohr/wiki/DualscreenMouseUtils
  2. Decompress the package, in terminal type: make , you may need to xorg-dev package (in Ubuntu: sudo apt-get install xorg-dev )
  3. Copy the mouse-switchscreen binary to folder included in PATH (I used /usr/bin)
  4. Start gconf-editor (Alt-F2), in apps\metacity\keybinding_commands choose an empty command, and add: mouse-switchscreen -f 1
  5. In gconf-editor apps\metacity\global_keybindings choose the same number for run_command_n and add a shortcut of your choice, personnally I entered: < Super>Tab =Win+Tab (without space before Super)
  6. If everything is working, Edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf (better make a backup before), in the "ServerLayout" section, change the position of a screen to make the two separate. ONE pixel is enough :D

You can now sudo /etc/init.d/gdm restart and enjoy. Of course, Win+Tab to switch the screen. You can also try mouse-wrapscreen, mouse-wrapscreen -h for more info.

All credits goes to: David Antliff & David Mohr for mouse-switchscreen, and the Linux community for the infos.