[xubuntu-users] Lost terminal text cursor when closing non-terminal window

[Tigerwolf]

On Sat, 30 Dec 2017, MR ZenWiz wrote:

> I ran into this recently on my laptop and wonder if anyone else has seen 
> it.

> I run Xubuntu 16.04 LTS on all my systems.  On my HP8740w laptop, 
> occasionally when I do something (I'll explain below), the cursor focus 
> on my terminal windows gets lost and I can't type anything in the 
> terminal windows.

The vanishing cursor/malfunctioning terminals is also an issue with the 
Unix console text terminals when using Ctl-Alt-F1 to -F6

The F1 to F6 console text terminals would appear, but there is no cursor, 
and you can not type anything into the terminal.  Ctl-Alt-F7 would 
return to X window manager and X-terms in the graphical session seemed to 
still work.

After recent 14 LTS updates, the Ctl-Alt-F1 to -F6 switch results in the 
screen displaying ONLY the full-screen 'boot splash' background image at 
F1-F6.  That is, no text terminals are there AT ALL!  Ctl-Alt-F7 returns 
to the window manager.

Once this happens, the only recourse is to reboot the machine to regain 
sane operation.

I've been unable to reliably find what causes the text terminals to become 
unresponsive, or the background graphics image to replace them.  It seems 
to happens pretty much at random, though switching among terminals does 
*seem* to be a factor.

It started with later updates to 14-LTS series with the switch to systemd 
<spit>.  Since systemd supposedly usurped the usual text terminal 
functionality into itself, I suspect that it's (yet another) systemd 
problem.

-- 
=^_^=  Tigerwolf