Oneko is a little fun app. It will change your cursor into mouse and creates a little cute cat and the cat start chasing around your mouse cursor. The word “neko” means “cat” in Japanese and it was originally written by a Japanese author as a Macintosh desktop accessory.

Install oneko

Type the following command:
$ sudo apt-get install oneko

Sample outputs:
[sudo] password for vivek: 
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  oneko
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 10 not upgraded.
Need to get 38.6 kB of archives.
After this operation, 168 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 http://debian.osuosl.org/debian/ squeeze/main oneko amd64 1.2.sakura.6-7 [38.6 kB]
Fetched 38.6 kB in 1s (25.9 kB/s)                     
Selecting previously deselected package oneko.
(Reading database ... 274152 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking oneko (from .../oneko_1.2.sakura.6-7_amd64.deb) ...
Processing triggers for menu ...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Setting up oneko (1.2.sakura.6-7) ...
Processing triggers for menu ...

FreeBSD unix user type the following command to install oneko:
# cd /usr/ports/games/oneko
# make install clean

How do I use oneko?

Simply type the following command:
$ oneko
You can make cat into “tora-neko”, a cat wite tiger-like stripe:
$ oneko -tora

Not a cat person?

You can run a dog instead of a cat:
$ oneko -dog
The followin will runs Sakura Kinomoto instead of a cat:
$ oneko -sakura
Runs Tomoyo Daidouji instead of a cat:
$ oneko -tomoyo

Check out related media

This tutorial also available in video format:

(Video.01: Demo – Install and use oneko under Linux)

Other options

You can pass the following options:

1. -tofocus : Makes cat run to and on top of focus window. When focus window is not in sight, cat chases mouse as usually.
2. -position geometry : Specify X and Y offsets in pixels to adjust position of cat relative to mouse pointer./li>
3. -rv : Reverse background color and foreground color.
4. -fg color : Foreground color (e.g., oneko -dog -fg red).
5. -bg color : Background color (e.g., oneko -dog -bg green).
6. See oneko man page for more information.

If you enjoyed this desktop fun app, you may also like to use the following apps on Linux:

1. Terminal ASCII Aquarium
2. Run Steam Locomotive On Your Desktop
3. Let it Snow On Your Desktop
4. Summon Swarms Of Penguins To Waddle About The Desktop
5. Text Mode Box and Comment Drawing