RE: emacs 24: cursor shape is now i

[Drew Adams]

> GNU Emacs 24.1.50.1 (i386-mingw-nt6.1.7601) of 2012-04-23 on MARVIN
> started with -Q.

I tried with this, which is pretty close, if not identical:

In GNU Emacs 24.1.50.1 (i386-mingw-nt5.1.2600)
 of 2012-04-23 on MARVIN
Bzr revision: 108006
agustin.martin@hispalinux.es-20120423103325-xmra3329elgzhmpc
Windowing system distributor `Microsoft Corp.', version 5.1.2600
Configured using:
 `configure --with-gcc (4.6) --no-opt --enable-checking --cflags
 -ID:/devel/emacs/libs/libXpm-3.5.8/include
 -ID:/devel/emacs/libs/libXpm-3.5.8/src
 -ID:/devel/emacs/libs/libpng-dev_1.4.3-1/include
 -ID:/devel/emacs/libs/zlib-dev_1.2.5-2/include
 -ID:/devel/emacs/libs/giflib-4.1.4-1/include
 -ID:/devel/emacs/libs/jpeg-6b-4/include
 -ID:/devel/emacs/libs/tiff-3.8.2-1/include
 -ID:/devel/emacs/libs/gnutls-3.0.9/include
 -ID:/devel/emacs/libs/libiconv-1.13.1-1-dev/include
 -ID:/devel/emacs/libs/libxml2-2.7.8/include/libxml2'

> it display cursor as i-beam.

Are you sure you don't mean the mouse pointer?  The cursor (aka text cursor) is
what indicates point, which is where text gets inserted.

I see the mouse pointer as an I-beam or an arrow, depending on what the mouse is
over.  But I see the cursor as a box (by default).

> Then, if i paste this
> (setq cursor-type 'box)
> evaluate it, it has no effect in the display. (but the variable did
> get set, verified with describe-variable)

See above.  My crystal ball is trying to tell me that you are looking at the
mouse pointer but setting the text cursor type.

You change the mouse pointer shape using variable (not an option)
`x-pointer-shape'.  But I don't think it is possible to change the pointer shape
on MS Windows.  See (elisp) `Pointer Shape'.