diff --git a/unix/pterm.c b/unix/pterm.c
index 3ae931f4..c798ab99 100644
--- a/unix/pterm.c
+++ b/unix/pterm.c
@@ -799,6 +799,7 @@ gint timer_func(gpointer data)
     }
 
     term_update();
+    term_blink(0);
     return TRUE;
 }
 
@@ -825,6 +826,7 @@ void pty_input_func(gpointer data, gint sourcefd, GdkInputCondition condition)
     }
     if (ret > 0)
 	from_backend(0, buf, ret);
+    term_blink(1);
     term_out();
 }
 
diff --git a/unix/unix.h b/unix/unix.h
index 2365f07f..4885cc50 100644
--- a/unix/unix.h
+++ b/unix/unix.h
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ extern Backend pty_backend;
 unsigned long getticks(void);	       /* based on gettimeofday(2) */
 #define GETTICKCOUNT getticks
 #define TICKSPERSEC 1000000	       /* gettimeofday returns microseconds */
-#define CURSORBLINK  400000	       /* FIXME: need right way to do this */
+#define CURSORBLINK  450000	       /* no standard way to set this */
 
 #define WCHAR wchar_t
 #define BYTE unsigned char