this post was submitted on 05 Feb 2025
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I stumbled upon this post regarding an earlier rant about wayland, but now it seems fine, according to the author.

After using Linux for nearly 5 years, using both depending on distros defaults, I have to admit that I never got the core/main/game changing differences between wayland and x11.

To be said, that I also dont do fancy linux things other than basic sysadmin stuff and from time to time repair the mess my curiosity left behind.

Could somebody explain the differences between those two and afterwards maybe also say some words about what this has to do with the difference between window managers and desktop environments?

I am also happy about links to good blog posts or stuff, that target this very questions (as long as the questions make sence of course). Thanks beforehand :)

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[–] dingdongitsabear@lemmy.ml 3 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago)

aside from the obvious, wayland being the default choice on all relevant distros and DEs and being continously worked on, evermore projects switching to it (WINE most recently) whilst X11 is in maintenance-mode, the main thing for me and my deployed fleet is if you're running a modern laptop, say with a 1080p or better screen, wayland is a must. primarily because of the output (UI scaling, effortless multi-monitor dock/undock) and the input (touchpad gestures, touch screens).

if your world is a desktop with a mouse and, say, XFCE, then you have very few of these things intruding on you and you don't really ~~understand the benefits~~ benefit from it.