Wayland is approaching. What do I need to know? - TUXEDO Computers

In our knowledge base, we explained in the article on Wayland what Wayland is all about and how you can already test the new display server protocol, which is considered the successor to X11, in TUXEDO OS. Today we would like to go into the current situation and clear up some misunderstandings.

 

KDE Plasma 6 and Wayland

As you probably know, our TUXEDO OS uses KDE Plasma as its desktop environment. Plasma 5 is currently the latest version. The version number for Plasma is based on the status of the cross-platform framework and GUI toolkit Qt, on which Plasma is based. Already at the end of 2020, the first edition of the new main version appeared with Qt 6.0, which currently stands at Qt 6.6. For some time now, the KDE developers have been in the process of converting Plasma to Qt 6. We have already informed you about this in the article KDE Plasma 6 - The next generation.
 

Wayland as standard

 As mentioned in the article, Plasma 6 will be released with Wayland as default. For you, this means that Plasma 6 will start in a Wayland session by default. However, this does not mean, as can be read on some websites, that X11 will no longer be shipped with it.

 It is true that the Fedora distribution and the GNOME desktop environment are planning to do without X11 in one of the next major versions. Programmes that are not yet adapted to Wayland will then be executed via the intermediate layer Xwayland.
 

However, none of this applies to KDE Plasma in TUXEDO OS in the foreseeable future. You will still be able to switch to X11 in the login manager with Plasma 6 next year if you want to.

   

Why continue with X11?

 Wayland under KDE Plasma has come a long way in recent years. There are only a few weak points that make a return to X11 seem necessary. In this context, the keyword NVIDIA often comes up. The graphics card manufacturer took a long time to adapt its drivers to Wayland. The deficits that still exist here now mainly relate to the older legacy drivers.
 

There is also still work to be done in the area of screen recording and color managment. Not all tools support the complete functionality that you are used to from X11. X11 has advantages in this area with its client-server architecture, which require a different implementation in Wayland.

 

Why Wayland with Plasma 6 now?

 The development of Wayland began 15 years ago. Thus, the time is ripe for the changeover. With the switch to Wayland, the KDE developers want to expose Wayland to a larger number of users on the one hand, and on the other hand also animate the respective developers to push the elimination of the still existing problems.
 

What can you expect with Plasma 6 and Wayland?

 In the best case, you will be positively surprised by a clearer representation of the screen contents. Those who do not look so closely may not even notice the change at all. A few users will certainly notice deficits in this or that area that hinder them in their daily work and make it necessary to switch to X11. All you have to do is log off and select X11 as the session in the logon screen at the bottom right.