{"slug": "x11", "name": "X11", "category": "other", "category_name": "Other software", "description": "Network-transparent windowing system and display server protocol for Linux and other Unix-like systems.", "recommenders": 14, "commenters": 16, "warners": 1, "score": 11.722, "rising": -1.93, "first": "2025-11-20", "latest": "2026-10-13", "why": "Liked for being stable and dependable over many years, and for global shortcuts, screen sharing and input automation that commenters say work more smoothly than on Wayland.", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": true, "sentiment": {"recommend": 14, "neutral": 1, "compare": 0, "warn": 1}, "spark": [2, 0, 2, 1, 2, 0, 0, 3, 2, 1, 0, 1], "listed": true, "loved": ["Fewer Wayland issues", "Stability"], "caveat": "Nouveau driver", "short_quote": "I have used only HiDPI monitors with X11 on Linux for about a dozen years and it has always worked perfectly.", "icon": false, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://www.x.org/", "pricing": "open source", "aliases": ["X11"], "verdict": [{"text": "Liked for being stable and dependable over many years", "cites": [{"id": 801074707, "item_id": 50067169, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50067169", "by": "uecker", "date": "2026-10-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The exception is the Nouveau driver, but without it X was also perfectly stable for me.", "excerpt": "From all the programs I use, the ones written in C are the most reliable (such as vim, bash, coreutils, terminals, X11\u00b9, ... also larger software such as gimp, blender). Over decades I literally can't experience a single crash! \u00b9 The exception is the Nouveau driver, but without it X was also perfectly stable for me.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "A Modern Web App in C"}, {"id": 782581520, "item_id": 48911345, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48911345", "by": "umanwizard", "date": "2026-07-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use X because it works on my setup and always has", "excerpt": "It's really not like Emacs/vim. I use X because it works on my setup and always has, whereas Wayland has not, despite Wayland advocates claiming it's ready and X is deprecated for 10+ years.", "context": "", "use_case": "display server", "switched_from": "", "story": "Measuring Input Latency on Linux: X11 vs. Wayland, VRR, and DXVK"}, {"id": 759206417, "item_id": 47450401, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47450401", "by": "kelipso", "date": "2026-03-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "X11 worked perfectly fine.", "excerpt": "X11 worked fine. Then Wayland came from somebody\u2019s fever dream and forced everyone to use it, just for everyone to encounter some kind of bug every time they do anything slightly off the beaten path. For me literally every new install is some stupid Wayland BS I have to deal with, probably because I use Nvidia drivers, but X11 worked perfectly fine. Wayland should have stayed in the playground as the post says.", "context": "Nvidia driver user", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Wayland set the Linux Desktop back by 10 years"}]}, {"text": ", and for global shortcuts, screen sharing and input automation that commenters say work more smoothly than on Wayland.", "cites": [{"id": 791824336, "item_id": 49489021, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49489021", "by": "jck86", "date": "2026-08-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "these people will probably be more pleased by X11 (hassle free screen sharing, global shortcuts)", "excerpt": "Apparently you only want wayland based DEs and considered the argument to be over for everyone. How wrong were you. Lot's of people don't want to use wayland until it reaches a certain feature-complete maturity. I for instance have again put it off for another year and won't consider running a wayland only DE at all for the forseable future since it breaks too many things for no good reason and I need to be able to s", "context": "uses PC for work", "use_case": "desktop work", "switched_from": "", "story": "Kumander Linux \u2013 A Linux Distro with a Windows 7 Desktop"}, {"id": 736025952, "item_id": 46001622, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46001622", "by": "ziotom78", "date": "2025-11-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "from an user's perspective, so far I am far more efficient in X11.", "excerpt": "Xdotool and Xmodmap are the two main reasons why, after a few months running Wayland+keyd+dotool I went back to X11. I found really hard to have the following things working at once: - Italian layout for my keyboard with heavily-customized AltGr keys for mathematical notation (in X11 it's just a matter of having a Xmodmap file) - Using Espanso for many common shortcuts like :date: (current YYYY-MM-DD date) and :pidig", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop display server", "switched_from": "Wayland", "story": "Exploring the Fragmentation of Wayland, an xdotool adventure"}, {"id": 743353297, "item_id": 46459581, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46459581", "by": "Daunk", "date": "2026-01-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "But once they switched to X11, they've all been very happy.", "excerpt": "I'm not against Wayland, but I think Wayland is currently not good for the Linux ecosystem. I've had lots of friends try Linux, and they've had issues with Discord global keyboard shortcuts not working, and window positions not restoring at application start, and lots of other small issues, which add up in the end. But once they switched to X11, they've all been very happy.", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux display server", "switched_from": "Wayland", "story": "Linux is good now; to feel like you actually own your PC, put Linux on it"}]}, {"text": " Complaints are few: one user saw instability with the Nouveau driver", "cites": [{"id": 801074707, "item_id": 50067169, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50067169", "by": "uecker", "date": "2026-10-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The exception is the Nouveau driver, but without it X was also perfectly stable for me.", "excerpt": "From all the programs I use, the ones written in C are the most reliable (such as vim, bash, coreutils, terminals, X11\u00b9, ... also larger software such as gimp, blender). Over decades I literally can't experience a single crash! \u00b9 The exception is the Nouveau driver, but without it X was also perfectly stable for me.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "A Modern Web App in C"}]}, {"text": ", and another worries KDE will soon drop X11 support.", "cites": [{"id": 790016513, "item_id": 49376032, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49376032", "by": "panzi", "date": "2026-08-20", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use X11 because KDE's Wayland implementation is so buggy.", "excerpt": "I don't condemn the protocol. I specifically mention the buggy implementation. I say that I use X11 because KDE's Wayland implementation is so buggy. I want to use KDE. KDE was perfect for me before Wayland. I don't criticize Wayland here, I criticize KDE Wayland. And I'm worried because very soon KDE will delete X11 support.", "context": "", "use_case": "display server", "switched_from": "Wayland", "story": "XWayland 26.1-rc1 Released Two Years After the Last Release"}]}], "praise": [{"label": "Fewer Wayland issues", "summary": "Users who switched back from Wayland report fewer bugs and broken features.", "quotes": [{"id": 743353297, "item_id": 46459581, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46459581", "by": "Daunk", "date": "2026-01-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "But once they switched to X11, they've all been very happy.", "excerpt": "I'm not against Wayland, but I think Wayland is currently not good for the Linux ecosystem. I've had lots of friends try Linux, and they've had issues with Discord global keyboard shortcuts not working, and window positions not restoring at application start, and lots of other small issues, which add up in the end. But once they switched to X11, they've all been very happy.", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux display server", "switched_from": "Wayland", "story": "Linux is good now; to feel like you actually own your PC, put Linux on it"}, {"id": 790016513, "item_id": 49376032, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49376032", "by": "panzi", "date": "2026-08-20", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use X11 because KDE's Wayland implementation is so buggy.", "excerpt": "I don't condemn the protocol. I specifically mention the buggy implementation. I say that I use X11 because KDE's Wayland implementation is so buggy. I want to use KDE. KDE was perfect for me before Wayland. I don't criticize Wayland here, I criticize KDE Wayland. And I'm worried because very soon KDE will delete X11 support.", "context": "", "use_case": "display server", "switched_from": "Wayland", "story": "XWayland 26.1-rc1 Released Two Years After the Last Release"}, {"id": 751025872, "item_id": 46939117, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46939117", "by": "dedzycide", "date": "2026-02-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "i love running x11 too, wayland is still not there yet sadly, still has a few quirks.", "excerpt": "i believe he is talking about Twitter(X) and not x11. so a political stance from the x.com in the description. i love running x11 too, wayland is still not there yet sadly, still has a few quirks. if not mistaken x11 is what mitchell is running rightn ow https://github.com/mitchellh/nixos-config/blob/0c42252d8951ac338fe9d80d45ea912e0b956993/machines/vm-shared.nix#L115", "context": "", "use_case": "display server", "switched_from": "", "story": "Vouch"}]}, {"label": "Stability", "summary": "Commenters describe it as reliable for years with essentially no crashes.", "quotes": [{"id": 801074707, "item_id": 50067169, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50067169", "by": "uecker", "date": "2026-10-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The exception is the Nouveau driver, but without it X was also perfectly stable for me.", "excerpt": "From all the programs I use, the ones written in C are the most reliable (such as vim, bash, coreutils, terminals, X11\u00b9, ... also larger software such as gimp, blender). Over decades I literally can't experience a single crash! \u00b9 The exception is the Nouveau driver, but without it X was also perfectly stable for me.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "A Modern Web App in C"}, {"id": 782581520, "item_id": 48911345, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48911345", "by": "umanwizard", "date": "2026-07-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use X because it works on my setup and always has", "excerpt": "It's really not like Emacs/vim. I use X because it works on my setup and always has, whereas Wayland has not, despite Wayland advocates claiming it's ready and X is deprecated for 10+ years.", "context": "", "use_case": "display server", "switched_from": "", "story": "Measuring Input Latency on Linux: X11 vs. Wayland, VRR, and DXVK"}, {"id": 759206417, "item_id": 47450401, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47450401", "by": "kelipso", "date": "2026-03-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "X11 worked perfectly fine.", "excerpt": "X11 worked fine. Then Wayland came from somebody\u2019s fever dream and forced everyone to use it, just for everyone to encounter some kind of bug every time they do anything slightly off the beaten path. For me literally every new install is some stupid Wayland BS I have to deal with, probably because I use Nvidia drivers, but X11 worked perfectly fine. Wayland should have stayed in the playground as the post says.", "context": "Nvidia driver user", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Wayland set the Linux Desktop back by 10 years"}]}, {"label": "Shortcuts & automation", "summary": "Global shortcuts, screen sharing, xdotool and Xmodmap customization work without hassle.", "quotes": [{"id": 791824336, "item_id": 49489021, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49489021", "by": "jck86", "date": "2026-08-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "these people will probably be more pleased by X11 (hassle free screen sharing, global shortcuts)", "excerpt": "Apparently you only want wayland based DEs and considered the argument to be over for everyone. How wrong were you. Lot's of people don't want to use wayland until it reaches a certain feature-complete maturity. I for instance have again put it off for another year and won't consider running a wayland only DE at all for the forseable future since it breaks too many things for no good reason and I need to be able to s", "context": "uses PC for work", "use_case": "desktop work", "switched_from": "", "story": "Kumander Linux \u2013 A Linux Distro with a Windows 7 Desktop"}, {"id": 736025952, "item_id": 46001622, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46001622", "by": "ziotom78", "date": "2025-11-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "from an user's perspective, so far I am far more efficient in X11.", "excerpt": "Xdotool and Xmodmap are the two main reasons why, after a few months running Wayland+keyd+dotool I went back to X11. I found really hard to have the following things working at once: - Italian layout for my keyboard with heavily-customized AltGr keys for mathematical notation (in X11 it's just a matter of having a Xmodmap file) - Using Espanso for many common shortcuts like :date: (current YYYY-MM-DD date) and :pidig", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop display server", "switched_from": "Wayland", "story": "Exploring the Fragmentation of Wayland, an xdotool adventure"}, {"id": 743353297, "item_id": 46459581, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46459581", "by": "Daunk", "date": "2026-01-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "But once they switched to X11, they've all been very happy.", "excerpt": "I'm not against Wayland, but I think Wayland is currently not good for the Linux ecosystem. I've had lots of friends try Linux, and they've had issues with Discord global keyboard shortcuts not working, and window positions not restoring at application start, and lots of other small issues, which add up in the end. But once they switched to X11, they've all been very happy.", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux display server", "switched_from": "Wayland", "story": "Linux is good now; to feel like you actually own your PC, put Linux on it"}]}, {"label": "Low-VRAM GPUs", "summary": "On a low-memory NVIDIA card, it offloads to system memory instead of crashing apps.", "quotes": [{"id": 743844721, "item_id": 46490295, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46490295", "by": "nickjj", "date": "2026-01-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "on X11 it will offload those requests to system memory so you can open up as much as you want (within reason) and the system is completely usable.", "excerpt": "I don't think Wayland is fully ready, at least not with NVIDIA GPUs with limited GPU memory. I have a 7,000 word blog post and demo videos coming out this Tuesday with the details but I think I uncovered a driver bug having switched to native Linux a week ago with a low GPU memory card (750 Ti). Basically on Wayland, apps that request GPU memory will typically crash if there's no more GPU memory to allocate where as ", "context": "Recently switched to native Linux with a 750 Ti", "use_case": "display server on low-memory GPU", "switched_from": "", "story": "Can I start using Wayland in 2026?"}, {"id": 759206417, "item_id": 47450401, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47450401", "by": "kelipso", "date": "2026-03-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "X11 worked perfectly fine.", "excerpt": "X11 worked fine. Then Wayland came from somebody\u2019s fever dream and forced everyone to use it, just for everyone to encounter some kind of bug every time they do anything slightly off the beaten path. For me literally every new install is some stupid Wayland BS I have to deal with, probably because I use Nvidia drivers, but X11 worked perfectly fine. Wayland should have stayed in the playground as the post says.", "context": "Nvidia driver user", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Wayland set the Linux Desktop back by 10 years"}]}, {"label": "Portability", "summary": "Fully usable on the BSDs and with window managers that lack Wayland support.", "quotes": [{"id": 759179568, "item_id": 47448723, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47448723", "by": "jmclnx", "date": "2026-03-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "But I am sticking with X because it is fully usable on the BSDs.", "excerpt": "people may remember 'Y' from many years ago, AFAIK it was suppose to replace X, but never got to the point were Wayland is now. >The original conceit behind Wayland is to only implement what is needed for a simple Linux desktop And this is my biggest issue with Wayland. If it started out with portability in mind maybe I would give it a try. But I am sticking with X because it is fully usable on the BSDs.", "context": "BSD user", "use_case": "desktop on BSDs", "switched_from": "", "story": "Wayland set the Linux Desktop back by 10 years"}, {"id": 775868912, "item_id": 48491807, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48491807", "by": "manbart", "date": "2026-06-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Glad to see this and other efforts to keep X server going.", "excerpt": "Glad to see this and other efforts to keep X server going. I don't have strong feelings on the Wayland vs X debate, but the window managers I use don't support Wayland, so I'd like to be able to keep using them", "context": "uses window managers that don't support Wayland", "use_case": "running window managers without Wayland support", "switched_from": "", "story": "Yserver: Modern X11 Server Written in Rust with the Help of Claude Code"}]}, {"label": "Network GUI", "summary": "Remote GUI over the network is valued as something newer stacks regressed on.", "quotes": [{"id": 776545072, "item_id": 48534067, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48534067", "by": "TacticalCoder", "date": "2026-06-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "we've kinda seriously regressed when it comes to \"GUI over the network\"", "excerpt": "> I really wish people gave a damn about the \u201cgui over the network\u201d problem x11 solves. Security-wise there are concerns but... Early dial-up Internet days (early for me), 28.8k modem, I was already running Linux, probably on a 486. I also had a very old PC laptop (I think a friend of my parents gifted it to me after he got a new one from work), a 386 I think (with the horrible slow display/refresh rate: a TFT IIRC).", "context": "early Linux user", "use_case": "GUI over the network", "switched_from": "", "story": "Yserver: A modern X11 server written in Rust"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "Nouveau driver", "summary": "One user found X unstable only when using the Nouveau driver.", "quotes": [{"id": 801074707, "item_id": 50067169, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50067169", "by": "uecker", "date": "2026-10-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The exception is the Nouveau driver, but without it X was also perfectly stable for me.", "excerpt": "From all the programs I use, the ones written in C are the most reliable (such as vim, bash, coreutils, terminals, X11\u00b9, ... also larger software such as gimp, blender). Over decades I literally can't experience a single crash! \u00b9 The exception is the Nouveau driver, but without it X was also perfectly stable for me.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "A Modern Web App in C"}]}, {"label": "Future support", "summary": "A KDE user worries X11 support will soon be removed from KDE.", "quotes": [{"id": 790016513, "item_id": 49376032, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49376032", "by": "panzi", "date": "2026-08-20", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use X11 because KDE's Wayland implementation is so buggy.", "excerpt": "I don't condemn the protocol. I specifically mention the buggy implementation. I say that I use X11 because KDE's Wayland implementation is so buggy. I want to use KDE. KDE was perfect for me before Wayland. I don't criticize Wayland here, I criticize KDE Wayland. And I'm worried because very soon KDE will delete X11 support.", "context": "", "use_case": "display server", "switched_from": "Wayland", "story": "XWayland 26.1-rc1 Released Two Years After the Last Release"}]}, {"label": "HiDPI setup", "summary": "HiDPI works well in XFCE by setting DPI directly; GNOME users report problems.", "quotes": [{"id": 779309361, "item_id": 48706835, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48706835", "by": "adrian_b", "date": "2026-06-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I have used only HiDPI monitors with X11 on Linux for about a dozen years and it has always worked perfectly.", "excerpt": "I have used only HiDPI monitors with X11 on Linux for about a dozen years and it has always worked perfectly. However I use XFCE, where you can set directly the DPI values of the monitors, so that everything will work fine. I have heard Gnome users complaining about problems with HiDPI, but those are not caused by X11, but by a bad Gnome UI for desktop settings. So HiDPI is not something at which Wayland is better th", "context": "Linux user with HiDPI monitors", "use_case": "display server with HiDPI", "switched_from": "", "story": "Enhancing X11 Application Security with LXC"}]}, {"label": "Network security", "summary": "Running GUIs over the network raises security concerns.", "quotes": [{"id": 776545072, "item_id": 48534067, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48534067", "by": "TacticalCoder", "date": "2026-06-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "we've kinda seriously regressed when it comes to \"GUI over the network\"", "excerpt": "> I really wish people gave a damn about the \u201cgui over the network\u201d problem x11 solves. Security-wise there are concerns but... Early dial-up Internet days (early for me), 28.8k modem, I was already running Linux, probably on a 486. I also had a very old PC laptop (I think a friend of my parents gifted it to me after he got a new one from work), a 386 I think (with the horrible slow display/refresh rate: a TFT IIRC).", "context": "early Linux user", "use_case": "GUI over the network", "switched_from": "", "story": "Yserver: A modern X11 server written in Rust"}]}], "who": [{"by": "jck86", "context": "uses PC for work", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49489021", "date": "2026-08-29"}, {"by": "vrighter", "context": "Linux user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49060878", "date": "2026-07-26"}, {"by": "adrian_b", "context": "Linux user with HiDPI monitors", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48706835", "date": "2026-06-28"}, {"by": "TacticalCoder", "context": "early Linux user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48534067", "date": "2026-06-14"}, {"by": "manbart", "context": "uses window managers that don't support Wayland", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48491807", "date": "2026-06-11"}, {"by": "kelipso", "context": "Nvidia driver user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47450401", "date": "2026-03-19"}, {"by": "jmclnx", "context": "BSD user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47448723", "date": "2026-03-19"}, {"by": "nickjj", "context": "Recently switched to native Linux with a 750 Ti", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46490295", "date": "2026-01-04"}], "tags": ["for Linux users", "for BSD users", "for NVIDIA GPU users", "for keyboard automation", "for X-only window managers"], "use_cases": ["display server", "desktop display server", "desktop work", "display server with hidpi", "gui over the network", "running window managers without wayland support"], "compared": [{"slug": "wayland", "name": "Wayland", "co": 27, "switched_from": 3, "switched_to": 5}, {"slug": "kde-plasma", "name": "KDE Plasma", "co": 4, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47448328", "title": "Wayland set the Linux Desktop back by 10 years", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50058528", "title": "A Modern Web App in C", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49995626", "title": "The Problem of System Communication", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49486176", "title": "Kumander Linux \u2013 A Linux Distro with a Windows 7 Desktop", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49366474", "title": "XWayland 26.1-rc1 Released Two Years After the Last Release", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49056351", "title": "Systemd Linger", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"recommend": 2}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-02": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-03": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {"recommend": 3}, "2026-07": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-08": {"neutral": 1, "recommend": 1}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {"warn": 1, "recommend": 1}}, "quotes": [{"id": 801074707, "item_id": 50067169, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50067169", "by": "uecker", "date": "2026-10-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The exception is the Nouveau driver, but without it X was also perfectly stable for me.", "excerpt": "From all the programs I use, the ones written in C are the most reliable (such as vim, bash, coreutils, terminals, X11\u00b9, ... also larger software such as gimp, blender). Over decades I literally can't experience a single crash! \u00b9 The exception is the Nouveau driver, but without it X was also perfectly stable for me.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "A Modern Web App in C"}, {"id": 800592850, "item_id": 50037053, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50037053", "by": "1vuio0pswjnm7", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "warn", "quote": "About 17 years ago I stopped using X11", "excerpt": "https://shrub.industries/words/software.html \"i do not use software that does not support musl\" I have a minimal glibc chroot for certain large programs that still won't compile with musl that I want to play around with But I don't rely on any of those programs Otherwise the entire userland is statically-linked \"i do not use software that refuses to statically link\" Ibid \"i do not use GNU software\" Ibid \"i refuse to ", "context": "mostly works in text mode", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "X11", "story": "The Problem of System Communication"}, {"id": 791824336, "item_id": 49489021, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49489021", "by": "jck86", "date": "2026-08-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "these people will probably be more pleased by X11 (hassle free screen sharing, global shortcuts)", "excerpt": "Apparently you only want wayland based DEs and considered the argument to be over for everyone. How wrong were you. Lot's of people don't want to use wayland until it reaches a certain feature-complete maturity. I for instance have again put it off for another year and won't consider running a wayland only DE at all for the forseable future since it breaks too many things for no good reason and I need to be able to s", "context": "uses PC for work", "use_case": "desktop work", "switched_from": "", "story": "Kumander Linux \u2013 A Linux Distro with a Windows 7 Desktop"}, {"id": 790016513, "item_id": 49376032, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49376032", "by": "panzi", "date": "2026-08-20", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use X11 because KDE's Wayland implementation is so buggy.", "excerpt": "I don't condemn the protocol. I specifically mention the buggy implementation. I say that I use X11 because KDE's Wayland implementation is so buggy. I want to use KDE. KDE was perfect for me before Wayland. I don't criticize Wayland here, I criticize KDE Wayland. And I'm worried because very soon KDE will delete X11 support.", "context": "", "use_case": "display server", "switched_from": "Wayland", "story": "XWayland 26.1-rc1 Released Two Years After the Last Release"}, {"id": 784974050, "item_id": 49060878, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49060878", "by": "vrighter", "date": "2026-07-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "X11 was pretty much standardized, that won't do....", "excerpt": "the oss community has a phobia of having anything in common against all its reimplementations of the same thing. So systemd offers some consistency between distros: bad. X11 was pretty much standardized, that won't do.... let's invent wayland but make sure that there are multiple incompatible implementations of it! and so on. I love linux, but this sort of mentality is ridiculous", "context": "Linux user", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Systemd Linger"}, {"id": 782581520, "item_id": 48911345, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48911345", "by": "umanwizard", "date": "2026-07-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use X because it works on my setup and always has", "excerpt": "It's really not like Emacs/vim. I use X because it works on my setup and always has, whereas Wayland has not, despite Wayland advocates claiming it's ready and X is deprecated for 10+ years.", "context": "", "use_case": "display server", "switched_from": "", "story": "Measuring Input Latency on Linux: X11 vs. Wayland, VRR, and DXVK"}, {"id": 779309361, "item_id": 48706835, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48706835", "by": "adrian_b", "date": "2026-06-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I have used only HiDPI monitors with X11 on Linux for about a dozen years and it has always worked perfectly.", "excerpt": "I have used only HiDPI monitors with X11 on Linux for about a dozen years and it has always worked perfectly. However I use XFCE, where you can set directly the DPI values of the monitors, so that everything will work fine. I have heard Gnome users complaining about problems with HiDPI, but those are not caused by X11, but by a bad Gnome UI for desktop settings. So HiDPI is not something at which Wayland is better th", "context": "Linux user with HiDPI monitors", "use_case": "display server with HiDPI", "switched_from": "", "story": "Enhancing X11 Application Security with LXC"}, {"id": 776545072, "item_id": 48534067, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48534067", "by": "TacticalCoder", "date": "2026-06-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "we've kinda seriously regressed when it comes to \"GUI over the network\"", "excerpt": "> I really wish people gave a damn about the \u201cgui over the network\u201d problem x11 solves. Security-wise there are concerns but... Early dial-up Internet days (early for me), 28.8k modem, I was already running Linux, probably on a 486. I also had a very old PC laptop (I think a friend of my parents gifted it to me after he got a new one from work), a 386 I think (with the horrible slow display/refresh rate: a TFT IIRC).", "context": "early Linux user", "use_case": "GUI over the network", "switched_from": "", "story": "Yserver: A modern X11 server written in Rust"}, {"id": 775868912, "item_id": 48491807, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48491807", "by": "manbart", "date": "2026-06-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Glad to see this and other efforts to keep X server going.", "excerpt": "Glad to see this and other efforts to keep X server going. I don't have strong feelings on the Wayland vs X debate, but the window managers I use don't support Wayland, so I'd like to be able to keep using them", "context": "uses window managers that don't support Wayland", "use_case": "running window managers without Wayland support", "switched_from": "", "story": "Yserver: Modern X11 Server Written in Rust with the Help of Claude Code"}, {"id": 759206417, "item_id": 47450401, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47450401", "by": "kelipso", "date": "2026-03-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "X11 worked perfectly fine.", "excerpt": "X11 worked fine. Then Wayland came from somebody\u2019s fever dream and forced everyone to use it, just for everyone to encounter some kind of bug every time they do anything slightly off the beaten path. For me literally every new install is some stupid Wayland BS I have to deal with, probably because I use Nvidia drivers, but X11 worked perfectly fine. Wayland should have stayed in the playground as the post says.", "context": "Nvidia driver user", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Wayland set the Linux Desktop back by 10 years"}, {"id": 759179568, "item_id": 47448723, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47448723", "by": "jmclnx", "date": "2026-03-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "But I am sticking with X because it is fully usable on the BSDs.", "excerpt": "people may remember 'Y' from many years ago, AFAIK it was suppose to replace X, but never got to the point were Wayland is now. >The original conceit behind Wayland is to only implement what is needed for a simple Linux desktop And this is my biggest issue with Wayland. If it started out with portability in mind maybe I would give it a try. But I am sticking with X because it is fully usable on the BSDs.", "context": "BSD user", "use_case": "desktop on BSDs", "switched_from": "", "story": "Wayland set the Linux Desktop back by 10 years"}, {"id": 751025872, "item_id": 46939117, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46939117", "by": "dedzycide", "date": "2026-02-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "i love running x11 too, wayland is still not there yet sadly, still has a few quirks.", "excerpt": "i believe he is talking about Twitter(X) and not x11. so a political stance from the x.com in the description. i love running x11 too, wayland is still not there yet sadly, still has a few quirks. if not mistaken x11 is what mitchell is running rightn ow https://github.com/mitchellh/nixos-config/blob/0c42252d8951ac338fe9d80d45ea912e0b956993/machines/vm-shared.nix#L115", "context": "", "use_case": "display server", "switched_from": "", "story": "Vouch"}, {"id": 743844721, "item_id": 46490295, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46490295", "by": "nickjj", "date": "2026-01-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "on X11 it will offload those requests to system memory so you can open up as much as you want (within reason) and the system is completely usable.", "excerpt": "I don't think Wayland is fully ready, at least not with NVIDIA GPUs with limited GPU memory. I have a 7,000 word blog post and demo videos coming out this Tuesday with the details but I think I uncovered a driver bug having switched to native Linux a week ago with a low GPU memory card (750 Ti). Basically on Wayland, apps that request GPU memory will typically crash if there's no more GPU memory to allocate where as ", "context": "Recently switched to native Linux with a 750 Ti", "use_case": "display server on low-memory GPU", "switched_from": "", "story": "Can I start using Wayland in 2026?"}, {"id": 743353297, "item_id": 46459581, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46459581", "by": "Daunk", "date": "2026-01-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "But once they switched to X11, they've all been very happy.", "excerpt": "I'm not against Wayland, but I think Wayland is currently not good for the Linux ecosystem. I've had lots of friends try Linux, and they've had issues with Discord global keyboard shortcuts not working, and window positions not restoring at application start, and lots of other small issues, which add up in the end. But once they switched to X11, they've all been very happy.", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux display server", "switched_from": "Wayland", "story": "Linux is good now; to feel like you actually own your PC, put Linux on it"}, {"id": 737417969, "item_id": 46088623, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46088623", "by": "estimator7292", "date": "2025-11-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "God for-fucking-bid we have to run old software that works instead of new software", "excerpt": "I love Wayland. I just absolutely love hard-rebooting my computer twice a day. Oh, need to walk away from the desk? Better switch into a TTY before unplugging the dock so I can force restart SDDM when it crashes. Oh no! Walked out of WiFi range? Your DE is hard frozen and the only operable button is the power button. Wayland truly saves me so much time at work. It's forced me to re-up my ctrl+s reflex. Now I never lo", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop display server", "switched_from": "", "story": "KDE going all-in on a Wayland future"}, {"id": 736025952, "item_id": 46001622, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46001622", "by": "ziotom78", "date": "2025-11-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "from an user's perspective, so far I am far more efficient in X11.", "excerpt": "Xdotool and Xmodmap are the two main reasons why, after a few months running Wayland+keyd+dotool I went back to X11. I found really hard to have the following things working at once: - Italian layout for my keyboard with heavily-customized AltGr keys for mathematical notation (in X11 it's just a matter of having a Xmodmap file) - Using Espanso for many common shortcuts like :date: (current YYYY-MM-DD date) and :pidig", "context": "", "use_case": "desktop display server", "switched_from": "Wayland", "story": "Exploring the Fragmentation of Wayland, an xdotool adventure"}]}