X versus Wayland - in other words, Wayland can't
- I often use ps to check processes, and I remember NeXT having a 128
window limit (in 1990, heh), so sometimes I wonder how many windows I
have on my 9x9 virtual screen on my main 65" monitor. Tell me, what's
the Wayland way to just get a window list, ideally including things like
the window name, placement, etc? Importantly, it shouldn't be
compositor specific.
- One X concept I like is that you can write an app that swallows a window
on screen and then puts up a protective shield over it so you can't type
into it accidentally. Let's make it easy and assume only one user ID is
involved. How do I do this in Wayland?
- In X with compiz, there are some great magnifying glass accessibility
features, but they rely on that window manager. X has a simple magnifier
that doesn't have that dependency, xmag, that lets me zoom in on
something to small to see easily. Wayland?
- I have extensive Xmodmap keymappings that allow me to map a key, that
key with left-shift, that key with right-shift, and that key with both
shifts down, Whï©h i§ g®ëäþ fö® ëä§ïλÿ þÿπïng ünü§üäλ ©hä®ä©þ뮧 across
all windows. It's also can just be a text file applied with one
command, and my bindings then work in nearly everything. Can I do my
unique shift+shift+key map in Wayland?
- My desktop is a central 65" 4k monitor with a smaller monitor on each
side. My one X server gives me three independently-pannable 3x3 virtual
desktops (which is huge on the 65" in particular). I pan the main one
all the time, but usually the side monitors have status display that
just sit there (email, top, smartswitch per-port activity, etc). How do
I do this in Wayland?
- I have a set of color profile customizations that even out the stepping
of colors across the RGBI colorspace, which looks vastly better. What
the compositor-independent way to control color profiles?
- How do I write a Wayland app to run slideshows on the root screen?
- When I iconify my favorite terminal in X, it turns into a small icon of
itself that's still interactive. How would this work in Wayland?
- I've wanted to write an X program for a while that just shows whatever
is in the cut+paste buffer (X has several) and some metadata. Can I do
it in Wayland?
- In X, I can easily add new fonts to the house font server (although I
had to compile it, but whether it's still popular in X isn't the
question) add the font server easily during any X session at startup,
and then use the font (included one I created myself). Does Wayland
support centralized font servers?
There are lots of people out there with legacy X applications - often for work - that not only don't run in Xwayland, but can't be ported to Wayland due to their general model. Wayland fanboys really need to figure out that this forced migration is making life notably more difficult for those folks.
The best way to migrate to Wayland would have been to be able to run full X
on one monitor (or more) and Wayland on another one. Side by side -
possibly staying that way for years if Wayland actually has anything to
offer. I've done exactly this before when comparing window systems.
But Wayland, by manipulating distro vendors, has stolen that choice from
the less skilled who aren't up to installing X on some distro that gone
full Wayland. This arrogance continues to irritate everyone skilled enough
to be have used X well enough to have uses for features beyond what Wayland
is capable of.
Of course, the main reason I'm not all that interested in Wayland is that
it's just so... retro. Nothing in it amounts to a killer-feature level
advancement for the majority of end users. Further, having so much outside
of the Wayland core and pushed to compositors to implement has a good
chance of creating ecosystems of Wayland apps dependent on
mutually-exclusive compositors, balkanizing Linux UI software in a deeply
disturbing way that could become a selling point for Windows eventually.
Whether that's true remains to be seen.
|