[GoLUG] LOL, people wonder why I don't like the Gnome project

[o1bigtenor]

On Sat, Sep 9, 2023 at 9:08 AM Alex Finkel <alex.finkel at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> The X Window System is without a doubt an amazing display system and has been critically important to UNIX/Linux on the desktop.  It has served the community well for 40 years. Quite the achievement. But it’s age is a factor as it was designed for a time when the technology and security considerations were a bit different than today.  How often do folks nowadays need to run graphical applications running on distant systems vs directly on the local system?  Those capabilities that are not as useful to okay as they once were hamper the performance and security stance of systems running X11.

Hmm - - - interesting - - - you see that as not necessary - - - - I
use X in this way - - - well the are remote systems
and I run them from my main box a.k.a. headless. Makes more sense than
running kvms and miles of extra wires!! (You know like a test system
for my main box,
then there is a seriously big server and a test system for that - -
also working on
other control systems - - - I'll be able to connect/manage all that from one box
- - simple - - - no way - - possible - - - - easily.)
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> At this point the biggest problem with X11 is lack of maintenance.  There isn’t much active development as more focus turns to Wayland and there are not many developers stepping up to take on the maintainership of the project.
>
This is where I think the current development community is part of the problem.
I have gotten to a complicated display system (multi-monitor and
different sizes thereof).
have worked to keep the dpi fairly similar as then there are less
issues with moving
terminals, other program windows, etc around. Ran into the idea, iirc
in Byte magazine some
40 odd years ago where the office worker's productivity varied
corresponding to the amount
of screen real estate. So I moved from 1 - 1600x1200 in 2000 to more
than 3 - 1920x1080s
in the beginning of the 2010s and in the early 2020s added a 4k
monitor. Had a long time mentor
who was a *nix addict from the early 1980s who used a single 20 or 21"
LCD and thought I
was absolutely nuts to have more - - - but he never tried for more
space - - - couldn't see
the need for it. It was using large spreadsheets and then still needed
to use a browser to collect
information tha showed me you useful screen real estate is. If one of
my 1920s dies I'm adding
2 more 4ks and that will be max for size here. 8K is too big for
vertical so that won't happen
(far too much head vertical motions) here ever (done some small scale
testing to see what it
would feel like to have to traverse about 48" vertical of screen - - -
it seemed that at 36 and
there would be neck strain).
All to suggest that the dev community has been heading down one series
of rabbit holes and
(what used to be called) power users (gamers are their own group) have
seriously parted company.
Didn't used to be that way though!

> Wayland is the future and with XWayland, X11 apps run pretty much seamlessly on top of Wayland, aside from some limitations with cut-and-paste.
>
Wayland as it is right now can't be in my future - - - - can't find
anyone that is running
multi-monitor on Wayland. As long as that's an issue I will be
clamoring for X11 which
works just fine in this way. In fact I still haven't seen anything
from Wayland that even
makes me want to consider switching - - - - besides hearing for almost 10 years
now how its the next coming best thing. Limitations with cut-and-paste
- - - that would
make for an immediate trip to the garbage disposal here.

>From what you've outlined I would suggest that wayland is still not
ready from prime time
yet - - - never mind replacing X11. Hmmmmmmmmm wonder how many decades more
its going to take before there truly is a X11 new improved better
display system?

Appreciate the sharing and your time.

Regards