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The Real Story Behind Wayland and X - Daniel Stone (linux.conf.au 2013)

Mladen Mijatov · talk · Watch on YouTube

Linux & open-source ecosystemsComputer graphics & rendering

What it is

Daniel Stone, a longtime X and Wayland developer, explains at linux.conf.au 2013 why X11's design became untenable and what motivated Wayland. The talk walks through X's history and accumulated cruft.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN treats it as the definitive, funny and educational answer to why X could not be fixed, and links it in almost every Wayland vs X argument.

  • 13 people recommended it
  • 10 different months
  • 4 strong recommendations
  • first 2013, last 2026

What HN commenters said

  1. “He's actually a really charismatic speaker.”

    Talk covering Wayland vs X by a charismatic speaker.

    jmhain, 2013-06 · Strong recommendation · in “Facts about Wayland vs X”

  2. “I remember finding this video enlightening”

    Talk from someone who worked on both X and Wayland.

    jabirali, 2020-08 · Strong recommendation · in “Some Ugly Code Can Get Nvidia's Linux Driver Working with Accelerated XWayland”

  3. “incredibly funny and educational talk[1] from 2013”

    Funny, educational talk on why X is a bad tradeoff.

    DyslexicAtheist, 2021-02 · Strong recommendation · in “Wayland is not ready as a 1:1 compatible Xorg replacement just yet”

  4. “Mandatory video to watch for all X fans”

    Mandatory viewing for X fans.

    SXX, 2021-02 · Strong recommendation · in “I'm tired of this anti-Wayland horseshit”

  5. “The Wayland people really sound like they know what they are talking about, based on decades of experience.”

    Wayland developers explain X's problems with deep experience.

    jerf, 2013-03 · Recommendation · in “Ubuntu will switch from X window server to Mir”

  6. “Here's a good video explaining some of X's problems”

    Explains problems with X's design.

    runeks, 2013-03 · Recommendation · in “Ubuntu will switch from X window server to Mir”

  7. “For a better explanation on ditching X, and what Wayland is: see this talk”

    Better explanation of ditching X and what Wayland is.

    forgottenpass, 2014-04 · Recommendation · in “Xwayland”

  8. “See the talk by Daniel Stone[2] if you're interested in the kind of crud that's been cleared out.”

    Shows obsolete X11 cruft that Wayland cleared out.

    lomnakkus, 2016-12 · Recommendation · in “Fedora 25: With Wayland, Linux has never been easier (or more handsome)”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: wayland, x11, linux graphics, display servers, daniel stone

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