No option to start with Wayland?

[oshunluvr]

I must be doing something wrong?

I have Kubuntu 20.04 and 20.10 in QEMU/KVM VMs and neither offers the option to start a Wayland session. Is there some package I need to install or is it because they are VMs?

My KDEneon 20.04 bare metal install offers Wayland.

Since Wayland is about to become default, I wanted to see how it was working lately.

[oldgeek]

I think you have to first install plasma-workspace-wayland, and then you'll get the option on the login screen.

[oshunluvr]

That was it, thanks!

[claydoh]

Yeah, I have always had to install plasma-workspace-wayland in both neon and Kubuntu.

[oshunluvr]

Hmm, IIRC it was always on my Neon install. It is an upgraded install so maybe I installed it in 2018 and have forgotten?

[GreyGeek]

What about Wayland that wants you to use it?

[claydoh]

What about Wayland that wants you to use it?

It is going to be the default display server eventually. Ubuntu is moving to it as the default soon, others already have.
Plasma is a bit behind, on supporting it well, but is quickly catching up.


It is quite usable for most people in most situations much of the time. A bit less for Plasma users, and a bit ...more less (lol) for Kubuntu users until 21.04.
With Plasma 5.21 almost here, it will be interesting to see. I'll switch to Wayland on my laptop of they have actually provided an automatically working on screen keyboard that does not need to be manually enabled, per-application. And supports non Qt applications.
For me, screen rotation on my laptop works far better than anything I could set up in xorg, in terms of refresh rates and tearing when rotated 90/270 degrees.

I'll have to check when I pull out the laptop, but other possible areas of concern are screenshot support, and clipboard stuff -specifically Klipper. been a while since I have noticed anything in those areas.

[oshunluvr]

Clay, the new Plasma version has a better functioning keyboard. I too have a touch screen laptop. It's running Kubuntu 20.04, but I may upgrade it to 20.10 if 5.21 doesn't get backported.

[claydoh]

yeah, I am waiting for it. The pre-releases did not have it, at least not enabled or automatic, on a Neon testing setup I briefly tried a week or two back.. I am hoping it does not need to be manually configured in each application's .desktop file/menu entry. it currently runs Neon User so 5.21 will be here soon.

[GreyGeek]

How will Wayland work with Nvidia chips?
I.e., IF I install the kubuntu-workspace-wayland will it bork my Nivida setup?

[claydoh]

How will Wayland work with Nvidia chips?
I.e., IF I install the kubuntu-workspace-wayland will it bork my Nivida setup?

No. Not sure how well Nvida works in Wayland currently, other than third hand, but it won't actually break anything, or prevent you from logging back in to an xorg session. Different, or some loss in functionality while in Wayland is about all people seem to experience afaik.

[GreyGeek]

I installed plasma-workspace-wayland and then logged out.
When I came back in under Wayland I noticed that the Nvidia X Server settings was no longer populated with details. All that was showing was a box with three radio buttons, formerly on the "PRIME Profiles" tab, the one on top was selected: "NVIDIA (Performance mode)"
I'd estimate that Wayland on my system running NVidia is about 1/2 as fast as before.

[claydoh]

I use an AMD card, and just logged in to my PC with wayland, and played a game via Steam. The only difference was a minor heartbeat for the game to start, my guess is the extra moment to spin up an xserver for the game window to run under (x-wayland)
That is a big improvement since I last tried this, probably over a year ago.

On my intel laptop, I really can't tell a difference, other than the much improved graphics (in Wayland) when rotating my screen. No lag or screen turning off while it switches modes like it does in xorg. This may be specific to this hardware, though.
Zero tweaks done to either system

[oshunluvr]

My laptop is an nVidia/Intel and my desktop is AMD. Should be interesting to see how it works out.

[chimak111]

Currently, there's no mention of Nvidia in https://community.kde.org/Plasma/Wayland_Showstoppers but see https://community.kde.org/Plasma/Wayland/Nvidia.