LXQt packs Wayland punch with 2.1 release

LXQt 2.1 is the latest release of the lightweight Qt-based desktop used in Lubuntu – but this version has a significant edge over its rivals. LXQt version 2.1 appeared last week, and this version has preliminary support for the Wayland display protocol. Although there are dozens of Linux desktops out there, very few of them …

[Yankee Doodle Doofus]

Re: Third or Fourth?

Liam is talking about desktop environments, not distributions, and in this context he is absolutely correct. Those major distros you mention all use GNOME or KDE Plasma as the desktop environment.

[bombastic bob]

Re: Third or Fourth?

defaulting to wayland is both IRRITATING *AND* unnecessary.. When you do embedded development it needs to be X11.

export DISPLAY=linux-workstation:0.0 <-- it's how work gets done

[Yankee Doodle Doofus]

Re: Third or Fourth?

< "When you do embedded development..."

When you do embedded development, I assume you have the knowledge and skills to realize you need to switch to X11 and easily do so. What percentage of desktop computer users do you think are doing what you're doing? This feels a bit like a left-handed person complaining that the buttons on a mouse default to right-handed.

[Yankee Doodle Doofus]

COSMIC

"...this version has preliminary support for the Wayland display protocol. Although there are dozens of Linux desktops out there, very few of them support the new replacement for X.org. Depending on how you count, LXQt is only the third or fourth."

It shouldn't be long before we can add another to the list. I think it was another one of your articles that convinced me to give the alpha 1 version of System76's COSMIC DE a spin. COSMIC is Wayland only, and I am now daily driving it on multiple machines (in Arch and Pop!OS), and I have updated from Alpha 1 to Alpha 2 to Alpha 3. It is already in very good shape. Alpha 4 is due in late November, and Alpha 5 in late December. If all goes well, the beta should release in late January, followed by the first official release a month or two after that.

I can't remember the last time I was this excited about a new DE. The alpha is already available for use in multiple distributions, though unfortunately not Debian, yet. I am hoping the official release is done in time to include in the repositories for the next stable version of Debian, but I won't hold my breath.

[Yankee Doodle Doofus]

Re: COSMIC

A link for those who want to learn more, or even try it out:

https://system76.com/cosmic/

[Liam Proven]

Re: COSMIC

I wrote about alpha 1 a couple of months ago...

https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/12/pop_os_2404_cosmic_desktop/

[Yankee Doodle Doofus]

Re: COSMIC

Yes, I thought that was your article, I was just too lazy to go back and look for it. As I mentioned above, that article is what convinced me to try it, rather than wait for the official release. So, thank you, Liam!

[Liam Proven]

Re: COSMIC

> I was just too lazy to go back and look for it

:-D

Fair enough. I only skimmed your comment so I am sorry for the patronising response. My bad.

There was a talk and demo of Cosmic at the Ubuntu Summit. It was impressive, but once again, as so often, I came away feeling that these folks don't really know how to use menus, or how to drive their computers with the keyboard.

I haven't decided to write about it or not because the trivial levels of customisation they have do nothing for me personally.

OTOH, the environment does increasingly look like "GNOME Shell, but done _right_." In compiled native code, not Javascript; user-customizable; modular; adaptable. All the things GNOME 3+ is not.

In other words: I like it and I admire what they're doing, but at the same time, I think it's not for me.

Saying that, while I preferred LXDE to LXQt and I prefer Xfce to LXDE, I would rather use LXQt than Cosmic.

[Yankee Doodle Doofus]

Re: COSMIC

I'll admit I don't use keyboard shortcuts as much as I should, for a guy who grew up with a Commodore and then moved on to MS-DOS before ever having an OS with a GUI. I do use them to some extent, though, and appreciate how in the right environment, a person can be more efficient while rarely touching the mouse. I've seen others using pure tiling window managers in videos online and was amazed by them. I even installed a few myself to try them, but configuring them and then learning a whole new workflow is a bit daunting for a middle-aged guy, so I've stuck with desktop environments.

I love the look of GNOME, but find it unusable without a handful of extensions. I appreciate the customization options in Plasma, but it just feels like too much. Cinnamon is great for a laptop, but it's got some quirks that make me like it less on a setup with two or three displays. MATE is not my cup of tea, but I could use it if I needed to. I use LXQt on one ancient laptop which has a CPU that can't even handle Cinnamon, and it performs well in that role. It's been a few years since I tried Xfce, I should probably play with it again.

Basically, I have hopped between DEs a decent amount in Linux, and COSMIC seems designed with me in mind. The auto-tiling mixed with a modern DE is well implemented, and seems to give me the best of both worlds. There are a few bugs that irritate me, but the developers are aware of them, so I am hopeful they will be dealt with before the full release. The fact that I'm able to daily drive alpha software with only a few annoyances is impressive. I like it so much that I feel I should support System76 somehow, but I build my own workstations, and I won't be in the market for a laptop anytime soon. All I currently have to offer them is singing the praises of COSMIC in online forums :-D

[jaypyahoo]

Soon in NetBSD via pkgsrc -> LXQt-2.1.0

[Zolko]

comparison with KDE

I had tried LxQt quite some time ago, and I really wanted to like it, but I didn't understand the difference with KDE. Especially when using Kwin. What's the point ? How low ressources does it use, when compared to KDE ? In my experience, RAM usage was similar to KDE, some important vital components were missing (Kmail, Dolphin ...) and I had to install nearly all of KDE.

So if one wants a full DE (with mail, file manager, dock ...) how do LxQt and KDE compare ? Performance, RAM usage ...

[Yankee Doodle Doofus]

Re: comparison with KDE

In my experience, RAM usage is not the main reason to go for something like LXQt, it's a weak CPU. I have an old laptop that was bottom-of-the-line when it was new. I forget exactly what Intel processor it has, but it has only 2 cores, no hyperthreading. KDE Plasma would be painfully slow on this machine, but LXQt feels OK.

[Adam Trickett]

Re: comparison with KDE

I mostly use KDE, but on lower spec systems I use LXQt, They share a lot of similar things and mostly work the same kind of way. LXQt isn't "KDE lite", but I use it that way. I've found that where KDE would be way to slow LXQt is acceptable.

At the end of the day nothing will make a slow CPU fast, or not enough RAM adequate. I max out the RAM where I can, but I can't make an old CPU go any faster, or speed up cheap/old graphic systems, and I'm not installing SSDs in some boxes it's just not worth it.

Older kit may be unusable with a full fat GUI but can still be used perfectly fine with LXQt.