The topic The best Linux distro for Windows escapees will fully support Wayland is currently the subject of lively discussion — readers and analysts are keeping a close eye on developments.
This is taking place in a dynamic environment: companies’ decisions and competitors’ reactions can quickly change the picture.
Not every Linux distro takes the same stance when it comes to X11 vs. Wayland. Some support both, some are ditching X11 for the newer Wayland, and others still are sticking to the legacy option. Linux Mint has always given people the choice between the two, but the Wayland option has always been marked as “experimental” as the community irons out the bugs.
Well, it seems the experiment has finally ended. The Linux Mint team has officially announced that Wayland is becoming fully supported, although people who prefer X11 don’t have anything to worry about just yet.
Over on the Linux Mint blog, the team has posted its monthly status update to keep everyone in the loop. This month, the team announced that the next major update for the OS will finally bring Wayland out of the testing phase:
We worked really hard on Wayland and we got to the point where it feels solid and the experience is almost on par with X11. Wayland support will no longer be considered “experimental”. In the next version of Cinnamon, both X11 and Wayland will be fully supported.
It sounds like X11 support isn’t going anywhere, which is a relief. However, as people in the comments pointed out, the blog post doesn’t mention whether X11 or Wayland will become the default session for new installs. Fortunately, changing the session is as simple as going to the login screen and picking the other option, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to use your tech of choice.
Unfortunately, it’s going to be a little while yet until Wayland gets released on Linux Mint. The dev team says the next major update will arrive around Christmastime, so you’ll need to make do with the experimental version until then.