[Joe_Cool]

Hard disagree. You can run the same programs on any DE or Window Manager or even without one (on pure X11 for example). That's not a hurdle it's a feature.

Users who don't know about the feature can just use a pre-configured system like Mint Cinnamon and never know about any of these things.

[andai]

Yeah I wanted to say, for people who don't care, there's Linux Mint. (I used to spend all my time tinkering with the DE, now I prefer to spend zero!)

Except even with Linux Mint you have to choose which one ;)

[iwanttocomment]

Nope.

Linux user for decades, but headless since the early aughts. Decided to dip my toes back into the desktop space with Mint Cinnamon.

I can mirror or run lots of phone apps on Windows or macOS, but ironically, not Linux. I decide to run an Android emulator so I can use some phone-only apps.

I read up on reviews, then download and install Waydroid as the top contender.

Does Waydroid work? No. It fails silently launching from the shortcut after the install. Run it from the command line, and, nope, it's a window manager issue. Mint Cinnamon uses X11, not Wayland, and Waydroid apparently needs... Wayland support.

OK, I log out, log into Mint with Wayland support, then re-launch Waydroid. My screen goes into a fugue state where it randomly alternates between black and the desktop. Try a variety of things, and I guess this is just how it is. Google and try any number of fixes, end up giving up.

Yes, that's my old pal Linux on the Desktop. Older, faster and wiser, but still flaky in precisely the same ways.

[Joe_Cool]

You can't run X11 programs on Wayland without Xwayland.

Likewise you cannot run Wayland programs on X11 without a wayland compositor like Cage (a wayland kiosk) or Weston. Both run as a window on X11 inside of which Waydroid works just fine.

It's an odd complaint that incompatible software is incompatible.

[nehal3m]

Headless daily driver? Hardcore. What do you use for a browser?

I've tried it as a challenge for a couple of days (lynx, mutt, some other TUI stuff) and it made some things like Vim stick (although that may have as much to do with that challenge as Tridactyl did). But I couldn't last longer than a week. It does free you from the burden of system requirements. CPU: Optional.

[hparadiz]

That's cause you're using a distro like mint which is using older builds of stuff.

Get yourself a most recent plasma 6 Wayland setup with pipewire for audio. It even has rdp server now.

What's most likely happening is your user space app wants the newer API but you're running old builds from two years ago.

It will continue to degrade for you unless you fully switch to a Wayland DM.

Anything built on X11 is basically deprecated now and no one is building on it anymore.

[zahlman]

> You can run the same programs on any DE or Window Manager or even without one (on pure X11 for example)

The Flatpaks I've tried don't seem to understand this, however.