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Show HN: Play Pokémon to unlock your Wayland session

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Re: Show HN: Play Pokémon to unlock your Wayland session

#41

Post by Svip »

anajimi wrote: post #7
skerit wrote: post #4

Incredible that we're getting something like this before a plain good old screensaver

Thanks for your idea! I think it is totally possible to implement a screensaver with the ext-session-lock protocol. I will try to explore this idea when I have time in the next few months :)

I wish you a lot of luck; I am basically just waiting on XScreenSaver to be ported to Wayland before I move on from X11.

But jwz (XScreenSaver's creator and maintainer) doesn't give me much hope: https://www.jwz.org/blog/2025/07/xscreensaver-wayland-and-lo...

Re: Show HN: Play Pokémon to unlock your Wayland session

#42

Post by theblazehen »

Svip wrote: post #41
anajimi wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for your idea! I think it is totally possible to implement a screensaver with the ext-session-lock protocol. I will try to explore this idea when I have time in the next few months :)

I wish you a lot of luck; I am basically just waiting on XScreenSaver to be ported to Wayland before I move on from X11. But jwz (XScreenSaver's creator and maintainer) doesn't give me much hope: https://www.jwz.org/blog/2025/07/xscreensaver-wayland-and-lo...

I always love the surprise when visiting jwz's site from HN

Re: Show HN: Play Pokémon to unlock your Wayland session

#43

Post by alex-moon »

d3Xt3r wrote: post #2

Ah, goody. Looks like I found the only other Wayland user on HN. ;) You should also post here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44837981

I use Wayland! I like it a lot and I think that it's a sensible way to take window management in the 21st century. However, it's clearly not _mature_ yet (which is understandable - it's very new!). My use case specifically is a bit unusual:

1. I'm on an NVIDIA graphics card - this struggles a lot, I won't lie, and it's really odd issues which are difficult to track down. 2. I'm running Deskflow for virtual KVM - this is using literally someone's hand-rolled attempt to hack Wayland to make it work - it manages the most important element: my keyboard and mouse are shared between my Linux desktop and my MacBook - but much of the incidental functionality, most notably copy-pasting and repeating held keys, doesn't work at all. Mod keys seem a bit fucky as well.

That said, I'm committed - am excited to see the tech honed in the coming years.

Re: Show HN: Play Pokémon to unlock your Wayland session

#44

Post by alex-moon »

hollerith wrote: post #32
yjftsjthsd-h wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Wayland sessions make up 82% of all sessions with telemetry enabled . That is a significant caveat.

Do you have any reason to believe that Wayland users are more likely than X users to enable telemetry?

The reason Wayland users might be more likely to opt into telemetry is because they see Wayland as "developing" and therefore needing that user data for development purposes. I have no idea what the incidence would actually be, but there is certainly a potential selection bias in there.

Re: Show HN: Play Pokémon to unlock your Wayland session

#45

Post by anajimi »

DrewRWx wrote: post #9
anajimi wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for your idea! I think it is totally possible to implement a screensaver with the ext-session-lock protocol. I will try to explore this idea when I have time in the next few months :)

Do you have a Ko-fi? 'cause I would really enjoy that screensaver. I adore this project on its own merits too because using the memory values in an emulated game is something that has fascinated me since Twitch Plays Pokémon integrated their Twitch display!

Thank you for your kind comment! I don't have a ko-fi but I will think about creating one :)

Re: Show HN: Play Pokémon to unlock your Wayland session

#47

Post by Nursie »

theblazehen wrote: post #42
Svip wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish you a lot of luck; I am basically just waiting on XScreenSaver to be ported to Wayland before I move on from X11. But jwz (XScreenSaver's creator and maintainer) doesn't give me much hope: https://www.jwz.org/blog/2025/07/xscreensaver-wayland-and-lo...

I always love the surprise when visiting jwz's site from HN

Why ... why did I click it? LOL.

Re: Show HN: Play Pokémon to unlock your Wayland session

#48

Post by ACS_Solver »

alex-moon wrote: post #43
d3Xt3r wrote: post #2

Ah, goody. Looks like I found the only other Wayland user on HN. ;) You should also post here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44837981

I use Wayland! I like it a lot and I think that it's a sensible way to take window management in the 21st century. However, it's clearly not _mature_ yet (which is understandable - it's very new!). My use case specifically is a bit unusual: 1. I'm on an NVIDIA graphics card - this struggles a lot, I won't lie, and it's really odd issues which are difficult to track down. 2. I'm running Deskflow for virtual KVM - this…

> However, it's clearly not _mature_ yet (which is understandable - it's very new!)

I'm admittedly biased against Wayland because in my view it's been a disaster both in organization and technically, and I've had some very frustrating interactions, but even so there's no way it's accurate to describe Wayland as very new.

Wayland started development in 2008. Version 0.85 of the protocol and of Weston, which the devs called "the first real release", was in early 2012. KDE (KWin) started adding Wayland support in 2011.

Wayland development began almost exactly 17 years after Linus released the first 0.01 kernel. Next month Wayland turns 17. So Wayland has been in development now for half of Linux's entire existence, and it's still not mature. It started when iPhone 3G was a new top notch phone, the MacBook Air was just launched, 4G mobile networks were not yet commercially available, netbooks were highly popular, solid-state drives were just breaking into the market, and the term blockchain hadn't yet been invented.

You may like Wayland, but what you're saying is you're using the most common GPU vendor (yes everyone loves AMD's open approach to drivers, but there's a reason Nvidia dominates completely, and that's because AMD GPUs are not competitive) and basic functionality like copy-pasting and key repeats doesn't work for you. Yes Deskflow isn't the most standard setup but this is completely like my experience with Wayland. A 17 year old project and it only works for a certain set of typical setups with typical use cases the committee blessed.

Re: Show HN: Play Pokémon to unlock your Wayland session

#49

Post by KetoManx64 »

mappu wrote: post #21
KetoManx64 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the great strengths of Linux, and one of the things that draws new people in, is the custizability and making the system your own to whatever degree you want. That a "modern" display manager doesn't let you have a screensaver and people try to cover up for it with "you're just trying to use your system wrong. Be normal and use your system like we say is normal" is embarassing.

What modern display manager doesn't let you? In KDE the screensaver is merged into the screen locker settings, you can pick any "wallpaper plugin" which includes slideshows, video, or animation if you plug in e.g. https://store.kde.org/p/2143912 or https://store.kde.org/p/2194089

Wayland doesn't support screen savers: https://www.jwz.org/blog/2023/09/wayland-and-screen-savers/

Re: Show HN: Play Pokémon to unlock your Wayland session

#50

Post by KetoManx64 »

unclad5968 wrote: post #22
KetoManx64 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the great strengths of Linux, and one of the things that draws new people in, is the custizability and making the system your own to whatever degree you want. That a "modern" display manager doesn't let you have a screensaver and people try to cover up for it with "you're just trying to use your system wrong. Be normal and use your system like we say is normal" is embarassing.

I think that's a little dramatic. Screen savers originally served a purpose, and it's not unreasonable to be unaware that some people see them are customization. If you think it's embarrassing, you're welcome to contribute a working implementation or pay someone else to do it. Otherwise, I don't see how it's embarrassing.

I'll just keep using X/XLibre. Wayland developers are way to user hostile for it to be worth the effort.
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