Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Sway 1.0-beta.1 release highlights

drewdevault.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 46 posts

Re: Sway 1.0-beta.1 release highlights

#21

Post by Sir_Cmpwn »

reacharavindh wrote: post #11

I'm a sysadmin who works with Linux on the servers and does not have the interest or know-how with window managers. Is there a easy way to try Sway? Like a pre-built OS distribution or VM? I'm imagining something like Debian/Fedora/Ubuntu - Sway edition.. The desktop side of Linux makes me feel like I'm lost in the city where I live. Am I missing easy instructions to try this somewhere? (No snark of any kind intended…

Sway isn't really an entry-level Linux desktop, though you're welcome to try. RebeccahBlackOS comes with it pre-installed, but it's more of a demo distro than one which is usable in the long-term.

Re: Sway 1.0-beta.1 release highlights

#22

Post by Sir_Cmpwn »

AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote: post #17
sz4kerto wrote: post #12

:( What can I do with my desktop? Replacing my nvidia card is hardly an option but I want Sway.

Unfortunately that's the world we live in. You can either keep your nvidia card and have the best hardware, or you can vote with your wallet and have a lack-luster experience. Pretty much been the story of using Linux Desktop for a long time.

Your experience is not lackluster with non-nvidia cards. These days AMD cards are competetive in both price and performance.

Re: Sway 1.0-beta.1 release highlights

#24

Post by tbrock »

The big news here is fraction scaling without hacks! The hidpi support is awesome.

You can specify a fractional scale instead of a non-fractional one for the ui and then adjusting the fonts/using xrandr.

Re: Sway 1.0-beta.1 release highlights

#25

Post by Sir_Cmpwn »

tbrock wrote: post #23
sz4kerto wrote: post #12

:( What can I do with my desktop? Replacing my nvidia card is hardly an option but I want Sway.

Can you not run sway with an Nvidia card?

There are two Linux drivers for Nvidia GPUs: proprietary (nvidia) and open source (nouveau). Only the latter is supported by sway, and it has inferior performance and doesn't support newer cards well.

Re: Sway 1.0-beta.1 release highlights

#26

Post by AnIdiotOnTheNet »

tbrock wrote: post #23
sz4kerto wrote: post #12

:( What can I do with my desktop? Replacing my nvidia card is hardly an option but I want Sway.

Can you not run sway with an Nvidia card?

You can, but only with nouveau, which performs considerably worse. This is because Sway only supports GBM and nVidia only supports EGLStreams.

Re: Sway 1.0-beta.1 release highlights

#27

Post by sz4kerto »

Sir_Cmpwn wrote: post #22
AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately that's the world we live in. You can either keep your nvidia card and have the best hardware, or you can vote with your wallet and have a lack-luster experience. Pretty much been the story of using Linux Desktop for a long time.

Your experience is not lackluster with non-nvidia cards. These days AMD cards are competetive in both price and performance.

I bought my 1080Ti two years ago and have custom watercooling on it. I can spend a lot of money now and get an AMD card that's a bit slower and consumes much more power. Sure, I should be voting with my wallet but it's not a cheap vote.

Re: Sway 1.0-beta.1 release highlights

#28

Post by sz4kerto »

Sir_Cmpwn wrote: post #14
sz4kerto wrote: post #12

:( What can I do with my desktop? Replacing my nvidia card is hardly an option but I want Sway.

You can use the nouveau driver, which is supported and works well. Or you could sell your card and get an AMD one. If not, there's nothing wrong with sticking to i3+X11 until a more convenient time.

Nouveau is useless for a card like the 1080Ti, you get 10% of the performance and much worse energy efficiency.

Yes, I also dislike nvidia but a few years ago AMD was absolutely awful under Linux.

Yeah, not much wrong with i3 but I really like what you're doing with Sway. :)

Re: Sway 1.0-beta.1 release highlights

#29

Post by Sir_Cmpwn »

sz4kerto wrote: post #28
Sir_Cmpwn wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can use the nouveau driver, which is supported and works well. Or you could sell your card and get an AMD one. If not, there's nothing wrong with sticking to i3+X11 until a more convenient time.

Nouveau is useless for a card like the 1080Ti, you get 10% of the performance and much worse energy efficiency. Yes, I also dislike nvidia but a few years ago AMD was absolutely awful under Linux. Yeah, not much wrong with i3 but I really like what you're doing with Sway. :)

What was true a few years ago has little bearing on what's true now. People buying new cards should be buying AMD. If your current circumstances don't make this possible for you, though, then there's nothing wrong with staying on X.

Re: Sway 1.0-beta.1 release highlights

#30

Post by Sir_Cmpwn »

sz4kerto wrote: post #27
Sir_Cmpwn wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your experience is not lackluster with non-nvidia cards. These days AMD cards are competetive in both price and performance.

I bought my 1080Ti two years ago and have custom watercooling on it. I can spend a lot of money now and get an AMD card that's a bit slower and consumes much more power. Sure, I should be voting with my wallet but it's not a cheap vote.

AMD cards are not slower, but they do get somewhat worse performance per watt.
Post reply on HN