FPDB‐3 and Different Linux Distributions, X11 or Wayland Support and different desktop environment (WIP) - jejellyroll-fr/fpdb-3 GitHub Wiki

Introduction

Linux distributions use two main display protocols: X11 (also known as Xorg) and Wayland. In certain cases, like with FPDB (Free Poker Database), only X11 is supported. If your Linux distribution uses Wayland as the default protocol, you must switch to X11 to ensure FPDB functions correctly.

This wiki explains how to identify whether your distribution uses X11 or Wayland by default, and how to modify the configuration to switch from Wayland to X11 permanently if necessary.

Table of Linux Distributions and Display Protocols

Distribution	Default Protocol	Compositor / Window Manager	How to Switch from Wayland to X11	Switch to Compositor / Window Manager
Ubuntu	Wayland	GNOME	Edit the GDM3 config file (see below)	KDE, XFCE, LXQt
Fedora	Wayland	GNOME	Edit the GDM3 config file (see below)	KDE, XFCE, LXQt
Debian	X11	GNOME, KDE, XFCE	No changes needed (X11 by default)	KDE, XFCE, LXQt
Arch Linux	Wayland	GNOME, KDE	Edit GDM3 or SDDM config file (see below)	KDE, XFCE, LXQt
Pop!_OS	Wayland	GNOME	Edit the GDM3 config file (see below)	KDE, XFCE, LXQt
Manjaro	Wayland	KDE, GNOME	Edit GDM3 or SDDM config file (see below)	KDE, XFCE, LXQt
Linux Mint	X11	Cinnamon, MATE, XFCE	No changes needed (X11 by default)	KDE, XFCE, LXQt
OpenSUSE	Wayland	GNOME, KDE	Edit GDM3 or SDDM config file (see below)	KDE, XFCE, LXQt
Elementary OS	X11	Pantheon	No changes needed (X11 by default)	KDE, XFCE, LXQt
Zorin OS	Wayland	GNOME	Edit the GDM3 config file (see below)	KDE, XFCE, LXQt
Solus	X11	Budgie, GNOME, MATE	No changes needed (X11 by default)	KDE, XFCE, LXQt
Void Linux	X11	LXQt, XFCE, MATE, Cinnamon	No changes needed (X11 by default)	KDE
Gentoo	Wayland	GNOME, KDE	Edit GDM3 or SDDM config file (see below)	KDE, XFCE, LXQt
Slackware	X11	KDE, XFCE	No changes needed (X11 by default)	KDE, XFCE, LXQt
MX Linux	X11	XFCE, Fluxbox	No changes needed (X11 by default)	KDE, LXQt
Garuda Linux	Wayland	KDE, GNOME	Edit GDM3 or SDDM config file (see below)	XFCE, LXQt
Deepin	X11	Deepin	No changes needed (X11 by default)
Kali Linux	X11	GNOME, XFCE	No changes needed (X11 by default)	KDE, LXQt
CentOS Stream	Wayland	GNOME	Edit the GDM3 config file (see below)	KDE, XFCE
Red Hat Linux	Wayland	GNOME	Edit the GDM3 config file (see below)	KDE, XFCE
Parrot OS	X11	MATE, KDE, XFCE	No changes needed (X11 by default)	KDE,

Default Protocol

Default Protocol	Status
Wayland	❌
X11	✔️

Compositor / Window Manager

Compositor / Window Manager	Status
KDE	✔️
GNOME	~ Bugs
Budgie	~ Bugs
XFCE	✔️
LXQt	✔️
Cinnamon	❌
MATE
Pantheon	~ Bugs
Openbox
i3 (Tiling WM)
Awesome WM
Enlightenment
Sway (Wayland-based WM)
Fluxbox
Deepin
IceWM
JWM (Joe’s Window Manager)

How to Switch from Wayland to X11

1. GNOME

GNOME uses Wayland as the default display protocol on many distributions. To force the use of X11, you can edit the GDM3 configuration file.

Steps for GNOME:

Open a terminal and edit the configuration file /etc/gdm3/custom.conf with superuser privileges:
```
sudo nano /etc/gdm3/custom.conf
```
Find the following line:
```
#WaylandEnable=false
```
Uncomment the line (remove the # at the beginning):
```
WaylandEnable=false
```
Save the file and exit the editor (Ctrl + O to save, Ctrl + X to exit).
Restart GDM to apply the changes:
```
sudo systemctl restart gdm3
```

After this, GNOME will default to X11 at every startup.

2. KDE Plasma

In KDE Plasma, Wayland is also becoming more common as the default protocol. To force X11, you can modify the configuration of SDDM, KDE’s display manager.

Steps for KDE Plasma:

Open a terminal and edit the /etc/sddm.conf file (or create it if it doesn’t exist):
```
sudo nano /etc/sddm.conf
```
Add the following lines under the [General] section to force X11 as the default session:
```
[General]
Session=plasma.desktop
```
Then, under the [X11] section, ensure X11 is enabled:
```
[X11]
Enable=true
```
Save the file and exit the editor (Ctrl + O to save, Ctrl + X to exit).
Restart SDDM to apply the changes:
```
sudo systemctl restart sddm
```

Now, KDE Plasma will start with X11 by default.

3. Unity (Ubuntu)

In some versions of Ubuntu that use Unity, Wayland may be the default protocol. To permanently switch to X11, you can edit the GDM3 configuration file.

Steps for Unity:

Open a terminal and edit the /etc/gdm3/custom.conf file:
```
sudo nano /etc/gdm3/custom.conf
```
Uncomment the following line to disable Wayland:
```
WaylandEnable=false
```
Save and exit (Ctrl + O to save, Ctrl + X to exit).
Restart GDM3 to apply the changes:
```
sudo systemctl restart gdm3
```

4. Other Desktops (Pantheon, XFCE)

For desktop environments like Pantheon, or XFCE, X11 is typically the default protocol. No changes are needed because these environments either do not support Wayland or use it rarely.

5. Sway (Wayland Only)

Sway is a compositor built exclusively for Wayland. If you are using Sway, switching to X11 is not possible. You would need to use another window manager, like GNOME or KDE, to run X11.