Debian KDE: Right Linux distribution for professional digital painting in 2024

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Wayland vs X11 for professional / daily use

  • Many commenters report serious gaps in Wayland for graphics professionals: tablet configuration is compositor-specific, color management and HDR protocols are still contentious, and some digital painting workflows are blocked.
  • Others say Wayland has been “amazing” for general work for years and is now usable for “most people,” especially on modern hardware and compositors.
  • Several argue that distributions made Wayland default too early; “ready” is defined by some as Mac/Windows-level transparency, which Wayland hasn’t reached for all use cases.
  • X11 is seen as “old but reliable,” with decades of accumulated functionality; some users have switched back for stability or performance.

HiDPI, scaling, and Framework laptops

  • Users struggle with fractional scaling on GNOME/Wayland: XWayland apps can look blurry at 125% scaling.
  • Workarounds include environment variables (e.g., GDK_DPI_SCALE) or switching to KDE, which is reported to handle mixed scaling and XWayland apps better.
  • Some hardware (e.g., new Framework 13 panel) aligns nicely with 200% scaling and avoids these issues.

Remote desktop, screen capture, and input

  • Wayland lacks a standard video capture/remote desktop protocol; behavior is compositor-dependent.
  • Many mainstream remote control tools (AnyDesk, TeamViewer, etc.) reportedly don’t work on Wayland, which is a blocker for tech support and screensharing.
  • Some compositors use xdg-desktop-portal and PipeWire, but compatibility is uneven.

Clipboard, security, and UX

  • Debate over Wayland’s stricter clipboard model: some like the security angle (preventing silent clipboard snooping), others find missing or inconsistent features (e.g., primary selection, password-manager autofill, copy into privilege prompts) a regression.
  • Suggestions include per-app clipboard permissions, clipboard timeouts, and “active-window-only” access.

GPU drivers, performance, and tearing

  • Nvidia on Wayland is a recurring pain point: reports of ~5 FPS on some setups, glitchy behavior on certain Macs, and people retreating to X11.
  • On X11, users mention screen tearing out of the box, especially with nouveau; fixes often require proprietary drivers and manual config flags like TearFree.

Packaging: AppImage vs Flatpak/Snap vs distro repos

  • Strong split:
    • Pro‑AppImage: “download and run” simplicity, no sandbox overhead, ideal when you want specific versions (e.g., Blender/Krita) independent of distro cadence.
    • Critics: lack of automatic updates, weak integration (desktop files, services, documentation), binary compatibility pitfalls, duplication of libraries, and security patching headaches.
  • Flatpak:
    • Fans highlight unified distribution, sandboxing, automatic updates, good integration with immutable distros (e.g., Fedora Silverblue / Steam Deck–style systems).
    • Critics dislike conflating packaging with sandboxing, large runtimes, and occasional integration issues.
  • Snap is widely disliked in this thread; some say its adoption drove them off Ubuntu.

Stable vs rolling for creative workflows

  • Complaints that Debian/Ubuntu stable often ship outdated creative tools like Krita; appimages or PPAs then become necessary.
  • Some move to Arch or Debian Testing for fresher Krita and libraries, accepting occasional breakage (notably with dev tools like PostgreSQL, Python, LaTeX).
  • Others prefer “system packages only” and value fully automated updates over chasing upstream versions.

Meta: governance, fragmentation, and backwards compatibility

  • Frustration that Wayland deliberately left many X11-era features “out of scope,” pushing responsibility onto compositors and leading to fragmentation (keyboard shortcuts, screen recording, tablet settings, accessibility).
  • Some see Wayland’s long gestation and remaining gaps (15+ years in) as a failure of design-by-committee and over‑prioritization of theoretical security/future-proofing.
  • Counterpoint: no one wants to maintain X11; work follows developer interest, and big, old infrastructure projects are hard to evolve without breaking things.