Budgie 10.10 Arrives With Full Wayland Support
▼ Summary
– Michael Larabel is the founder and principal author of Phoronix.com, a site launched in 2004 focused on the Linux hardware experience.
– He has authored over 20,000 articles on topics including Linux hardware support, performance, and graphics drivers.
– Larabel is the lead developer of the Phoronix Test Suite, an automated benchmarking software.
– He also leads development for the related Phoromatic and OpenBenchmarking.org platforms.
– He is reachable through his personal website and social media profiles like Twitter and LinkedIn.
The latest iteration of the popular desktop environment, Budgie 10.10, has officially launched, marking a significant milestone with its comprehensive adoption of the Wayland display protocol. This release transitions the desktop from its previous reliance on X11, promising users a more modern, secure, and performant graphical foundation. The move to Wayland is the headline feature, addressing long-standing requests from the community and aligning Budgie with the future direction of Linux desktop technology.
This update brings the desktop environment to full feature parity between its X11 and Wayland sessions. Users can now expect a seamless experience on Wayland, with all core components and applets functioning correctly. The development team has dedicated considerable effort to ensure that the new session is stable and ready for daily use, ironing out compatibility issues that often accompany such a fundamental shift.
Beyond the foundational change to Wayland, Budgie 10.10 introduces several user-facing enhancements. The Raven sidebar and notification center has received attention, with improvements to its responsiveness and visual design. System tray icons now display more reliably, and notifications behave more predictably across the board. The overall theming and iconography have also been refined, offering a cleaner and more cohesive aesthetic.
Under the hood, numerous technical improvements contribute to a smoother operation. Memory usage has been optimized, and various background processes have been streamlined for better efficiency. The developers have also resolved a collection of minor bugs and glitches reported in previous versions, enhancing overall stability. These behind-the-scenes upgrades work in tandem with the new display server to deliver a noticeably more responsive desktop.
For those interested in trying Budgie 10.10, it is available through the rolling-release channels of distributions like Solus and Ubuntu Budgie. Users of these distributions will receive the update through their standard package management systems. The release solidifies Budgie’s position as a contemporary and user-friendly desktop option, combining a familiar workflow with cutting-edge technical underpinnings. Its continued evolution demonstrates a strong commitment to providing a reliable and modern computing environment for the Linux ecosystem.
(Source: Phoronix)
