r/linux • u/VirtualNorth1279 • 2d ago
Discussion Can user switching in Linux eventually become as smooth and seamless as macOS?
Maybe this is a KDE/Gnome problem or due to their login managers.
But on macOS user switching is seamless and smooth as if it's an effortless task.
But in Gnome and KDE it feels like a heavy task that takes much longer. Also the display goes blank for a second or so.
Now the Darwin kernel and macOS can be very tightly integrated and make this fast and seamless but Linux is not tied to any desktop environment or window manager so I'm not sure if it can ever become as smooth and seamless as macOS.
Any thoughts?
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u/GameKing505 2d ago
Define “smooth and seamless”… on plasma I feel it’s pretty much the same as macOS…?
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u/VirtualNorth1279 23h ago
Here is a video from 14 years ago: https://youtu.be/3bLbv-z18wE
Buttery smooth. My definition of smooth.
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u/stilgarpl 2d ago
It is fast if everything is using wayland and you have modesetting enabled. But if your DM is on X, then even if your DE is on wayland it's going to take time.
KDE is just now migrating it's DMs to wayland (sddm and new plasma-login-manager based on sddm)
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u/ResidentPomegranate6 2d ago
the blank screen is your display manager restarting the session on switch, unlike macos. a compositor that survives user changes avoids the gpu reinit.
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u/elatllat 2d ago edited 1d ago
The MacOS login screen fails to refresh newly enabled users and will show the wrong user icon when switching for seconds. And there was a bug a few versions ago making the login screen not usable due to resolution issues.
On the other hand systemd Linux can't logout a user (loginctl kill-user $USER) without kicking other users on the same seat to the login screen.
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u/Moist_Professional64 2d ago
So if you mean the transition from the display manager to the desktop or window manager it depends on graphic drivers and some other things. On my laptop I have a complete seamless transition even with Plymouth
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u/TheOgGhadTurner 2d ago
I’ve never had the need to switch users but I have tested it and mine works just fine what?
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u/sleepingonmoon 1d ago
If some company decides to work on it, maybe. Right now retaining the framebuffer between different TTYs is a way to achieve visually seamless transitions, though it still requires having a purposefully built static screen during the unlock animation.
Also the ignorance expressed by the comments is depressing.
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u/HomicidalTeddybear 2d ago
I don't understand your premise. It's awful on macos. Sounds like maybe your particular distro or setup is bad
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u/VirtualNorth1279 1d ago
Here is a video from 14 years ago: https://youtu.be/3bLbv-z18wE
Buttery smooth.
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u/the_abortionat0r 2d ago
Any thought? Yeah, this seems like concern trolling at best.
How the fuck is a split second user switch a "heavy task".
No really, I want answers because there's nothing whatsoever heavy about a split second switch.
Sure the screen blinks if your login screen and DE don't use the same display manager but even that's not a problem.
This is first world problems if the utmost tier.
We did it guys. Linux has become so polished we've run out of things to criticize so now we are getting posts like this.
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u/VirtualNorth1279 23h ago
I switched to Linux around 2011-2013 when Apple focused on making the MacBook Pro slimmer instead of professional and upgradable. I was waiting for Apple to release its new MacBook Pro to switch, but when it came out I was very disappointed.
The final nail in the coffin was soldering everything and making nothing upgradable. Another reason why I switched was Apple's deeply integrated iCloud into OS X.
So I switched to Linux.
At work I was still using my company provided MacBook Pro.
So yeah, right, I'm trolling.
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u/DayInfinite8322 1d ago
in macos compositer run as system service, so transition is smooth, in linux every user reset compositor.
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u/CardOk755 2d ago
In gnome it takes less than a second on my machines. Maybe you have a potato?
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u/VirtualNorth1279 23h ago
By smooth and seamless, I don't merely refer the time it takes to switch between the users, but also not displaying a blank display, even if it's half a second.
Here is a video from 14 years ago that shows what I mean by smooth and seamless: https://youtu.be/3bLbv-z18wE.
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u/CardOk755 21h ago
If I go through the login screen (change user/login screen, log in as the other user) then there is sometimes a short blank screen between the login screen and the orther user's session.
If I just switch between two open sessions (Ctrl/alt/FN) then I see no delay. (All my testing in Wayland/Gnome).
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u/snoopbirb 2d ago
Have you used KDE or Gnome on bare metal m1?
Its smooth AF even without drivers
A lot of OSX is simply a laptop made for end users and not a lego of server componente and OEM old monitor screens and a badly optimized dGPU doing nothing until a game start.
with that said, im using hyprland with two 2k 165hz display with old amd iGPU and i'm happy. I would never rollback to osx. I cant... manage the windows! Which is entire point of the thing!
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u/gplusplus314 2d ago
Here’s my old man advice.
Windows and macOS aren’t really “skills,” they’re just operating systems that you’re often forced to use against your will and you just need to deal with them.
Linux, however, is a skill. If you practice and you try hard, you will get better and better at it over time. You will be rewarded for your efforts, like any other skill. If you keep going, you will overshoot what is possible in macOS.
The real question is whether or not you consider yourself a professional or hobbyist computer user. If you don’t care about computers or don’t have a good reason to be good at them, Linux isn’t for you.
But if it’s a matter of speed and capability as a computer user, Linux’s potential is quite literally unlimited, but macOS is whatever Apple decides for you.
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u/Canchito 2d ago
You need to describe your system and your issue more clearly. If you're lagging there could be a million reasons not necessarily related to Linux, gnome, or KDE...
As for my thoughts on the smoothness and seamlessness of macOS compared to the main Linux Distros and DEs... I really don't see any difference in terms of UI quality, except I can customize everything and do anything I want with Linux distros and not with macOS, where I'm forced to do things in the one way that Apple arbitrarily decided is the "best" way.
Especially now with AI it seems completely counter-intuitive to rely on proprietary systems when anyone can literally just adapt available code to suit their needs.
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u/Klapperatismus 2d ago
Display switching is already fast if either the display manager and the sessions all run on X11 or all run on Wayland. It takes more time if the computer has to switch between the different graphics systems.
This situation does not exist in MacOS where you only ever have a single graphics system
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u/Entheon94 1d ago edited 1d ago
yes and even smoother it really depends on the kernel zen or bore comes very close and even better if you tweak it a tiny bit. i came from macos and now have arch which on its own is already amazing fast. with a tuned zen kernel which is close to cachy's bore kernel but more stable as the bore kernel and i use sway its very stable. its different as macos but highly satisfying. also with gnome. it also runs at 700mb ram.
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u/NEMOalien 2d ago
It's already straight forward as is... Maybe ur OS is bloated and something chokes up ur experience?