Linux – Use wayland in linux mint

linuxlinux-mintUbuntuwaylandxorg

Actually I use my notebook with Linux Mint 18.3 – Cinnamon 3.6.7 and my display server is X.

Unfortunately I have tearing problem with my monitor and looking for a solution I realized that the problem was X.
In fact on my same PC, using the live version of Ubuntu 17.10 (that has Wayland by default) I found out that the tearing problem was solved (as a further check I tried also Ubuntu 18.04 but it still has tearing)

Now my question is: is possible to use Wayland without installing another distro? I can use Gnome3 or any other desktop environment that support Wayland without problem.

My ideal solution is to have the possibility to switch from "X – Cinnamon session" to "Wayland – Gnome3 session" without having to reboot the PC.

Is it possible?

This is the output of inxi -Fxz

System:    Host: xxx-Lenovo-G50-80 Kernel: 4.13.0-32-generic x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 5.4.0)
           Desktop: Cinnamon 3.6.7 (Gtk 3.18.9-1ubuntu3.3)
           Distro: Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia
Machine:   System: LENOVO (portable) product: 80E5 v: Lenovo G50-80
           Mobo: LENOVO model: Lenovo G50-80 v: SDK0J40700 WIN
           Bios: LENOVO v: B0CN93WW date: 07/23/2015
CPU:       Dual core Intel Core i5-5200U (-HT-MCP-) cache: 3072 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 8779
           clock speeds: max: 2700 MHz 1: 2194 MHz 2: 2194 MHz 3: 2194 MHz
           4: 2194 MHz
Graphics:  Card-1: Intel Broadwell-U Integrated Graphics bus-ID: 00:02.0
           Card-2: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Sun XT [Radeon HD 8670A/8670M/8690M / R5 M330]
           bus-ID: 04:00.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: ati,radeon (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
           Resolution: 1920x1080@60.00hz
           GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 5500 (Broadwell GT2)
           GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 17.2.4 Direct Rendering: Yes

Best Answer

If you're looking to have the Cinnamon desktop with Wayland, I don't believe that's possible right now. Cinnamon only runs on X, but will eventually run on something else.

If you want to use Mint, try a different desktop. (MATE/XFCE/KDE) https://linuxmint.com/download.php

Also, I'm not 100% sure X is your problem. Make sure you have the right hardware drivers installed via Link: https://linuxmint-installation-guide.readthedocs.io/en/latest/drivers.html

FYI...for a notebook I would suggest XFCE. It's light and easy to use

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