Yserver: A modern X11 server written in Rust

A developer has unveiled yserver, a brand-new display server for Linux written in Rust, aiming to run real desktop setups like MATE, XFCE, and Cinnamon while ditching what the creator sees as ancient clutter. In plain English: it’s an attempt to rebuild a huge piece of old Linux desktop plumbing so it works on modern machines without dragging every 1980s-era feature along for the ride. It already works on AMD, Intel, Apple Silicon via Asahi Linux, and some Qualcomm hardware — but absolutely not with Nvidia’s proprietary driver, a detail that practically came with its own siren sound.

But the real show was in the comments, where the crowd split into camps immediately. One side was impressed that this thing already runs full desktop environments and real window managers, calling that genuinely cool. Another side basically yelled, “Why are we doing this at all?” with one blunt commenter declaring it was time to let X11 die and dismissing the project as “slop.” Ouch. Then came the classic Linux desktop culture war: if the newer Wayland system still doesn’t handle “use your computer over the network” well, is reviving old ideas actually smart instead of nostalgic?

There was also a mini-drama over trust. One commenter said projects now need to say how much AI was used, otherwise people assume it’s machine-made mush by default. Even the quieter questions had spice, like someone politely asking why “multiple screens” was called legacy baggage when everyone has two monitors now. So yes, the software is impressive — but the comments turned it into a referendum on nostalgia, remote desktop pain, Nvidia misery, and whether every new code project must now survive the AI slop allegations first.