[HN Gopher] OBS Studio Now Ready with Wayland Capture Support
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       OBS Studio Now Ready with Wayland Capture Support
        
       Author : infomax
       Score  : 135 points
       Date   : 2021-03-31 09:53 UTC (13 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.phoronix.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.phoronix.com)
        
       | rijoja wrote:
       | Maybe a bit off topic but what is the status of wayland capture
       | support anyway? Normally I used ffmpeg with x11 and that worked
       | great. However due to the security model of wayland this doesn't
       | seem nearly as easy to implement. I think they went with some
       | kernel level grabbing support that needed root?
        
         | TingPing wrote:
         | Capturing has been working for a while. The compositor provides
         | a stream over Pipewire.
        
       | merb wrote:
       | maybe that will help microsoft teams to implement that
       | functionality under linux.
        
         | TingPing wrote:
         | Chromium already has some Pipewire support so it will happen.
        
       | jhoechtl wrote:
       | Totally unrelated but: The day I can wireless screencast my Linux
       | Laptop to my home television I will lite a candle.
        
         | vetinari wrote:
         | If your home television supports Miracast, you can do it today:
         | https://flathub.org/apps/details/org.gnome.NetworkDisplays
        
           | chenxiaolong wrote:
           | Wow, that's pretty crazy. I didn't know Wi-Fi Direct was
           | already supported on (non-Android) Linux.
           | 
           | It doesn't seem to establish a connection properly with my
           | Intel 8265 card out of the box though. I'll have to play
           | around with it a bit more.
        
             | vetinari wrote:
             | You might be running into this: https://patchwork.ozlabs.or
             | g/project/hostap/patch/2020082506... if your distro doesn't
             | ship this patch to wpa_supplicant (AFAIK Fedora does ship
             | it).
        
         | charcircuit wrote:
         | If your TV has YouTube installed you could potentially live
         | stream your laptop.
        
         | rowanG077 wrote:
         | I do this daily and it's very easy. Just use chromecast
        
           | sc00ty wrote:
           | Can you actually cast your desktop? I was under the
           | impression you could only cast browser tabs.
        
             | rowanG077 wrote:
             | I can cast my desktop. Latency is abysmal though so no
             | gaming.
        
         | guepe wrote:
         | You can. I do it: hdmi wireless is a thing ! Just plug it. I
         | have used one with dual input and repeater (outputs what is
         | selected as input).
        
         | bdz wrote:
         | I'm doing this with Steam Link, works perfectly
        
       | halz wrote:
       | Be advised that there is still an issue in the QTWayland front
       | that makes OBS in Wayland rather unpleasant in practice;
       | https://bugreports.qt.io/browse/QTBUG-81504 (via
       | https://github.com/obsproject/obs-studio/issues/4295)
        
       | phone8675309 wrote:
       | What's up with the recent Flatpack/Snap fetish? Doesn't anybody
       | just get their software into a distro anymore?
       | 
       | Edit: EFF's recommendation for certbot, their ACME/LetsEncrypt
       | client, is to use snap on a freaking server. Why?
        
         | thecureforzits wrote:
         | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PmHRSeA2c8&t=3414s
        
         | marcodiego wrote:
         | There is a recent version of gimp on flathub. Available for
         | arm, arm64, x86_64 and, sometime ago also, x86. I tried on my
         | raspi2 (old raspbian version), my rock-pi4 (armbian, arm64), my
         | raspi 3 (raspbian), an old 32 bits x86 and 3 x86_64 (different
         | ubuntu versions each). A single command, 4 different archs, 7
         | different machines, 7 different distros, the same gimp version
         | all working. This was simply not possible before.
        
         | jcelerier wrote:
         | Which distro can I use right now except maybe ArchLinux if I
         | want the latest OBS ? Like, right now ?
        
           | Cu3PO42 wrote:
           | If you go to the OBS Installation page [1], they list a
           | number of repositories for various distros. They seem to
           | maintain their own for Ubuntu, which appears to contain the
           | latest version and the repository for openSUSE Tumbleweed
           | does as well, although it does not appear to be maintained by
           | the OBS Project.
           | 
           | If you refer to the features described here, they might not
           | be in any release yet and you might need to build from
           | source.
           | 
           | [1] https://obsproject.com/wiki/install-instructions#linux
        
             | marcodiego wrote:
             | Installing a bunch a different repositories for every new
             | version of a software you want is a risky recipe to get a
             | system that will break something on upgrade or that you get
             | barred from upgrade because of some packages or can't
             | upgrade some packages... things like these.
             | 
             | On the other hand, even with ubuntu 16.04 (supported until
             | recently) you can easily get the latest version through
             | flatpak.
        
               | Cu3PO42 wrote:
               | I don't personally take issue with Flatpak (though I
               | don't really like Snap), in fact I would likely publish
               | my own applications as Flatpak if I needed to, I just
               | wanted to answer the question of the grand parent.
               | 
               | I can't really speak for the Ubuntu PPA, but the openSUSE
               | repository is the big third party software repository
               | that almost everyone uses anyway. I'm not sure if it's
               | quite accurate to call it the equivalent of the AUR, but
               | it should be similarly widespread.
        
               | freeone3000 wrote:
               | How does flatpack solve these issues in a way a PPA
               | doesn't?
        
               | marcodiego wrote:
               | PPA is still distro-specific and distro-version-specific.
        
           | phone8675309 wrote:
           | Debian unstable is another one
        
         | edent wrote:
         | For me, Flatpaks are much more convenient. They contain all
         | their dependencies, so I never get stuck apt-get'ing a bunch of
         | random libraries. They're usually updated by the publisher,
         | rather than waiting for a distro.
         | 
         | I had lots of problems with snaps - slow loading times,
         | mismatched styles, breaking with no decent error messages.
        
       | gpm wrote:
       | If I'm reading this right they support gnome, kde, and wlroots
       | compositors, by sharing the protocols meant for screen sharing.
       | Also they don't support capturing xwayland clients.
        
       | jjice wrote:
       | When I made the jul over to full time Linux last February,this is
       | something iran into and was confused about. Wayland was the
       | default on Ubuntu, and it worked great! Except for a lot of
       | applications that just wouldn't load... After some reading, I
       | moved to X, but I can't wait for the day Wayland is ready to go.
       | 
       | Will there ever be a good way to run things like dmenu on
       | Wayland? I'm still a novice, but will all X programs need to be
       | converted?
        
         | ubavic wrote:
         | > Will there ever be a good way to run things like dmenu on
         | Wayland?
         | 
         | I use the wofi which is the rofi replacement. Page 'i3
         | Migration Guide' [1] from the Sway wiki lists some dmenu
         | replacements (bemenu, fuzzel, gmenu, wldash)
         | 
         | [1] https://github.com/swaywm/sway/wiki/i3-Migration-Guide
        
         | sprash wrote:
         | > I'm still a novice, but will all X programs need to be
         | converted?
         | 
         | No. Because Wayland is fundamentally different from X the
         | following won't ever work:
         | 
         | * Window managers
         | 
         | * Programs that need to know their absolute window coordinates
         | 
         | * Windows that want to draw to the root window
         | 
         | * Programs that want to capture the screen via XGetImage()
        
           | anoncake wrote:
           | > * Programs that need to know their absolute window
           | coordinates
           | 
           | > * Windows that want to draw to the root window
           | 
           | Gnome certainly won't support it, but in principle a
           | compositor could expose that functionality.
           | 
           | > * Programs that want to capture the screen via XGetImage()
           | 
           | Yeah, doing anything via XAnything() only works on X. So you
           | replace XAnything() by somethingElse().
        
         | matthiasv wrote:
         | With XWayland there is no urgent need for conversion. And "a
         | lot of applications that just wouldn't load" sounds pretty
         | fishy to begin with.
        
           | moistbar wrote:
           | Old drivers have issues with XWayland. There's nothing fishy
           | about that statement whatsoever. Hell, NVidia only JUST got
           | XWayland working, though that's probably more an issue of
           | corporate stubbornness.
        
             | CountSessine wrote:
             | I think NVidia have every incentive to oppose Wayland. The
             | graphics and post-production studio market mostly uses
             | NVidia Quadro cards on linux workstations. They choose
             | NVidia because only NVidia has a fast, stable, minimal-
             | artifact implementation of X11. Being able to code drivers
             | for X11's crazy architecture is actually a competitive
             | advantage.
        
       | yxhuvud wrote:
       | Nice. I suppose mounting the output as a virtual camera isn't
       | supported yet?
        
         | makeworld wrote:
         | Should work fine, I've done it recently. Just make sure you
         | have the latest version, and the v4l2loopback kernel module
         | installed.
         | 
         | https://jonathanbossenger.com/obs-studio-linux-virtual-camer...
        
         | detaro wrote:
         | What do you mean exactly? OBS can create a fake webcam, and I
         | don't see why that would be related to wayland.
        
           | spicybright wrote:
           | In windows yes, I've never had luck under linux myself.
        
             | cbanek wrote:
             | I use the virtual camera on linux daily. No problem. But I
             | had to install later packages that weren't on apt.
        
             | detaro wrote:
             | hm, I've used it using v4l2loopback and while finding the
             | right parameters was a bit fiddly it then worked fine.
        
             | ptheywood wrote:
             | It's built into 26.1 rather than requiring the plugin
             | (which I could never get to work for me under linux),
             | although if installed via snap you have to enable
             | v4l2loopback manually
        
       | roel_v wrote:
       | Now all that is left is virtual audio output...
        
       | infomax wrote:
       | Support for Wayland is getting up there. Just five days ago the
       | bounty to support Wayland in Barrier was funded [1]
       | 
       | [1]
       | https://github.com/debauchee/barrier/issues/109#issuecomment...
        
         | sprash wrote:
         | > Support for Wayland is getting up there.
         | 
         | After almost 13 years of development the progress is rather
         | embarrassing.
        
           | yobert wrote:
           | It's a hard problem to solve. Wouldn't you agree?
        
             | sprash wrote:
             | Taking screenshots/streaming is not a hard problem. However
             | Wayland artificially turns something as simple as taking a
             | screenshot into a hard problem what was before a simple
             | function call to XGetImage(). As exercise I recommend to
             | implement a native screenshot application in both X11 and
             | Wayland.
        
               | marcodiego wrote:
               | I think you're completely ignoring the security
               | implications of "a simple function call to XGetImage()".
        
               | sprash wrote:
               | What are the security implications? Programs that call
               | XGetImage() when sandboxed in a Xpra/Xephyr session will
               | get back nothing.
        
               | marcodiego wrote:
               | Will get nothing... that means the screenshot won't be
               | taken.
        
       | jancsika wrote:
       | Are there people on here who regularly scrape HN posts for data?
       | 
       | Because I'd love a list of user handles of people who-- before
       | this day-- have written variations of, "Wayland-based systems
       | have been totally ready for use for years now." And maybe a
       | browser extension that greys out comments from those handles.
        
         | tinus_hn wrote:
         | Or the 'Just rewrite it in Rust!' clan
        
         | passerby1 wrote:
         | Nice idea, gonna use it too
        
       | mariusor wrote:
       | I think the original blog post from the developer is a better
       | link: https://feaneron.com/2021/03/30/obs-studio-on-wayland/
       | 
       | Michael added zero extra information on top of that.
        
         | benatkin wrote:
         | I appreciate the summary. Also there's a clear link in the
         | summary to the developer's much longer post.
        
           | mariusor wrote:
           | There's also countless links to ads. I feel like a three
           | paragraph summary that offers you no real information over
           | the title, does not warrant the visit to Phoronix.
        
             | benatkin wrote:
             | It's not so bad. It takes less than 30% of the screen.
             | Running a site like Phoronix takes time and the author
             | deserves compensation for it.
        
       | marcodiego wrote:
       | This is very good. Not only because it illustrates the maturity
       | of wayland, this is been done using pipewire. The last remaining
       | pieces of the puzzle are finally being placed. A modern linux
       | distro will give you on the desktop a good oomd, good video
       | drivers, pipewire, wayland, GTK 4, GNOME 40, a modern kernel,
       | compiler, dev-tools... and modern cross distro software through
       | flatpak/snap/appimage. There are still things to improve and fix,
       | but the desktop has never been so promising.
       | 
       | The sad thing: I've been hearing/saying basically this for
       | decades.
        
         | m45t3r wrote:
         | Well, there is another reason for optimism: Wayland is
         | supported in ChromeOS and WSL2, and it seems to be the base for
         | any modern integration with other operational systems (macOS
         | ARM maybe?).
         | 
         | > The sad thing: I've been hearing/saying basically this for
         | decades.
         | 
         | I don't think Linux distros will ever be popular compared to
         | the commercial OSes, since for one thing to be popular nowadays
         | you need to invest money in many things like branding and
         | marketing so something is mainstream.
         | 
         | But looking in another way, in the past I would say that
         | desktop Linux was dying, and nowadays it is more live than
         | ever, so this is something.
        
           | marcodiego wrote:
           | Actually I deeply envy windows users. They can enter a
           | computer store and basically choose any hardware with the
           | certainty that it will very likely work on their computer;
           | then can sign any on-line service with the same certainty,
           | they can use almost any recently released professional
           | software with the same certainty...
           | 
           | Linux on the desktop is MUCH better now, it is improving but
           | still no there yet. And I've been saying this very same
           | phrase for decades now.
           | 
           | I don't care about a significant fraction of the desktop, but
           | I'd love to enter a computer store and choose a hardware
           | without severely limiting my choices.
        
         | sprash wrote:
         | > I've been hearing/saying basically this for decades.
         | 
         | After almost 13 years of development Wayland gains a (de-facto
         | not even standardized) way to something as simple as taking
         | screenshots / streaming. This is not "very good".
        
           | marcodiego wrote:
           | Considering the alternative is not having the feature... I'd
           | say this is very good.
           | 
           | Of course, we have to consider that wayland is basically a
           | re-thought for a substitute of a system that exists and
           | evolves since early 80's... It is acceptable that it takes
           | long. If such wait is needed to get something better than
           | what we had and fix antique design limitations, I have no
           | problem waiting for it.
        
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       (page generated 2021-03-31 23:03 UTC)