Unity8 VS Sway

Compare Unity8 VS Sway and see what are their differences

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Unity8

Mir compositor with Wayland apps support.

Sway

Sway is a drop-in replacement for the i3 window manager, but for Wayland instead of X11.

Landing page //
2023-08-18

Landing page //
2023-03-20

Unity8

Website: github.com
$ Details: -

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Sway

Website: swaywm.org
$ Details

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Unity8 features and specs

Convergence
Unity8 is designed with convergence in mind, allowing a seamless experience across multiple device types like desktops, tablets, and phones.
Modern Interface
The interface is modern and visually appealing, providing a fresh alternative to other desktop environments.
Community-Driven
As part of the UBports project, Unity8 benefits from a community-driven development approach, making it responsive to user feedback.
Customization
Users can customize the interface according to personal preferences, improving user experience and productivity.
Lightweight
Unity8 is relatively lightweight compared to other desktop environments, which can help improve system performance on older hardware.

Possible disadvantages of Unity8

Limited Software Support
Due to its niche status, Unity8 may not have as extensive software support as more mainstream environments like GNOME or KDE.
Development Pace
As a community-driven project, the pace of development can be slower compared to commercially-backed alternatives.
Stability Issues
Being under constant development, users may experience occasional stability issues or bugs.
Learning Curve
Users who are accustomed to more traditional desktop environments might face a learning curve when transitioning to Unity8.
Limited Market Adoption
Unity8 has limited adoption in the broader market, which can affect the availability of third-party applications and extensions.

Sway features and specs

Wayland Compatibility
Sway is a compositor for Wayland, providing better performance and security compared to the X11 system.
i3 Compatibility
Sway is designed to be compatible with i3 window manager configurations, making it easy for i3 users to transition.
Lightweight
Sway is known for being lightweight and efficient, using fewer system resources compared to other compositors.
Customizability
Similar to i3, Sway offers extensive customization options for users to tailor their environment.
Active Development
Sway has an active development community, ensuring regular updates, bug fixes, and new features.
Enhances Security
Being built on Wayland, Sway provides better isolation of processes, improving overall system security.

Possible disadvantages of Sway

Limited Application Support
Some applications, especially older ones, may not be fully compatible with Wayland, causing issues when running on Sway.
Steeper Learning Curve
New users, particularly those unfamiliar with i3, might find Sway's configuration and usage initially challenging.
Wayland Limitations
Wayland, while improving, still lacks some features and extensions available in X11, which might affect some workflows.
Hardware Compatibility
Wayland compositors like Sway can sometimes have issues with specific hardware, particularly older or less common configurations.
Fewer Tiling Window Manager Users
The number of users preferring tiling window managers is smaller, potentially making it harder to find community support compared to more popular desktop environments.

Analysis of Sway

Overall verdict

Sway is generally well-regarded in the Linux community, especially among users who appreciate the flexibility and speed of a tiling window manager. It effectively bridges the gap for those who want the i3 experience with Wayland's benefits.

Why this product is good

Sway is a tiling window manager that is known for its efficiency and customizability, and it is designed for use with Wayland. It offers a similar experience to the i3 window manager but for those who want to use Wayland. Sway allows users to completely configure their desktop environment and supports various i3-compatible configurations and scripts. It provides a fast, lightweight, and modern approach for users who prefer a tiling window management system.

Recommended for

Users who enjoy i3 and want to transition to Wayland.
Linux users seeking a lightweight and efficient window management experience.
Advanced users who appreciate configuration and scripting flexibility.
Those who prefer keyboard-centric navigation over a graphical interface.

Unity8 videos

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Unity8 Desktop Greeter Preview (Split Greeter)

Sway videos

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Sway beats Powerpoint for these 4 reasons (Microsoft Office 365).

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Unity8 and Sway)

Sway

Linux

11 11%

Linux

89% 89

Health And Fitness

0 0%

Health And Fitness

100% 100

Operating Systems

100 100%

Operating Systems

0% 0

Window Manager

7 7%

Window Manager

93% 93

User comments

Share your experience with using Unity8 and Sway. For example, how are they different and which one is better?

Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Unity8 and Sway

Unity8 Reviews

We have no reviews of Unity8 yet.
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Sway Reviews

Top 13 Best Tiling Window Managers For Linux In 2022

Sway is a tiling Wayland i3-compatible window manager that dynamically arranges app windows to rationally maximise desktop space. It is free, open-source, and lightweight. By default, it arranges windows in a grid and supports practically all of the i3 commands.

Source: www.hubtech.org

13 Best Tiling Window Managers for Linux

Sway is a free, open-source, and lightweight tiling Wayland i3-compatible window manager that automatically arranges app windows to logically maximize desktop space. It arranges windows into a grid by default and supports almost all the commands included in i3.

Source: www.tecmint.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Sway seems to be a lot more popular than Unity8. While we know about 53 links to Sway, we've tracked only 2 mentions of Unity8. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Unity8 mentions (2)

What happened to lomiri
Https://lomiri.com links to https://github.com/ubports/unity8 and this repository is accessible. Source: over 2 years ago
Any GNOME-like DEs without all the GNOME bs?
Unity. Yes, it's still around (now going by "unity8" and maintained and developed by UBports now instead of Canonical but it's still the same DE we all know and hate er love). Obv not my cup of tea so I'm not very knowledgeable about it so could be way off but who knows, maybe we'll get a Unity lover here and they can chime in. github. Source: over 3 years ago

Sway mentions (53)

Pomodoro Timer: Waybar and uair
I am currently using uair integrated in to my Waybar running on my sway window manager. I use it similar to the way I use watson (both as a CLI tool with Waybar integrations), so it is a good fit for me. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
"We understand" ;)
This is partially why I use tools like i3 (/ sway). I like the tool; it works extremely well for me; the design has stayed the same for 20 years; there's no profit motive to come along and fuck everything up. It just works. It is boring in the best way possible. Source: almost 2 years ago
Framework 13 with AMD Ryzen 7040 Series Makes for a Great Linux Laptop
I've tested using i3 but never fully got into it. But my plan for the F13 is to try out Hyprland[0] and perhaps Sway[1]. [0] https://hyprland.org/ [1] https://swaywm.org/. - Source: Hacker News / almost 2 years ago
Rethinking Window Management in Gnome
Sway does all those things very well: https://swaywm.org/. - Source: Hacker News / about 2 years ago
Just ran Sway on openSUSE. Complete noob. I need help.
Read the manual on https://swaywm.org/. There are tons of youtube videos showcasing basic configuration and usage. This is extremely basic stuff you need to do yourself. Source: over 2 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Unity8 and Sway, you can also consider the following products

Wayfire - Wayland compositor with 3d effects.

i3 - A dynamic tiling window manager designed for X11, inspired by wmii, and written in C.

GNOME - An easy and elegant way to use your computer, GNOME is designed to put you in control and get things done.

Hyprland - Hyprland is a dynamic tiling Wayland compositor that doesn't sacrifice on its looks. - GitHub - vaxerski/Hyprland: Hyprland is a dynamic tiling Wayland compositor that doesn't sacrifice on ...

Arcan - Game engine and multimedia framework and display server.

Openbox - Openbox is a highly configurable, next generation window manager with extensive standards support.