diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 4b536dba..a4f731e5 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 `EnumDisplayDevices`. This changes the value returned by `MonitorId::get_name()`.
 - On Windows added `MonitorIdExt::hmonitor` method
 - Impl `Clone` for `EventsLoopProxy`
+- `EventsLoop::get_primary_monitor()` on X11 will fallback to any available monitor if no primary is found
 
 # Version 0.8.3 (2017-10-11)
 
diff --git a/src/platform/linux/x11/monitor.rs b/src/platform/linux/x11/monitor.rs
index 76293c78..66a81bfd 100644
--- a/src/platform/linux/x11/monitor.rs
+++ b/src/platform/linux/x11/monitor.rs
@@ -75,13 +75,10 @@ pub fn get_available_monitors(x: &Arc<XConnection>) -> Vec<MonitorId> {
 
 #[inline]
 pub fn get_primary_monitor(x: &Arc<XConnection>) -> MonitorId {
-    for monitor in get_available_monitors(x) {
-        if monitor.primary {
-            return monitor.clone()
-        }
-    }
-
-    panic!("[winit] Failed to find the primary monitor")
+    get_available_monitors(x).into_iter().find(|m| m.primary)
+        // 'no primary' case is better handled picking some existing monitor
+        .or_else(|| get_available_monitors(x).into_iter().next())
+        .expect("[winit] Failed to find any x11 monitor")
 }
 
 impl MonitorId {