Pop!_OS Cosmic Desktop

Although it's still in an alpha phase Pop!_OS's Cosmic desktop is very near time to release to beta. It seems to be stable enough to use for an average computer user. I wouldnt suggest it for a power user. I take you on a tour of what they have got finished and what they have left to do.
Its close enough that I am going to challenge myself to use it for a week during the day job. Check back on Sunday 5/03 for the results of my Cosmic challenge.
Full instructions to install it can be found:
github.com/pop-os/cosmic-epoch

[@diotitus]

I was scrubbing the timeline of your video and I think that the Pop!_OS Cosmic DE looks really nice to be honest. I can’t wait to see the reviews on it once the stable release does come out. Thanks for the first look!

[@unklebonehead]

It's almost there now. There seems to be some little small functionality and cosmetic things for them to finish up. I've been using it everyday and have only run into a couple of minor issues. Btw, that video was recorded and edited in it. Didnt have a problem.

[@timroach5898]

Ive been runing pop for over a year and love it. I also have the Cosmic installed. Cosmic updates just about everyday as they keep imporoving it and fixing it but you can run it even though its not even alpha yet.

[@unklebonehead]

I've really been enjoying it. If it's this good in pre-alpha I cant imagine how it's going to be once it's finally released.

[@fakecubed]

This DE has a lot of potential. I'll wait a couple years and then see if there's good support in the distros I'd prefer to use before I try it myself, but when it's ready, I hope it takes Linux by storm and forces everyone else to compete more.

[@Lewdiculous]

Can't wait to use the finished version in a couple years.

[@RaymondZero4]

couple of years man you're wrong they plan to deliver a finished and stable version this summer

[@Lewdiculous]

Surely. I do expect some relevant features such as a good VRR implementation and at least basic HDR support. That is looking like a bit longer for me.

[@woofwolfy]

dude?! Its me @woofwolfy on huggingface, hello

[@Lewdiculous]

:) cheers

[@trachinusdraco]

I guess I can install it on my second ssd. I use Nobara mostly. Edit: Is the variable refresh rate in the display settings. Since it turns itself ON (by some apps propably) I have to manually switch it OFF. Would be great if it's accessible in the same place I've used to in the settings panel. Also I hope distros would start adding editable gpu fan speed controls by default since most amd gpu's run too hot with default card fan speeds while gaming

[@VeitLehmann]

Great demo, thanks a lot for that! I really appreciate that you're running it on bare metal and not just a VM. How are the virtual desktops behaving with multiple monitors? Can you switch them independently or are they switching on both monitors at the same time? And if independent, does each monitor get its own virtual desktops?

[@mmstick]

The behavior is configurable, but by default each display has its own workspaces.

[@VeitLehmann]

@@mmstick Awesome, that's how it should be in my opinion (and what no DE got right until now), and even better that it's configurable! Thank you!

[@unklebonehead]

The desktops are monitor independent. Just like being on i3 or any other tiling window manager. That is absolutely awesome!

[@unklebonehead]

This is probably my absolute favorite thing about Cosmic so far. It's kicked up my productivity level at work a few notches with this feature alone.

[@willi1978]

the new cosmic desktop looks nice. At the moment i use gnome on an arch based distribution. I might switch to cosmic when it is finished and i like it better than gnome. Maybe it will even use less ressources than gnome. I intend to stay on an arch based system though, will have to support system76 in some way then

[@Whizard72]

If we're going to complain about ANY desktop environment on Linux using resources, let us not forget how much less resources they all use compared to that OTHER OS for PCs.

[@unklebonehead]

Would it surprise you that its already in the AUR? Lol.

[@Whizard72]

Furthermore, memory is cheap. Add more.

[@willi1978]

well memory should be used. i was thinking of cpu, which will drain the battery faster. but gnome and cosmic both do well in that regard

[@mmstick]

@@willi1978I've heard from a number of people, myself included, that COSMIC improved their battery life over GNOME. We haven't yet gotten to the point where we can focus on optimizations, but it should perform really well out of the box thanks to the lean code bases and Rust.

[@pablosanmartinvarela1773]

Can you set up a workspace grid?

[@unklebonehead]

Yes.

[@pablosanmartinvarela1773]

@@unklebonehead Amazing! I'll try it out then.

[@deepsender]

Does it let you move and place a Desktop icon that will stay where you put it? No it doesn't because I already asked them. Why is this so hard DE developers? Store an x and a y value. Note to Cosmic developers... a feature Cosmic needs is Desktop icons per workspace. I've never seen it, but it would be incredible. You're welcome for the idea.

[@mmstick]

This is not on a priority for Alpha 1. We need to finish the file manager and consolidate its widgets into libcosmic before we get to desktop icons.

[@deepsender]

@@mmstick Thanks mm. I look forward to you considering my feedback and ideas for Pop and Cosmic desktop environments.

[@unklebonehead]

Even though I dont use desktop icons that is a hell of a good idea!

[@guilherme5094]

It looks really good, I'm just curious about the look of KDE applications like Kate, in the current GNOME Kate has a 90s look really awful, and I'm being generous here. But I really liked everything I saw👍!

[@analistadesistemas]

😢 and the global menu???

[@unklebonehead]

I did not check that out since I tend to use the launcher. I will cover that in the follow up video in a day or two.

[@seditiouswalrus]

Pop is ok but nothing beats LMDE

[@michaelutech4786]

Looks good. But... What's the selling point of cosmic over pop-shell + gnome? It looks pretty much exactly the same as pop-shell, which for me is a good thing since that's what I'm using. I like that they're implementing it in Rust. But looking at the specs of my laptop, I'm pretty confident that I wouldn't notice the difference. However, Wayland is an issue for me. Whenever I tried Wayland over the many years, I eventually had to decide whether I want Wayland or some features or apps. Wayland never won. Not because I'm a hater, which I'm not. It's just not better than the alternatve - not for me. A text editor? Oh comeon. Nvim, Code or Emacs, that should really cover the need for any practical or ideological need for text editing. That looks like a waste of time to me. Another file manager? Why? Is Gnome, KDE, Mate, Cinnamon, XFCE, i3, awesome or anybody really dumping "their" favorite file manager? What is it? Nearly as good as X? But in Rust and on Cosmic? App store? I used that before and I just tend to trust some vendor less and less. I want to get my software from a trusted source without intermediaries and I want to know that they're up to date. App stores do not add value for me, they add volatility. Well that's me. Corporate run X: I was looking for a mix of floating and tiling WM, because I see the advantage of tiling but also am too used to floating to want to convert. Pop-shell is a great compromise. But I run it by installing it from source on Gnome on Debian. Gnome because I don't like KDE and I don't want to configure all the integrations manually. It also looks nice enough and doesn't bother me. Debian because I have to work on my computers and arch makes it harder for me. I install most of the software I'm using from asdf plugins (checking the source) or manually in my home directory, so which distro I'm using matters very little for what software I'm using. I used Ubuntu for years and definitely don't want to go back. I'm not a customer for them and they are not community for me. System 76 is better, even if they are based on Ubuntu. So I tried it and I had issues with it. I got too disappointed by trusting companies that are the good guys one day and then forget about "don't be evil" the next. If I choose to trust one, it had to be for a better reason than having access to a window decoration or a wallpaper.

[@espinita.]

>:0 HOW DARE YOU CALL IT LIKE UBUNTU >:(

[@alternatuber6698]

It would be the king if had based on KDE. Gnome-G... NO!

[@unklebonehead]

Cosmic is not based on Gnome. It is it's own thing. This is not the old Pop Cosmic bastardized Gnome desktop.

[@RenderingUser]

Best beginner distro maybe. And kde is king for power user side.

[@afkfarm7446]

not all power users customize the look of their distros.

[@RenderingUser]

@@afkfarm7446 this isnt about customisation. its about functionality and workflow. kde is a powerhouse at that

[@fakecubed]

@@RenderingUser LOL. Power users apparently like unstable systems and spending all their time customizing and dealing with bugs instead of working.

[@RenderingUser]

@@fakecubed bro im talking about KDE Plasma not Gnome take your gnome complaints elsewhere

[@fakecubed]

@@RenderingUser I'm quite aware you're talking about KDE Plasma. GNOME is perfectly stable, I can't imagine why you would think I was complaining about GNOME.

[@Aluminio_siete_tres_siete]

I heavily dislike pop_os, and their DE, is a taste thing, but man I dislike it so much. I would recommend Linux Mint any day instead.

[@bobby-and2crows]

I see you are a connoseur.

[@unklebonehead]

I like Linux Mint as well. But I'm not a fan of Cinnamon or XFCE. When I use it I usually install bspwm. or i3. But that Cosmic desktop does look very promising.

[@Aluminio_siete_tres_siete]

@@unklebonehead I always wonder why so many people dislike cinnamon, for me is just the sweetspot between kde and GNOME.

[@sergiovelasquezzeballos3855]

I hate any Debian based thing. But Cosmic is the best DE/WM so far. Even on this unstable phase, it's already my favorite on Fedora or openSuse.

[@folksurvival]

Why do you hate Debian?

[@sergiovelasquezzeballos3855]

@@folksurvival You have to wait 2 years for a kernel bigger than 4! And with other repositories like ubuntu, it is badly unreliable and still slow

[@OraOraOra]

Lol I love Debian, but I like to have a recent kernel & DE. I don't like Sid and Testing, Ubuntu would be perfect for me.. but I don't want to use Snap, so Pop!_OS is the perfect Distro I'm looking for! A Debian/Ubuntu Base without all the crap!

[@sergiovelasquezzeballos3855]

@@OraOraOra And I love Arch. Still in practice, nothing works better for my hardware than Opensuse

[@bobby-and2crows]

Dude just use mint, ubuntu based, snappy and ive never ever used a snap, dont know how they work, mint comes with flathub installed already, have spotify in their repos that you can see through a gui, and jammy is what the repo is in general. So yeah. Think about it. ​@@OraOraOra

[@pfavayi]

You take so long to come to the point we get bored..... We actually have other things to do .... make it exciting .... get to the point and then go in and out of your point ... but you have to do something happening in the first minute

[@unklebonehead]

Thank you for your feed back!

[@moukafaslouka4796]

Totally agree. We understand you love it. Just get on with it.

[@JarppaGuru]

no, bcoz it is still one of billions distros. linux should be one OS and then enviroment/themes. it all fit same install meida... would win windows, but never happen. 4% linux desktop use. what is linux desktop. its good on raspberry pi but not on pc and trust my files on it

[@MichaelWilliams-lr4mb]

Actually the XZ trojan that was recently discovered could show otherwise. Yes, it did infect many distributions, but it only activated on certain systems, and even then with certain configurations. For example, you wouldn't have been able to run it on NixOS, partly because the hack required both ssh and xz to be in certain locations, where on NixOS it's never at those locations. Now, let's say there is one Linux operating system instead of multiple distributions. Well, now you've got a case where everyone is not only infected, but that malware can activate. Yes, I know the fragmentation in Linux can be frustrating. But in the case of XZ, things could have been far worse if there was only one Linux distribution. So there's a benefit of having multiple distributions. And I get it, with all the distributions, it's a bit messy. But I don't think of Linux as the operating system anyway. I think of the distribution as the operating system. Linux is just a kernel anyway. Distributions, in my eyes, are Linux-based operating systems. Granted, there's a large degree of compatibility between the distributions, but also some differences. (Many Linux apps, as they are, won't work properly on NixOS without some modification) The XZ trojan could have been disasterous as it was if it wasn't caught early. But if it wasn't discovered early, AND we only had one Linux operating system, well we could have been in more of a world of hurt than if we had multiple Linux distributions.

[@Vancha112]

Naa the variations in distros is a good thing. Linux (operating systems built on it at least) doesn't need to "win". It's not a competition. It just needs to be useful for people. No one uses it cause they have to, they only use it cause they want to. That's worth something.

[@edwald4056]

Diversity is key to progression. Windows for example moves known limitations from one generation to another. Linux gives something for everyone.