These past few years, System76 has been busy readying up COSMIC, their Rust-based desktop environment for Pop!_OS. We first took a look at it back in 2022, and since then, a lot has happened with the development progress!
Many users admire the approach System76 takes for implementing user-friendly features in Pop!_OS, such as window tiling. The introduction of a new desktop environment allows them to do more such things in a better way.
Moreover, we already knew that COSMIC was coming with some big changes, and there were talks of a COSMIC Fedora spin too. But, finally, we are now closer to an Alpha release of COSMIC Desktop.
So, let's see what you can look forward to with COSMIC.
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The screenshots and features mentioned in this article are subject to change, as they were sourced from the pre-alpha builds of COSMIC. We will update the article when the Alpha build releases.
COSMIC: Worth the Wait?
Credit: Pop!_OS
Even though COSMIC is Wayland-only, it has support for X11 apps via XWayland, so you don't need to worry about your beloved apps not working properly.
Moving on to the things that make it worth the wait. Here are the key features of COSMIC:
App Theming
COSMIC Files
COSMIC Edit
COSMIC Terminal
COSMIC App Store
COSMIC Screenshot Tool
Modern Lock/Login Screen
Advanced Window Management
App Theming
Credit: Pop!_OS
COSMIC features theming support for GTK 3/4 and Flatpak applications, with custom themes also being applied to GTK apps if a global theme is enabled. There is also the possibility of adding custom icon themes for both COSMIC and GTK applications.
Seeing as we are on the topic of applications, COSMIC ships with many Rust-based native applications that were specifically designed to gel in well with the desktop environment, while also keeping accessibility in mind.
COSMIC Files
Credit: Pop!_OS
No, it is not the nautilus file manager. It is the COSMIC Files, which isamong the newest additions. At the time of writing, I could not find a final feature-set for the file manager, but hopefully, I update this article with additional information when the alpha is released.
Of course, you see a resemblance, making sure that you can navigate your files/folders in a way that you already know.
COSMIC Edit
Credit: Pop!_OS
Then comes COSMIC Edit, which is a lightweight text editor that has support for bidirectional text (read left-to-right/right-to-left), ligatures, emojis, and more.
It also comes with additional features like Vim-style editing, Git integration, the ability to search for projects, showing the word count, and even highlighting the current line.
I do not think we needed a COSMIC-specific text editor, but if it justifies its existence, many users looking for a lightweight and powerful editor would be happy.
COSMIC Terminal
Credit: Pop!_OS
As the name suggests, COSMIC Terminal is the terminal emulator for COSMIC, which was built using the alacritty_terminal framework, and a custom renderer based on COSMIC Text.
It has some really neat features, such as support for both LTR and RTL text, desktop themes, syntax themes, GPU rendering, etc.
There is also something called splits, which allows the terminal window to be divided vertically, providing access to two working areas, with the option to have multiple splits.
COSMIC App Store
Credit: Pop!_OS
Following that, there's the COSMIC app store, which feels modern and has a familiar layout with apps arranged neatly under categories. Plus, there is also a handy “Updates” tab that notifies you when there's a new app or system upgrade.
COSMIC Screenshot Tool
Credit: Pop!_OS
COSMIC also features a native screenshot tool that allows you to take screenshots of the whole screen, a specific application, or a selected area. You might find it a bit similar to the one GNOME has, but with a few more options.
Modern Lock/Login Screen
Credit: Pop!_OS
The log-in experience on COSMIC is set to be something unique. As you can see from the early design mockup above, the login/lock screen takes a mobile approach, displaying information, and providing access to them in an organized space, instead of having things all around the screen.
Advanced Window Management
Credit: Pop!_OS
While Pop!_OS already had the best implementation for window tiling out of the box, COSMIC makes it simpler by giving more control to it.
The ability to tweak the workspace behavior with a quick selection, and other usual keyboard shortcuts that we are familiar with on Pop!_OS.
Credit: Pop!_OS
The new tiling applet that can be used to tweak the window tiling behavior, with options to enable auto-tiling of windows and further sub-options to toggle auto-tiling per workspace and to change its new workspace behavior.
Credit: Pop!_OS
You also get more options to manage windows; just right-click on the header (top part) of a window, and you will get options such as move, resize, maximize, float, take screenshot, etc.
When is the Release Date?
COSMIC desktop has debuted with Pop!_OS 24.04 LTS Alpha release. It is an unstable release with missing features. But, you can experiment with it if you like.
You can also install it on other distro following the official instructions in their download page.
