Pop!_OS has a huge following and one of the reasons is its COSMIC desktop. Since I wasn’t familiar with both, I decided to take a look at COSMIC and see what all the fuss was about. Could you make me give up? my favorite Xfce?
What is COSMIC desktop?
A new twist on the Linux desktop
The COSMIC desktop is a Linux desktop developed by System76a Denver-based Linux PC maker. COSMIC is the default desktop for its flagship Pop! distribution. _OS, based on Ubuntu.
In addition to a custom desktop, COSMIC has a couple of interesting technical ideas to build on. is used Wayland, a graphical window standard that aims to replace X11 standard that has been ubiquitous on Unix-like systems and has changed little since 1987.
Another technical feat of the desktop is that it is written in Rust. Desktops and window managers have typically been written in C. Rust, like C, is a compiled language, which means that compiled programs are fast, but Rust is memory safe.. This means there should be fewer crashes due to memory errors.
COSMIC is also intended to be more secure against security breaches such as installing keyloggers. This is a feature of Wayland itself, although it has made it difficult to launch certain apps, such as screenshot tools. Some Linux users have complained on Redditstating that Wayland’s security model is “paranoid.”
COSMIC is based on the qt tool kit. The Pop!_OS desktop, like its parent Ubuntu, was originally a modified version of GNOME, but System76 decided to create its own desktop due to conflicts with GNOME’s upstream development direction.
Where can you get COSMIC?
You don’t have to use Pop!_OS
While Wayland is the default desktop for Pop!_OS, you don’t need to use Pop!_OS to get it. Can Download custom twists of Fedora with COSMIC, and install it on major distributions like Arch Linux and OpenSUSE.
The route I followed was to download a stock Pop!_OS ISO and install it on a VirtualBox virtual machine. I was able to boot into the live environment, which used COSMIC. I probably could have used that, but having never installed Pop!_OS before, I wanted to see how a typical user would experience installing and using it.
The setup was pretty good. As much as Linux distributions try to make installing Linux more user-friendly, you still need to know a little about your machine, such as how your disks are organized. This is not a Linux problem; It’s just an OS installation issue.
First impressions of COSMIC
Nice, even though the occasional panel disappears.
Using COSMIC was nice. Performance felt a little slow on my machine, but that was mainly because it was running in a virtual machine. The recommended configuration for Pop!_OS is 4GB of RAMwhich is the same as Windows 11 minimum requirements. COSMIC seemed to run better after increasing the video RAM and enabling 3D acceleration in VirtualBox.
I went with a dark theme, since the setup program seemed to indicate it as the default.
Aside from its quirks, the system looks attractive. During installation, you can choose between a Windows-like or Mac-like way to set up your desktop. I chose the latter.
The aesthetics when the system emerged were pleasing. I felt mostly comfortable. I had a strange issue where panels would occasionally disappear, requiring me to log out and back in to reset them. Since I modified the graphics settings for VirtualBox, COSMIC seems to run more reliably.
COSMIC appears keyboard-oriented, which will appeal to advanced users. Pressing the “Super” or Windows key will bring up the Launcher menu where you can search for items, such as programs.
Apps included
A custom editor, file manager, terminal, and more
Many of the apps that come with COSMIC, at least with Pop!_OS, seem standard. There is the well-known Mozilla Firefox and the productivity of LibreOffice.
There are also some custom applications, such as COSMIC Files, the file manager, and COSMIC Editor. Since I spend most of my time in Linux in the terminal, that was the first thing I tried. Like GNOME, COSMIC has developed its own applications. The terminal was attractive.
Window management
While windows are stacked by default, it is possible to tile them. You can drag a window to the side or corner of the screen to create a mosaic, and then click another window to display them side by side. This is useful if you need to work on one document while comparing it to another, such as a word processing document and a web page, or write code in an editor and have documentation for a language or library at hand.
While I’m somewhat skeptical about tiled window managers.These are cases where tiling windows are useful. You can use whatever mode makes sense for what you’re working on.
Is COSMIC for you?
Good for advanced Debian/Ubuntu users but usable for non-geeks
System76 seems to target its systems at advanced users, and the software seems to go in the same direction. I found the desk quite nice to use. This is something I could easily imagine using as a daily driver, assuming the issues with disappearing panels were resolved. It helps that you’re familiar with the broader Debian/Ubuntu ecosystem, which Pop!_OS is based on.
It’s still pretty easy for less sophisticated users to use a full desktop.
An interesting newcomer to the Linux desktop scene
Being based on some new technology in the Linux world, namely Wayland and Rust, will make COSMIC a desktop environment worth checking out, on Pop!_OS or anywhere else.
