System76 has released COSMIC Desktop 1.11, the latest update to its Rust-based desktop environment.
One noticeable addition is in COSMIC Settings, where users can enable or disable tap-and-drag and drag lock for touchpads. The first option allows dragging an item by double-tapping it, while the second lets users briefly lift their finger during a drag without dropping the selected item.
The release also improves GPU selection on systems with both integrated and dedicated graphics. Changes to the COSMIC App Library ensure games launch using the correct GPU, while similar fixes in the application launcher address graphics selection for other applications.
Window handling has improved as well. COSMIC’s compositor now supports the xdg-dialog-v1 protocol, ensuring modal dialogs stay visible instead of being hidden behind other windows. Another compositor fix addresses closed windows not being properly removed when no displays are connected.
There are several improvements related to on-screen keyboard functionality. The compositor includes fixes for input methods using the virtual keyboard protocol, while communication between the compositor and the on-screen keyboard has been adjusted to improve compatibility with other input methods.
On the application side, COSMIC’s launcher now handles searches more consistently, including case-insensitive queries, better matching of words inside parentheses, and improved keyword relevance. Pressing the down arrow after searching in the App Library now selects the first matching application.
COSMIC 1.11 also fixes an issue that prevented the display settings page from opening with certain monitors due to improperly handled serial numbers. Users who adjust volume using the mouse wheel or touchpad should see more reliable behavior following fixes to the desktop applets.
Other changes include fixes for the notification applet failing to start, window preview close buttons, scrollbar padding, and launcher blur regions. COSMIC Edit now supports JSON file associations, and the Settings app can replace broken startup application links, including those caused by installing applications from different sources such as Flatpak.
Finally, the update includes translation and dependency updates across multiple COSMIC projects.
For more information, see the official release notes. As usual, availability through Linux distribution repositories depends on their respective packaging schedules.
