As 2023 comes to a close, Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS, a user-friendly Ubuntu-based Linux distribution, has received important updates, significantly improving multimedia handling and graphics performance.
The most striking among these is a recently released brand-new version of PipeWire 1.0.0 – a modern multimedia framework that handles audio and video streams in Linux. It brings many novelties, which you can learn about in detail here.
In addition, WirePlumber, the session manager for PipeWire, has also been bumped to v0.4.17, and the Linux kernel received an update to the latest and most up-to-date v6.6.6.
Of course, we cannot fail to mention the inclusion of Mesa 23.3.0, which brings enhanced Vulkan support to Pop!_OS 22.04 users and updates to various graphics drivers, offering better performance and compatibility with a wide range of hardware.
Besides the updates above, the Pop!_OS developers have shared promising details about the continuous development of the COSMIC (Computer Operating System Main Interface Components) desktop environment.
COSMIC Desktop Environment Takes Shape
COSMIC is a work-in-progress desktop environment written from scratch in Rust and developed by System76 – the company behind Pop!_OS.
It’s generating considerable buzz within the open-source community due to promises to give GNOME back to users as many would like – with a persistent panel, system tray area, desktop icons, etc., giving a much more straightforward and predictable desktop experience.
Here’s what the latest updates on it include.
- Improved Window Management: Users can now easily manage windows using the mouse. Right-clicking on a window’s title bar offers options to move, resize, stack, tile, or take screenshots, along with applicable shortcuts.
- Revamped COSMIC Text Editor: The text editor now allows double-clicking to highlight a word and triple-clicking for an entire line. A new context drawer for searching projects and GIT integration for tracking changes with diffs have been added.
- Multi-Monitor Support: Users can set shortcuts to move entire workspaces to different displays. The system now intelligently determines the display output based on the positioning of connected monitors, enhancing user orientation.
- Wallpaper Settings Panel: This update fully implements custom wallpaper settings, allowing users to select colors or images and even set up wallpaper slideshows on lock and login screens.
- Multi-Window Support for libcosmic Applications: The iced toolkit’s rebase opens multiple windows of the same application, extending this capability to include libcosmic applications like the COSMIC text editor.
- Bluetooth Applet: The applet now reflects its on/off status more reliably.
- MPRIS Media Control: MPRIS now switches to the active media player when users transition between different media sources, like moving from a YouTube video to a Spotify playlist.
- High-Resolution Scrolling: COSMIC’s compositor and Smithay now support scrolling in smaller increments, enhancing precision for compatible mice.
- Single Instance Application Support: Enhanced for both the launcher and application library, ensuring that already open applications navigate to the requested page instead of opening a new window.
Although the desktop environment has been in development for a year and a half, it’s still far from offering a release for public testing. However, the expectations are that in 2024, this will happen.
You can find more information about the updates in Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS and the progress on the COSMIC desktop environment on System76’s blog post.
