Since late April, we haven’t really heard much about System76’s eagerly anticipated new desktop environment, COSMIC, which is still sitting at the Alpha 7 stage. Sure, the wait for the beta has dragged on much longer than many expected.
But while for many of us summer is a time for vacation, COSMIC’s developers have been hard at work, and now one of the core pieces of the desktop is ready: the initial setup, a big milestone on the way to the final release. With that said, let’s take a look at what it brings to the table.
Accessibility comes first. The setup enables a screen reader by default and includes a magnifier that zooms in on the cursor as it moves. High-resolution scaling is handled automatically, with options to fine-tune scaling and adjust text size incrementally.
The next screens highlight customization. Users can choose from six preset themes: “COSMIC Dark,” “COSMIC Light,” “Comet Light,” “Cream Light,” “Mocha Dark,” and “Nebula Dark.”
Additionally, panel layout customization is available, offering the option for a single or dual panel, making it easier for those familiar with Windows or macOS to adapt.
Moreover, workflow configuration is also built into the initial setup. Users can select between vertical and horizontal workspaces, choose whether windows tile or float within each workspace, and set workspaces as pinned or dynamic.
Let’s not forget to mention that tiling has been reworked with more intuitive behavior, extra grid layouts, and new keyboard shortcuts for navigation.
Finally, the setup introduces the Launcher, positioning it as a central tool for quickly accessing applications and features. Plus, users are reminded that COSMIC ships with a core suite of Rust-based applications ready for use.
With all these pieces in place, COSMIC is really starting to feel complete. At this point, it’s pretty safe to say the long-awaited first beta is just around the corner, and that release should give us a clear picture of what the final stable version will include.
Unfortunately, System76 hasn’t shared any specific details or an official timeline yet. But don’t worry—we’ll be among the first to let you know as soon as there’s news, so keep an eye out for updates.
In the meantime, if you’re eager to give COSMIC’s Initial Setup a spin, you can do so by downloading the latest stable Pop!_OS release and installing the desktop environment. Rolling-release distros offering COSMIC are also expected to update their repositories with the newest packages in the coming days.
For more information on everything in the new Initial Setup for the desktop environment, System76 has posted the full details on their X profile.
Image credits: System76
Will beta be the point where the cosmic devs want and welcome bug reports, feature requests and other issues?
I dunno if you’ve ever looked at the Git issue trackers for this project, but you’ve always been able to do this. I’ve submitted several, with each one being eventually addressed. If you submit this stuff to the Pop subreddit, which I’m assuming is what you’ve only had experience with, of course they’re not going to take you into consideration. Reddit can’t track code changes, nor issues. It’s not the place for that.