COSMIC (desktop environment)

COSMIC
	The first alpha release, showcasing various apps
Original author(s)	System76
Developer(s)	System76
Stable release	epoch-1.0.0-alpha.2
Repository	github.com/pop-os/cosmic-epoch
Written in	Rust
Operating system	Unix, Unix-like
Platform	Wayland
Type	Desktop environment
License	GPL-3.0-or-later
Website	system76.com/cosmic

Last updated September 28, 2024

COSMIC, originally an acronym for Computer Operating System Main Interface Components, is a free and open-source desktop environment for Linux and other Unix-like operating systems.^[3]^[4]

History

System76 stated in 2021 that it would be creating a new desktop environment that is not based on any existing desktop environment. This desktop environment would be written in Rust and developed to be similar to GNOME. System76 cites limitations with GNOME extensions, as well as disagreements with GNOME developers on the desktop experience, as reasons to build a new desktop environment.^[7]

The first alpha release, branded as "Epoch," released on August 8, 2024.^[5]

The second Epoch alpha released on September 24, 2024.^[8] It added more pages to the settings application which was unfinished in the first alpha, as well as several more features for the file manager.^[9]

Features

COSMIC is made from scratch and is not based on any existing desktop environment.^[5] It features a custom theming system, utilizes the Rust-based iced graphics toolkit, streamlined window tiling, and its own applications (a text editor, a terminal emulator, a file manager, a settings application, and an app store).^[10]

COSMIC Edit

COSMIC Edit is the built-in text editor. It supports bidirectional text, ligatures, emoji, and more. It also has programming-oriented features such as line highlighting and Git integration.^[3]

COSMIC Terminal

COSMIC Terminal is the built-in terminal emulator. It was built using the Alacritty framework and a custom renderer. It supports bidirectional text, theming, and GPU rendering. Furthermore, it also includes a feature that allows users to divide a terminal window into multiple areas.^[3]

COSMIC Files

COSMIC Files is the built-in file manager. It includes standard file manager functionality as well as keyboard shortcuts, built-in file archiving functions, and a file preview feature.^[9]

Related Research Articles

Ubuntu is a Linux distribution derived from Debian and composed mostly of free and open-source software. Ubuntu is officially released in multiple editions: Desktop, Server, and Core for Internet of things devices and robots. The operating system is developed by the British company Canonical and a community of other developers, under a meritocratic governance model. As of April 2024, the most-recent long-term support release is 24.04.

Xubuntu is a Canonical-recognized, community-maintained derivative of the Ubuntu operating system. The name Xubuntu is a portmanteau of Xfce and Ubuntu, as it uses the Xfce desktop environment, instead of Ubuntu's customized GNOME desktop.

A desktop environment is a collection of software designed to give functionality and a certain look and feel to an operating system.

Ubuntu releases are made semiannually by Canonical Ltd, its developers, using the year and month of the release as a version number. The first Ubuntu release, for example, was Ubuntu 4.10 and was released on 20 October 2004. Consequently, version numbers for future versions are provisional; if the release is delayed until a different month than planned, the version number will change accordingly.

Lubuntu is a lightweight Linux distribution based on Ubuntu that uses the LXQt desktop environment in place of GNOME. Lubuntu was originally touted as being "lighter, less resource hungry and more energy-efficient", but now aims to be "a functional yet modular distribution focused on getting out of the way and letting users use their computer".

Unity is a graphical shell for the GNOME desktop environment originally developed by Canonical Ltd. for its Ubuntu operating system. It debuted in 2010 in the netbook edition of Ubuntu 10.10 and was used until Ubuntu 17.10. Since 2017, its development was taken over by the Unity7 Maintainers (Unity7) and UBports.

Solus is an independently developed operating system for the x86-64 architecture based on the Linux kernel and a choice of Budgie, GNOME, MATE or KDE Plasma as the desktop environment. Its package manager, eopkg, is based on the PiSi package management system from Pardus Linux, and it has a semi-rolling release model, with new package updates landing in the stable repository every Friday. The developers of Solus have stated that Solus was intended exclusively for use on personal computers and will not include software that is only useful in enterprise or server environments.

System76, Inc. is an American computer manufacturer based in Denver, Colorado that sells notebook computers, desktop computers, and servers. The company utilizes free and open-source software, and offers a choice of Ubuntu or their own Ubuntu-based Linux distribution Pop!_OS as preinstalled operating systems.

Ubuntu Touch is a mobile version of the Ubuntu operating system, being developed by the UBports community. Its user interface is written in Qt, and is designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers, but the original goal of convergence was intended to bring Ubuntu Touch to laptops, desktops, IOT devices and TVs for a complete unified user experience.

elementary OS is a Linux distribution based on Ubuntu LTS. It promotes itself as a "thoughtful, capable, and ethical" replacement to macOS and Windows and has a pay-what-you-want model. The operating system, the desktop environment, and accompanying applications are developed and maintained by elementary, Inc.

Mir is a computer display server and, recently, a Wayland compositor for the Linux operating system that is under development by Canonical Ltd. It was planned to replace the currently used X Window System for Ubuntu; however, the plan changed and Mutter was adopted as part of GNOME Shell.

Ubuntu Kylin is the official Chinese version of the Ubuntu computer operating system. It is intended for desktop and laptop computers, and has been described as a "loose continuation of the Chinese Kylin OS". In 2013, Canonical Ltd. reached an agreement with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to co-create and release an Ubuntu-based operating system with features targeted at the Chinese market.

mpv is free and open-source media player software based on MPlayer, mplayer2 and FFmpeg. It runs on several operating systems, including Unix-like operating systems and Microsoft Windows, along with having an Android port called mpv-android. It is cross-platform, running on ARM, PowerPC, x86/IA-32, x86-64, and MIPS architecture.

Ubuntu GNOME is a discontinued Linux distribution, distributed as free and open-source software. It used a pure GNOME 3 desktop environment with GNOME Shell, rather than the Unity graphical shell. Starting with version 13.04 it became an official "flavour" of the Ubuntu operating system.

Ubuntu MATE is a free and open-source Linux distribution and an official derivative of Ubuntu. Its main differentiation from Ubuntu is that it uses the MATE desktop environment as its default user interface, instead of the GNOME 3 desktop environment that is the default user interface for Ubuntu.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Budgie (desktop environment)</span> Desktop environment for Unix-like operating systems

Budgie is an independent, free and open-source desktop environment for Linux and other Unix-like operating systems that targets the desktop metaphor. Budgie is developed by the Buddies of Budgie organization, which is composed of a team of contributors from Linux distributions such as Fedora, Debian, and Arch Linux. Its design emphasizes simplicity, minimalism, and elegance, while providing the means to extend or customize the desktop in various ways. Unlike desktop environments like Cinnamon, Budgie does not have a reference platform, and all distributions that ship Budgie are recommended to set defaults that best fit their desired user experience. Budgie is also shipped as a edition of certain linux distributions, such as Ubuntu Budgie.

Lumina Desktop Environment, or simply Lumina, is a plugin-based desktop environment for Unix and Unix-like operating systems. It was designed specifically as a system interface for TrueOS and systems derived from Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) in general, but it has been ported to various Linux distributions.

KaOS is a desktop Linux distribution that features the latest version of the KDE desktop environment, the LibreOffice office suite, and other popular software applications that use the Qt toolkit.

PipeWire is a server for handling audio, video streams, and hardware on Linux. It was created by Wim Taymans at Red Hat. It handles multimedia routing and pipeline processing.

Pop OS is a free and open-source Linux distribution, based on Ubuntu, and featuring a customized GNOME desktop environment known as COSMIC. The distribution is developed by American Linux computer manufacturer System76. Pop!_OS is primarily built to be bundled with the computers built by System76, but can also be downloaded and installed on most computers.

References

↑ https://github.com/pop-os/cosmic-epoch/releases/tag/epoch-1.0.0-alpha.2.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
↑ "Cosmic/LICENSE at master_jammy · pop-os/Cosmic". GitHub .
1 2 3 Rudra, Sourav (2024-04-30). "All About the Upcoming Pop!_OS COSMIC Desktop". It's FOSS News. Retrieved 2024-08-07.
↑ Larabel, Michael (2024-01-11). "System76's COSMIC Desktop Working Toward Its Alpha Release". Phoronix . Retrieved 2024-08-07.
1 2 3 Purdy, Kevin (2024-08-08). "You can kick the alpha tires on System76's Cosmic, a new Linux desktop". Ars Technica . Archived from the original on 2024-08-17. Retrieved 2024-08-09.
↑ Nestor, Marius (2024-08-08). "System76 Launches Pop!_OS 24.04 LTS with COSMIC Alpha Desktop Environment". 9to5Linux. Retrieved 2024-08-09.
↑ Sneddon, Joey (2021-11-09). "Don't Miss: System76 is Building its Own Desktop Environment". OMG Ubuntu. OHSO Media. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
↑ Larabel, Michael (2024-09-26). "System76 Releases COSMIC Alpha 2 Desktop Packages". www.phoronix.com. Archived from the original on 2024-09-27. Retrieved 2024-09-27.
1 2 Sneddon, Joey (2024-09-26). "COSMIC DE Alpha 2 Released, This is What's New". OMG! Ubuntu. Archived from the original on 2024-09-27. Retrieved 2024-09-27.
↑ Dawe, Liam (2024-08-08). "System76 desktop environment COSMIC alpha now available to try". GamingOnLinux. Archived from the original on 2024-08-08. Retrieved 2024-08-17.

External links

cosmic on GitHub

This Linux-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This free and open-source software article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[wikidata-5214839628e3217fb8ff0f4050ab46e6324ce13a-v18-1] ttps://github.com/pop-os/cosmic-epoch/releases/tag/epoch-1.0.0-alpha.2.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

[2] "Cosmic/LICENSE at master_jammy · pop-os/Cosmic". GitHub .

[:1-3] 1 2 3 Rudra, Sourav (2024-04-30). "All About the Upcoming Pop!_OS COSMIC Desktop". It's FOSS News. Retrieved 2024-08-07.

[4] Larabel, Michael (2024-01-11). "System76's COSMIC Desktop Working Toward Its Alpha Release". Phoronix . Retrieved 2024-08-07.

[:0-5] 1 2 3 Purdy, Kevin (2024-08-08). "You can kick the alpha tires on System76's Cosmic, a new Linux desktop". Ars Technica . Archived from the original on 2024-08-17. Retrieved 2024-08-09.

[6] Nestor, Marius (2024-08-08). "System76 Launches Pop!_OS 24.04 LTS with COSMIC Alpha Desktop Environment". 9to5Linux. Retrieved 2024-08-09.

[7] Sneddon, Joey (2021-11-09). "Don't Miss: System76 is Building its Own Desktop Environment". OMG Ubuntu. OHSO Media. Retrieved 10 November 2021.

[8] Larabel, Michael (2024-09-26). "System76 Releases COSMIC Alpha 2 Desktop Packages". www.phoronix.com. Archived from the original on 2024-09-27. Retrieved 2024-09-27.

[:2-9] 1 2 Sneddon, Joey (2024-09-26). "COSMIC DE Alpha 2 Released, This is What's New". OMG! Ubuntu. Archived from the original on 2024-09-27. Retrieved 2024-09-27.

[10] Dawe, Liam (2024-08-08). "System76 desktop environment COSMIC alpha now available to try". GamingOnLinux. Archived from the original on 2024-08-08. Retrieved 2024-08-17.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]