System76 have recently released the first Beta of their Linux distribution Pop!_OS 21.04, which comes with their brand new COSMIC desktop environment.
To be clear, this is not some full desktop like GNOME itself or KDE. Instead, it's pretty much an enhancement to GNOME 3.38 with lots of new tweaks. The layout is quite different, with it being suitable for people who heavily rely on either mouse or keyboard for interactions. As a reminder from when COSMIC was announced, System76 said the "new designs are developed from extensive testing and user feedback since the Pop!_OS 20.04 release".
If you don't mind some placeholders and bugs, give it a whirl. From my brief time test it, I genuinely like it a lot. The flow of everything does seem to work quite well. For me, it does seem to solve some of the most annoying points of GNOME Shell with the dock and minimizing out of the box but that's a very subjective feature, I just like the more traditional feel of having both.
Really, this is System76 ensuring the tailor as much as possible to their ecosystem. System76 build laptops, desktops, a keyboard now too and the operating system all together. Going their own way with the desktop styling makes sense for them.
You can try the Beta and learn more on GitHub. Release notes are not up at time of publishing. The full release should hopefully be later this month or early next month.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
I've been wanted to try it few times, but I was repelled each time by the name, yes, I'm that shallow.
It pains me to say it, to write it or just look at it. It doesn't make any sense. What the heck were they thinking?
Luke_Nukem Jun 3, 2021
Quoting: dubigrasuI love what these guys are doing but (and I apologize in advance) I can't stand that silly stupid name.
I've been wanted to try it few times, but I was repelled each time by the name, yes, I'm that shallow.
It pains me to say it, to write it or just look at it. It doesn't make any sense. What the heck were they thinking?
Popos or cosmic?
Quoting: dubigrasuI love what these guys are doing but (and I apologize in advance) I can't stand that silly stupid name.
I've been wanted to try it few times, but I was repelled each time by the name, yes, I'm that shallow.
It pains me to say it, to write it or just look at it. It doesn't make any sense. What the heck were they thinking?
After ranting about GIMP in another thread, you'll be unsurprised to hear that I'm with you on this. I honestly wouldn't have minded just "Pop", but Pop!_OS is just crass. It's the kind of oblique techy jargon bs that puts non-techy people off trying Linux.
Googling Pop!_OS issues is fun too - google ignores the !_ and you often find references to "popos" which is an old blighty nickname for the police (apparently now popular in Hong Kong too).
So yeah. How can you take an OS seriously with a name like that?? But it's still the best experience I've had on Linux by far, so I'll endure.
Quoting: scaineI honestly wouldn't have minded just "Pop", but Pop!_OS is just crass.
They could have tried to fit a # or a smiley face in there, too. My brain just immediately replaces whatever it is with simply "Pop" anyway. Although now I'm gonna be thinking of them as the po-po.
Quoting: scaineGoogling Pop!_OS issues is fun too - google ignores the !_ and you often find references to "popos" which is an old blighty nickname for the police (apparently now popular in Hong Kong too).
"This real hip-hop
And it don't stop 'til we get the po-po off the block"
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