From what I saw Cosmic has a lot of potential and looks pretty sleek too, right now I’m using KDE it’s a great desktop, but now that I have a second monitor it randomly crashes on me, I think I’ll switch to Cosmic when it reaches beta.

  • atzanteol@sh.itjust.works
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    24 days ago

    I just want pop_os 24.04. I’m annoyed they’re delaying the entire release so they can add cosmic to it.

    • cybersandwich@lemmy.world
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      24 days ago

      Maybe I don’t keep my finger on the pulse of this stuff the way I should, but what’s the main benefit of 24.04? Pop updates the kernel and packages already. The main benefit we would get is newer gnome which… obviously isnt a development priority for them since it’s going away.

      What are we missing out on?

  • D_Air1@lemmy.ml
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    24 days ago

    I’m excited too and also use KDE. I’m not certain I will ever switch, but like other commenters. I am concerned with how long it may take before I consider it to be usable. Not to mention there are certain really cool features that KDE has that I would like to replicate over there before I even think of switching.

  • Fonzie!@ttrpg.network
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    24 days ago

    From a quick view, it mostly looks like ElementaryOS’s DE to me. What’s the big deal with Cosmic? I really want to know, sell it to me!

    • Mx Phibb@reddthat.com
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      24 days ago

      Are you talking why for the user, or why it was developed? The main reason it exists is that System 76 like the Gnome desktop, but didn’t like stuff Gnome was doing, so they decided to make their own version from scratch in Rust. For a user, I don’t think there’s any real compelling reason to use it, especially not right now, unless you love Rust, or have the same feelings about Gnome that S76 did.

    • pimeys@lemmy.nauk.io
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      24 days ago

      For me it is the language it’s written in: Rust. Now I can participate, fix bugs and implement new apps with the language I know the best.

      Some people might also say less crashes, less vulnerabilities and all that, but for me the first part is the most important.

        • pimeys@lemmy.nauk.io
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          24 days ago

          Yep, but QT’s object model and its being written in C++ makes it super cumbersome to use in Rust. GTK is better here due to it being written in C, but the direction it’s taking in GTK4 is not really great, and having a safe Rust UI toolkit is a huge win for the community.

          Cosmic being fully Rust means I can just take one project from them, and immediately start working on it with cargo and all the familiar tools. It’s not as easy with C or C++ projects in Gnome and KDE.

          I think it’s great we have some competition in this space, everybody wins.

          • imecth@fedia.io
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            24 days ago

            I think this rust only thing is gonna screw them on the long term. You really don’t want that for app development, it might be a good choice for low level stuff and security sensitive things like browsers; but other than that you’re severely hampering your contribution sources and increasing the development time. Color me skeptic but I see this going the same way unity did.

            • pimeys@lemmy.nauk.io
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              24 days ago

              More than C or C++? I’ve been working on very effective and performing Rust teams professionally now about a decade and I tend to disagree.

              • imecth@fedia.io
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                24 days ago

                The problems come when you don’t support anything other than rust. Higher level languages are better suited for trivial applications. Rust isn’t exactly a very popular language either so you’re not going to attract contributions from random Joe #3. Cosmic’s best hope is to attract the attention of the big players and get enterprise support, because random users just don’t give a shit about the security upsides of Rust and will judge the DE solely based on its looks and features.

                • themoken@startrek.website
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                  24 days ago

                  This is a weird take. Rust is very popular and is the current heir apparent to C for systems level stuff. It’s a great choice to start a new DE/toolkit.

                  As for the rest, you’re right the end user doesn’t care about the language their graphical app is in, but the developers fielding their bug reports and making fixes/features sure do.

    • scorp@lemmy.ml
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      24 days ago

      elementary OS doesn’t even have a functioning desktop, you can’t even puts icons or folders on it let alone rearrange them its literally a glorified wallpaper with a dock. please tell me this isn’t the case for Cosmic

      • Karmmah@lemmy.world
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        24 days ago

        I actually really like not having icons on the desktop in gnome. It always ends up a collection of random garbage anyway after some time and Icd rather have that in my home directory. Now i can just press my keyboard shortcut to hide all windows and then I have a clean screen with nothing distracting me.

        • scorp@lemmy.ml
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          24 days ago

          less functionality is bad. with a bit of gaslighting you can make anything seem like a design choice instead of admitting it’s hard to make a good and sustainable implementation for said functionality. but at least gnome has extensions and is customisable, Pantheon DE is a brick in comparison.

          • Karmmah@lemmy.world
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            24 days ago

            Depends on what you want to do I guess. I’d rather have a clean desktop that cannot accumulate clutter like in windows where applications add shortcuts to the desktop automatically which you then have to remove manually.

            • scorp@lemmy.ml
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              24 days ago

              linux doesn’t have that problem and most of the times you’re asked if you want to add a shortcut on the Desktop during the install even on Windows, i mean it’s good we have options for all the use cases and workflows by having these different Desktop Environments but i think having options within the DE itself is better for the long-term adoption but it’s harder to maintain which i understand. i like the UI getting used to me not the other way around

    • kali@fedia.io
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      23 days ago

      For me I’m interested in it for four main reasons:

      a) It’s intuitive, even if you’ve never used Linux, while also being very customisable.

      b) It’s new. The DE world at the moment is almost entirely Gnome and KDE, with some XFCE and Cinnamon. COSMIC adds to it with their own coat of paint and a very clear, professional outloom on it and clear goals.

      c) It’s in Rust. I don’t know Rust, but I know it’s loved by the community and will bring in contributors as well as the bug-related stuff at compile time which is handy.

      d) System76 needs to sell it. Normally I’m not a fan of companies being involved in my OS, but I like the way System76 does it: They make laptops that come pre-installed with Pop_OS! and then sell those, so while technically the hardware is their source of income they’ll have to improve their software in actually meaningful ways for it to be appealing to customers. One of the best and also worst things about the open source community IMO is that there’s a lot of very niche stuff- like how 7-zip supports selecting multiple items, compressing them, and then emailing the .zip all in one mouse click. Really cool for whoever wants to do that, but no one wants to do that.

      • Delusion6903@discuss.online
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        24 days ago

        Not in the long view it wouldn’t be that bad but we’ve seen other projects take so many years. Look how long it’s taken Wayland.

    • cybersandwich@lemmy.world
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      24 days ago

      It could take that long. I was wondering if Ubuntu is 24.10 /25.04, 25.10, and 26.04 if pop will align their alpha2, beta, and official release with the Ubuntu release schedule.

      I know they said something about a yearly release cadence for cosmic but I’m sure that’s once it’s officially in production.

      That said, as far as an alpha goes, it’s much more polished than a typical alpha. The path from here to beta might be faster than we think.

      Pop devs never shied away from releasing with non LTS releases though and since one of their main pain points with releases was always gnome + cosmic plugins I’m not sure how their dependency on Ubuntu releases is affected.

      I was super nervous for cosmic because I love pop. I didn’t want them to bungle it and force me to distro hop. The alpha made me way less nervous and much more excited.

      Whatever they do, whenever they release, I just hope they get it right! Small bugs are fine but major crashes would make me very sad.

    • jcarax@beehaw.org
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      24 days ago

      Hopefully they plan to stabilize what they see as core functionality, and then build out features. Some people won’t consider it ready until this or that feature is added, but many of us who just want a WM+ can start using it once it’s relatively stable.

    • UnfairUtan@lemmy.world
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      23 days ago

      Yep. I stupidly thought I could use it on my work laptop. Big nope, I had to go back after 2 hours.

      It has great potential, but it’s still far from being ready… 😔

    • slowbyrne@beehaw.org
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      23 days ago

      I’ve been using it as my main for months. Even as an Alpha, it’s very stable. That being said, it’s missing quite a few features that a lot of people would consider a requirement. So “ready” will heavily depend on your requirements

      • CrabAndBroom@lemmy.ml
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        23 days ago

        Yeah I’ve been running it in one of my little VM specimen jars for a while now and I don’t remember it crashing or doing anything weird so far. Pretty good for a first alpha!

    • retrogirl@lemmings.world
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      23 days ago

      I’m using it every day now. I have one machine installed with the 24.04 ISO and it’s working fine. There’s some TODO items to come which I understand will be added by Alpha2. With a little command line knowledge COSMIC is perfectly usable now and is stable.

      • Delusion6903@discuss.online
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        23 days ago

        I’m sure my command line game is weak. Do you have a solution for connecting to Bluetooth and for timing out to login screen and blanking it after a certain period?

        • retrogirl@lemmings.world
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          21 days ago

          Bluetooth can be managed with systemctl and bluetoothctl.

          https://www.makeuseof.com/manage-bluetooth-linux-with-bluetoothctl/

          In my experience I find just running bluetoothctl to enter the interactive mode easiest. You can enter commands without prepending bluetoothctl. You can use help at any stage. So you want to use systemctl to make sure Bluetooth is running, then enter bluetoothctl. Make sure the device is discoverable and pairing is set to on. Start your [headphones/whatever] in pairing mode and run devices. When you see the device run pair <numbers/address>. Only use the numbers. You may have to go into settings and select the device in the sound applet.

          My situation doesn’t require a logout timer, but if I’m walking away from the PC I just use the shortcut Super + ESC. Alternatively, there’s many ways you can create a basic Bash script that when invoked times down to a systemctl suspend command. Or possibly the hybrid-sleep option could do what you want. See systemctl -h for possibilities.

          Blanking the login screen is something that will be implemented shortly. Maybe I’ll work on a script for that because it annoys me too. Fortunately I rarely use it. I’ll repost if I do this.

          I really don’t think the two years people are saying in this thread is realistic. The hard work and core is written. What is there is stable. I think they will get this completed much sooner. They do have a hardware business to support after all.

  • gortbrown@lemmy.sdf.org
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    23 days ago

    I’ve been using it on my Fedora laptop for the past week or so and it’s really nice, even in alpha 1! Can’t wait to see how it turns out fully finished!

  • Caveman@lemmy.world
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    23 days ago

    It sounds great. Cosmic is off to a great start and I can’t wait to see what they come up with next.

    • ColdWater@lemmy.caOP
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      24 days ago

      Yes that is what I did with Windblows, I’m tired of removing all the adwares they bundled every updates and for the final nail in the coffin they integrated copilot with it, I had enough with Windows so I just switched to Linux instead

  • data1701d (He/Him)@startrek.website
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    24 days ago

    I can’t wait to see what they can do, considering what System76 did with just GNOME.

    I don’t think anything’s going to pry me from XFCE, though, except maybe if 4.20 hasn’t made much progress on Wayland.

  • Vincent@feddit.nl
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    24 days ago

    I’m very curious how buggy it’s going to be. (Obviously very during alpha, but I’m talking release.) They seem to be betting big on customisability, and a myriad of different setups is like a fly trap for bugs, in my experience.

    But at the same time, a modern language like Rust provides lots of help to prevent a bunch of them, and they might be very talented programmers, so who knows!

    • Overshoot2648@lemm.ee
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      24 days ago

      Honestly, I haven’t had a single bug aside from the default radio selection not being visible until you click the other option, but that is more of an ICED issue that is already being addressed. Really there are just a few power options like screen timeout and autosuspend that are missing and the UI needs a retouch, but I think its a solid base over all. It’s being led by the same developer of Redox OS so he has a lot of experience developing a modular, well performant rust system.

  • theshatterstone54@feddit.uk
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    24 days ago

    I literally had a dream about switching to it last night. But it was different, as it had the things I’m currently missing, already implemented. But then again, in my dream, It was the summer of next year (2025), it’s just that they went on a faster pace than expected and released Beta 1 instead of the Alpha 2, and that actually had Static workspaces (which is unfortunately, not a planned feature rn), as well as Sloppy Focus, which IS a planned feature and coming out with Alpha 2, the PR is even ready to merge! Ultimately, only time will tell.

  • ikidd@lemmy.world
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    24 days ago

    Well, since Cosmic isn’t going to be ready for a couple years yet, let’s try to fix your multimonitor issue. Are you running on Wayland and what’s your GPU?

      • ikidd@lemmy.world
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        24 days ago

        I’m guessing that’s the onboard AMD graphics then?

        If you do an lspci -k | grep -EA3 'VGA|3D|Display' what does it return? Are you able to find anything in dmsg (journalctl -xb-1 for previous boot log) that would give an error message to investigate?

        • ColdWater@lemmy.caOP
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          23 days ago

          here is what I got 04:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Mendocino (rev c2) Subsystem: Lenovo Device 380e Kernel driver in use: amdgpu Kernel modules: amdgpu I don’t think I understand what I’m reading but here is all the error I could find: https://rentry.org/gni28ogy

          • ikidd@lemmy.world
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            23 days ago

            Might have to get the full log, and it should be from immediately after one of those unexpected reboots. The flag b-1 indicates journalctl to export the logs from the previous boot (-1) instead of the current log. So if you do sudo journalctl -xb-1 > log.txt after one of these reboots and paste that file to look at, we might get something useful.

            I’m fairly confident that’s a problem that can be fixed with having an AMD graphics driver running. If it were nVidia, I’d be less confident.

  • overload@sopuli.xyz
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    24 days ago

    What is the big difference between Cosmic and Gnome? I know System76 are developing it so I would imagine they have a problem with Gnome and their hardware business.

    I used popOS! for a year and did get annoyed that Gnome required extensions that were not necessarily maintained in order to allow for what I considered to be basic customisation.

    On OpenSUSE Tumbleweed with KDE now, but interested to see what the philosophical difference is between Gnome and Cosmic.

    • nous@programming.dev
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      24 days ago

      There are basically two different versions of Cosmic. The current one which is basically just an extension for Gnome. This is what has shipped with PopOS and currently still done.

      But system76 had a vision for what they wanted and they did not feel building that as an extension was sustainable long term. They had a bunch of stability issues (ie gnome breaking things in newer versions they were using). So they decided to write a new desktop environment from scratch in rust that they had full control over.

      I believe that the new Cosmic sits somewhere in between KDE and Gnome in terms of customization - or at least what they are aiming for. No where near the level of settings as KDE but not trying to remove every option like Gnome.

      And being a new project written from scratch it is forward focused - and only support wayland.

      You can read more about their decisions in a recent blog post: https://blog.system76.com/post/cosmic-team-interview-byoux