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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- System76 Pop!_OS 24.04 beta is now available.
- COSMIC desktop is an out-of-this-world environment.
- You can download and install the beta now for free.
Over 10 years ago, I purchased my first System76 desktop computer. That was a Leopard Extreme, and it was magnificent. Not only was it the most powerful desktop PC I’d ever used, but it powered a new Linux distribution, Pop!_OS, which was also created by System76.
Pop!_OS was a customized take on both Ubuntu and GNOME, and I immediately took to it. Pop!_OS was fast, reliable, easy to use, and (as always) customizable.
Over the years, Pop!_OS mostly stayed the same. Each release brought a bit more polish to the OS, but there was nothing really in the way of game-changing features.
Until now.
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In 2021, System76 introduced the COSMIC desktop. I remember testing those early builds and thinking, “They’ve got a long way to go.”
COSMIC (and version 24.04 of Pop!_OS) has reached beta status, and it’s incredible. Not only is the desktop already very usable, but the fact that System76 built this new desktop from scratch, using Rust, in such a short time is impressive.
I’ve been running the beta version of Pop!_OS (with COSMIC) for a few days, and I thought I’d share my thoughts.
One small glitch for humankind…
I’m not going to lie, the upgrade from 22.04 to 24.04 beta wasn’t exactly smooth. In fact, had I not been using a System76 Thelio PC, I would have had to do a fresh installation (losing a good chunk of data in the process).
After the upgrade, I had to reboot the system. Because my hard drive is encrypted, I expected the encryption password prompt to appear. It did not. Instead, all I saw was an error pertaining to the inability to access the UUID.
Ruh. Roh.
Fortunately, this is System76 we’re dealing with here, so all I had to do was reboot and hold down the space bar. This little trick led me to the Pop!_OS rescue partition, where I could do a refresh installation.
That refresh fixed everything. Not only was I able to boot up and log in, but all of my data and customizations were still there.
Whew.
It’s all about COSMIC
Once I was able to log back into the COSMIC desktop, everything (mostly) looked exactly as the alpha version did. There were some issues I had to deal with (mostly that the upgrade stripped Pop!_OS of Snap and all of the apps I’d installed). That was an easy fix (sudo apt-get install snapd -y, followed by installing the applications that went missing).
Outside of that, everything was smooth. Actually, everything was better than smooth. I found that COSMIC was better able to theme non-system applications, which makes for a gorgeous desktop. I would go so far as to say my current COSMIC desktop is far more exciting than any I’ve ever used. The second I started working with COSMIC, I started to recall those old days of using Linux with wide-eyed excitement.
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I found myself spending more time and effort on customizing my desktop than I have in years. COSMIC felt like a brand new playground, and I had hours of recess to enjoy.
On top of that, COSMIC is fast. I’ve never seen applications open so quickly. That speed comes by way of Rust, which is an efficient and fast programming language. I can click an app launcher and before I can blink, the app is open. This goes for the new Pop Store (which replaces the old and broken Pop Shop). Click to open and BAM, there it is. As well, apps install quickly, no matter if you’re installing them via apt, Snap, or Flatpak.
COSMIC is also quite stable. Even while using the final alpha release, I found COSMIC to be impressively stable. Sure, there were a few glitches, but that’s to be expected when using alpha software. Now that COSMIC is in beta, things are even more rock solid. I’ve been using Pop!_OS 24.04 on my primary desktop PC and have had maybe a couple of instances where I had to work my way out of a jam. Every day since I first upgraded, I run the update, and the OS gets more stable.
It’s also about open-source
This is one of the beautiful things about open-source software. Updates come regularly and often, which you never find in either Windows or MacOS. Those updates often include security patches, bug fixes, and new features, and (so far) every Pop!_OS update has been an improvement.
Open-source operating systems can afford such speed of updates. This isn’t proprietary software that tends to update at a much slower pace. Open-source software has the benefit of developers from around the world working on software, which means vulnerabilities are patched faster, bug fixes are made available sooner, and new features come out more regularly.
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That’s never going to happen with MacOS or Windows, and Pop!_OS’ path from alpha to beta perfectly illustrates that.
Remember, this brand-new desktop environment was first released only a year ago, and it’s already in public beta. Not only that, but even in beta, it runs better than most operating systems I’ve used.
Should you try Pop!_OS 24.04 beta?
I’ll say this: if you can spin up a virtual machine or have a spare PC lying around, you should definitely give Pop!_OS 24.04 beta a try. Keep updating the OS, and eventually you’ll wind up with the stable release.
My guess is that as soon as you give COSMIC desktop a try, you’re going to want to make it your go-to DE.
You can download and use the Pop!_OS beta ISO for free (because it’s always free) from the official System76 site.
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