In January, we set a goal to release the COSMIC alpha at the end of the first quarter. COSMIC application development had just started around that time; the initial plan was to release the alpha with the same GNOME apps found in the current Pop!_OS 22.04 and roll out COSMIC apps as they were completed.

Well…exciting news! COSMIC application development has gone much faster and smoother than anticipated. We’ve nearly completed Terminal and Edit (text editor), and have made significant progress on Files and the Application Store.

COSMIC apps showcase what’s possible with the libcosmic widget library, the iced toolkit, and the COSMIC theming system. They also help demonstrate the long-term vision for the platform. With how far they’ve come, we’ve decided to delay the alpha release until the core apps reach MVP (Minimum Viable Product) so that they may be included with the initial ISO. This puts us somewhere around late May for the alpha. However, this does not change our overall timeline! The completed release is still expected later this year along with Pop!_OS 24.04.

What Does an Alpha Release Mean?

During alpha release development, features are created and released with only engineering sign-off. In the interest of rapid iteration between teams, QA and design review is completed after code release. This means breakage is expected. It’s a feature of moving fast.

COSMIC will have at least two alpha releases. After the first beta, features and major bugs are considered resolved and new code requires engineering, QA, and sometimes design sign-off before release.

Finished Items

Hybrid Graphics

There are some potential performance improvements still to come, but hybrid graphics is now alpha-ready!

COSMIC works with graphics drivers to provide greater control, predictability, and performance with hybrid graphics. Thanks to improvements in graphics drivers over the years, hybrid graphics mode now has minimal impact on battery life when the GPU is not in use. Wayland and cosmic-comp, meanwhile, give us more control over what causes the GPU to turn on. When COSMIC users wish to save laptop battery, the Battery applet will tell them when the GPU is being used, and which apps are using it. Closing those apps will turn off the GPU.

Minimize and Restore

Functionality has been implemented to minimize and restore windows. Minimized windows appear in a specialized Minimize Windows applet that will be on the dock by default, but can also be added to the panel. When apps are minimized, they’ll animate to the Minimize Windows applet and show a small preview where they can be restored from. 

New Wallpapers

The initial nine of our set of new wallpapers have been chosen! We’ll showcase these in a separate blog post down the line.

Tiling Applet

The tiling applet has been implemented. Here, users can view tiling shortcuts, show or hide the active hint, toggle between tiled or floating windows, as well as tile windows per workspace — meaning you can take advantage of both tiled and floating workspaces in the same session.

Input Devices Settings

Input settings panel and functionality have been implemented. The updated panel shows the latest stylings used, as well as features like tap-to-click, edge scrolling, and toggling touchpad acceleration. Keyboard settings such as Input Source and shortcuts are being implemented.

Final Stretch

COSMIC Terminal

Remaining items for COSMIC Terminal’s alpha release include support for dragging and dropping file paths into the terminal, as well as confirmation dialogue if the user attempts to close the terminal while a process is running.

COSMIC Edit

To finish up COSMIC’s text editor, we’re in the process of adding spell check, the ability to restore a session, and a feature to revert all changes in your session. See the full list here!

App & Applet Icons

New icons for COSMIC apps and applets are on the way! Some are completed, but we’re still adjusting colors on others.

COSMIC Files

COSMIC Files MVP designs are complete, and implementation is underway! More styling will need to be implemented to match the final designs, but here is the current state of the application, seen in screenshots of both Grid View and List View:

New Additions

Theming

Support was added to COSMIC’s implementation of xdg-desktop-portal that enables other application toolkits to adhere to dark mode, light mode, and the user’s configured accent color. Light theme support has also been added to cosmic-comp for stack headers and tabs.

Light Mode Legibility

Font rendering quality for dark text rendered onto a light background has been improved thanks to the upstream iced toolkit’s new color management. The web-colors feature uses the same methods to render colors as web browsers.

COSMIC at LFNW

System76 CEO Carl Richell will be at LinuxFest Northwest this year to showcase COSMIC DE. Hosted at Bellingham Technical College in Washington state, the conference features exhibits and events featuring organizations across Linux, open source, InfoSec, and privacy.

Carl’s talk will be on Saturday, April 27th at noon. We’ll see you there!