Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Operating Systems Software

COSMIC Desktop Alpha 6 Released (linuxiac.com) 27

Posted by BeauHD from the new-and-improved dept.
New submitter TronNerd82 writes: Linuxiac reports that the 6th alpha release of the COSMIC desktop environment has been released. The new alpha release includes zooming, desktop icon management, some new scaling options, and improved accessibility features. Also included in the release are a number of bug fixes.

These include, but are not limited to:
- Fixing a crash issue in Steam, and fixing certain issues for Radeon RX GPUs
- Fixing a bug that prevented icons from appearing in screenshots
- Adding a layer of polish to the COSMIC Files application by adding folder size metadata and preventing crashes

Also of note are a number of memory usage reductions across the board. COSMIC Alpha 6 also replaces the default font, changing from Fira Sans to Open Sans, with Noto Sans Mono as the default monospace font. Additional changes can be found in System76's official announcement.

COSMIC Desktop Alpha 6 Released More | Reply

COSMIC Desktop Alpha 6 Released

Comments Filter:

  • Zooming vs Scaling (Score:5, Interesting)

    by backslashdot ( 95548 ) on Saturday March 01, 2025 @06:04AM (#65203173)

    Forget zoom, I want window-only scaling ability. That is, if you have a window you want to shrink or enlarge.. you should be able to hold down a key (Ctrl button or something) and then click the corner of window and drag it. The content or layout of the window should not re-format at all but it should just get large (enlage) or smaller (shrink) as-is based on the direction you're dragging the corner. The aspect ratio of the window shouldn't change either.

    • The aspect ratio should have an on/off switch, sometimes i want to mess with aspect ratios other times not. But mostly no, it depends on a case by case basis

    • Everybody has different needs -and - different preferences.
      And then, for any single person, incidental needs may change based on what you are doing at the moment.

      For a window, you might want or need, in general or at a given moment :

      - resize the window without scaling the contents, freeform.
      - resize the window without scaling the contents, maintain aspect.

      - resize the window and scale the contents accordingly, freeform.
      - resize the window and scale the contents accordingly, maintain aspect.

      The thing is, we

    • Yeah, this is something I could not believe Compiz doesn't have.

      In fact I stopped using Compiz because it caused a few minor hassles, but I would have kept using it if it had this feature.

      There's a plugin to zoom into everything, but not to zoom a window.

    • You should check out alternative window managers. There are literally hundreds, and what you are asking for was _already_ available in the early 1990s.

      For example, at work I still use fvwm [fvwm.org]. I've turned off window decorations completely, and use the 6+7 buttons on my mouse to automatically shrink or grow the window that is currently below the mouse pointer, in the direction I flick my wrist. It's quick and painless, no need to click a tiny icon or menu first etc. I also use focus-follows-mouse because cli

      • I have used various window managers including fvwm since the early 90s and don't recall this feature. I don't think I thought about having it though until maybe the mid 2000s when screen resolutions and monitor sizes were pretty high. It should scale the window without modifying the layout and content of the window. (All the UI elements -- fonts/images/window stuff etc. should smoothly change size as you enlarge or shrink the window.) It's kind of like what happens when you change the size of virtualbox win

  • And we should care about this because... ? (Score:4)

    by greytree ( 7124971 ) on Saturday March 01, 2025 @06:05AM (#65203175)
    Why does the editor think we need to know about minor bug fixes and not about what this actually is and does?
      • It's always a slow tech news day. We have all the software we need. Look at this story. We are talking about something that we had 15 or more years ago, but re-written. Look at 9to5linux.com.. Thats all they do. The whole website is based on reporting new releases and small incremental feature additions.

        Writers gotta write. It's a symbiotic ecosystem. Joe Writer writes article full of trivia because that is all there is to report. So many articles now are like this. Microsoft moved a button from the side to

        • At least it distracts me from how the world is going to hell. I don't mean this lightly. Global warming is accelerating. Europe is at war. The US has abandoned its allies and its values.

          So alpha 6 of some shit I'm never going to use? Cool!

          • <sigh> I commisserate. I take refuge in music, programming, and other arts, personally. Watching the news is enough to make you want to jump off a bridge... you're not the only one, I hear same from lots of my peers.

            We do have alot of choice of desktops in the linux world though, it's not like we desperately need another choice, same as the older choices. I'm glad to have what I need in XFCE at the moment, and I hope it stays that way.

    • Slashdot is being run so badly it amounts to sabotage, but not giving a shit is an easy way for the "editors" to get paid.

      Flaunting how little they care by posting low quality space filler stories is one way for them to assert their power.

      Most early Slashdot users are gone so newer readers have no experience of when it didn't suck and was genuinely influential. The editors cannot be fired which anyone competent would have done long ago so I expect they own some or all of it.

    • Why does the editor think we need to know about minor bug fixes and not about what this actually is and does?

      Linuxiac reports that the 6th alpha release of the COSMIC desktop environment

      All those years of KDE vs. GNOME flame wars, and you suddenly need someone to clarify that we’re not talking about little garden statues?

      System76 is over twenty fucking years old. Not exactly a noob.

  • I have installed Cosmic on Fedora for a few of the alphas and it is looking like a project with a lot of promise. I just find myself wondering what advantages there will be of running Cosmic on POP OS vs another distro like Fedora. I may just need to try it to see.

  • From my 30-second look, Cosmic seems to be a desktop environment that borrows a lot of elements from MacOS. Looks to be funded by System76.com (the Linux desktop and laptop seller).

    Some more info about Cosmic: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2... [imdb.com]

    Been looking to replace my System76 desktop (from ~2014). Never had a problem with System76. Will probably buy my next desktop from them. It's nice supporting a Linux supporter.

  • looks cool, just too bad these devs can't focus on getting just one desktop perfect, Variety is the spice but there needs to be a base

    just saying

    • I hope that is what System76 is trying to do here. They cannot control Gnome and are at the mercy of those developers. Red Hat funds much of Gnome development, and Red Hat cares about server software mostly. System76 mainly sells consumer grade systems, and a Desktop focused DE from a company focused on a consumer OS from a company that also sells hardware could potentially turn into an interesting play. That said, I also look forward to SteamOS being made available.

    • Maximum choice is the key benefit of FOSS, not chasing non-technical users who don't matter and are mostly unaware what Linux is or does. Linux is not for that sort of user.

      • "not chasing non-technical users who don't matter and are mostly unaware what Linux is or does. Linux is not for that sort of user"

        Over 99% of users are non-technical. That's a lot of customers to abandon.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by 2TecTom ( 311314 )

        typical elitist answer, no, actually, Linux is for everyone, attitudes like yours hold Linux and people back, but hey, thanks for not caring

  • This is "olds" - the alpha 6 announcement was 8 days ago on 21st February and Phoronix had an article up the same day as the release: https://www.phoronix.com/news/... [phoronix.com]

    I've got to question why the 6th alpha of a desktop UI is even worth a news article in the first place. The move to beta definitely is and then, if there is one or more, the start of release candidates, but only the first alpha was truly newsworthy (since it was the first public release).

Slashdot Top Deals

"For the man who has everything... Penicillin." -- F. Borquin

Close