{"id":1204,"date":"2024-09-26T16:04:29","date_gmt":"2024-09-26T16:04:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/serverhost.com\/blog\/cosmic-de-alpha-2-unveiled-explore-the-latest-features-and-updates\/"},"modified":"2024-12-09T06:42:28","modified_gmt":"2024-12-09T06:42:28","slug":"cosmic-de-alpha-2-unveiled-explore-the-latest-features-and-updates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/serverhost.com\/blog\/cosmic-de-alpha-2-unveiled-explore-the-latest-features-and-updates\/","title":{"rendered":"COSMIC DE Alpha 2 Unveiled: Explore the Latest Features and Updates"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><p><strong>Chocks away \u2014 a British phrase, so no puzzled looks please \u2014 the second alpha release of System76&#8217;s native COSMIC desktop environment is now available.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><p>To facilitate easy testing of these new enhancements, a second alpha build of Pop!_OS 24.04 has been released for download.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><p>Users who installed the initial Pop!_OS 24.04 alpha are not required to install this build anew, as all the enhancements discussed here are accessible via software updates through the <em>COSMIC App Store<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><p>Additionally, the COSMIC desktop environment, built with Rust, isn&#8217;t restricted to Pop!_OS and can be experimented with across various Linux distributions, including <em>Fedora<\/em>, <em>NixOS<\/em>, <em>Arch<\/em>, and <em>Redox OS<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><p>System76 has embarked on creating a distinct desktop environment, departing from GNOME Shell and its numerous extensions that were instrumental in shaping the unique user interface of Pop!_OS. <\/p>\n<p>The newly introduced COSMIC desktop environment is crafted using a fresh technology stack that includes Rust and Iced. It focuses heavily on customization, themes, and user configurations. It also comes with a tailored selection of core applications, and is designed to perform seamlessly not just on Pop!_OS but on other distributions as well.<\/p>\n<p>Although COSMIC is still in the development stages and not yet fully equipped with all its features, it already stands out as a robust contender among existing Linux desktop environments.<\/p>\n<h2>What\u2019s new in COSMIC Alpha 2?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><figure><a href=\"https:\/\/149366088.v2.pressablecdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/cosmic-alpha-2.jpg\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a><figcaption>COSMIC DE (alpha 2) ups the options quotient<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p><p>For COSMIC Alpha 2 System76 <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.system76.com\/post\/cosmic-alpha-2-press-release\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">say<\/a> it added <em>\u201c\u2026more Settings pages, the bulk of functionality for COSMIC Files, highly requested window management features, and considerable infrastructure work for screen reader support, as well as some notable bug fixes.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><p>Chances are you want specifics, right?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><p>Versus the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.omgubuntu.co.uk\/2024\/08\/you-can-now-download-pop_os-24-04-alpha-with-cosmic-desktop\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">first alpha of COSMIC DE<\/a>, the <em>Settings<\/em> app in Alpha 2 offers: <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>New <em>Power<\/em> page: power mode options, Bluetooth device battery levels<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>New <em>Network<\/em> settings: wired connections, wi-fi networks, VPN setup<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>New <em>Sound<\/em> settings: sound profiles, volumes sliders, bluez5 support<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>New <em>Bluetooth<\/em> settings page: connect\/disconnect\/forget devices<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Appearance<\/em> page adds <em>Comfortable\/Compact\/Spacious<\/em> density options<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Date &amp; Time<\/em> page adds toggle to show seconds in clock applet<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Displays<\/em> page adds X11 scaling settings<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Window Management<\/em> adds <em>Focus follows cursor\/cursor follows focus<\/em> options<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><p>Substantial <strong>new features added to <em>COSMIC Files<\/em><\/strong> app include:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>New header bar options: <em>new folder, grid\/list view, sort by<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Sorting files by <em>Name, Type, Last modified, Date created, or Size<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>New <em>Recents<\/em> shortcut in the sidebar<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Fully-stocked <em>File<\/em> menu with essential actions<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Archive compression\/extraction (tar\/tbz\/tgz\/txz\/zip)<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Browse and connect to network drives<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>New <code>ctrl<\/code> + <code>d<\/code> shortcut to add selected item to sidebar<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>New <code>ctrl<\/code> + <code>,<\/code> shortcut to access COSMIC Files settings<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><p>Also of note, Files has a preview feature you can activate by pressing <code>space<\/code> with a file selected. File previews are experimental and cannot be disabled in alpha 2. This makes it easier to preview a file (e.g., see more details) in a side panel.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><figure><a href=\"https:\/\/149366088.v2.pressablecdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/cosmic-files-image-gallery-1.jpg\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">COSMIC Files file preview also has a gallery mode<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><p>For image files a \u2018gallery\u2019 mode option lets you page through all images in the current folder, saving the need to open them in an image viewer. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><p>Elsewhere:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Faster startup times for COSMIC Store<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Assorted applet improvements<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Libcomsic rebased on iced 0.13<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Improved fractional scaling for games in Steam<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>COSMIC Greeter localized<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Various UI tweaks\/finesse\/fixes<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><p>And a plethora of bug fixes, notably issues with apps not reopening, unreliable clipboard functionality, freezing on external monitors, and touchpad gestures for workspaces.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><p>As this is an alpha version, it remains a work in progress and isn&#8217;t reliable enough for daily usage by most, yet the fundamental elements are in place making it fairly &#8216;habitable&#8217;.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><p>You can download the new ISO if you\u2019re curious about trying it out. It\u2019s a standard ISO that allows for a \u2018live boot\u2019 to test and see if System76\u2019s direction appeals to you, and if so, to install it on a device (ideally not your primary one since it is an alpha build).<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><p>System76 announced that a new alpha of COSMIC DE will be released monthly until <em>\u201call core features have been built out\u201d<\/em>, signaling many more enhancements on the horizon.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chocks away \u2014 a British phrase, so no puzzled looks please \u2014 the second alpha release of System76&#8217;s native COSMIC desktop environment is now available. To facilitate easy testing of these new enhancements, a second alpha build of Pop!_OS 24.04 has been released for download. Users who installed the initial Pop!_OS 24.04 alpha are not [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1205,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[581,4,582,319],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cosmic-de","category-news","category-pop-os-2","category-system76"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Discover New Features in COSMIC DE Alpha 2 | ServerHost<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Alpha 2 of COSMIC Desktop Environment highlights fresh features, showcasing progress toward a powerful Linux experience. 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