System76, a company specializing in manufacturing laptops, PCs, and servers pre-installed with Linux, has released the distribution of Pop!_OS 21.10. Pop!_OS is based on the package base of Ubuntu 21.10 and comes with its own desktop environment, COSMIC. The project's developments are distributed under the GPLv3 license. ISO images are available for x86_64 and ARM64 architectures in versions for NVIDIA (2.9 GB) and Intel/AMD (2.5 GB) graphics chips, as well as for Raspberry Pi 4 (2.4 GB).
The distribution is primarily aimed at people using computers to create something new, such as content development, software products, 3D models, graphics, music, or scientific work. The idea of developing a custom edition of Ubuntu arose after Canonical's decision to transition Ubuntu from Unity to GNOME Shell — the developers at System76 began creating a new theme based on GNOME, but then realized they were ready to offer users a different desktop environment that provides flexible tools for customization according to the current workflow.
The distribution comes with the COSMIC desktop, built on a modified GNOME Shell environment, a set of original additions to GNOME Shell, a custom theme, its own set of icons, different fonts (Fira and Roboto Slab), and modified settings. Unlike GNOME, COSMIC continues to use a separate view for navigating open windows and installed applications. For window manipulation, there is both a traditional control mode using the mouse that is familiar for beginners and a tiling window management mode that allows control solely via the keyboard. After releasing Pop!_OS 21.10, the developers intend to transform COSMIC into a stand-alone project that does not use GNOME Shell and is developed in Rust.
In the new release:
- The interface for navigating installed applications has been revamped. Instead of a full-screen view, the list of available applications and tools for searching programs are now displayed in a small window overlaying the desktop content. The application list can be opened via the top panel, a gesture on the touchpad (four-finger swipe to the right), or the hotkey Super + A.
The new application navigation interface features improvements for systems with multiple monitors (windows open on the screen where the cursor is located); alphabetical sorting; the ability to group applications into subdirectories using drag & drop (similar to tab usage); support for filtering output masks for both installed applications and those available for installation; layout optimized for widescreen monitors.
- Experimental builds for the Raspberry Pi 4 boards have begun to be developed.
- Hardware support has been expanded. The system comes with the Linux kernel 5.15.5 and updated proprietary NVIDIA drivers. Prior to release, the distribution was tested on a wide range of chipsets, processors, and hardware components.
- The system update process has been simplified. During the installer launch, the presence of an already installed version of Pop!_OS is checked, and if detected, an option to update the system without a complete reinstallation and while preserving user files is offered before unlocking encrypted partitions. To increase the reliability of the update, the backup disk partition (restore) is now updated separately and before the primary operating system update, allowing functionality to be maintained in case of failures during the update. Improved handling of user changes in /etc/fstab. Added support for disabling user-added PPA repositories.
- Updates for packages from the in-house repository have been implemented. A dedicated continuous integration infrastructure has been established to test and assess the quality of packages before they are placed in the repository.
- Fixes and improvements from the current GNOME codebase have been transferred. This includes support for sorting Wi-Fi settings by current and past connections and signal strength in the Wi-Fi configuration interface. The file manager has received the capability to dynamically refine search results as the query is being typed.
Source: opennet.ru
