The developers of the postmarketOS project, which is developing a Linux distribution for smartphones based on the Alpine Linux package base, the standard C library Musl, and the BusyBox utilities, announced the addition of support for the COSMIC desktop environment, being developed in Rust. Ready postmarketOS builds with COSMIC are available for x86_64 systems, as well as a separate version optimized for Thinkpad X13s laptops (custom builds can also be created using the pmbootstrap utility). Previously, postmarketOS provided the ability to use KDE Plasma Mobile, Phosh, GNOME Mobile, Sxmo, MATE, and Xfce.
COSMIC is being developed by System76 as a universal project not tied to a specific distribution and compliant with Freedesktop specifications. The interface in COSMIC is built using the Iced library, which employs safe types, a modular architecture, and a reactive programming model. The project is also developing its own compositor server cosmic-comp based on Wayland. In addition to using Rust, COSMIC features hybrid tiled window layout and stackable window docking modes (grouping windows similar to tabs in a browser), which can be enabled in conjunction with virtual desktops. The first stable release of COSMIC is planned for the first quarter of 2025.
Other recent changes in postmarketOS include the implementation of ports for Samsung Galaxy S10+, Amlogic P241, Microsoft Lumia 640, and Ugoos AM3 devices. Initial camera support has been added for OnePlus 6, Motorola Moto E5 Plus, Motorola Moto G5s, Xiaomi Redmi 3S, Xiaomi Redmi 4 Standard, and Xiaomi Redmi 4A. Device support has been improved for: Samsung Galaxy Tab 3, Samsung Galaxy S9, Samsung Galaxy Note 9, Google Pixel 3a XL, Google Pixel C, LG G7 ThinQ, LG V35 ThinQ, ODROID HC2, Lenovo ThinkPad X13s, Apple Macbook Air M1, Amazon Echo Dot 2nd gen, and Xiaomi Mi Note 10 / Mi CC9 Pro.
The postmarketOS repository has been updated with the release of GNOME 48. In the KDE Plasma Mobile builds, Dolphin is now used instead of the Index file manager. The mobile-config-firefox package has been updated with a set of settings to enhance Firefox's performance on mobile devices and disable components affecting privacy. Work continues on adapting packages for compatibility with the systemd service manager, which can be used instead of the OpenRC initialization system.
Source: opennet.ru
