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Pop!_OS 24.04 LTS Released: A Letter From Our Founder
Quoting: Pop!_OS 24.04 LTS Released: A Letter From Our Founder —
If you’re ambitious enough, or maybe just crazy enough, there eventually comes a time when you realize you’ve reached the limits of current potential, and must create something completely new if you’re to go further.
This year, System76 turned twenty. For twenty years we have shipped Linux computers. For seven years we’ve built the Pop!_OS Linux distribution. Three years ago it became clear we had reached the limit of our current potential and had to create something new. Today, we break through that limit with the release of Pop!_OS 24.04 LTS with the COSMIC Desktop Environment.
OMG Ubuntu:
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Pop!_OS 24.04 LTS Released with New COSMIC Desktop - OMG! Ubuntu
It’s been a “long ride” to get here (building an entirely new Linux desktop, compositor, widget toolkit, and suite of first-party apps is no mean feat). System76 announced plans to build COSMIC in 2021, and a series of alpha and beta builds followed.
Now, it’s out in orbit, joining the constellation of Linux distros (cheesy, eh).
Carl Richell, Founder and CEO of System76, says the company is “proud of this contribution to the open source ecosystem”, and adds...
Linuxiac:
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Pop!_OS 24.04 LTS Launches With COSMIC Desktop 1.0 Stable
It finally happened! We have an early Christmas present. Powered by Linux kernel 6.17 and built on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, Pop!_OS 24.04 LTS has arrived, marking the first stable release of the COSMIC desktop environment and closing more than three years of development at System76.
Also:
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Pop!_OS 24.04 LTS with the COSMIC Desktop Environment is out now | GamingOnLinux
System76 have today finally released Pop!_OS 24.04 LTS with the newly launched COSMIC Desktop Environment. Giving the team at System76 their own foundation to build upon and help make their hardware more tailored and unique, it will be interesting to see the wider reception for the COSMIC desktop.
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System76 Launches First Stable Release of COSMIC Desktop and Pop!_OS 24.04 LTS
Linux hardware vendor System76 launched today the first stable release of the Rust-based COSMIC desktop environment, along with the stable release of the Ubuntu-based Pop!_OS 24.04 LTS Linux distribution.
Based on the Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (Noble Numbat) operating system series, Pop!_OS 24.04 LTS ships with the brand-new COSMIC desktop environment written in the Rust programming language, designed and developed by System76 for all GNU/Linux distributions.
Previous Pop!_OS releases used a version of the COSMIC desktop that was based on the GNOME desktop environment. However, System76 wanted to create a new desktop environment from scratch while keeping the same familiar interface and user experience built for efficiency and fun.
DW and LWN:
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Distribution Release: Pop!_OS 24.04
Pop!_OS 24.04, a major new version of System76's desktop Linux distribution, has been released. Based on Ubuntu's latest long-term support version, Pop!_OS 24.04 is the project's first stable version that ships the COSMIC desktop environment, developed in-house: [...]
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Pop!_OS 24.04 LTS released
Version 24.04 LTS of the Ubuntu-based Pop!_OS distribution has been released with the COSMIC Desktop Environment:
Today is special not only in that it's the culmination of over three years of work, but even more so in that System76 has built a complete desktop environment for the open source community. We're proud of this contribution to the open source ecosystem. COSMIC is built on the ethos that the best open source projects enable people to not only use them, but to build with them. COSMIC is modular and composable. It's the flagship experience for Pop!_OS in its own way, and can be adapted by anyone that wants to build their own unique user experience for Linux.
In addition to the COSMIC desktop environment, Pop!_OS is now available for Arm computers with the 24.04 LTS release, and the distribution has added hybrid graphics support for better battery life. LWN covered an alpha version of COSMIC in August 2024.
FOSS Force:
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Pop!_OS 24.04 LTS Launches with Scratch-Built COSMIC Epoch 1 - FOSS Force
Finally, I’ll be able to write my 2025 Top Five Open Source News Items article. That’s because System76 — the folks who make high end Linux hardware –released Pop!_OS 24.04 LTS on Thursday. Considering how popular the distro has become, that’s a pretty hard story to eclipse. However, it has been eclipsed, because Thursday also marked the release of Cosmic Epoch 1, the long awaited, built from scratch, and not based on anything but itself release of Pop’s default desktop environment.
If you’re thinking you were certain that Cosmic (officially presented in all caps) was based on Gnome, then you must have been sleeping in class. Quite a while ago the folks in Denver — that’s where System76 is from — announced that for several reasons (but mainly because they wanted to take Cosmic to places Gnome didn’t want to go) they were dropping the Gnome base in favor of building their own original desktop using the Rust programming language (proving that Neil Young was right when he said that Rust never sleeps).
It's FOSS:
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Pop!_OS 24.04 LTS Review: Is This the Linux Distro of the Year 2025?
The wait for Pop!_OS 24.04 LTS with COSMIC has been a long one. After numerous alpha and beta releases spanning quite some time, we finally have a clear look at what System76's hard work has resulted in.
Based on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, this Pop!_OS release is powered by Linux kernel 6.17, bringing with it a polished desktop experience, expanded hardware support, and many other enhancements.
UbuntuHandbook:
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Pop!_OS 24.04 Released with COSMIC Desktop & ARM Computers Support | UbuntuHandbook
After more than two months of Beta testing, System76 finally announced the release of Pop!_OS 24.04 LTS.
As the version number indicates, Pop!_OS 24.04 is based on Ubuntu 24.04, but features Linux Kernel 6.17 and its new COSMIC desktop environment.
How-To Geek:
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COSMIC desktop for Linux exits beta with Pop!_OS 24.04
System76 has been working on its own desktop environment for Linux, called COSMIC, intended to fully replace GNOME Shell on the company's Pop!_OS distribution. Now, the COSMIC desktop environment has finally reached stable status.
Pop!_OS 24.04 LTS with COSMIC Desktop Environment Epoch 1 is now available, marking the official release of the new desktop after over a year of public testing. You can try it out today in Pop!_OS, and other distributions using COSMIC (like the Fedora spin) should have the latest version soon, if they don't already.
COSMIC is a customizable and modular desktop environment, with horizontal or vertical workspaces, tiled windows you can control with a mouse or keyboard shortcuts, and robust multi-monitor support with per-screen scaling. It's highly customizable, with multiple dock and panel options and the ability to build your own themes.
How-To Geek:
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I tried Pop!_OS for a week: Here's what worked for me and what didn’t
When I decided to try a different Linux distro, I did what most people would do: I typed ‘the best Linux distros for beginners’ into my search bar. The AI overview and top ten organic search results recommended Ubuntu LTS, Linux Mint, Zorin OS, Pop!_OS, Elementary OS, and a few other Linux distros. I ran with Pop!_OS because it promised a fast, organized, intuitive, and modern UI, customizations, security, and hardware compatibility.
ZDNet:
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The latest Pop!_OS 24.04 update has this longtime Linux user more excited than ever | ZDNET
I've been using Pop!_OS as my default desktop operating system for about a decade now, and I've had very few complaints. Sure, at times, the app store was buggy, so I just used the command line. Of course, the desktop wasn't quite as flexible and configurable as I typically like, but there are always extensions.
As with any Linux distribution, where there's a will, there is most certainly a way. However, with the release of Pop!_OS 24.04 comes something very special: COSMIC.
HotHardware:
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System76 Launches Pop!_OS Linux Distro To Much Fanfare, Check It Out
Pop!_OS is a new Ubuntu-based Linux distribution from System76, flaunting the COSMIC Desktop Environment and available on either a PC of your choice or one of many US-made laptops or desktops. While the naming of Pop!_OS recalls a more distant era of computing, the operating system itself is quite modern, featuring all the core features you've come to expect from Windows plus some enticing additions. The tagline is to "Use an operating system built to work with you, not against you," so there's no forced AI bloat to worry about here, just modern Linux in a Desktop Environment meant to showcase all of its glory.
Among the most compelling features of Pop!_OS are app stacking and sticky windows. Multiple workspaces have become a standard feature of operating systems, but sticky windows allows you to keep certain windows present across workspaces, which can be especially useful when a task needs multiple workspaces but ultimately requires more input in one window. App stacking is another highlight. If you thought Windows 11 getting tabs in File Explorer was cool, imagine being able to treat entire applications as tabs.
Most of the other features are already present in some form or another on Windows, but those stand out as highlights—and most importantly, aren't bogged down by Windows' excess bloat and built-in ads.
FOSS Force:
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Pop!_OS 24.04’s New Scratch-Built Cosmic: Hands-On, With Screenshots - FOSS Force
Right on time, System76 released Pop!_OS 24.04 LTS on December 11, just like the company said it would. Along for the ride is the debut of the newly minted Gnomeless version of the already popular Cosmic desktop environment.
The distro has been a perennial top-10 favorite on DistroWatch’s Page Hit Ranking since its first release in 2017. It’s developed by System76, which has been building Linux boxes for 20 years. According to System76 founder and CEO Carl Richell, “If you’re ambitious enough, or maybe just crazy enough, there eventually comes a time when you realize you’ve reached the limits of current potential, and must create something completely new if you’re to go further.”
Enter, stage right: the built-from-scratch Cosmic Epoch 1 desktop environment — replacing the Gnome-based version of the DE that’s been a favorite since it was first released in 2021.