System76, known for developing the Linux-based Pop!_OS, recently unveiled the sixth Alpha version of the Cosmic desktop environment. This new version is written in Rust and is not to be confused with the previous Cosmic, which was based on Gnome Shell. To facilitate testing, ISO images of the fresh Cosmic version are available for NVIDIA GPUs (3.1 GB) and Intel/AMD systems (2.6 GB). Packages are also available for Fedora, NixOS, Arch Linux, openSUSE, Serpent, Redox, and Cachyos.
Cosmic is being developed as a universal project that adheres to Freedesktop specifications. It uses the ‘id’ library for building the interface, which incorporates safe types, modular architecture, reactive programming, and a declarative interface construction familiar to ELM developers. The interface supports various drawings including Vulkan, Metal, DX12, OpenGL 2.1+, and OpenGL ES 2.0+. Developers have access to a set of widgets, asynchronous handlers, and adaptive layout options.
Aside from using Rust, Cosmic introduces hybrid mosaic window layouts and window grouping features akin to browser tabs, which can be linked to virtual desktops. The project is also working on a composite server called ‘cosmic-comp’, based on Wayland. The first stable release of Cosmic is expected in the first quarter of 2025.