Cosmic Desktop Environment is Awesome!

Why I’m excited even when daily driving it before release.

I’ve done a lot of DE switches through these past few years. And I’ve always been a fan of PopOS’s tiling features and I’ve tried many tiling window managers to find that most of them are not for me.

The main reason being that there was always so much configuration that needed to happen in order for the computer to start to behave normally again. Like USB mounting behavior, screen brightness, and volume keys not bound by default. The more you strip away from a DE the more you realize you relied on magic.

So for years now I’ve used tiling plugins or weird hacks or PopOS’s own tiling extension for Gnome. These have all fallen short of the immaculate experience I am currently having on this Cosmic DE. Nothing comes close to the buttery smoothness that is Cosmic.

Everything makes sense, and nothing is hacked together last minute. Here’s what I mean. To switch windows, its Super+arrow or Super+<hjkl>, whatever is more familiar to you. Next, to switch virtual desktops, use these same shortcuts but aim for the virtual work space you want. For me, it’s setup vertically as it gives less motion on the screen.

The other benefit: it’s stupid fast. No other desktop experience feels quite as snappy. Window managers are quite comparable, but usually lack the essentials. Their speed is driven by how little they actually do for you.

One final thing, customization looks like it will be really great. I’ve setup my cosmic desktop to use catppuccin

Hope you are as excited about the future of the Linux desktop as I am. Even if not, have a great day! Thank you for reading!