Release Notes
Pop!_OS 24.04 LTS includes the new COSMIC Desktop Environment, designed and developed by System76.
Some GNOME apps are replaced by COSMIC apps
- GNOME Files (Nautilus) > COSMIC Files
- GNOME Terminal > COSMIC Terminal
- GNOME Text Editor > COSMIC Text Editor
- GNOME Media Player (Totem) > COSMIC Media Player
Pop!_Shop is replaced by COSMIC Store
Key components
- COSMIC Epoch 1
- Linux kernel 6.17.9
- Mesa 25.1.5-1
- NVIDIA Driver 580
Some games may start partially off-screen. Press F11 or Super+F11 to fullscreen the game
Display toggle hotkeys and an on-screen display is not supported yet
COSMIC has a built-in screenshot tool. If you require annotations, we recommend Flameshot, which can be installed from Flathub via COSMIC Store. Version 13.1 or higher is required for COSMIC
COSMIC is not currently optimized for touch devices. An on-screen-keyboard is in development.
The COSMIC Desktop will be continuously updated with new features and improvements after release
Kernels and hardware support are continuously updated in Pop!_OS
You can follow COSMIC DE feature and improvement progress on the project board
It looks nice, but I don’t want to downgrade back to a 24.04 LTS release.
Currently running Kubuntu 25.10.
I ran 24.04 LTS earlier an it had terrible gpu and wayland issues which are fixed in 25.10.
Kubuntu 25.10 runs amazingly.
I’m waiting for 26.04 LTS before trying out Cosmic.
Cosmic will have sorted out the biggest new launch bugs and paper cuts by then, and I won’t have to use 24.04.
Fair enough.
But before you scare anybody off, it is worth pointing out that Pop!OS 24.04 is quite up-to-date in those areas.
Those are what is going to drive your GPU and Wayland experience and they are about the same as you get in Kubuntu 25.10
A lot of the 24.04 packages will be older for sure but it is not fair to compare COSMIC in Pop!OS to the old KDE version you would have been using on Ubuntu 24.04 (Kubuntu).
And I expect Pop!OS 24.04’LTS to see steady COSMIC updates on the road to 26.04. It would kind of shock me if they do not harmonize the desktops between those two releases.