Pop!_OS: One of the Best Linux Distros For Creators of All Types
I’ve been using Linux for nearly 30 years, and I’ve witnessed every type of distribution come and go. There have been distributions ranging from the very basic to the gimmicky and everything in between. I spent years “distro hopping,” which included the likes of Caldera OpenLinux, Corel Linux, Red Hat (way before Fedora/RHEL), Ubuntu, elementary OS, Bodhi Linux, Ubuntu Budgie, Deepin, Fedora, Zorin OS and more.
But then, something interesting happened: I purchased my first System76 desktop computer. That first computer (a Leopard Extreme) shipped with Ubuntu Linux, and it worked like a charm. That was, hands down, the best desktop computer I’d had to date. So, naturally, when the Leopard Extreme showed signs of failing, I wanted to stick with System76. At the time, they were just announcing their new Thelio desktop computer, and I was all over it.
I purchased my first Thelio, which shipped with the in-house Pop!_OS distribution, and I immediately loved it. Not only was it user-friendly and powerful, but it also worked seamlessly with System76 hardware. In fact, the combination of the Thelio desktop and Pop!_OS created the finest computer experience I’d had to date.
When that first Thelio bought the farm, there was no way I was going to switch to a different manufacturer. I really appreciated that synergy between software and hardware, which was akin to Apple’s macOS and iMac (or MacBook). Everything worked incredibly well. The performance was through the roof and the reliability was equally as impressive.
A big part of that was due to Pop!_OS.
Introduction to Pop!_OS
Pop!_OS is based on an Ubuntu long-term support (LTS) release, which ensures users enjoy a long period of support, and defaults to a customized GNOME desktop. The customization is basically the addition of a few key GNOME extensions as well as some tweaks to make the hardware sing.
And sing it does.
I’ve been using Pop!_OS for some time now, and even with the temptation to start hopping around again, I cannot imagine using a different distribution. Sure, part of my reasoning is because of how well the OS performs with the hardware. But that’s not all. Pop!_OS happens to be a rock-solid distribution that has served me well for many purposes.
With this OS, I’ve written books and tech articles, edited/created audio, created/edited videos (although most of that work happens on MacOS these days), created images, shopped, been social, consumed news of all sorts and so much more.
Of course, Pop!_OS is also a great platform for developers, data scientists and more. It’s equal parts artistic and geeky. It’s “artgeeky.”
But there’s a catch … one that reaches for the stars.
Introducing COSMIC Desktop
You see, System76 has decided to venture away from GNOME and create its own desktop environment called COSMIC (Figure 1). Although COSMIC is still in its alpha stage, I’ve tested it and found it to be an exciting step in the right direction for System76.
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Figure 1: The new COSMIC desktop looks out of this world.
Although COSMIC was developed (using the Rust language) from the ground up, it doesn’t venture far away from the original Pop!_OS desktop. There’s still a dock and top bar, an application overview, a launcher, workspaces and more.
Of all the improvements found in COSMIC, the one I really appreciate the most is the Pop Shop. In its current state, the Pop!_OS app store is slow, buggy and prone to crash. The new Pop Shop, even in its alpha state, is far more usable. It’s fast and reliable, and I’ve yet to witness it crash.
COSMIC also does away with some of the default GNOME apps in favor of in-house options, such as the COSMIC Terminal app, COSMIC Text Editor, COSMIC Files and COSMIC Settings. I’ve found each of these applications to be an improvement on what they replaced. The only exception is that COSMIC Files doesn’t have the built-in capacity to share files over a network. I’m hoping that feature will eventually find its way into the build because I depend on it daily.
Of course, even if it doesn’t, I can always share those folders and files out to my LAN via the smb.conf file in /etc/samba. It’s just that having the ability to right-click a folder in the file manager and share from there is far easier, especially for those who’d rather not have to install Samba and edit a text file for their shares.
If you’re a developer, you’ll find plenty of dedicated tools and a refined workflow to make your life a bit easier. One other advantage is that you can download dedicated versions of the OS for NVIDIA or AMD GPUs. The NVIDIA flavor includes drivers with CUDA support, which can help speed up compute-intensive workflows and/or applications.
Pop!_OS also supports hybrid graphics out of the box. On top of that, there’s also the System76 Scheduler, which goes a long way in reducing latency and improving app performance. Finally, Pop!_OS includes an easy-to-use tool for updating device firmware (Figure 2), which is a huge step forward for Linux in general.
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Figure 2: The Pop!_OS firmware updater simplifies what might normally be a challenge.
One other feature that comes built into both Pop!_OS and the new COSMIC desktop is tiling. You can enable/disable the tiling desktop option at will to help make window placement incredibly easy. For anyone who’s used window snapping (such as that found on the latest release of macOS), the Pop!_OS take on the feature will blow you away.
In my years of using Pop!_OS, I’ve found it to be a great option for those who have little to no experience with Linux, power users, developers and creators of all kinds. Of all the Linux distributions I’ve used, Pop!_OS has been the most performant, most reliable and most enjoyable.
If you’ve never experienced Pop!_OS, I would highly recommend you download an ISO and spin it up as either a virtual machine or install it on a spare computer so you can see what it’s all about before the general release of COSMIC.
After a few days of using System76’s Linux distribution, you’ll find yourself hesitant to go back to whatever OS you were using. It really is that good.
