CachyOS Adds Support for System76's COSMIC Desktop
The August 2024 release of CachyOS includes support for the COSMIC desktop as well as some important bits for video.
If you're a fan of testing alpha releases (especially in the realm of desktops), then CachyOS has something pretty exciting for you. The August 2024 ISO snapshot of this Arch-based Linux distribution will include the first alpha of System76's COSMIC desktop.
I've tested this desktop environment on both Fedora and Pop!_OS. Somewhat Gnome-ish in look and feel, COSMIC should be a simple desktop to try for anyone who's worked with a modern Linux user interface.
The CachyOS developers will be following the upstream release of COSMIC for packaging, with packages based on the latest commit available (though not used for installation).
On top of including COSMIC desktop, the next release of CachyOS also includes the NVIDIA 560 Beta graphics driver that defaults to open source kernel modules. CachyOS defaults to the Plasma Desktop with version 6.1.4 shipped with the latest ISO and up-to-date core components.
The developers also are providing an Arch Linux mirror and worldwide CDN cache (sponsored by CDN77) for the default installation, which addresses previous issues of the OS selecting outdated mirrors. As well, the kernel manager has received several fixes, and a script has been added to easily handle Secure Boot.
You can read more about the latest CachyOS ISO in the official announcement. You'll find links on the same page to download the ISO image for installation.
