ON YOUR FREE DVD Pop!_OS 21.04 Classic distros
We might not be sure about the punctuation in Pop!_OS. But we are certain that since its inception in 2017 it’s fast become one of our favourite distros. Developed by System76 and pre-installed on its finely crafted Linux laptops and desktops, it’s great for beginners and pros alike.
Pop has been innovating the bejesus out of the Gnome desktop lately. Most notably, the previous Pop LTS release (June 2020) introduced a tiling window mode, encouraging a smoother, keyboard-driven workflow. That evolved in the interim 20.10 release (with stackable tiles and exceptional floating windows), and in this fresh outing it’s better than ever. The desktop at large is now known as COSMIC (a beautifully wrought acronym for Computer Operating System Main Interface Components) and as its centrepiece now includes a custom dock for launching and switching applications. This will be great news if you find Gnome’s Activity View cumbersome to work with. There’s a new, minimalist launcher too. Just hit the Super (Windows) key and type a few characters to search applications (and switch between open ones). The launcher can be expanded with plugins, so in theory you can have it search your favourite websites. System76 has put a lot of thought into their keyboard shortcuts, which occasionally deviate from how things work in vanilla Gnome. Fortunately, help is always at hand, with visible shortcut hints, as well as a cheatsheet for the auto-tiling mode.
For laptop users, this release also goes big on touchpad gestures. In particular a fourfingered swipe left or right will now summon the Workspaces and Applications views respectively. And up or down will switch between workspaces. Swiping with three fingers will switch between windows. Speaking of workspaces, Pop includes a shortcut to these in the top-left that summons a non-intrusive, transparent switcher. This does shunt the Activities shortcut along, which might break your workflow. We found our desktop much cleaner after we disabled both. Windows also have minimise buttons by default, which makes more sense in a tiling environment.
If this brave new way of working (or creating or watching cat videos) seems tricky, then don’t worry. Pop remains very customisable. On first boot the Welcome application offers three dock arrangements: no dock (for Gnome traditionalists); a full length dock; or a floating macOS type of affair. So you can make it as traditional or avant-garde as you like.