PopOS! A different Linux

[Joelist]

As you may know my relationship with Linux has been mixed. Over the years I have tried to use several different distros (Ubuntu, Mint, Debian, Red Hat, Elemental, SuSe) and the experience has always been, to be kind, subpar. Whether it is total failure to run, choppiness, kernel issues, driver issues and even plain old lack of the right applications it has been painful. This pain was in part responsible for my ultimately making a Mac my daily driver (that and Salesforce.com development is best done on the Mac) and for my alternate being a Windows 11 machine.

Then I caught wind of a new distro named PopOS!. Probably more accurate new to me. PopOS! has some unique attributes that caught my interest such as:

1) It features a new UI design made specifically with supporting STEM workers in mind. This UI is named COSMIC. Right now it is a heavily modified version of the GNOME desktop Linux has had for a while but later this summer a new version that is ground up new code will be released.

2) It has abandoned the GRUB bootloader. In it's day GRUB was an institution but in todays world of UEFI systems it has been in need of replacement. PopOS! uses systemd-boot which natively supports both UEFI and NVMe SSD (which have no boot sector).

3) It comes with natively written drivers for NVidia graphics and CUDA. Likewise other popular accessories and components.

So I downloaded the latest version and set it up. Here are some pics:

This is part of the new installer package. System76 (the authors of PopOS!) worked with the team behind Elemental OS to create a more user friendly setup.

This is the basic desktop. And finally....

GateFans!

My experience so far is this OS is pretty easy to install and it runs smoothly and pretty fast. I am still getting used to the features like layered and smart tiling which support multiple screen workloads. The native drivers are a BIG improvement as is systemd-boot. I think once I get used to the UI fully this will be far and away the best Linux I have encountered.

A word about the authors - System76 is a company that is a computer builder (an OEM). They sell desktops and laptops (mostly Sagers) that comes with PopOS! installed and have natively written drivers for everything. They also make all this available as free download which is what I did. https://pop.system76.com/

Thoughts?

 

[Atlantis]

Is it compatible with most softwares and games?

 

[Joelist]

Compatibility wise it is similar to other Linuxes. It is better for some games simply because it has support for CUDA and NVidia graphics native to the OS. It comes with LibreOffice preinstalled but I use WINE to setup MSOffice due to my dislike of LibreOffice. Always remember you can increase compatbility using WINE:

WineHQ - Run Windows applications on Linux, BSD, Solaris and macOS

Open Source Software for running Windows applications on other operating systems.

www.winehq.org

If you like WINE with a nice GUI and support Crossover may be your preference:

CrossOver runs the Windows software you need on Mac and Linux.

Don't buy a Windows license, don't reboot and don't use a Virtual Machine. Try a free trial of CrossOver to run your Windows software on Mac and Linux.

www.codeweavers.com

 

[Shadow Mann]

I love this OS! My only reservation is trying to get my VR headset to work with it. I like the base OS enough to replace Windows with it on one of my laptops. With Libre Office and Davinci Resolve and OBS running in it, it is a VERY usable operating system, and runs using less resources than Windows when other programs are running. My main computer will need another drive so I can experiment with Monado and get my VR headset running with it. Microsoft is going to make Windows Mixed Reality (WMR) go away by 2026, and that would mean that my nice HP Reverb G2 VR headset would be bricked. I also do not like what is happening at Microsoft these says with the Recall issue. That they even THOUGHT that such a process should be part of an operating system is enough to tell me about the personality of today's Microsoft.

 

[Shadow Mann]

Compatibility wise it is similar to other Linuxes. It is better for some games simply because it has support for CUDA and NVidia graphics native to the OS. It comes with LibreOffice preinstalled but I use WINE to setup MSOffice due to my dislike of LibreOffice. Always remember you can increase compatbility using WINE:

WineHQ - Run Windows applications on Linux, BSD, Solaris and macOS

Open Source Software for running Windows applications on other operating systems.

www.winehq.org

If you like WINE with a nice GUI and support Crossover may be your preference:

CrossOver runs the Windows software you need on Mac and Linux.

Don't buy a Windows license, don't reboot and don't use a Virtual Machine. Try a free trial of CrossOver to run your Windows software on Mac and Linux.

www.codeweavers.com

Steam works as expected, but the VR part of it requires more geeky stuff to do.

 

[Joelist]

I love this OS! My only reservation is trying to get my VR headset to work with it. I like the base OS enough to replace Windows with it on one of my laptops. With Libre Office and Davinci Resolve and OBS running in it, it is a VERY usable operating system, and runs using less resources than Windows when other programs are running. My main computer will need another drive so I can experiment with Monado and get my VR headset running with it. Microsoft is going to make Windows Mixed Reality (WMR) go away by 2026, and that would mean that my nice HP Reverb G2 VR headset would be bricked. I also do not like what is happening at Microsoft these says with the Recall issue. That they even THOUGHT that such a process should be part of an operating system is enough to tell me about the personality of today's Microsoft.

How do you like Workspaces? Now that I am accustomed to it Workspaces is a big time saver. I just have several different desktops with different tools up in each and flip between them as needed.

 

[Shadow Mann]

How do you like Workspaces? Now that I am accustomed to it Workspaces is a big time saver. I just have several different desktops with different tools up in each and flip between them as needed.

It's a great new implementation of it compared to Ubuntu and Mint. I am trying to install the OS on my desktop computer and I have a drive dedicated to it, but having trouble. I love PopOS a lot. It's likely the most refined Debian-based distro ever made IMO.

 

[Shadow Mann]

How do you like Workspaces? Now that I am accustomed to it Workspaces is a big time saver. I just have several different desktops with different tools up in each and flip between them as needed.

More about this, I do like Workspaces a lot. I can pause a video or have a full screen open of my email, and instantly switch to a different desktop with open applications.

Strange coincidence...when I set up this laptop with PopOS, I never thought I would use it much, but my gaming computer now has a burned out PSU, and I have to wait for a few days before it arrives. So, I dived into this OS on the laptop (posting from it right now). It's lightning fast, and after installing stuff like gnome-tweaks, Winetricks (and Wine), Thunderbird, VLC, PowerISO and so many others in the Pop Store. The laptop can't really run the apps that the gaming computer will run once I install PopOS on there. On that machine, it will have a high-end Nvidia graphics card and lots more RAM. I see that DaVinciResolve and Unreal Engine is available for Linux, and the rest of the stuff I use will need the Nvidia graphics to work. I have a USB hub with several USB hard drives connected to it and formatted in NTFS, and PopOS recognized everything immediately.

But then, there is VR. If I can't get it to run under Monado (very involved install), then I will have to dual boot it with Windows 10.

 

[Joelist]

I do like it a lot. You can see and feel the high level of polish on everything. Driver support is excellent, performance is great, like you noticed it just recognizes things and the UI does really feel like it is setup to support STEM workflows. I think it will be interesting when in an upcoming release they completely unship the COSMIC UI package from GNOME.

 

[Shadow Mann]

I do like it a lot. You can see and feel the high level of polish on everything. Driver support is excellent, performance is great, like you noticed it just recognizes things and the UI does really feel like it is setup to support STEM workflows. I think it will be interesting when in an upcoming release they completely unship the COSMIC UI package from GNOME.

It comes pre-installed with Libre Office, which I have been using for quite some time on Windows before now. That was a nice touch! It even recognized my USB wireless mouse and keyboard. It's really a full on replacement for Windows EXCEPT for gaming (at least on my laptop). It's running PCSX2 fine which is a PS2 emulator. But Wine is not running even basic games so far. I expect different results when I can get it on my gaming computer.

 

[Shadow Mann]

Okay, so now I am able to get some games running in Wine which is great! I had chosen to use the COSMIC desktop environment, but lots of stuff ould not open or work properly. Switched back to the Pop desktop and everything is working perfectly. Im gonna try to install GTA San Andreas now! Like I said for this laptop, basic games. It should be able to handle that.

 

[Shadow Mann]

UPDATE: Back in business with my gaming computer, now I am trying to install PopOS on it. Had to disable Secure Boot to boot into the USB stick, and it's taking a long time to scan my system (10TB in HDD internally). Will update after I get it installed with the Nvidia drivers and stuff. Excited!

 

[Joelist]

That's strange that you had trouble with COSMIC - I've gotten stuff running no problem with COSMIC. I suspect it is what we are respectively trying to run.

 

[Joelist]

BattleTech:

 

[Shadow Mann]

It looks awesome! Yeah, the Cosmic desktop gave me issues, but switching to the Pop desktop fixed everything nicely. I am about to start running ad tweaking my gaming machine with a fresh new install tha is almost complete.

 

[Shadow Mann]

Still working on this, and it's been hours and hours, and I haven't had as much fun as this in ages! I successfully got PopOS and Windows running on my computer, with PopOS on it's own drive. I can read my additional drives, but the Windows drives appear to be encrypted in some way other than Bitlocker. I will solve that later, as my main files are on other drives that I am able to access. More come as I attempt to install my favorite games. Still not ready to tackle Movado for VR just yet. That will be half a day.

 

[Joelist]

Here's something unusual to get working in a Linux:

 

[Shadow Mann]

That is impressive! Many things about PopOS are impressive, and have addressed issues that exist in Ubuntu. I got Fallout 4 to work absolutely flawlessly in PopOS! Having trouble modding, but the base game is gorgeous and faster than in Windows. The Vortex mod manager and Nexus Mods does not connect properly in Linux (file structure). Steam works fine, and I was able to install Fallout 4 from there in Linux, but NONE of the other games in my Library are available for install in Linux.

Dual Boot

I was able to get my system to dual boot (PopOS/Windows 10 21H1), but I had to use an unconventional method since PopOS uses systemd-boot instead of GRUB. I installed rEFind (correct spelling) to probe the drives and find Windows. It replaces the Windows bootloader. PopOS is also not UEFI, so I could not use rEFind by itself. I use the F12 boot options in my Dell to do it, and it works well enough. I find myself camping out more in PopOS than Windows. I have started doing my more sensitive stuff on Linux because Microsoft is now on an incredibly aggressive intrusion quest IMO. Like you, I was once primarily a Linux guy until the AAA games and VR happened. I had no choice. I am going to start seeing Windows as my "gaming platform" primarily, until Linux catches up in compatibility or Devs start making the games compatible with Linux. The capability is there already!

 

[Shadow Mann]

The Monado developments look really good for VR. A control and tracking platform for Windows Mixed Reality headsets means complete independence from Microsoft in it's operation. It looks like Steam will be in cahoots with them to some degree, as they will deprecate the SteamVR connections to WMR eventually. Monado is open-source, and will be simply seen as "Monado" by SteamVR which will make it universally usable. I am excited about it. For now though, I still have at least two years left with WMR. I just boot into Windows to play.

 

[Joelist]

I wonder if my somewhat different experience is because I did not do a Dual Boot setup? I pushed PopOS! in full install onto a Lenovo machine that had Windows 10 on it and is UEFI (I have the license key for Windows so I can reuse it). Systemd-boot automatically detected everything and the end result was a PopOS! install that starts smoothly in UEFI. All I had to do beforehand was disable Secure Boot.

I admit I like Systemd-boot. Partly because it is up to date and also because GRUB for me was such a hassle.

I also am looking forward to seeing what happens when they RTM COSMIC that is its own thing and not a heavily modded GNOME?