Pop!_OS 24.04 LTS is the COSMIC desktop as a daily OS: System76’s Rust-based environment, Ubuntu 24.04 under the floor, Flatpak-friendly store, and a 2026 feature drop that people actually screenshot — Frosted Glass in COSMIC Epoch 1.3 (July 2026). This post is install notes plus a walkthrough of that look, not a review score. COSMIC is not GNOME with a skin. It is a new shell, new apps, new settings tree.

If you want Fedora’s COSMIC spin/atomic instead of Pop, Fedora 44 shipped COSMIC images too — different packaging, similar desktop. If you want tiling that is Hyprland-shaped, that is Omarchy, not COSMIC’s own tiling. If you want Cinnamon comfort, Mint 22.3.

What you are installing in 2026

  • OS: Pop!_OS 24.04 LTS (Ubuntu noble base, System76 kernel/mesa/NVIDIA story on their ISOs).
  • Desktop: COSMIC Epoch 1.x, updated in-place. 1.3 is the Frosted Glass release; Pop users often got the effect slightly before other distros packaged 1.3.
  • Apps: COSMIC Files, Terminal, Text Editor, Store (not GNOME Files/Terminal/Pop Shop). Some GNOME apps can still be installed; they will look like guests.
  • Not there yet / still maturing: treat touch, some hotkey OSDs, and third-party libcosmic apps as “check before you need them.” System76 has been explicit that COSMIC keeps moving after the 24.04 launch.

Choose the correct ISO

From system76.com/download-pop:

  • Intel/AMD ISO if there is no NVIDIA GPU, or you are on older NVIDIA they classify with that image.
  • NVIDIA ISO if you have a modern NVIDIA card and you want proprietary drivers in the live session. This is the same idea as always with Pop: the NVIDIA image exists because nouveau + Wayland + installer is how you get a black screen.

Verify the checksum they print next to the download. Disable Secure Boot in firmware for the install path they document unless you know you can enroll modules. Pop’s NVIDIA + Secure Boot story is a MOK/signing problem; I disable Secure Boot on lab boxes.

ARM ISOs exist (Thelio Astra and community Tow-Boot machines). This post assumes x86_64.

Flash with Etcher, Fedora Media Writer, or dd (lsblk first).

Installer walkthrough (what to actually click)

Boot the USB. If the live COSMIC session is black on NVIDIA, you grabbed the Intel ISO — start over with the NVIDIA image. If it is black on Intel, try nomodeset in the bootloader (same class of workaround as Omarchy, different menu).

The graphical installer is straightforward:

  1. Language and keyboard.
  2. Disk: whole disk vs custom. Full-disk encryption is offered; it is optional. If you encrypt, you will unlock at boot and log into COSMIC — two secrets. Using the same passphrase is a convenience; using different ones is slightly more correct. Write them down offline.
  3. User account. This is a sudo user.
  4. Sit through unpacking. Reboot, pull the USB.

Refresh install: Pop can reinstall while keeping /home and user Flatpaks (hold Space at boot / ISO refresh flow, with more of that landing in Settings over time). Know that it exists before you nuke a disk in panic. It is not a substitute for backups.

Upgrading from Pop 22.04: System76 documented pop-upgrade release upgrade -f and a later in-OS notification. Backup first. COSMIC is a new desktop; your GNOME extensions will not come along.

Expected first boot: COSMIC greeter, session, a dock/panel that is not GNOME Dash. Network in the applet. lsb_release -a / /etc/os-release should say Pop 24.04.

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

Reboot if the kernel or NVIDIA stack updated. nvidia-smi on the NVIDIA ISO path should see the GPU. If it does not, you are not ready to tune glass effects — fix the driver.

First hour in COSMIC (features that matter)

Open Settings. The tree is COSMIC’s, not gnome-control-center. Walk these on purpose:

  • Desktop → Workspaces: COSMIC’s tiling/workspace model. Try tiling and floating. If you came from Hyprland, this will feel more “tiling optional.” If you came from GNOME, workspaces are still a thing, different overview.
  • Desktop → Appearance: themes, and after 1.3, Frosted Glass (below).
  • Input: keyboard layouts, caps vs ctrl — do this before muscle memory hates you.
  • Displays: mixed-DPI is the usual Wayland homework. Test the app you screenshot for YouTube on the layout you actually use.
  • COSMIC Store vs apt: Store is Flatpak-forward. Compilers, kernel headers, NVIDIA stay apt. I install build-essential from apt and GIMP from Flathub unless I have a reason not to.

Default apps: COSMIC Terminal is fine. If you need GPU-inspect nvidia-smi you still open a terminal like a human.

Screenshots: COSMIC has a built-in tool. System76 has recommended Flameshot from Flathub if you need annotations (version notes matter on Wayland). Install Flameshot before you record a tutorial so you are not debugging portals live.

Frosted Glass walkthrough (COSMIC 1.3)

This is the visual feature people upgraded for.

  1. Open COSMIC Settings.
  2. Sidebar: Desktop.
  3. Appearance.
  4. Style section → Frosted glass.

Enable the effect and use the sliders/toggles they shipped: frost thickness, glass opacity, and which surfaces participate.

COSMIC 1.3 lets you apply glass selectively:

  • Windows
  • Panels
  • Applets
  • System interface (launcher, app library, workspace overview, lock screen, on-screen controls)

What to try (qualitative):

  • Panel + applets only, windows opaque — readable for writing.
  • System interface only — overview looks fancy, terminals stay solid.
  • Everything on — pretty; watch contrast on a busy wallpaper.

Performance / GPU: blur is not free. On a discrete GPU it is usually fine. On a small iGPU laptop, if moving the overview feels sticky, turn glass off or limit it to the panel. I will not quote frame times. Your compositor and wallpaper resolution matter more than a blog number.

Third-party apps: Frosted Glass is a libcosmic feature. Apps that have not rebuilt against a new libcosmic will stay solid. That is expected. Do not file “Pop is broken” because Firefox is not frosted. Firefox is not a COSMIC widget.

Wallpaper: busy photos make glass noisy; darker/simple wallpapers keep text readable. Appearance settings are the right place to judge, not a phone photo of the screen.

If the Frosted Glass controls are missing, you are not on 1.3 yet:

apt policy cosmic-settings cosmic-comp
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

Pop 24.04 gets COSMIC through their repo. Fedora/Arch users wait for their packagers; the desktop is the same upstream (cosmic-epoch).

NVIDIA, Secure Boot, and dual GPU laptops

NVIDIA ISO + Secure Boot off is the homelab path. If you must Secure Boot, plan on signing/enrolling the NVIDIA module; test after every kernel. Hybrid laptops: confirm you are on the GPU you think you are (prime / System76 NVIDIA docs for that release). COSMIC on Wayland + NVIDIA is better than it was and still the place I check journalctl -b after a failed screenshot portal.

AMD/Intel: Mesa from Pop’s stack; Frosted Glass is a compositor/UI effect, not an AMD-only toy.

Homelab and “is this the jumphost OS?”

Pop 24.04 is a laptop/desktop OS. You can apt install qemu-kvm libvirt-daemon-system virt-manager and use it as a jumphost. I still prefer Fedora 44 XFCE or Silverblue when the machine’s job is libvirt + SSH, because that matches my Fedora CoreOS guests. Pop is what I put on a System76-shaped workstation or a box where I want COSMIC’s tiling + glass.

Do not put Pi-hole on Pop. Put it on CoreOS.

Troubleshooting

  • Installer never appears: wrong ISO (NVIDIA vs Intel), Secure Boot, bad USB. Another stick.
  • Login loop: GPU driver vs Wayland. TTY (Ctrl+Alt+F3), apt, older session if offered, read ~/.local/share/cosmic only after logs.
  • No Frosted Glass: not upgraded to 1.3; or looking in GNOME Tweaks (wrong desktop).
  • Store vs apt duplicates: pick one install for each app.
  • Work VPN .deb from 2022: may assume GNOME Keyring paths. Test before you migrate the only work laptop.

Wrap-up

Pop!_OS 24.04 + COSMIC in 2026 is a real desktop: new apps, new settings, and Frosted Glass that you can scope so it stays readable. Install the ISO that matches the GPU, keep Secure Boot honest, upgrade COSMIC with apt, then spend ten minutes in Appearance → Style instead of installing a dozen GNOME extensions that will not apply. If you hate it, Fedora 44 and Mint 22.3 are still there. If you love tiling but want Arch, Omarchy is the other religion.

Best regards,

The Linux IT Guy