COSMIC Epoch 1.8 is out, the latest release of System76's Rust-based desktop environment for Pop!_OS and other Linux distributions. Phoronix reported the release on September 10, 2026, noting it arrived just two weeks after version 1.7.
COSMIC is System76's own desktop environment, built with Rust and its Iced GUI toolkit, rather than a fork of GNOME or KDE. The company ships it as the default on Pop!_OS and makes it available to other Linux distributions too. A two-week gap between minor releases is fast for a desktop environment; GNOME and KDE Plasma, by comparison, ship on cycles measured in months.
What Phoronix reported as new
According to Phoronix, COSMIC Epoch 1.8 adds three user-facing changes. XWayland windows, meaning older, non-Wayland-native applications running through a compatibility layer, can now start in a minimized state through the COSMIC Compositor, instead of always opening on screen. COSMIC Shell gains improved tablet support, including the ability to grab, or capture exclusive input from, a graphics tablet. COSMIC Settings now lets a user rename a connected Bluetooth device, instead of only seeing its default hardware name.
What the official release page says
