The Ultimate COSMIC Desktop Feature Wishlist

Summary

The video script discusses the user's experience with COSMIC, a desktop environment in its alpha stage. Despite bugs and missing features, the script praises COSMIC's windowing and tiling system. It highlights the need for a global hotkey system, window rule customization, and mouse-based control improvements. The speaker also suggests enhancements like layout customization, expanded window grouping, and more granular styling options, expressing excitement for COSMIC's potential while acknowledging its current limitations.

Takeaways

• 🖥️ The speaker uses KDE Plasma daily but has been experimenting with COSMIC in their free time, appreciating it as a great proof of concept.
• 🔄 Despite being an Alpha version, COSMIC's windowing works well, but it has many bugs and missing features typical of Alpha software.
• 🚀 The speaker desires to see certain features in COSMIC in the future, some of which they believe may already be in development.
• 🔑 There is an ongoing issue with the global hotkey system for Wayland, which requires desktops and applications to implement a hotkey portal.
• 🔄 The speaker uses a workaround for OBS with X Wayland to handle hotkeys for legacy X11 applications, which they hope to see in COSMIC.
• 🛠️ COSMIC lacks a window rule system, which the speaker believes is essential and hopes will be implemented with learnings from KDE Plasma.
• 🔄 The speaker suggests using modifier keys for different window interactions in COSMIC to improve the user experience.
• 📏 They appreciate COSMIC's free-flowing tiling system but would like to see more static layout options and customization.
• 🔧 The speaker proposes a layout customization engine within COSMIC for advanced users to define their own tiling layouts.
• 🔗 COSMIC's window grouping feature is praised, but the speaker would like to see it expanded to include mouse interactions and non-adjacent windows.
• 🎨 Styling in COSMIC is limited to set amounts of roundness and density, and the speaker wishes for more granular control over these settings.

Q & A

What is the current status of COSMIC according to the script?

COSMIC is in the Alpha stage, which means it has a lot of bugs typical for Alpha software but is still a great proof of concept. It has good windowing functionality but is missing some features.

Why is the global hotkey system for Wayland considered a chicken and egg problem?

The global hotkey system is a chicken and egg problem because the desktops need to implement the hotkey portal first, and then applications can implement a way to use the portal. However, if desktops don't have the portal, applications won't implement it either.

What is the solution provided by Katie for handling hotkeys in legacy X11 applications under Wayland?

Katie's solution allows XWayland to snoop in on hotkeys being pressed, listening to the keyboard and sending those keys to legacy X11 applications, thus enabling global hotkey access even for applications not natively built for Wayland.

What is the issue with the current window rule system in COSMIC?

COSMIC currently does not have a window rule system, which is a common feature in most desktop environments that allows users to set rules for window positioning, sizing, and other properties.

How does the speaker suggest improving the window rule system in COSMIC?

The speaker suggests learning from Plasma's approach by having a 'detect window properties' button that allows users to easily set window rules without guessing pixel sizes or monitor names.

What is the main challenge with implementing a free-flowing tiling system in COSMIC?

The main challenge is to create a system that can automatically adapt to user preferences for window layout without requiring manual adjustments each time, which could be complex and potentially lead to many problems.

What is the concept of window grouping in COSMIC's tiling system?

Window grouping in COSMIC allows users to treat a group of windows as a single unit, enabling operations like moving, rotating, and stacking the group together as if it were one window.

Why does the speaker want to see window grouping expanded to floating mode?

The speaker believes that window grouping should be possible in floating mode as well, as it makes sense logically and would allow for more flexibility and ease in managing window layouts.

What is the speaker's opinion on the styling options in COSMIC?

The speaker appreciates the existing roundness and upcoming density settings but would like more granular control, such as defining exact amounts of roundness and density, and configuring different elements individually.

What does the speaker suggest regarding the customization of COSMIC's layout engine?

The speaker suggests exploring the idea of a layout customization engine built into COSMIC, allowing users to define exact window placements and sizes within a tiling layout, possibly with both GUI and text-based configuration options.

What is the speaker's final recommendation for those interested in trying COSMIC?

The speaker recommends that people should try COSMIC, acknowledging that while it's not ready for daily use, it's worth exploring for its innovative features and concepts.