We are pleased to announce Synex COSMIC, a new edition that expands the family of desktops available in the project. COSMIC represents one of the most interesting proposals in the current Linux ecosystem: a modern desktop environment, written from scratch in Rust, with a focus on performance, customization, and an architecture completely independent of traditional toolkits.
COSMIC Epoch 1.0.16
Synex COSMIC is based on COSMIC Epoch 1.0.16, a version pinned through the corresponding tag of System76's official repository. This decision prioritizes reproducibility and stability: instead of following the development branch, the edition is built from an exact and known point of the code, ensuring that each build produces the same result.
COSMIC is a superproject composed of more than twenty independent components: the compositor (cosmic-comp), the session (cosmic-session), the panel and applets (cosmic-panel, cosmic-applets), its own greeter (cosmic-greeter), the settings center (cosmic-settings), and a set of native applications (file manager, terminal, text editor, media player, application store, among others). All these components were compiled and packaged to integrate correctly into Synex.
Same base, same Synex experience
Synex COSMIC shares exactly the same base as the rest of the project's desktop editions. This means that everything that works in any major Synex desktop also works here: the Calamares installer with support for multiple filesystems, the set of in-house management tools, and the renewed system identity.
The edition includes the complete set of tools developed within the Synex ecosystem:
- Synex Package Manager 1.1.1: unified management of APT packages, repositories, and Flatpak, consistent with the other editions
- synex-center: centralized access point to system management tools
- synex-cleaner: system maintenance and cleanup
- synex-firmware-helper: firmware update management
- synex-lvm-setup: logical volume configuration
The system identity through synex-release 1.1.0 (with the dpkg-divert-based rebrand) and Synex branding are applied consistently, fully integrating COSMIC into the project rather than offering it as an external addition.
Public repository to compile COSMIC
As part of this release, we publish a GitHub repository containing everything needed to compile COSMIC and generate the deb packages. The repository follows a clean and reproducible approach: it does not include COSMIC's source code, but only the Synex integration patches and the automation scripts.
The workflow downloads COSMIC directly from System76's official repository at the pinned tag, applies the Synex patches over each component, and builds the deb packages ready to install. This design maintains a clear separation between upstream code and in-house modifications, facilitating maintenance and updates to future COSMIC versions.
The repository is useful not only for Synex, but for any Debian 13 user or derivative distributions who wants to compile COSMIC into native deb packages, with correct maintainer scripts and its own changelog, instead of relying on alternative installation methods.
System components
Synex COSMIC shares the stable Synex 13 base. Main components include Linux kernel 6.12.90, systemd 257.13, Mesa 25.0.7, PipeWire 1.4.2, WirePlumber 0.5.8, OpenSSL 3.5.6, and Firefox ESR 140.11.0. The installer remains based on Calamares 3.3.14 with calamares-settings-synex 1.0.28.
The desktop is based on COSMIC Epoch 1.0.16, with cosmic-greeter as the environment's own login manager. Synex Package Manager 1.1.1 accompanies the edition as the software manager, along with synex-release 1.1.0 and synex-branding 1.1.0 for system identity.
Considerations
COSMIC is a young desktop environment that continues in active development. While version 1.0.16 represents a stable base, some components and features may continue to evolve in future versions. This edition offers an opportunity to experiment with one of the most promising projects in the Linux ecosystem, integrated into Synex's solid base and tools.
Availability
Synex COSMIC is available for immediate download from SourceForge. As always, we recommend verifying the checksums of downloaded images before creating the installation media.
The repository with the scripts and patches to compile COSMIC is publicly available on GitHub.
Download Synex 13 COSMIC from here.