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Linux Distros Evolution - January 2024 Update: Pop!_OS in Decline?
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this post was submitted on 05 Jan 2024
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Pop is stagnant while they work on Cosmic. I'm one of the people who left because of that.
I am still actively maintaining Pop!_OS. COSMIC has not changed that aspect of my job. Just within the last week I packaged Linux 6.6.8, Mesa 23.3.2, Just 1.22, Rust 1.75.0, and updated Popsicle's dependencies to fix a bindgen build error with recent versions of Clang. We have a systemd update that was packaged today, and I'll be doing another linux-firmware backport soon. So I don't understand why you'd think it is stagnant. We're even shipping Pipewire 1.0.0 by default, which Ubuntu hasn't yet done in the latest version. People usually complain that we update too often.
You dropped this 👑
Stagnant was probably the wrong choice of word. Perhaps "stable" (in the Debian sense) would be more apt, and that isn't for everybody. I think you will see a HUGE influx once Cosmic launches.
It's not stable in the Debian sense. We've always had rolling release updates for the system base; and people often complain about regressions in Linux, Pipewire, Mesa, and NVIDIA updates. I get them packaged shortly after they're released. As long as they pass QA tests in the System76 hardware lab, they get released within a week.
Well, there must still be a reason that people are going to other distros... I don't think Pop has any inherent problems (unlike Manjaro for example) so perhaps the average user (counting myself in there) simply considers those under-the-hood changes less appealing than new GUI stuff, especially when the demographic is gamers. Things like Cosmic's improved tiling and the built-in theming support will be a major attraction, I think.
You are misunderstanding the data. It is not the number of users, but a percent of posts to ProtonDB, which only applies to PC gamers. There can be a disproportionately larger number of reports from those who need to spend time tweaking their system as opposed to using it, or that are particularly vocal about sharing their tweaks.
The total number of users playing games on Linux is rising each year. Pop!_OS was the first OS that a lot of people tried a few years ago, and so you'll see a lot more diversity in choice now. People who are new to Linux, yet particularly heavily invested in it, tend to like to try out a lot of different distributions in the following years.
What you said makes sense. It is like that metaphor with the planes and bullet holes you know?
I'm not using Pop, but am somewhat interested in their development. In what way is it stagnant?
No new version will be released until Cosmic is ready.
Edit: I don't intend to badmouth S76 here. I love PopOS, it's the distro that made me a Linux fulltimer. Cosmic looks great so far. However the last major release of PopOS was in early 2022.
There are new versions released every two or three weeks. I'm about to release Linux 6.6.8 with Mesa 23.3.2. We have Pipewire 1.0.0 and NVIDIA 545. ISOs are regularly rebuilt with our latest updates.
Isn't this pretty much the Ubuntu LTS schedule? Linux Mint has been tracking the LTS as well.
Mint has released 3 versions based on Ubuntu Jammy, though.
Pop!_OS has released 37 versions based on Ubuntu Jammy, though. Soon to be 38.
I guess it depends how one defines "update" versus "version". Again, please don't take what I'm saying as criticism of what you guys are doing, because PopOS is great — I just happen to have a personality better suited to rolling-release distros. Pop is what I usually recommend to first-time Linux users though.
I'm defining it the same way that Mint and Ubuntu is here. Which is when they release a new version of their ISO. We are currently on 22.04.37. Release date January of 2024. There are substantial changes since the first ISO build of 22.04