What is Linux POP OS capable of?

As a re­l­at­ively new Linux-based operating system, POP OS uses Ubuntu package sources and follows the release cycle of new Ubuntu versions. Linux users will already be familiar with the lean Gnome desktop en­vir­on­ment. Notable features include pre-installed packages, in­teg­rated hard disk en­cryp­tion, native drivers suitable for gaming, practical graphics options, and plenty of optional tools.

Linux users are virtually inundated with new Linux dis­tri­bu­tions for laptop and PC. Most prefer to stick to well-known dis­tri­bu­tions such as Debian, which is a classic among the Linux server dis­tri­bu­tions, or the desktop dis­tri­bu­tion Ubuntu. But Linux-based systems like Pop!_OS (original spelling), released in 2017, offer some more exciting features than Linux, depending on user needs. Ubuntu and a standard Gnome desktop en­vir­on­ment serve as the basis for the desktop-focused dis­tri­bu­tion. The release cycle of POP OS is based on the Ubuntu version scheme. The current version 21.10 was released on December 14, 2021.

POP OS is a polished Ubuntu sequel boasting some useful new features, including an intuitive installer, an op­tion­ally encrypted hard disk setup, automatic window tiling, and efficient graphics options that make optimal use of resources. Below we present the most important features.

By default, POP OS offers an OEM in­stall­a­tion without a specified user by default. The installer itself is simple and self-ex­plan­at­ory. During in­stall­a­tion POP OS also provides the option to encrypt the hard disk. Users, time zone or region can be set up from within the Gnome dialogue after rebooting.

Since POP OS is geared at gaming, the graphics options stand out. The system offers functions for the flexible selection of graphics cards, which can be accessed via Gnome Shell and power icon. Users can select whether ap­plic­a­tions should start with a dedicated graphics card or whether one should be disabled. This makes it easy to configure energy-saving options or optimal graphics per­form­ance and use system resources in an energy-efficient way or at optimum per­form­ance. The graphics options include:

• In­teg­rated graphics: Fully disables Nvidia GPU for optimal battery per­form­ance
• Nvidia graphics: Disables Intel GPU while rendering runs on Nvidia GPU for optimal graphics per­form­ance, but limited battery life
• Hybrid graphics: Activates both graphics cards, Nvidia GPU is in standby mode and can be activated as needed, useful to switch rapidly between graphics per­form­ances without rebooting
• Compute graphics: Rendering via Intel GPU; Nvidia GPU is not disabled, but available in the back­ground

Automatic window tiling makes nav­ig­a­tion and operation par­tic­u­larly practical. Necessary and open windows can be resized and dis­trib­uted as tiles on the screen, which is par­tic­u­larly efficient for complex pro­gram­ming and ad­min­is­tra­tion. Active windows are iden­ti­fied via ‘Show Active Hint’.

By default, POP OS creates a recovery partition during in­stall­a­tion. This can be booted as a live system via the boot loader if required. In case of errors, you won’t have to make a USB stick bootable to reboot or repair the system.

Thanks to Linux Vendor Firmware Service upgrades to firmware can be performed auto­mat­ic­ally in POP OS via the Gnome settings. This means users can rely on up-to-date bug fixes, op­tim­isa­tions, and closed security gaps.

The pro­pri­et­ary upgrade tool offers the pos­sib­il­ity to update the POP OS dis­tri­bu­tion if upgrades are available. The download is automatic in the back­ground, but the in­stall­a­tion is executed only after user con­firm­a­tion.

Visually, POP OS is lean and well-arranged. Users of Gnome will already be familiar with the interface. Switching from dark to light themes can be adjusted from the Control Center. Gnome Tweaks can be added for more per­son­al­ised settings.

The Pop!_OS extension manager is par­tic­u­larly handy to extend the desktop en­vir­on­ment by adding various ex­ten­sions. The system also provides countless up-to-date tools such as Snap, Visual Studio Code, Android Studio, Biocon­duct­or, Inkscape, Postman and many more via the package man­age­ment and software re­pos­it­ory. The universal flatpack packaging format is supported. Sub­sequent in­stall­a­tion of packages is easy and automated.

The following is an overview of the most important ad­vant­ages and dis­ad­vant­ages of POP OS.

The system re­quire­ments POP OS are x86-64 ar­chi­tec­tures with at least 2 GB of RAM. However, 4 GB of RAM and 20 GB of storage are re­com­men­ded by the man­u­fac­turer to guarantee smooth operation. Basically, the system runs on any Ubuntu capable hardware.

POP OS was developed by System 76, a US hardware man­u­fac­turer for servers, desktop dis­tri­bu­tions and notebooks, as a pro­pri­et­ary operating system for its own computers and released on October 27, 2017. Although the source code is freely available, the system, unlike other Linux al­tern­at­ives, is not developed further by an active community, but by the man­u­fac­turer itself.

Looking toward the future, there is still plenty to come for POP OS. The system has been one of the most popular Ubuntu-based Linux dis­tri­bu­tions for years and is regularly featured among the top ten. In addition, System 76 is in constant growth, which means that regular upgrades and useful op­tim­isa­tions can be expected.

POP OS provides regular security updates for System 76 pro­pri­et­ary packages. If software is not updated, Universe and Mul­ti­verse com­pon­ents, similar to Ubuntu, are at risk of security vul­ner­ab­il­it­ies. Even Ubuntu com­pon­ents that are modified by the man­u­fac­turer can open attack points for malware if they cause kernel and security gaps. However, since updates, patches and upgrades are possible, this security aspect is not all too worrying.

POP OS is suitable for users who are already familiar with Linux and Ubuntu, but prefer added flex­ib­il­ity in graphics options. Given its OOTB support for AMD/Nvidia GPUs, con­veni­ent in­stall­a­tion and nav­ig­a­tion, and energy-efficient usage, POP OS proves to be a good choice for gamers with specific graphics needs as well as de­velopers and ad­min­is­trat­ors. The system is also at­tract­ive for media and graphic design users because of its practical ex­tens­ib­il­ity and countless ex­ten­sions.

The number of Linux and Ubuntu dis­tri­bu­tions continues to expand con­stantly. Besides POP OS, there are numerous al­tern­at­ives with different features and ad­vant­ages. These include:

• Ubuntu
• Linux Mint
• Manjaro Linux
• Arch Linux
• Fedora
• Debian