Pop!_OS

System76's developer-friendly distro. Clean, tiling-capable, and great with GPUs out of the box.

Desktop Development Gaming Beginner

Overview

Based on	Ubuntu (LTS)
Package manager	APT (with Flatpak support)
Package format	.deb
Release model	Fixed releases following Ubuntu LTS. COSMIC-based releases transitioning to independent base.
Default DE	COSMIC (Rust-based, developed by System76; earlier releases used GNOME with Pop Shell)
Init system	systemd
Website	pop.system76.com

Why Pop!_OS?

NVIDIA out of the box - Offers a dedicated NVIDIA ISO with proprietary drivers pre-installed. No driver hunting.
Auto-tiling - Pop Shell (GNOME) and COSMIC provide keyboard-driven tiling window management without needing i3 or Sway
COSMIC desktop - System76's new Rust-based desktop environment, built from scratch for performance and customization
No Snap - Like Mint, Pop!_OS removes Snap and ships Flatpak with Flathub pre-configured
Developer workflow - Excellent keyboard shortcuts, workspaces, and a launcher (Super key) for quickly finding apps and files
Recovery partition - Built-in recovery partition lets you refresh or reinstall the OS without a USB drive

Package Management

Pop!_OS uses APT with its own repositories layered on Ubuntu, plus Flatpak for desktop apps.

# System updates
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

# Install packages
sudo apt install build-essential git curl neovim

# Pop!_OS specific packages
sudo apt install pop-shell-shortcuts    # Tiling shortcuts reference

# Flatpak (Flathub pre-configured)
flatpak install flathub com.spotify.Client
flatpak install flathub com.visualstudio.code
flatpak list

# System76 tools
sudo apt install system76-driver
sudo apt install system76-power

System76 Power Management

# Switch GPU modes (on hybrid graphics laptops)
system76-power graphics integrated    # Battery saving
system76-power graphics nvidia        # Full GPU performance
system76-power graphics hybrid        # On-demand GPU switching
system76-power graphics compute       # GPU for CUDA/compute only

# Power profiles
system76-power profile battery
system76-power profile balanced
system76-power profile performance

COSMIC transition: Pop!_OS is transitioning from a GNOME-based desktop to COSMIC, a completely new desktop environment written in Rust by System76. COSMIC is designed to be faster, more customizable, and independent of GNOME's design decisions. Check pop.system76.com for the latest on the COSMIC release status.

Tips

Download the NVIDIA ISO if you have an NVIDIA GPU. It saves significant setup time.
Learn the tiling keyboard shortcuts (Super + Y to toggle tiling, Super + arrow keys to arrange windows)
Use the Pop!_OS Launcher (Super key) for quick app launching, file searching, and calculations
The recovery partition can be accessed by holding Space during boot. Use it to refresh your install without losing /home.
For gaming, Pop!_OS works out of the box with Steam. Install from APT: sudo apt install steam
Use Timeshift for system snapshots: sudo apt install timeshift
Pop!_OS uses systemd-boot instead of GRUB, managed by kernelstub