Kasual Desktop, a console-like, gamepad-controlled desktop overlay for Linux and Windows, has been released in version v1.2.0.

New are support for COSMIC and Raspberry Pi OS (labwc/Wayfire), a configuration menu for display and audio output, a setup wizard, MangoHud injection with selectable HUD levels, and automatic restart after crashes. Kasual Desktop also no longer blocks sleep, and /dev/uinput access is granted via udev rules.

New Features

• COSMIC desktop support - full support for window switching, fullscreen mode and wallpaper on System76’s COSMIC. Includes fixes for surface hiding (cosmic-comp dropping the connection), windows leaking to the foreground after minimizing, and missing sound.
• Raspberry Pi OS support (labwc / wayfire), stage 1 - window switching, activation, closing and minimizing via the Wayland wlr-foreign-toplevel protocol, with no external dependencies. The wallpaper is inherited from the Raspberry Pi desktop.
• Configuration menu - new Configuration section in the Home Overlay Menu:
  • Display - choose the monitor Kasual Desktop runs on (the default display is remembered in preferences).
  • Audio output - choose the audio device. The setting applies only to the Kasual Desktop session and is restored after the PC wakes from sleep.
• Apps and Steam open on the Kasual Desktop display - launched applications and Steam now appear on the same monitor as Kasual Desktop.
• Setup wizard - a new Setup screen replaces the previous preflight dialog. It checks system readiness and offers ready-to-run, distribution-specific fix commands, with “Check again”, “Copy to clipboard”, “Continue” and “Quit” actions. It checks:
  • the GNOME Shell extension,
  • compositor layer-shell support,
  • MangoHud configuration,
  • gamepad and /dev/uinput access - without it the controller would appear disconnected.
• MangoHud injection - MangoHud is now injected into games launched from Kasual Desktop.
• HUD levels - choose the HUD detail level instead of a simple on/off toggle (RTSS on Windows as well).
• Automatic restart after a crash - the launcher restarts Kasual Desktop after a crash (SIGSEGV, SIGABRT, etc.), except when the crash happens within 30 s of startup, to avoid restart loops.

Improvements

• GNOME 51 compatibility - kasual-helper extension updated; keyboard focus and game focus are kept while the Home menu is open; the “window is ready” notification is suppressed.
• Wayfire, LXQt, Sway, Fedora - Wayfire fixes, LXQt wallpaper support, missing YouTube app icon handled on Sway, Fedora packaging fixes.
• No more sleep blocking - sounds are muted before suspend and Qt Multimedia no longer uses CUDA, so Kasual Desktop no longer prevents the PC from going to sleep.
• UI sounds - sounds are fully buffered and the audio device is released after playback.
• Simpler gamepad permissions - udev rules now grant access to /dev/uinput, so manually adding the user to the input group is no longer required.
• Sunshine streaming - new udev rule so that gamepad input streamed via Sunshine in the Home menu no longer reaches Steam at the same time.
• Named virtual keyboard - bundled apps (File Browser, YouTube) give their virtual keyboard a name, so key remapping tools can ignore it.
• HUD toggle only where it works - the HUD toggle is shown only over games where the HUD was actually loaded.
• Layout rebuild on resolution change - the screen layout is rebuilt after the display resolution changes.
• Brightness fallback to DDC/CI - brightness control now works on external monitors.
• Launcher input handoff - the launcher no longer keeps “pressing A” after handing control over to a game.
• Home menu and gamepad disconnect - the Home menu now closes correctly when the gamepad is disconnected.
• User notifications - a notification when another instance is already running, and on first launch without a gamepad a notification that Kasual Desktop is running in the background (tray icon).
• Network status icon - the offline icon now reflects the last used connection (Wi-Fi or wired) instead of always showing “Wi-Fi off”; fixed offline mode being shown despite an active Wi-Fi connection.
• UI polish - Home Overlay Menu integrated with the Home Header; improved overlay menu positioning (including multi-monitor setups); fixed header and hint bar positions, slider height and system action button styling.
• Translations - extended PL/EN translations.

Source: GitHub