A Zorin and Pop_OS question

Thanks for the procedure.

But I have to tell you, I hate having to do all these kinds of tricks, eventually you run into problems and you know Microsoft will make our lives hells, hence why I'll hold on to Windows 10 until 2025 and hopefully by then maybe, just MAYBE, I can say goodbye to the Windows world forever? FINGERS CROSSED :slight_smile:

Thanks again!

You are touching so many good points here.... When it gets this complicated to use an OS that is insecure and they need to use hardware to help make it more secure, there is something very wrong there. Windows has so many flaws, so many security issues and they need this kind of security to help make it better.

Helping to a transition to Linux is a good idea. And also, bring more developers who usually just code for Windows and have them code stuff under Linux. I always said it, if more games would be available under Linux, you would see more and more people switch over.

That being said, let us not waste energy on Windows but on how we can help Linux continue to move forward!

2 Likes

It is interesting to see the diversity in our perception. I just love to research and try out such tricks. For me, it is a trivial effort compared with running OSX on unsupported PCs. I suppose it is boiled down how much time one would like to dedicate tinkering around computers - which I love with passion :nerd_face:

As for Microsoft, my freeing is quite neutral.
I wish I could do without their products but my work requires it. If I cannot do without, it is better to accept rather than hate every moment of using it. Everyone is entitled to think otherwise but I myself prefer not to place myself in such a negative mind set.

Actually I am hoping that I would be retired by then :wink:

But really, if you still need Windows to get the job done, there is always an option of virtual machines. In fact, that has been the only way I run Windows for my work for over 6 years. I keep one bare-metal installation for firmware update for peripherals which quite often comes in Windows only format.

There is one interesting discovery from my installation endeavourer. If Windows 11 is installed as VM, absolutely no modification is required for the installer. It can be installed and run on any Linux host with an unsupported system.

I have been your classic distro hopper; Manjaro, Pop, Fedora, Ferenos, etc. By no means am I a linux advanced user and still consider myself a newbie. But for me, Zorin has been the best experience seconded by Manjaro and Ferenos. I also game a little bit, and Zorin has also been great in that department. I use a Acer nitro i5 with onboard Nvidia graphics and have not had any problems once i installed the correct graphics drivers. I do have Win11 on a seperate drive for gaming (just in case). Outside of playing Cyberpunk, and Total War Shogun 2, Zorin is my daily driver. For the life of me I can not get those particular games to run. But that is a Proton issue and not a Zorin issue. For my two cent I would say go with Zorin. Nothing against any other distro at all, they are all great. Kudos to Popos by the way. Popshell is wonderful! But again, just my take!

1 Like

@FrenchPress I understand what you are saying. I still need Windows for my work and yes for gaming so for now I need it. I also have a WORK VM that has Windows just to keep things separate. As for the gaming well that needs to be a bare metal Windows.

For me it is not about having a negative mindset but the recognition of what Windows is and what, historically, Microsoft has tried to do to push Open Source out of the way, making it difficult for Linux, just remember the Netscape vs Internet Explorer saga. That kind of attitude may have changed with the different leaders, now it is less apparent perhaps but they are still trying to do things, in my opinion, they shouldn't be doing.

Besides, Windows, compared to Linux, really has zero advantages in terms of technology, security, etc. I am not being a hater. There are other things that came from Microsoft which I enjoy very much, C# and .NET CORE is one of them. It got much better ever since they open sourced it. And they did that because they really had no choice anymore.

That being said, once the dust settles maybe I'll find myself using Windows 11 but, if I can go the Linux route I will. One thing is for sure, all my servers are all Linux based and there is no way I would go and pay for a Windows Server.

@Thatothrgy You mentioned you are running Windows 11 on a separate drive. I presume you have a dual boot setup? If so, mind explaining your procedure especially if you use a EFI partition. I had issues trying to do that.

One way to have Windows and Linux on separate drive without dual-boot (desktop solution):

You could also use SATA to USB convertor and boot from external drives to use a different OS on the same system (laptop and desktop solution).

Yeah I thought of doing that too. Basically, what you do is, you swap your OS disk leaving the internal drives there (if any). So you only have one Operating System with a boot partition (may that be EFI or Legacy).

The Icy Dock hot swap unit does make it easy that is for sure.

There is only one problem for me and that is I am using M.2 SSD for my OS. So I would have to change my strategy and have my Operating Systems boot from a regular SSD and leave the M.2 SSDs for internal storage. I could buy an adapter for my M.2 SSD (M.2 to regular SSD case).

1 Like

If you do decide to dual boot, choose something else option after performing the recommended steps in the tutorial category of this forum, then amend the windows partition size, create your Linux partitions and format. That is the most difficult part. Grub will modify the efi boot partition, and you'll be able to switch without physically changing the drives.

Sorry for the late response @tessierp . But i did indeed follow the guide provided above. I went into my bios and turned off Raid and switched to ACHI. I was able to get things going afterwards. My system defaults to Zorin when booting. If I have to get to my windows drive, I just select it on boot (f12 key on my system). I have tried dual booting on one drive in the past but had nothing but problems as mentioned. I would also second not going about things in that way unless you have no other choice.

Hope everything works out for you!

Thanks for summarizing the concept behind in a concise manner :slight_smile:
This is a hardware approach to accomplish multi-boot.

Thanks for your help everyone. I wont be able to attack this issue for a while since I'm stuck with other problems at the moment that have nothing to do with IT and may take a while. But at least this gives me food for thought and things to think about.

1 Like

Windows 10 makes 100MB EFI Partition.

1 Like

Thanks for this info.
I all of a sudden remembered that I managed to reduce EFI partition in Bhodi Linux from 500MG to 100MB when I was trying to install it on 7GB eMMC came with the 1st gen Intel Compute Stick.

It seems less than 100MG EFI is required for both Windows and Linux. I suspect this extra 400MB is for adding some "breathing space" in Linux.

I since moved to a headless Linux installation for this Compute Stick (is is running Dietpi for X86) and space is no longer an issue :wink:

1 Like

I think I'll solve my issues with the EFI partition and dual boot and will probably go with a different system like the the one I think you proposed FrenchPress, using this : https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00X5HAKXC/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A3DWYIK6Y9EEQB&psc=1

I'll just swap out one OS for the other when I need to. That way I don't really have to worry about the EFI partition size.

1 Like

What I use is this:

As long as you avoid a dreaded Morex to Sata convertor, this system works great. The model I use has a power switch on each bay but it is quite fragile. I do not use this switch but use an eject button for cutting off the drive.

1 Like

Hey @FrenchPress ,

Thanks for your feedback. There is no molex to use on the unit I will go with. The reason why I am picking that one is I can add the unit of my choice in the HDD bay, could be another 2 slot SSD or a hot swap HDD extension, something like this :
https://www.amazon.ca/DOCK-Rugged-SATA-Mobile-Drive/dp/B00BR6W8II/ref=sr_1_40?dchild=1&keywords=HDD+hot+swap&qid=1628078413&sr=8-40

I kind of like that added flexibility in that particular unit.

I will only be switching between two OS, Windows or Linux until I am ready for Linux only. So a two bay SSD would be fine for me I think.

Going this route also means I will have to take out my M.2 SSD and use a M.2 to SSD adapter case. I'm giving up a bit of speed this way but, not that much. I find it funny when people freak over numbers with SSD performance. I mean, just just a second or two more load time. Some may care but I don't.

1 Like

I used to use exactly like this one to hot swap HDDs.
I retired all 3.5 inch HDDs some years ago except for one sits in a home-made NAS (Open Media Vault).

If you are still using 3.5 inch HDDs I think the model you chose (2.5 and 3.3 inch combo) makes sense :slight_smile:

The difference between HDD and SSD speed is vast. But I do not feel any difference among various makes of SSD. As for a durability, I have close to 20 SSDs. Over the years, one Kingston SSD and one Intel SSD became unreadable but none of the lesser know brand SSDs went bad. Something to think about if you are shopping for a new SSD.

@FrenchPress
Yeah I still use regular hard drives to store pictures, code I'm working on and develop, stuff like that and use the SSDs for applications.

As for SSD speed difference it feels marginal to me. Coming from a HDD to a SSD you see the difference like you said but between SSD brands and types, it is so marginal. I mainly use WD SSDs and Samsung.

For HDD in NAS applications I also then to go with WD REDs.

I have another question. Been looking at the Ubuntu road map and POP_OS. They are relatively fast. What is the usual release cycle for Zorin OS? Is it every two years?

This is a really good question. I have not personally been using Zorin OS (Or Linux for that matter) long enough to have measured it. In fact, if it is every two years, then I would be a lucky fella as I have seen Zorin OS 15 released (Shortly after I migrated from Windows) and am now about two see Zorin OS 16 released in less than two years.
I tried a quick Net Search:

It looks like between one and two years with an average around 1.3 years. So usually about a year and a couple of months.