Does being on 20.04 cause issues for anybody?

I am new to Zorin and really like the appearance, performance, and general interface.

I know my way around and have been on Linux for 15 years or so, but the real thing that keeps me from wanting to make this my primary Distro is 20.04 is so OLD at this point. By the time 22.04 support comes around it will be close to 24.04.

I just want honest assessments on if this causes problems or if I am worrying largely about nothing. I have ran into one small problem myself the deb version of Piper on the store does not even work anymore it is so outdated. I just used the Flatpak but I don’t want large difficult to solve issues effecting my work flow.

I do greatly value stability I just want to know if this is causing real world issues.

Opinions on this matter?

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None so far for me, other than some Gnome extensions only works for Gnome 4+

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True, I guess that is something worth mentioning but nothing I personally would be to concerned about. I imagine that will get a lot better on the next version when they get to version 40+




I just decided to setup Ubuntu 22.04 similarly. Took me all day but now I do not have to worry about it and can just upgrade at each LTS. Thank you for responding anyway. Maybe this thread will be helpful to someone

not having access to modern extensions is a big deal for me and many others as has been discussed in other threads. This OS, with all its amazing abilities, great features and enhancements, is 5 versions behind on Gnome.

The version of Piper in Software is not outdated. In fact, the developer recommends installing the .deb version as of the current date.
If you ran into an issue, you can contact the developer and file a bug report:

20.04 is a Long Term Release system that is Fully Supported until 2025 (which is two years from now) and has extended support until:
2030.

Currently, Zorin OS 16 is using a higher kernel than even Ubuntu 22.04 offers.

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As someone who does like Zorin and I agree it is very well polished. Probably the best out of the box polish of any distro anywhere.

But older packages can absolutely be a problem. For instance the Deb version of Piper does not work on 20.04 anymore as I mentioned. (Luckily for this particular one there is a Flatpak alternative) but what if I wasn’t so lucky?

Also extensions which I personally do not care much about are a big deal to some people. I would strongly advise them to start tracking closer to Ubuntu LTS myself the next LTS will be practically out before they even get to 22.04.

As I mentioned above I just setup Ubuntu 22.04 in a practically identical way.

Zorin just makes me nervous for the long run especially as a semi-developer.

Not that I think it matters all that much Zorin has a lower kernel than Ubuntu 22.04. I am running 5.19 on Ubuntu, I never saw above 5.15 on Zorin.

(Double check what you are running. Maybe I made a mistake but I could have swore it was 5.15)

5.15.0-69.

My source was: https://ubuntu.com/security/livepatch/docs/livepatch/reference/kernels

However, since you pointed this out, I figured I would double check.
I found this:

You are correct... I am what is "outdated", now...:stuck_out_tongue:

Even so, Zorin OS 16 includes a much higher kernel over-all than most distros using 20.04 as a base. (But not all).

It is true that some users on the latest cutting edge hardware may run into troubles by needing a higher kernel. I usually recommend using the TuxInvader kernel.

And any user on a distro can run into issues that need troubleshooting. Given that the Zorin Forum gets so few help requests (statistically speaking), I would say that the odds are good for you. I am running a new computer, Nvidia 3060, fancy peripherals... and everything works out of the box on Z16.
But if you run into trouble, we are here for that reason - To help.
We can try to alleviate:
"but I don’t want large difficult to solve issues effecting my work flow."

I actually very rarely ask for support. Typically I solve my own issues, but I have historically just stayed on Distros that don’t have many issues. (Linux Mint primarily, but honestly it’s look and feels dated to me. You can make it better but still quite a bit behind Zorin imo)

I also don’t agree with Mint’s position on Snaps. I don’t care for distros picking sides in the Flatpak vs Snap debate. Users need to decide this matter and use whichever makes sense for them.

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Zorin OS chooses the base OS version to ensure stability and reliability. If you don't agree with this policy, you can consider another distro.

Fedora is pretty solid from my experience. But definitely has more issues than Ubuntu LTS. Just being forced to do major upgrades so often is asking for trouble.

Arch is awful. I don’t know how anyone uses it. It is pretty much what you said. Almost useless for anything you need to know is going to work.

I agree Zorin ticks a ton of boxes for me. If they could get on Ubuntu LTS bases within a year of its release I would almost definitely stick around but I just don’t know about being (almost) an entire LTS behind.

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While that probably is partly true the more likely scenario is they simply can’t keep up.

They definitely do a great job and I don’t want to take anything away from that.

I have been using Zorin OS for a few years - including while doing development of my own.
I understand your concerns as they are perfectly valid. However... I will address your direct question with a direct answer:

Yes.

This answer may not be very helpful to you, though.
Experience may be more descriptive.
You can Try Zorin OS out. Test it. Run it through the paces. Test if it works for you. If it does then... Don't worry about the numbers, prioritize on Quality over Quantity.

I have used it for a couple of weeks and really didn’t have any issues (great experience)

But what makes me nervous is just the “not knowing”

This is not a good analogy but I will make it and you can hopefully get what I am saying.

If I run Arch I know it is not a matter of if but when I will run into an issue. I kinda feel the same about Zorin.

While Zorin is WAY less likely to run into an issue I still feel it will happen. Fairly dated GCC version for instance. Maybe a Gnome extension I really need. Etc. etc. You just can’t predict the future unfortunately.

This is really only an issue if the Gnome Extension is only available for Gnome40+.
And I must say that seems mostly unlikely. Let's be realistic, here... It's not like there were only a few extensions up until Gnome 40 was released. No... There were tons of extensions being made when Gnome 3.38 was new.
They are still supported, available and easy to install.

Now, it may be that some of the newest extensions are only for Gnome 40+ but they most likely are for the different system that Gnome 40+ is. Gnome 40* is the next Major Release of Gnome. It has a lot of differences. So, those extensions would not be applicable on Gnome 3.38.
And - importantly - they may only be applicable in Gnome 40+ due to the removals made in Gnome 40 that necessitated the new extension in the first place.

Arch is a Rolling Release whereas Zorin OS is a Stable release.
Every bit of it is Fully supported and will be even after the release of Zorin OS 17.

By the time gcc were to become a potential issue, you would have already been on Zorin 17 for a minimum of a year and a half...

I think Zorin is unquestionably the best looking distro out of the box overall.

Their theme is just glorious. The attention to detail, the polish just everything about it screams quality.

This is probably partly because of the slower development cycle. Unfortunately you just can’t have everything it seems.

Personally I do not like the look of Budgie very much. Lol.

I

Ubuntu releases a Major release every two years. Zorin OS follows that release as a base and releases within a year to a year and a half (there has been times of variation. I think once it was a difference of 8 months... Though I would need to go back and look at the calendar...) Unlike Canonical, ZorinGroup consists of Two People.

For Zorin OS 16, there were a lot of delays, which set Zorin OS 16 behind a bit. What we have seen is a global pandemic and the invasion of the Ukraine, the native land the Zorin Family had emigrated from.
This was on top of the ZorinGroup prioritizing Zorin Direct Upgrade and Zorin Grid.

So you do have a point in feeling like Zorin OS 16 is a bit unusual in its age between releases.
But it is not unreasonably so. It still will receive all updates and security updates well after Zorin OS 17 is released.
And Security Updates for another 5 years after that.

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I have made my decision. I will use neither - they are each as bad as each other from a security standpoint. It will always be Synaptic Package Manager for me and .debs using Gdebi. And I am moving away from OS's that have any remnants of systemd (elogind) and Pulse Audio, so moving away from Devuan 3.1.1. (my daily driver) to Viper Linux - no systemd, no Pulse Audio, just pure ALSA.

Cheers friend!

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