I fixed the final issue I had with Zorin OS. Here's why Zorin OS is the best linux distro

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Hi all!

Some background that you can totally ignore: I fell in love with Ubuntu back in the day when Canonical would mail you physical discs to install on your computer. Although I always loved computers, I quickly realized I had enough of Windows' constant issues, slowness, susceptibility to viruses, and more.

As a blogger back in the golden days of blogging, I wrote many articles and tutorials about various distros and tools. Alas, they are all gone since the sites no longer exist, and many people simply moved to Mac (Myself included, to be honest).

I almost dropped out of touch with the Linux world until I got myself a Steam Deck, connected it to a monitor via USB-C, and literally used it as a computer for days.

My literal childhood memories came back. I used to tinker with various flavors of Ubuntu. My PC couldn't handle Kubuntu, but I'd try! Linux Mint worked great, but "peer pressure" kept me away from it! I even tried some less popular distros like PearOS, which no longer seems to exist.

Fast-forward to a few weeks ago, I discovered newfound interest in Linux-based distros. For work, I'd never touch Windows with a 10-ft. pole, but I do love macOS. My Windows laptop is for light gaming. But even that occasional use got me so annoyed that I finally partitioned the internal SSD and installed Ubuntu alongside Windows 11.

I wish I could wipe it away! But you do sometimes need Windows for occasional software -- like my Glorious Model O mouse and the new mechanical keyboard that's on the way.

Ubuntu felt great. I remember ditching it for Linux Mint when it moved to Unity. The new desktop environment wasn't that bad, but it felt a little bit on the heavy side. My laptop isn't exactly old or outdated: It has Ryzen 9 with RTX 3070. I tried Linux Mint for a couple of days, and while that worked better, I just didn't like the design.

Then I landed on Zorin OS. Kudos to whoever designed the website (and the forum, too). It just gives you such a beautiful and elegant feel. ElementaryOS used to get all the credits for having the most beautiful desktop environment. I think we can safely say that crown belongs to Zorin OS now.

I tried Zorin OS Core first and loved every bit of it. I actually didn't give it a second thought before opting for Pro, not because I needed any of the extra designs or layouts, but I wanted to support the team that made such a beautiful operating system for the masses.

After Zorin OS Pro was installed and I was settled with a handful of apps I regularly use (Brave, Obsidian, etc.), I noticed something odd. All the non-system apps were blurry.

I managed to find out this was due to fractional scaling. On my 2K display, 100% zoom was too small, and 200% was too big. Even with Large Text set in Accessibility settings, getting used to 100% zoom was hard.

My eyes aren't getting any better, so I needed to figure out a way to have Fractional Scaling on (with 125% zoom) that didn't turn every app -- from Obsidian to OnlyOffice blurry.

I did some research and managed to get the browsers running sharper (by choosing Wayland as the Preferred Ozone platform from chrome://flags. But it didn't fix the other apps.

I gave up. I decided to just deal with it. It's a minor issue, but I wish it didn't exist. It didn't happen on Ubuntu, for some reason. And I didn't feel like spending another eternity on forums figuring out how to fix it.

Today, I miraculously landed on a fix. I was casually watching a YouTube video where they talk about the Xorg display server that's on Linux. And I immediately rushed to my laptop and toggled the "X" server from Zorin OS' login screen.

That's it! Even with fractional scaling turned on with 125% zoom level, not a single app is blurry!

I can't believe I found a fix for the little minor thing that I was completely okay to live with. Is Zorin OS the most stable consumer distro out there? My answer is a firm yes.

In the world of M4 Mac Minis and low-cost Windows laptops, I don't see people rushing to Linux-based OS anymore to run on old and low-powered hardware. But if anyone asks, I won't hesitate for a second -- for the first time in forever -- to recommend Zorin OS over Ubuntu and even Linux Mint.

All that 770 word of story is just to convey a well-earned "KUDOS, TEAM" to every Zorin OS developer and contributor. Hats off to you! :star_struck:

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You have hit the nail on the head my friend. This is why xorg (sometimes referred to as X11) should be the default display server and not Wayland. Wayland does not work well with accessibility apps period. In terms of accessibility there is only one distribution that stands out and that is Devuan as it makes it possible for a blind user to install GNU/Linux unaided. For me there are only two OS's now that meet my needs (just to add I don't do non-native games on GNU/Linux anymore, I play on PS4 Pro) and they are Q4OS and PCLinuxOS, the latter just having released a Debian 12 version, Plasma, Plasma-mini, Cinnamon and budgie, in addition to existing xfce and MATE DE's. Additionally my preferred Desktop Environment is Plasma 5.27. Zorin can only offer 5.24, but a forum member has managed to install Plasma 6 through jammy jellyfish backports. I am not a big fan of Plasma 6 as it moves towards Wayland. My other issue is systemd - ironically Q4OS has systemd, PCLinuxOS doesn't and is a lot lighter on resources as a consequence. If PCLinuxOS Debian meets my needs it just might become my new daily driver.

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Funny you should mention gaming. Despite knowing that many Steam games are Linux optimized (I have a Steam Deck, after all), I never really tried running a game on Linux. I gave Elden Ring a go earlier today on Zorin OS and was blown away by how well it ran.

If this trend continues, and more games are well-optimized for Linux-based distros, gamers might switch en masse.

Microsoft can't do anything to stop anyone from making games run better on Linux. But it can prevent Office apps (Word, Excel, etc.) from ever running well. I guess that's why there are Mac versions but no Linux versions for the Office suite.

I personally don't have a need for them (though I pay for a subscription, primarily to access OneDrive), but I know the lack of Office suite of apps (alternatives don't always work flawlessly due to formatting and other reasons) is a major deal-breaker for many wanna-be Windows deserters.

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I think the main deal breaker for Office users is Excel, and we have to remember that it is closed source software so any features present in Excel can't appear in alternatives. That said, from lockdown until I retired I was working from home, primarily using first Feren OS then Devuan. I was running a VM of Windows 7 Pro, then Windows 8.1 Pro purely to access a shared mailbox that I could not set up in Evolution, and a free Braille Translation program, the GNU/Linux version worked fine in FerenOS but not at all in Devuan. Most of my work was using TextMaker 2018 and 2021 and the .docx files created showed up correctly on colleagues macjines at work. Additionally my workflow was much faster than if I had been using MS Office instead of SoftMaker Office Pro. I briefly saw a Linux Format headline that the game Cyberpunk 2077 ran a lot faster on Fedora than it did on Windows.

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Yeah, I figured. I'm not well-versed in Excel so I wouldn't know what, in particular, would be missing from the likes of Google Sheets or ONLYOFFICE/WPS/LibreOffice, but I knew there had to be something.

I wonder how well an Office install would run inside Bottles, though. I'd like to try that someday for science!

Very interesting! I wonder why that would happen since the game was primarily meant for Windows. I'll have to keep my eye out for any technical breakdown of better gaming performance on Linux compared to Windows. (For now, I'm heading to Limgrave on Zorin to experience some more deaths.)