I hope the general help is a good forum to ask a few questions.
Also, someone else may have these questions in the future and they run across this forum thread so we could also be helpful for them.
Can Zorin OS work with two monitors in the Extend mode just like windows?
Can Zorin OS have the quick screenshot and sketch app installed and if yes, which? I Love this function in Windows. I use it at least 5 times a day in my work to explain something to my clients. Its quick, simple and easy to launch from the taskbar itself.
In theory, would Zorin OS utilize the available PC specs more efficiently than Windows? Like if I can keep open about 200 tabs on Chrome when I work and don't have lags, would Zorin OS be able to keep open 300 tabs?
If you run an operating system through a VM as a guest, is the power of that system limited by the host system?
Let's say you have a windows as a host system and you install the Zorin OS as a guest system and they both have 50% of the resources cores and ram and etc. Would Zorin be limited by the host? Or would it be able to run tasks faster than the host because Linux is faster.
If you want to do a clean Zorin OS installation as a host and later windows as a VM guest, would you have to erase all of the files from the drive at hand?
I have a ssd and windows on it, also my very important files there. Could I install the Zorin OS and be done with the windows without losing my files?
If the answer is yes to the previous question. Will I be able to run windows apps that I already have installed on my drive by installing a windows vm? Like if that VM could have access to the whole drive?
Some of these questions may be stupid but I am sure I am not the only one who thought of them
If these are Windows apps - I wouldn't. For Desktop Management, stick to Linux apps. a Screenshot app like Purrint in Wine would perform terribly.
You can search from a Large Suite of Screenshot apps in Linux.
Absolutely - hands down - I have no doubt in my mind. That said, I would NEVER keep that many tabs open LOL
Yes and no. It is limited by the specs but performs better than Windows, leading to better speed.
No, you would want to back up those files in a safe place and restore them to the newly installed OS.
This still can be answered: Stand Alone apps can be run in Wine on Linux in that manner. But Windows Installed Apps would need to be installed in the virtual C: drive in the Wine Directory to run them otherwise.
Didn't see any, but if ever I do, I will be sure to let you know.
Aravisan, thank you for your replies! Here are some follow up questions if you have the time:
You said that the Zorin OS would be limited by the specs if it was used as a VM guest. So if I give the Zorin OS 4 cores and 4gb ram for an example as a VM. Would it perform with the same speed as if I did a clean regular installation on a machine with the same specs 4 cores and 4gb ram ?
If I do a clean Zorin OS installation and I need to backup my files. Can I back them up in a separate HDD that is physically speaking a different drive. Not a different partition. Will everything on another HDD remain intact?
If I do a clean Zorin OS installation. Do I need to do any partitioning of my main ssd drive? Do I need to make it an ext file type or will all of that be handled on its own? Long time ago, lifetime ago, I installed Ubuntu and prior to it, I had to turn my drive into an ext file system manually.
Additionally, do I need to use UEFI or legacy mode in BIOS or it doesn't matter? My laptop has had some bios chip issues so the repairman flashed some odd BIOS on it and I don't think that any tampering there is a good idea. I am not shure if its UEFI or legacy but I should know if it matters for Zorin OS 64bit version.
Edit: 5. An additional question came to me. I see that Linux users install programs using a command line. Something like apt sudo install "program name". How is this possible? Where do these programs come from? Where are they hosted and downloaded from?
I really have no idea. I do not use Virtual Machines. For what I would be doing on it, I doubt it could keep up.
I am not sure if any users currently active on the forum run Zorin OS in Virtual- I know I have seen that some mention that they do in the past. You could just run some benchmark tests on your own and see how it performs.
Yes and that is exactly how I do it.
You can use an external drive, A USB Stick, a Cloud Drive - whatever suits you best.
Installing Zorin OS on your computer drive will have no affect on an external drive. Or an internal one that is separate - or even a separate partition, really (aside from bootloader).
If you choose the automated installation, the installer will format the drive in ext4 for you. You will have no need to make any partitions unless you want to. If you perform Erase Disk and install, it will clean and format the entire disk except for any EFI partition.
You should be able to use either. Just be sure to burn your USB live Zorin as EFI or in MBR depending on which you want to use.
Programs are stored and uploaded in repositories. A repository must be set up and signed for Security Purposes. They are not easy to set up and you must I.D. yourself and sign a Code of Conduct, as well.
Repositories are hosted on the Linux Builds main server. In our case, Canonicals Main Universe.
This is funded generally by stakeholders and donations.
The distro (Linux Distribution) has a package manager for accessing repositories and downloading software. In our case, that is APT - Advanced Packaged Manager.
Others use PacMan (PACkage MANager)or Zypper.
So where we say sudo apt install..., they would put sudo pacman install... which always cracks me up.
When you use sudo apt install (Program-Name), you must enter your password verifying that you, the user, authorize access to your Root Directory. I cannot stress how powerful that one simple security measure is- and how it differentiates Linux (secure) from Windows (Wildly insecure.)
APT then communicates with the repository you are downloading from (listed in your sources.list or sources.list.d)ensuring that only Repositories that you have authorized on your computer are accessed.
These installations are .deb packages, much like any you may download from an independent developer. The .deb format tells the computer where to put the files to install them and what dependencies are needed.
This file specifies the Program Name that you must use to install it. If you use the wrong variation of that program name, it will not find the package.
So for example, if you wanted to add my repository, you would use sudo add apt repository command:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:aravisian/gtk-theming
This requires your password to authorize- which would then add it to your sources.list.d directory.
If you installed a package from my repo, it uses the .deb file to check the dependencies (which here is a list of the Minimum dependencies one of my packages lists):
Thank you for your detailed response! I hope others who are reading this will benefit from it as well! Your responses are very direct and easy to understand!
I will try to run some tests but I am not sure if i will be able to benchmark it properly.
So, those repositories are something like a special server where software is hosted. I assume someone must provide their government IDs or business details if they want their application hosted there. I mean it would be a disaster if someone would host a dangerous application there.
Those repositories are then something like a Google Play store and you install the app by just saying to your system hey install this app. Thats amazing actually.
Google Play is similar, though a lot less strict.
Yes, it could be a disaster under the right circumstances. Fortunately, someone hosting malware on the Ubuntu Main would not get very far before getting caught.
You have much better odds of hitting a large base on Google Play.
Yes, it does. Artyom Zorin has raised the issue that Zorin OS could host it's own Universe Repository if needs be.
I wonder if someday that will happen... ZorinGroup must grow first.
I can only tell you the case for the Windows guest on the Linux host because I've never installed it in other way around.
If you need to run GPU intensive applications (3D games), you will lose some computer power because GPU memory has to be split between the host and guest. But for regular apps such as Office suite, VM should work about the same if not better than bare-metal machines.
Thanks for the input!
I am still wrapping my head around this. It seems so weird that the guest OS is not "capped" by the performance of the host. Since its literally running in the host.
It is capped, if not by the amount you might think. Many processes that would normally be run are not needed to run, as the Host Computer is already performing them.
If you are performing a task singly, then you would have to keep track of all things in regards to that task. But if you were running only necessary parts of that task for your function and others were running other background tasks to that function, you can spare more resources toward your function.
Most of your computer performance takes place in the background.
I think the keyword here is driver virtualization.
The identical hardware can have a better or worse performance depends on the driver it uses. You can think of driver as a communication language between the OS and hardware. Virtualization works like a very capable translator who can facilitate the communication.
