My thoughts about Zorin as someone who's never used Linux before

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I've recently come across ZorinOS as a Windows user who's getting more and more fed-up with it. I've generally heard about Linux in the past but it always seemed like the UX was pretty bad and whatever resources I could find online were either people arguing or being unfriendly/toxic to new users so I kept away.

The premise of a Linux OS that was made to be as easy as possible to transfer to was a pretty interesting prospect so I gave it a chance. Bought the Pro licence to support the project, followed the installation instructions and installed ZorinOS on an old laptop I had laying around that could barely boot anymore. The setup was very straightforward and I was happy with the experience altogether.

As I started the OS for the first time, I was pleasantly surprised with the options at my disposition. The Appearances app made it easy to be in a familiar environment and the Software app, while hesitant at first due to my experiences with the Windows App Store, was very useful.

One thing I was surprised about however, was the lack of pre-installed tools or solutions for executing installers. For example - I wanted to install a software that came as a tar.xz file, which I learned is common for Ubuntu environments as either a simple archived document or a packaged software for installation. Wouldn't a prompt like "Would you rather Open or Execute the file?" make sense? I dunno, food for thoughts.

Nonetheless, so far, I've had a good experience in general! I'm still gathering my thoughts, experimenting in doing various tasks I've taken for granted over the years and brainstorming on what to do next. I can easily see the laptop used for independent work, but there's still the "home-stretch" to be done in the QOL department before I'd deem it suitable for everyone. I'm just a casual user, but I thought it'd be interesting to get this point-of-view as feedback.

Thank you for reading my rambling, I hope the best for you all!

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My understanding, which may be mistaken, is that tarballs are not installers, but just archives, and I most frequently see them for source, rather than ready to use software—in other words, something you'll need to actually compile before using. As such, not quite so automatic. The quick and easy method for Ubuntu itself is snap, though there's a fair bit of division as to whether or not it's good. There's also flatpak, which uses similar principles, but isn't controlled so tightly by Canonical (the makers of Ubuntu). Also AppImage, which is similar to the previous two options in that the application will "just work" without worrying about dependencies, but it doesn't have the security features of snaps or flatpaks. From what I understand, there are some issues with those security features anyway, at least in the case of flatpak, but I haven't investigated that much. Finally, there are .deb files, which are the default packages for Debian based distributions. (Zorin is based on Ubuntu, which is based on Debian.)

As you can see, package installation is a place where "one size fits all" hasn't really been found for Linux yet!

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A large number of common software is available in the Universe Repository.
launch Software & Updates and in the first opened tab, ensure the First Four Boxes are checked. Switch the Download from: to Main Server in the drop down menu.
Using the terminal (A good practice), you can install most with the sudo apt install <software name> command.
I won't disagree that tar.gz is a common thing, but for Debian and Ubuntu based distros, the .debpackage is the most common. These are self extracting and self installers, much like the .exe that you are used to. Double click to install.
Your First step toward looking for a .deb package to install some software can be pkgs.org
Navigate to that site, then in the upper right side, click on the entry field for the Search Function. Type the name of the software and bap the enter key.
It will list the available packages for many distros including Fedora, Arch... and Debian and Ubuntu.
Mint OS and Zorin OS and POP_OS are all based on Ubuntu. So you would scroll down to the Ubuntu Base of the distro you are using. Remember, major releases have a code name and a number. Zorin OS 15 was based on Ubuntu 18.04 - Bionic Beaver. Z-16 was based on Ubuntu 20.04 - focal Fossa. And Z-17 is based on Ubuntu 22.04 - Jammy Jellyfish. The repositories are simply called Bionic, Focal, and Jammy.
Scroll to Ubuntu 22.04 and click it. Now look for the corresponding .deb package that you need.
You are looking for AMD64, not ARM64. The package names include all the version numbers so can be confusing... but most often, you can tell what you want by it saying "all" in the name or it simply being at the top of the list (The lower down the list you go, the packages become the components of the whole package).

Also, just do a Web Search of the packaged software that you want. For example, a search for Pinta .deb - that will often provide what you are looking for but Always Check that it matches your Distro Base.

If you can find a matching package in another format like .rpm but not in .deb, you can install the software alien that converts most .rpm packages to .deb for you.
Install alien using terminal:

sudo apt install alien

Alien is a CLI only application. Download the .rpm package, then move your terminal to that directory. You can configure to "Open in terminal" in your file manager on right click, or use the cd (change Directory) command:

cd ~/Downloads

The tilde (~) is shorthand for your path to Home Directory, as your Downloads folder is in your Home directory.
Now tell alien to convert:

sudo alien <package-name.rpm> <package-name.deb>

For example, if the package name was pinta;

sudo alien pinta.rpm pinta.deb

Remember to use the exact name that the package itself is name in your file manager. If it is named "pinta-extras-3.4.0-51" then it would look like:

sudo alien pinta-extras-3.4.0-51.rpm pinta-extras-3.4.0-51.deb

You can use Copy and Paste in your terminal - that makes life easier.
Right Click or ctl+shift+c
ctl+shift+v

Use the Tutorials & Guides subforum to your best advantage to find more means of using terminal. Adding software and package managers (like nala) to terminal or Extensions such as Autocomplete and Autocorrect.
And be patient. Learning a new system requires it... It will take time and plenty of mistakes... So back up your data and personal files often.

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And don't forget to download (or view online) the Unofficial Manual for Zorin 17 Core. This should be of some help.

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Wow! thanks Aravisian for that very helpful post. I have been a Linux user for 4 years now and never heard of pkgs.org. Thanks for that great information.

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grrrr if i click on http://pkgs.org/ i get the 404 page not found thing
says not secure , probly cause its http only , IDK

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Mine loads normally, under
https://pkgs.org/

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ok i see , the link you gave now is https
when i clicked the link in previous posts , it showed http...now it doesn't anymore lol
anyhows , thanks :smiley:

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I think the single biggest difficulty for new users is the installation options when the software is not available in the "software centre". Flatpak has helped, but i for one won't install anything from Flathub unless it's from a 'verified' author.

I still have problems sometimes. GPG confuses the hell out of me.

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I'm similarly averse to "community" packages. On one hand, I appreciate that someone took the time to make things easier. On the other, I work in a field (with Windows) where it's common for people to repackage source with malicious additions and I really don't want third party packages.

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Download GDebi. Use that to install .DEB files. Also, for tarballs, just open and extract them to standalone folders. Look for the executable in the extracted file set. Create a shortcut and assign an icon to it. Presto. And I agree with you; Zorin should come with something similar to GDebi installed already.

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What does GDebi do that Zorin's lacking? I've been installing .deb files with no trouble using the software store. Run one and the store application will pick it right up easily.

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Gdebi is just a bit more powerful and more verbose.
I have had Gdebi succeed with .deb packages that for one reason or another, the Software Store installer balked at.

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I think it's worth pointing out that many .deb packages are maintained by the community, and not the official developers. This isn't always the case, but it's pretty common, and can sometimes lead to unpleasant situations:

So, you are trusting the package maintainers to not do anything suspicious. Although, this is where the advantage of open source comes in as there are more eyes looking at the issue and ensuring that nothing malicious happens.

However, the vetting process on Flathub is not as strict, and is much easier for anyone (not just the package maintainers) to just submit something "on behalf" of someone else without scrutiny. That's where unverified Flatpaks can be dangerous in the same way Windows installers are, though less frequently these days.

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I'd forgotten about the KeePass debacle. When I grab .debs, they're always from the developer's page. I consider that basic system hygiene. The reason I didn't note them among other community packages is simply that snaps and flatpaks aren't self-hosted, so when I grab a .deb from the developer, I'm reasonably confident of its provenance. Snaps and Flatpaks take some extra checking, since I'm getting them from a third party (the snap store or flathub).

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