I've been running Zorin on my laptop for a year, and I love it. I even started putting my staff on Zorin when they need new equipment. Unfortunately, I spend about 95% of my time on my workstation, which runs Windows 11 Pro (booted with Rufus, telemetry disabled, etc.) because I can't risk unsupported hardware or being slowed down in the middle of the workday.
I just finished building an absurd machine: a 7960X Threadripper, 512GB of RAM, and two RTX 4090s. I run a logistics/software development startup, and I fine-tune LLMs locally before production. As I was going through the usual barrage of Windows nonsense at the beginning—every piece of bloatware trying to trick me into signing a data-sharing EULA, hidden privacy-invasive settings, etc.—I decided I’d had enough. I can't do it anymore. I'm not going to voluntarily use an operating system that feels like malware and works against me every day. In ten minutes, Zorin 17.1 Pro is about to be the only OS on this machine.
Sorry for the rant; there is a point to this post. I'm no stranger to Linux—I was running Red Hat 4.2 in 1997 in fourth grade because I thought it was cool—and it's come a long way. But I’m really concerned about losing support for the following hardware:
Sony mirrorless video camera (used as a webcam)
Elgato hardware (teleprompter, light, etc.)
Scarlett 2i2: I don’t record music, but I use this for my Shure SM7B microphone and, more importantly, for my Adam A44H studio monitors and subwoofer. I'd use Windows ME before giving up the sound quality I get from these monitors.
This is a long shot, but if anyone has third-party software or drivers to support any of these devices, I’d love to hear about them.
P.S. I also need to find some third-party software to replace "Fan Control." It's a great open-source piece of software for Windows.
You can try them using another machine baremetal install or a LiveUSB and ensure everything works.
There is a CLI tool called elgato-control that may be useful.
Streamdeck-UI can help: streamdeck-ui-master
Teleprompters generally do not need drivers. But you might use Teleprompter Mirror script or OBS Studio as open source methods.
Ubuntu 20.10 and up using Alsa and Pipewire has good strong support for Scarlett. You probably can use the mic without any problems but if you have any, I recommend moving away from the default pulseaudio and relying solely on Pipewire and Alsa.
I am not sure on this one. I recommend installing lm-sensors first thing.
Then exploring gnome fan, or other open source software... I actually just use my BIOS fan control GUI for my motherboard.
Just a side comment on Audio. I don't like PulseAudio or the Pipewire sticking plaster (that is my personal view) over PulseAudio. For some time now, most GNU/Linux distros, including Zorin, did not send output correctly from my Audigy Rx card to my Logitech speaker system. Solution? Only use Audacious for playing back audio as there is a setting that allows you to only use ALSA. Problem solved!
You should also install all the QAS packages via Synaptic Package Manager as well as the pulse plugin apulse to get sound from your browser.
