I was going to download Thunderbird but decided to look in the software folder. I'm on Zorin Pro 17.3 and it looks like there are THREE versions.
Which of these is the stable version of Thunderbird? What are the others? And I've read a bit about Betterbird but what I read is at least 2 years old. Would this be a better choice? Crucial is that I'll be using Proton Bridge.
There are a few different package formats that can be used to distribute software under Linux. All of them have pros & cons and should be used according to your needs.
If you click on any one of these items you will see a drop-down under the install button, that shows the source of the package:
It's not shown in these screenshots, but scroll down a bit and you will see the version of the software. You will notice that the source from Flathub (also called Flatpak package) is much higher, up to the most recent release of the software.
This is simply because Zorin OS inherits a software release model based on freezing package versions once they've been vetted and tested, to ensure system stability.
Flatpak packages work by running a parallel set of libraries and utilities independently from those of the rest of the system, which allow them to run any version (typically the highest).
As I mentioned earlier, which one to install depends on your needs. If you don't need one of the features from the latest versions, I'd recommend installing the version labeled as "Zorin OS - APT". Otherwise, go with Flatpak.
One limitation of Flatpaks is they are isolated from the rest of the file system by default, which can be problematic if you need to integrate it with other applications. You can work around this, however, by granting additional permissions through another application called "Flatseal". I'm not sure if this will be problem for Proton Bridge, unfortunately, maybe someone else might answer this for you.
What types of features are you referring to? Chat? Newsletters? I use only email and save them to files on my computer if I need to save them at all.
Do you know anything about Betterbird?
I'm talking about anything that is different between versions 128 and 144 140, which are, respectively, the Zorin OS and Flatpak versions of Thunderbird (I think those are the right numbers).
It may not be anything significant, or anything that you care about particularly, or maybe it might. My advice is to install the version from Zorin OS, even if it's at a lower release, as it will have fewer compatibility issues. If you find that you do need some newer features, then you can use the Flatpak version.
For reference, you can check the Thunderbird release notes to see what's different between each version. But for your needs I would say that you can use the 128 just fine.
I don't use Thunderbird at all, so I can't comment on that.
While I can't offer any advise as to which Thunderbird package might be better the best one to install, suggest you follow Zenzen's lead there, I can tell you that I have installed and used it a number of times in Zorin, Cinnamon, Mate and can't recall having any major issues with what ever version I installed.
But this time I'm trying Betterbird and so far I like it. Very similar to Thunderbird in look, feel, email handling, a breeze to set up, etc. Couldn't honestly even tell you the major differences between the two. But I suppose Betterbird is better, that's what everything I read about it said! We'll see.
Hope this helps.
