As it seems Zorin is not going to come up with an UPGRADE route...
I'm looking at going to another Linux Distro that has upgrade ability.
Can someone here fill me in on what LINUX distros are currently able to upgrade
to the next version. I'm not going to keep having to rebuild from scratch every
two to three years as my installation is more complex than just installing new
applications. Thanks.
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Changed from Installing to General.
I wouldn't abandon ship right away ..... I see you've been a member since Aug so apparently you like Zorin .... we've heard that there is a upgrade route in the works and Zorin 17 is still probably a year away so it is highly possible it will be ready by then ....
If not then you can always use Rescuezilla to completely clone a copy of your HD including the partitions (or so I'm told) so all you actually have to do is install Zorn with your thumb drive like you did before and then reinstall all your goodies using Rescuezilla ....
I'm dual booting with dual drives and I found a way to install Zorin by way of a boot flash drive in about 20 mins not counting Zorin program installation and downloading time .... I found it by way of a video and then just took photos of the steps .... I have perhaps installed Zorin 16 Pro at least 12 times for various reasons ....
Frog...Thanks. I actually image with Clonezilla about once a week. I've actually been a user here since Zorin 12. I guess I must have reregistered which is why I show up from August. I'm going to take a look at DEBIAN. I have a new cheap SSD coming...I'll try it on that and maybe slowly build it with everything I have on my ZORIN 15 install. It seems it's possible to UPGRADE Debian for new releases. And DEBIAN would not be difficult to get used to. Zorin has been promising UPGRADE for years...And then they never follow through. Rebuilding a complete complex Linux installation every 2 to three years is something I'm growing tired of. Don't get me wrong. I like ZorinOS. But evidently Zorin has decided against an upgrade route for some reason. So maybe it's time I look at another Linux Distro where upgrades are possible.
This is interesting. Can you cite where you saw this?
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They announced last year there would be an UPGRADE route at the end of 2021...
Nothing so far (And there hasn't been in the past). I actually asked in another thread LOOKING FORWARD TO UPGRADING TO ZORIN 15. Which you quickly transferred to FEEDBACK?? I originally posted that five months ago and others expressed that they also wanted to UPGRADE and like me were willing to spend money on the PRO version to do so. It's OK if A.Zorin has decided against an UPGRADE. Maybe it's too complex to implement with ZorinOS. I just know that I don't want to rebuild from scratch every 2 to 3 years. No problem. Different strokes...
I changed that to feedback because your post didn’t have any Installation questions (category under which you had initially posted).
Thanks for clarifying on the upgrade part. From what I gather, there is no announcement that there will not be pursuing the upgrade route but you’re tired of waiting. I wish you the best in the other distros.
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Along the Official Announcements;
A direct upgrade option was initially planned for Zorin OS 12 to Zorin OS 15. Due to time constraints and the (at that time) bringing in of outside contractors to ensure the finalization of Zorin OS 15, ZorinGroup needed to set a project on the back burner and it was deemed that the release of Zorin OS 15 took higher priority.
Direct Upgrade option was set on hold for almost a full year.
Work on the project has resumed and in the following posts, The ZorinGroup acknowledged and confirmed the work has resumed at High priority:
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Fedora is also capable of direct upgrade. When I was in Fedora 34, I got Fedora 35 update within a week when it was released. Now I am at Fedora 35 
for my opinion, if zorin is not what you want, I'll say...arch linux.
or arch or manjaro.
What do you all think about arch, pure, vanilla arch?
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(My opinion) Arch is !@#$%.
Not productive at all....Only fit for tech enthusiasts.
Pop! OS is my favourite distribution. Easy to use and very comfortable. At first I had mixed feelings about their new DE but now I am sure I will switch to Pop! OS as soon as they release it. They also give direct upgrade option and provide the lateast and the stablest firmware updates unlike other Ubuntu based distros.
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If you want the latest versions without worrying about upgrades every so often, Pure Arch or Manjaro may be a better fit. Installing Arch can be frustrating for some however, but it is an excellent lean OS.
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According to me, Arch is difficult to set up for newcomers and Manjaro is damn buggy. I had tried the GNOME 40 edition of Manjaro, and I was not able to use a browser properly and the system lagged a lot. Therefore I recommend you to have Fedora or Pop!_OS, as they provide direct upgrade and are much less buggy and user friendly. If you want apt package manager, then go for PopOs, if you are suitable with RedHat package manager, then you can go for Fedora. If you are a total newbie, then you can go for Ubuntu 
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yes...if you see it in this manner...you're right...manjaro is buggy like ****
and arch isn't easy to install
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Therefore I would recommend to go with GNOME based distros or KDE based distros. Both of them are pretty good. However, KDE has a slower update experience as compared to GNOME.
Thanks for all for education and info...I will wait for my spare SSD to arrive this week and then start trying the mentioned distros...Thanks much. I very much doubt Zorin (Which I like) is going to implement a upgrade path from 15.3 core to 16 anytime soon. It's been almost 6 months and nothing. Just like they have not released an upgrade path from any of their former releases regardless of what they have stated in the past.
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Would you mind marking one of the posters, who helped you, as the solution?
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Devuan is supposed to be but I suspect that I copied and pasted some stuff in wrong order, coupled with the fact that I had let my Var app logs get too big so I don't install with the option of a separate VAR partition these days. I just stick to separate /home when it comes to Devuan.
Arch distributions are alos supposed to be rolling releases but never tried that as I did not get very far with Artix Linux as it never listed Canon as a Printer provider in 'Printers'!
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