Zorin OS Has Most Things Right

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1

I am using Zorin as my daily driver. It is also running on my ULV (ultra low voltage) laptop that streams music, and it is a printserver. Zorin is pretty great! Good job, fellas! It has a few things that need addressing:

  1. Notifications
    I can not believe that the notification "bubble" can not be adjusted (location and duration). The number of times that it pops up and puts itself right over my web browser tabs/address bar is utterly believable.

  2. Single External Monitor
    I have an AIO computer that has a shattered screen. Through the settings of Zorin, I changed my display (on my AIO with a busted screen) to ONLY output to the HDMI out (external monitor). It still boots up to the login screen on the internal (busted) screen. My external monitor shows something like an "extended desktop" background (of the dm / login manager).

  3. Software Center
    I think I speak for the majority of people when I say this: When you open 'Software', it should automatically put the cursor (insertion point) in the 'Search' field.

  4. Zorin Forum
    Why on earth did you not call the Zorin forum "Zorum"!? :rofl:

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2

This is one of those things that bothers many of us - but would probably bother people if it was automatically put in the search entry field. Kind of a no-win situation.

There is a gsetting you can use for duration; But not position. Gnome removed these types of user customizations...
But, you can achieve this with Gnome Extensions like JustPerfection

You can set a permanent redirect to your external monitor for GDM but not if using Wayland, which Zorin OS 17 began defaulting to.

Log in on Xorg (you also can disable Wayland by setting the flag WaylandEnable=false in the root file /etc/gdm3/custom.conf)

sudo mkdir -p /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d

sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-monitor.conf

Use XRANDR to get your display ID.

xrandr

Disable Notebook display: Replace the eDP-1 example with your actual display (I used eDP-1 since that is a common notebook computer display ID)
paste in

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier "eDP-1"
    Option "Disable" "true"
EndSection

Tap ctl+o to overwrite, then enter to save current configuration. Tap ctl+x to exit the editor.

Set GDM to use External Monitor for login:

sudo nano /usr/share/gdm/greeter/autostart/monitor.sh

Now, replace hdmi- with your external monitor ID gotten from xrandr above - I used hdmi-1 as it is... common...
Paste into that file:

#!/bin/bash
xrandr --output eDP-1 --off --output HDMI-1 --auto

Tap ctl+o to overwrite, then enter to save current configuration. Tap ctl+x to exit the editor.
Give the file executable permission:

sudo chmod +x /usr/share/gdm/greeter/autostart/monitor.sh

Reboot to test...

3

Whoever edited that, shame on you.

  1. I will check out that Gnome Extension. Shame on Gnome for their choice.
  2. Software Search Field, these other people who would be bothered, how would it affect them? I am picturing a search field on the default 'Software' homepage. They could still click on categories or see a carousel of whatever. It would not have to change anything about how those people navigate.
  3. Wayland shortfall. Too bad. I'm surprised there is not some way to pass on the argument within GRUB.
4

I did. Shamelessly.
This forum has language guidelines. Sidestepping them to curse in a way not caught by the Guideline word filter is no better than using those words outright.

Please adhere to the forum guidelines.

I agree on this one.

Grub can handle initialization, but the Display Manager relies on the desktop protocol.

I agree with you and I would prefer it be as you describe. It makes sense to me.
Honestly, I think it is good feedback - sadly, it must be suggested to the Gnome Developers, as they are the maintainers of the Software Store application.

It may be possible for the ZorinGroup to modify this... We can ensure they see your suggestion with a tag.
You make a strong case for why it would be a better default.

1 Like
5

[quote="Aravisian, post:4, topic:45923"]
I did. Shamelessly.
[/quote]To be fair, I never used bad language. Not my style. I made no attempt to bypass any filter. I used asterisks to self-censor. Furthermore, you completely changed the meaning of what I said.

6

If you believe I did, that means that you believe that the only way to convey your intended meaning was with a curse word.
Which means you self-censored nothing.

Placing a couple of asterisk in a clear use of the F-word does not censor your language. It sidesteps the filter. Censoring yourself would have meant you explored better ways to convey your idea.

My edit shows that you can convey what you are trying to say: Your utter and epic disappointment that the notification bubble hides content and disallows you to click it away (As it does allow on Zorin OS Lite) without the necessity for prohibited language.

I will not continue the argument: If you disagree and believe you should be granted exclusive privileges to avoid the word filtration; You may report the post to the other moderators requesting that they review my edit.

7

In terms of everything but the shattered scream this is why I prefer Plasma over Gnome. I don't use Zorin as a daily driver any more. It is just a VM to check if I get similar issues. Just install Synaptic Package Manager and remove Software.

8

This has improved in later versions of Gnome, which should translate to Zorin OS 18 as well.

https://blogs.gnome.org/shell-dev/2024/04/23/notifications-46-and-beyond/

I guess a visual clue would be helpful, but you can start typing right away even if it's not focused.

9

I just tested this and sure enough, it does just that. I never tried. I always fiddled with moving the cursor, first...

10

I use Notification Banner Reloaded, which gives position and timing control, better than the default behaviour which irked me.

1 Like