Hello to all the Zorin users out there. Hope everyone is doing well.
After about a 5+ year absence from the Linux Mint world I’ve decided I want to give Linux another try. Similar to last time, I again have an older HP laptop that I like and want to use it a while longer. It's now running W10 but can't be upgraded so I figured it's a great candidate for Linux. I played around with Linux Cinnamon/Mate through VM on this machine so I know it'll run Linux.
So, as stated above, I'm going to give Linux another try. However, this time in addition to Linux Cinnamon (& maybe Mate) I’m going to try Zorin because I’ve read good things about it and I do like the Windows look. In fact, I already have a live boot 16GB (with persistence) USB drive working on it and so far, with a few minor exceptions, things seem to be working as expected. So I don't really have any problems or questions to ask yet, surely those will come later.
As for now I'm just curious if there are any Zorin users out there that might have experience comparing Zorin to Cinnamon or Mate and what their thoughts/comments, good & bad, might be. So, any thoughts, comments or questions would be appreciated. Thank you.
PS: I did search a little for this topic but didn't find anything current.
Personally Core zorin uses a decently modified Gnome, and while I personally actually don't hate Gnome, I do hate when there are small things you want to do and you can't. So if you're fine with a very vanilla experience (and plenty of people are) I think core is perfectly fine for them. Personally I like to be able to fiddle with something from time to time, and generally like a mostly standard desktop, so XFCE is usually my go-to.
That being said, I've tried cinnamon in the past many times. I've always felt it's kind of... dated and stuck in the past (a bit), but with the performance hit of a modern DE? If that makes sense? So to me I've always felt, well if I'm going to use that, I'd rather be on a KDE or even Gnome modified kind of deal. Mate, I actually liked fairly well, but it's intentionally stuck in the past and even if some things might be better changed, they like to stay that way. But at least it's usually performant enough that I can accept the choices they stay with.
For me it would go Mate -> Zorin -> Cinnamon. I think that might ruffle some Cinnamon user feathers, but that's just how my feelings on that DE tend to be. I know the people that use Cinnamon tend to love it. I'd be curious on others opinions as well though.
At the end of the day it is user choice. Personally I was gobsmacked that I could get Plasma installed with Q4OS on a machine from 2006 which only has 2 Gb RAM (max it will take), a single Athlon 64 processor, and a 512 Mb AGP 8x EVGA card. I mad a video of a VM of Q4OS here:
If you are sticking with Zorin you might want to look at the Unofficial Manual I wrote for it here:
Just test that Sound inputs and outputs work as you expect. In the past Sound has been my biggest hair pulling headache with linux and ZorinOS.
On Z17.3 Core Live USB, Speakers didn't work. But on upgrading from a working Z16.3 to Z17.3 they did.
In respect of sound install all ALSA packages (except JACK and OSS) plus qasMixer and two other qas packages via Synaptic, then install Audacious and change settings of Audacious from pulse audio to ALSA.
It all comes down to personal taste and preference, so go ahead and try and if you don't like it just install something else. Distro hopping is part of the Linux rite of passage!
What matters most is whether you can work with whatever desktop environment you're using. Cinnamon has a good balance between usability and customization options, while retaining that familiar Windows look. Zorin OS Core uses a modified version of Gnome, with not as many customization options, but a more polished look.
Everything else looks old and frumpy compared to Zorin. Either the brothers have pro design talent or hired someone who does. Even their website is tasteful.
Thanks to all of you for the input. I'll just have to play around with Zorin for a while and see how it goes. I worked with Cinnamon & Mate ( through VM ) on the laptop in question for sometime and I had no real issues with them. It just turned out that at the time I had no real need to switch from Windows, so I stopped. Now I have a reason to take another look.
I do seem to recall that they both could sometime require one to get very involved with terminal commands and such for installing updates, programs, etc., something I'm just not that interested in having too do much of. At this point I'm a relatively light user, i.e., email, internet reviews, articles, youtube, dinner reservations, concert tickets, an occasional photo edit, music, etc. From what I can tell so far Zorin might just be better for a light weight user like me.
Thanks again for all the input, any other comments appreciated as well.
I do not find myself using the Terminal much, only for preventative maintenance.
The Software Updater does what it says on the tin... keeps your software updated. The Software store allows you to add software apps etc fairly painlessly. You could also install and learn to use Synaptic Package Manager instead of CLI to manage your software base. It is a comprehensive tool, once you get used to it, despite its looks.
Many use the CLI, just because it is often quicker and straightforward. It is also easier to describe actions (commands) in words than pictures (GUI sequences) on the forum.
This is one of the reasons why you'll see a lot of commands being shared when offering advice or additional information for troubleshooting. Looks can get outdated or change frequently, and lengthy tutorials are tedious to follow. The command line also gives the assurance that you've done exactly what was asked, and didn't skip any steps. And, on top of that, in the event of any errors you can report back the output exactly instead of describing what you saw.
For reference, take a look at this little tutorial I wrote. The Issue #1 section is rather long and filled with boring text, and screenshots. At the end of that section, I left a couple of commands that will do the same thing.
Again, this is all a matter of preference. The command line is a tool like any other, effective at some tasks and not so much at others. One of the major downsides is that is not intuitive, you have to at least have some idea of what you want to do in order to search for the correct commands. In contrast, a graphical interface might allow you to explore its options visually, but it often needs more steps to complete and is harder to automate.
So far I've been focusing mainly on Zorin because it's newer to me and so far I like the look and feel compared what I remember about Cinnamon. I have both Zorin and Cinnamon on boot stick drives and both seem to work fine. I'll play with Cinnamon a little more.
However, I think I like Zorin enough to consider possibly dual booting it w/W10. I've been researching dual booting and it seems like something I should be able handle but one area of dual booting w/windows that does concern me is possible "boot menu" corruption. What ever questions I have there I'll post in the “Install Zorin OS” forum section.
Just a thought (and again, personal preference) but I don't like dual boot anymore. At least alongside Windows. It's only a matter of time until an innocent update touches something that it shouldn't have, or some nonsense like that, and then you're stuck with a tedious troubleshooting session instead of getting to do whatever you need to do.
I'd suggest using a virtual machine if you want to try things out, need to run a specific program that doesn't on the other OS, or whatever. Virtual machines are much simpler to deal with, they are also more portable in case you want to share them with other people or around your own network, easier to backup, you can run more than one at the same time, etc, etc.
Thanks for your thoughts on dual booting zenzen. The more I read about dual booting w/windows the more I'm having second thoughts. And really there's no point as windows support ends in Oct. at which point I'd stop using it and then I'd just have to research how to uninstall it and make Zorin or Cinnamon the primary OS. So, I'll just live boot Zorin and Cinnamon until then, that should give me plenty of time to decide which one to install.
However, another concern I'm starting to have is long term support and future development of Zorin vs Cinnamon (or Linux Mint in general) but I'm going to ask that as a new question.
So, seeing as how my original question has been pretty much answered I'm going to check the Solution box.
You don't need to ''uninstall'' Windows. You start the bootable USB Stick with Zorin, Linux Mint or whatever Distro and choose for the Installation the ''Erase disk'' Option. then Your Disk will be wiped and the Linux System of Your Choice will be installed.
Seriously, I did know that but forgot that was an option when you do an install, so thanks much for reminding me! Maybe over thinking as usual so time to step back and do something else for a while!
I mean, if you're ready to get rid of Windows entirely from that machine, it might actually be a good idea to dual boot so that you can still run any programs that aren't working or don't exist for Linux. After all, it is a good way to get your first contact with Linux (start slow). Then, if you run into any issues, you can go ahead and get rid of it entirely after you've had some experience with it.
What I don't like about dual boot is relying on it as a long term solution, is what I meant to say in my other post. But for testing or as "safety net" of sorts, it can be very useful.
