What do you think of Zorin OS?

[Berryracer]

Never heard of this before but it looks nice from what it promises......what do you think......


http://zorinos.com/

 

[lxskllr]

Never used it. If you like the interface, it's probably about as good as Ubuntu. It won't perform magic. If something doesn't work on debian, it won't work on Zorin. IOW, there's no secret sauce that makes it more compatible with Windows programs than other GNU/Linux distros.

Which brings another point. They encourage the use of proprietary software. That eliminates a lot of the reason for ditching Windows. Cost is a triviality. When you're still chained to a company, you haven't gained much.

Also, I'm ambivalent about recreating a Windows interface for new, and sometimes unsavvy users. It's close enough that people will try operating it as they would Windows, but it won't work the same, so the experience will be like using a cheap knockoff, as opposed to a distinctly different system. With a more *nix-like interface, there may be fewer expectations from past experience, and people may be more willing to learn something new.

 

[Berryracer]

Never used it. If you like the interface, it's probably about as good as Ubuntu. It won't perform magic. If something doesn't work on debian, it won't work on Zorin. IOW, there's no secret sauce that makes it more compatible with Windows programs than other GNU/Linux distros.

Which brings another point. They encourage the use of proprietary software. That eliminates a lot of the reason for ditching Windows. Cost is a triviality. When you're still chained to a company, you haven't gained much.

Also, I'm ambivalent about recreating a Windows interface for new, and sometimes unsavvy users. It's close enough that people will try operating it as they would Windows, but it won't work the same, so the experience will be like using a cheap knockoff, as opposed to a distinctly different system. With a more *nix-like interface, there may be fewer expectations from past experience, and people may be more willing to learn something new.

right, so which distro would you recommend me to run on my Alienware 18 laptop?

 

[ninaholic37]

Those Zorin screenshots inspired me to install Windows 2000 tonight. To my surprise, Windows 2000 ran on the same partition as Windows 98 (my 2nd fat32 partition on my HDD) and neither fought with each the other for dominance. I ended up deleting it 30 minutes later though, didn't really offer much over 98 for me except annoyances (I don't need Virtual Memory stop BEEPing at me Windows 2000!). I remember having a meeting with a guy named Zoran in the spring, and mistakenly called him Zorin in an email. He never replied or talked to me ever again. Thanks a lot Linus Torvalds!

 

[lxskllr]

right, so which distro would you recommend me to run on my Alienware 18 laptop?

If you like the look of Zorin, try that. Otherwise, try a few different distros, to see what you get on with. It only costs time to try them.

 

[ninaholic37]

I would enjoy reading an in-depth berryracer™ review of Zorin, as there lots of non-technical Windows users I know that now use Linux Mint (and talk about it every day and use it as their main OS) and some with Ubuntu/Lubuntu but I haven't met any that got into Zorin to this level yet. There's lots of reviews on Youtube of Zorin though, and their comments seem to be mostly positive (easy to use, stable, looks like windows, etc.). It was one of the first distros I wanted to try when I was looking to convert my XP laptop to a Linux "Firefox-book", but it (even Zorin lite) didn't fit on my Flash stick for testing so I ended up finding smaller distros to play with instead.

 

[Essence_of_War]

right, so which distro would you recommend me to run on my Alienware 18 laptop?

What do you want your distro to do?

If you're looking for a general purpose OS: I've played with Fedora w/ KDE Plasma 5 recently and thought it was solid. A lot of people don't like it, but I think Ubuntu w/ Unity is great. My dad (and like everyone on the internet) has been all-about Mint recently, and I think both of Mint's Cinnamon and Mate environments are excellent.

 

[JWade]

I have used Zorin, was using Zorin 5, now I am using Zorin 9. I use it on a P4 3.4ghz laptop that has 2gb ram. Its the only Linux I have used so not sure how it compares to other Linux. It makes the old laptop perform like a new current machine

 

[Blintok]

Been using Linux full time now for a couple of months. I have tried several flavors in my search to see if i could do without a Microsoft OS. (i have Microsoft and Windows 10 to thank for the push to Linux) I have tried Mint (17.2 and 17.3 Cinnamon, Ubuntu 14.04, Open Suse, Debian and Zorin 9)

I liked the idea of Zorin due to the desktop and that it came with a ton of programs already installed. And that it is based on Ubuntu and uses the Canonical repository.
Zonin works well and i did like it but after about 10 days of using it i decided it was not for me. Maybe it was because it was too much like Windows and that all those apps were not really used by me.

So i am now running Ubuntu 15.10. Hated Unity at first but i have got used to it and even like it. I am using Crossover to run a few Windows apps i liked and they work very well.

 

[ultimatebob]

How is the Windows emulation in Zorin? Can it actually play modern (DirectX 11+) Windows games with decent performance?

 

[ultimatebob]

How is the Windows emulation in Zorin? Can it actually play modern (DirectX 11+) Windows games with decent performance?

Hmm... The lack of a positive response is telling.

Personally, I think that SteamOS is going in the right direction. Linux native games are always going to perform better and more reliably than emulated Windows applications.

 

[lxskllr]

Hmm... The lack of a positive response is telling.

Personally, I think that SteamOS is going in the right direction. Linux native games are always going to perform better and more reliably than emulated Windows applications.

It'll be the same as any other distro. Like I said above; they aren't doing any magic. If wine works in zorin, it'll work anywhere. They shouldn't be making expansive claims, because it'll lead to disappointment when things don't work ootb, or require technical jiggering to make work.

 

[mrblotto]

Tried Zorin v9 out a while back. Recognized the wifi card on my T420 right off the bat. Eventually I got Netflix to work as well. Looking forward to v11 around April timeframe.

One thing I dont like about most *nix OS's is how hard it is (compared to windows) to map a network drive (mount? wtf is that?) and installing a printer.

Other than that, I like it fine

 

[VirtualLarry]

Zorin 11 Core 64-bit Beta is out... check out https://www.distrowatch.com/ for more info and a download link.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Zorin 11 Core and Ultimate Final are out. Ultimate costs $$$.

 

[mrblotto]

Zorin 11 Core and Ultimate Final are out. Ultimate costs $$$.

Tossed it on an older C2D box I had laying around at work. Not too bad.....not too bad at all.

Of course I have yet to test out how.....ahem.....easy (or not) it is to map a network drive or install a network printer, but overall it's not too shabby