Do I dare say it 🥺
Do I dare say it 🥺
180 comments
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Yes! Yeeeesss!
Let the distribution flame wars begin. Strike Zorin down with all your heart and forget that it is Linux and a move away from Windows.
Let the snake eat its own tail!!
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United by the penguin, divided by distros
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Let us hope their wine integration is up to the task. They'll be gone just as fast if too much of the software doesn't run with a double click, or MAYBE from the context menu
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Windows 10 support ends. Open the floodgates. Let the windows refugees come !!
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Many saw "end of support" and thought windows would stop working, which is good, but also kinda dumb.
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I have a sneaking suspicion we're going to see a rash of system vulnerability start popping up in Win10 over the next few years. And we'll get deluged with national news announcements that boil down to "Win10 is unsafe!! Your data is compromised!! Only 11 will save you!!"
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This is just wonderful news.
I've never used Zorin. It doesn't seem to match my preferences and needs. Regardless, anyone switching from Windows [and Mac] to any Linux distro is fantastic for all of us, including remaining Windows users (probably not Mac users though).
Let's hope more keep switching, leading to a surge in Linux, and open source in general, funding. More people becoming interested in Linux development, potentially turning into more and more open source devs. I think we can be quite optimistic about this.
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Year of the Linux download!
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Switching to linux has been the best decision i've made all year.
Just wish there was a good one-click-setup virtual display option for Sunshine that "just works." It's my white whale of features.
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I setup Sunshine on my Kubuntu machine last night. Took me fucking AGES to figure it out. Recently set it up on my M1 Mac mini, which took me a couple of minutes.
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...and just to be clear, this is a multiplatform problem. There's a single mediocre 'easy' option in windows land and a very tinkery option in linux land.
Doesn't seem like any OS has caught up to the idea of fast streaming desktops quite yet. I'm convinced it's the future of computing though. Way better than old VDI options from days of yore.
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You want one off us go to windows again ?
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I need my Omnissa Remote Client (VMWare) to work on Wayland with multiple monitors and I'd be good to go.
As it is, I have to use Windows for work.
Ubuntu didn't work, but PopOS with Nvidia drivers built in works great.
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Speaking of whales, you might like https://games-on-whales.github.io/
It creates virtual displays on the fly and runs completely in the background. Requires a little bit of setup as well as Docker running but it's pretty neat.
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Is sunshine not compatible with Linux? Or is it just the virtual display feature?
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Year of Linux on the desktop. Why not say it? It's been true for decades now.
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year of the
it’s been decades.
Should we tell them?
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let him rest, he has lost his mind from all the compiling through the years
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Every year it is true.
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Tell who, you?
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So I've mucked around with ubuntu... gonna switch over to linux. Ideally something more user friendly at first.
Can someone TLDR Zorin OS vs Mint?
For now I just want something I can swap out my main device until I have more time to finish learning ubuntu.
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Zorin has a commercial license for additional GUI front ends, installation support, and a bunch of "professional" apps. It's not clear if they've done something to make adobe/Autodesk/pro audio stuff work on Linux, pre-bundled their FOSS alternatives, or have made software themselves.
Personally, if I was looking for something "professional", I'd go PopOS!. But if I were a small or mid-sized business I'd consider Zorin Pro if I could get license to include additional support outside the installer... Or just buy System76 computers with PopOS! pre-installed and support built-in to their sales pipeline already.
That said, Mint is also very Windows (classic)-like in their GUI experince (intentionally). It also has one of the largest Linux communities focusing on GUI usability.
Depends on your use case on which flavor you should go. But for $50, I'm curious what Zorin's software suite is and might dive in.
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I'd advise using Mint in place of Ubuntu as your training wheels/potential daily driver, since Ubuntu's developers (Cannonical) have the habit of making features and restrictions absent in the rest of the ecosystem (Snap comes to mind).
Mint has a much larger and more dedicated userbase, so you probably will have an easier time finding answers to questions (Mint's forums are pretty good nowadays), and it's been an established "Windows jumping-off point" OS for quite a few years now. Zorin is the new kid on the block (while they existed in the past, their quality was nowhere near on par with Mint), so I'd wait and see before checking them out.
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Zorin vs Mint comes down to; do you like the color green or blue? Jokes aside they are basically the same. I prefer gnome(zorin) over cinnamon(mint). I also find Zorin does a better job guiding newbs from windows. For example if you would download and run a windows exe, then Zorin will show a pop-up telling the user about alternative Linux apps, or it will handle running windows apps for you through wine.
As a linux newb your choice of distro really doesn't matter too much. Just don't go for difficult stuff like Nix, Gentoo. Desktop Environment is where it's really at for newbs. So try out Kde Plasma, Gnome, Cinnamon and pick the one that you fancy.
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Both have an Ubuntu base
Mint develops their own desktop called Cinnamon which is like a cross between Gnome2 and windows 7 UIs. Its looks a bit bland, but some people prefer that.
Zorin uses Gnome3, but is heavily customized to give people a choice between windows 7, windows 10 or MacOS type experiences. The UI does look a lot more modern than mint in the looks department. They also have a commercial support option.
Both have a pretty good suite of software for customization and management.
Personally I'm loving Bazzite, which is Fedora based with a lot of customizations for gaming and modern hardware. It's also immutable, which makes it difficult to break.
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Both are adequate. Both are based on Ubuntu. The biggest difference is going to be the interface.
Zorin has a Gnome-ish interface. If you pay a few extra bucks, you can customize it to make it function like Mac or Windows or Ubuntu, etc. in one click.
Mint has a (in my opinion) much less modern interface that I don't like. But it's also, I believe, the single most popular Linux distro so there will be endless amounts of community support for it.
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Just go Mint and then you can get as deep or not as you want into Linux.
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zorin is more out of box and mint is lighter. so when you install zorin its going to put in libre office, disk burning, windows rpd, wine with play on linux, its a long list. So it comes down to out of box (I want a bunch of software I may use to be installed along with the os) or lighter and get what you want later. zorin is basically a lazier distro which is why I like it :) while some stuff may be a waste of space I just want it available right away or in a situation where im offline and did not think to install it previously for some reason (disk burning is a good example for this kind of thing)
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Nyarchlinux is the Linux for you!
Honestly I downloaded it as a joke but it’s great
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Zorin and Mint are quite similar in philosophy, Zorin is more “fancy” but Mint is more reliable in my experience (not to say Zorin isn’t, just that it’s har to beet Mint). Any reason for wanting to use Ubuntu? Mint and Zorin are based on Ubuntu so pretty much everything that works on Ubuntu works on Mint/Zorin, most of the instructions for Ubuntu even transfer over
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(Haiku user, patiently waiting for our year to come.)
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Haiku will soon shine. The distro that all will love. ... actually no.
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I honestly dont know what would drive a Windows refugee to choose such a niche and likely unable to support them distro.
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Marketing
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That's why it's only ~70k downloads. Probably many more for Ubuntu, Mint, Fedora, Manjaro, Bazzite and so on.
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as someone that have been scrolling lemmy daily for 2 years, i am surprised i have never heard of this distro, i thought being a lemming made me a linux expert
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It's basically a linux distro that's meant to appeal to Windows users who want to keep the Windows look and feel.
In other words, blasphemy in this church.
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blasphemy in this church.
Indeed tis spoken oft as heresy in the Cathedral...
...But perhaps opinions are more diverse in the Bazarr?
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Did it three days ago. Took the windows partition out back and formatted it.
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Hola!
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How is it with nVidia?
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Anyone have strong opinions about Zorin?
Already downloading it out of curiosity. The app to connect with your phone over the local network looks cool.
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The app to connect with your phone is a straight ripoff of KDE Connect with rebranding.
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Its a good lazy out of box distro which is why I use it. I don't have to tweak or install much to get work done once installed. Most additions I have made are for some nice quality of life or just a niche thing (sending text to a network port for a virtual machine. oh and the virtual machine software). I complained that they should use kde and finally installed it myself but again I don't have to configure or add anything after installation to be using it for most things I do so I can hit the ground running. Again. Lazy.
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The fact that they default to Brave Browser already makes me wary. I have plenty of issues with Mozilla myself, especially their recent trend of integrating AI into the browser but I would rather use a fork or even vanilla Chromium rather than Brave. I know it's just the default and you can switch easily but the fact they landed on THAT out of all available options doesn't give me confidence, I would go with Mint instead.
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Brave might not be as hardcore "foss" oriented like some other browsers. But the stats don't lie. Out of the box it gives good protection, non techies won't be hardening their firefox configs. Zorin is about giving an easy onboarding. Brave just fits that user friendly design principle.
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that must be new as I have not uninstalled anything and brave is not on mine. I added several browsers so im not 100% what was on by default.
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Started with Zorin but had a rough time. I didn't realize until actual months later that my issues were due to a hardware fault and had nothing to do with the OS. By the time I realized, however, I had settled on Mint. I've since tried a handful of distros but always come back to Mint because I'm so used to it now. I do recommend Zorin for its level of polish and apparent desire to simplify the transition for folks coming from Windows.
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Try KDE Connect for connecting to your phone. Works on Windows, Linux, and Mac. Also available on both Android and iOS.
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KDE connect is such an under appreciated killer app it's not even funny.
When I go to house sit for a friend I just hook my laptop to their HDMI, pull out KDE Connect, and bam I'm kicking back 10 feet away watching my streaming stuff on my system with adblock running and everything, and the media controls just work.
I'm strongly considering using a Pi 3b+ as a TV machine where KDE Connect is the primary interface. It just works so well.
I also love getting text alerts or low battery notifications on my desktop without having to keep looking at my phone. It's just amazing.
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This looks so good. Ok, I'm going to install this instead of the new distro after all. Lol
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I was unable to get the sound card to stop popping when on Zorin. Same for Mint. Would pop anytime sound played after more than a few minutes. No updates to the sound driver or any of the configuration fixed it. I also had GPU issues and was unable to play many games. I finally moved on to CachyOS and it's been rock solid everywhere.
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No idea what the other commenter is on about, I used Zorin ~2 years ago. It's a great distro for people new to Linux, and IMO has the cleanest aesthetic of any distro I've used. It was also super stable and reliable.
My issue with it (and ultimately the reason why I moved) is that it aims to be very stable which means its packages can get very outdated. I think the Nvidia drivers they used at the time I was on it were two years old. It's not something most people would notice especially with how much Flatpak is used nowadays, but you'll run into annoying cases where that thing you want to update isn't available in that package manager.
Even looking at the website, Zorin 18 is out but it seems people on Zorin 17 will have to wait a few weeks for a way to upgrade.
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Yeah I used it somewhat years ago which is why when I really made the switch I put it on my laptop. I actually still want to go to an image based distro but there is a bunch of stuff I sorta gotta get sorted and like all my zorin comments. so lazy. I mean im not but there is a lot of non laptop os things I got to do as well.
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When I used Zorin OS in the past (roughly 3 years ago), it was a pretty miserable experience, and was absolute garbage in comparison to Ubuntu and Mint back then, mainly due to a lack of polish.
That being said, it has been worked on quite a bit since then, and while I'm cautiously optimistic, I'll stick to recommending Mint for non-gaming and Bazzite for gaming users new to linux for the time being.
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Loved Zorin, it was the first Distro that made me fall in love with linux. Definitely install it and try it out for yourself. It's essentially a pretty and better functioning Ubuntu without the spyware
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Got me into Linux, 1.5 years ago. Tried Mint first, but that was pre some of their UI updates. I found the look quite outdated when I tried it. From there I started out by dual booting Zorin and Windows. Slowly moved everything over to linux and haven't looked back since(only work laptop run windows now).
Nothing more to say than a very solid distro. Doesn't update often, but that has the advantage of never breaking lol. Also installed it on all my parents devices and it "just works💫".
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I actually just switched to Zorin as my daily driver this past summer. Good riddance Windows
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Zorin is a solid distro and is designed to appeal to Windows users.
Buuuut knowing what I know now I worry Zorin's simplicity could turn people off of Linux. Zorin is a good OS for your grandmother but the average person who would consider installing Linux wants to be able to tinker. Heck, I would consider the very act of changing your operating to be tinkering. Nobody accidentally stumbles installing Linux.
The options with Zorin are either use it as-is or risk breaking it. That's why I would personally recommend a KDE distro, probably something immutable like Fedora Kinoite. That way you can tinker to your heart's content with no fear of breaking it.
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Nope; the average person wants to only customise/personalise, not tinker.
I'm suggesting this distro to friends and family moving off of windows and wanting to save money. They think using command line is too "extra".
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There's anther thread on here about linux for new people and suggestions regarding that. A lot of people in that thread just didn't get it. They were talking about learning the terminal, learning how to CD, installing stuff via the terminal etc and I'm like "your average user isn't going to do that"
Hell most average Window users today don't even download an exe and go through the install process. I know some that have never even opened file explorer. They have apps that get those files or pictures or whatever in the default directories for them.
so telling a user like that to open a terminal emu and type in "sudo apt install firefox" and to remember to "upgrade and update" is beyond them. like WAY beyond them.
So yes in that regard your'e right, Zorin would be the way to go. just have somewhere to download their apps/programs in an easy to understand and clean GUI.
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I didn't say average person I said average Linux installer which is FAR from the average person.
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but the average person installing Linux wants to be able to tinker.
But that's the issue, no? To really take users away from Windows and MacOS there needs to be a distro that works without tinkering.
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I would dare say the "average person", as in, Windows refugee, probably doesn't want to tinker, they do want things to just kinda work as expected and just want freedom and options.
I don't see why Zorin couldn't be a valid jumping off point for new users to get their feet wet. As much as I love more tinkery distros, I will usually onboard somebody with something like Mint because it's just familiar enough but still lets you explore the how and why, without requiring it.
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I didn't say "average person" and end the sentence. I said the average person installing linux. The type of person who installs Linux in the first place is already extremely far from average.
I would consider act of installing Linux itself to be "tinkering".
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If I wanted an "easy" Linux distro to do things like run a home server and media storage - I mean, it sounds perfect for that??? With kids, I don't have TIME to tinker with OS stuff anymore, I just need something that works and is more stable than Windows.
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I don't think the focus should be on the average current Linux user. Guaranteed that if Linux gained substantial market share, the fraction of tinkerers would dwindle substantially
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There are a lot of people who think "customization" of an OS goes no further than changing the wallpaper. How many people have the same 8-charachter email password in 2025 as they had in 2003 when they signed up for Yahoo mail?
The more grannies that have a kid help them get on Linux, the more people experienced with Linux there are to say "Oh, you're still on Windows? Why?"
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I agree that an immutable distro is probably good for newcomers, but KDE is also full of features most windows users never need or want to touch even. Saying that as someone who primarily runs Solus Budgie since 2017, a Steamdeck with KDE and many different VMs with gnome/kde/xfce/… Also installed Zorin years ago for family, still running and they are happy.
I rather take a distro/DE where 98% i want is working out of the box than one where 200% of features i never need need to be removed/customized first. Why am I using Solus? Because it has a well curated software repo and not every piece of code ever and yet I still managed to run everything I wanted over the years on it. Over all those years it was an install once, upgrade forever distro that just works.
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I have the absolute opposite of your opinion :D
Immutable distros are not good for beginners, for two main reasons:
- A lot of general-purpose Linux guides just don't work with them, making newbies confused and forcing them to learn a lot of new stuff when they're not ready
- Some software just doesn't run with immutable distros - for example, most VPNs are not ready
Setting btrfs snapshots on respective directories, so folks can rollback unwanted changes? Great! Tying people's hands? Might come with complications.
KDE is a brilliant DE for people coming from Windows: it has similar layout, it stands out of your way, and overall has a very easy learning curve. I've never seen anyone seriously stuck with setting up anything it has to offer, and yet, it's very, very customizable. Folks I offered it to either stayed with the defaults and were totally happy with it, or immediately started tuning everything to their liking with no issues whatsoever.
After all, someone who didn't touch Windows for a while might forget how much convoluted are settings there, and how Windows users are ready to dig through them.
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As someone who came from Windows 7, and then a short period with 10, KDE was perfect for me.
Not only could I customize almost anything, visually, there's all sorts of shit that I always wished I could do on Windows, but never had the functionality.
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Dude the market share isn't even what, 7%? I don't think Linux's complexity/advanced functions is the issue here
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An immutable distro is a terrible recommendation for someone wanting to tinker with their system.
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No it's a great recommendation.
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Is this the day of the Linux desktop?
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I remember my biggest lunch ever. It was at one of those all-you-can-eat calabash seafood places in Myrtle Beach. Starved myself all day in preparation. Man, the people in there were like little planets, like Pluto. Anyway, I filled up on bread and fell asleep.
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I'm so confused at what I just read in context and why I'm still laughing. XD
Is there a /c/lostlemmings yet? Lol
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I think all the downvoters are because they don't like seafood, but let me tell you some fish sticks and vinegar is 100% the way to go, especially if you have custard handy
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Think you commented in the wrong thread.
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I think they misread "our biggest launch" (the last line in the post) as "our biggest lunch"
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Got to do the distro upgrade but holding off till the weekend. Its never given an issue before but im paranoid like that.
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I have only had problems from dist upgrade when I have been running server software (specifically email and mailing lists). Games, productivity stuff, pictures and so will be fine.
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turns out it was for 7.3 and it will be a few weeks before 8 comes down the pipe on autoupgrade
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Always a good move. Doesn't matter the software, there will always be some time when a "routine update" turns into a forum hunt and troubleshoot mission.
That being said, snapshots are amazing. The BTRFS file system supports them, and TimeShift also integrates with it.
If you don't want to bother with another file system though (it requires basically a reinstall if you didn't choose it at first), at least get TimeShift and another large drive or partition to save restore points to! It'll basically just copy backups of all the files instead of lighter snapshots, but being able to roll back after a funky update is lovely.
But either way, don't sweat all that too much, just make sure your essential data is on
3 copies. 2 different media. 1 offsite.
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Time to distro hop to up the number!
180 comments
I'll never understand how people recommend Zorin or Mint instead of the, much more Windows-like, and HUGELY supported Kubuntu or Fedora KDE.
KDE Plasma is the way to go.
Mint looks pretty Windows-like out of the box too. Both Cinnamon and KDE Plasma can be customised extensively too, which is nice. Mint is really good for beginners, very user-friendly and such. Fedora is plenty user-friendly too (and probably Kubuntu, but I haven't used that one yet), but Mint takes it a step further in my opinion. This is coming from a Fedora user. I do agree that Mint and Zorin shouldn't be the only options that beginners should consider. On the other hand, KDE Plasma shouldn't be the only option either. The best way to pick distros, in my opinion, is by creating a Ventoy drive with Mint (to try out Cinnamon), Fedora Workstation (to try out GNOME), and either Fedora KDE or Kubuntu (to try out KDE). Cinnamon, GNOME, and KDE Plasma are all great in their own ways.
Currently I am using KDE Plasma as I like the customisability, but I can see the appeal of GNOME if you want something that looks sleek and "minimal" (or if you really love padding), and Cinnamon is a bit more like Windows 10. They all have their own aesthetics (contrasty KDE vs maximally padded GNOME vs colourful Cinnamon)
I rebuilt an old Windows PC as a host for a Jellyfin server and used Mint because that's what the guide recommended.
Easy setup. Everything works great. So I told my friends about it. And, naturally, they went with Mint, too, because we all know that setup works.
That's it. That's the only real reason why. I have a simple need and Mint got the job done.
Genuine question: Why not mint? Whats wrong with it and why is kubuntu much better?
I'm not saying that Mint is bad. But with Kubuntu or Fedora KDE you get more overall support, and KDE software is much more used, developed, tested and supported than Mint's self-mantained things.
There is a much higher chance of KDE thriving in the next 10 years than Mint.
This is my opinion, of course. And based mostly on my subjective observations.
100% agree. Don't get me wrong, zorin looks nice and I've considered trying it a couple times. But kubuntu is where it's at. My brother is old school though, and has a Gentoo install he keeps going, but he gets the latest plasma, kubuntu is a major release behind.
There are options that get you latest, still on a Debian base, but it wasn't as stable as kubuntu so I switched back.
Linux is the only thing that will really revive an old apple product, even if it runs macos pretty well still, you can't get any of the apps to run because they're no longer offered, and then if you can install an old one, it auto updates to a non-functional version. (This just happened to me)
I still can't quit Windows entirely, visual studio is important to what I'm working on.
I am just happy it‘s linux that people choose