Zorin OS 16.2: Shapeshifting desktop to help the Linux-wary feel more at home

Zorin OS 16.2 is a friendlier and more feature-rich distro than its parent Ubuntu 20.04, with a lot of updates and bundled apps. The Reg looked at Zorin OS 16 when it came out in 2021. Like the 16.1 release in March, the new version is an update of that same version, so it's still based on Ubuntu 20.04 – albeit with the newer …

[Libcon]

It looks fantastic but...

..it's based on an Ubuntu version which is 2.5 years old. It felt sluggish on my i5 11th gen system and various benchmarks confirmed lower performance than Windows 11 on the same hardware,

It's also more than a little buggy. As mentioned it's cool and professional but I had to let it go and install Ubuntu 22.10.

[Michael Strorm]

Re: It looks fantastic but...

The original reviewer was going to give Zorin a more lukewarm response for that reason. Unfortunately, before he had time to hand in his copy, he fell from an airship and was never seen again.

[TVU]

Zorin OS 16.2: Shapeshifting desktop to help the Linux-wary feel more at home

It's one of those Linux distributions that's perfect to suggest to someone when they want to leave Windows 11 update mayhem.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Zorin OS 16.2: Shapeshifting desktop to help the Linux-wary feel more at home

Is it?

Assume a Windows user is leaving win11, that means they made it through at least 4 iterations of Windows since XP. Would they want to go back to XP?

XP wan't great but people pretend it was. It was XP that made me understand that I'd never run Windows willingly again. XP was a bloated Win2k which in itself was a NT4 service pack sold as a "new" OS.

Obviously any modern desktop for Linux is superior to Windows (excluding GNOME), but trying to sell a Linux desktop as an XP clone is hatefully bashing that Limux desktop, not to mention naive.

[IGotOut]

Re: Zorin OS 16.2: Shapeshifting desktop to help the Linux-wary feel more at home

W2000 wascway, way more advanced than a service pack.

XP was a merger of 2K and Win98

Going by your logic, the Linux you have today is just a bunch of service packs of Linux 0.1

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Zorin OS 16.2: Shapeshifting desktop to help the Linux-wary feel more at home

W2K - that was server AND workstation, introduced Active Directory

Sounds a lot more than a service pack to me!

[firstnamebunchofnumbers]

XFCE

XFCE... Been doing the job and staying out of my way for years!

Tend to use Fedora in the last few years (after many years of Mint or Xubuntu). Fedora rolls at a nice cadence but with any gnarly bits having been tested by many others before it reaches me.

[PCandServer]

Installation video of Zorin 16.2

Installation video of Zorin 16.2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-8mhNmlynY

[Wouldnyaliketoknow]

Ummm...im kinda nooby, but that pining for Windows XP is humor, right? Do I live in bizarro world?

[IGotOut]

No, XP had a well designed, well researched layout that took years of GUI design. Win7 won on stabilty.

Then marketing and brain dead hipster "designers" got in charge and fucked it all up.

[Lordrobot]

Another day and another Linux unmade bed

"It's not windows" is not good enough to subject oneself to LINUX which remains buggy, and fully lacking in plug-and-play. With most distributions no longer supporting 32-bit there is not even a compelling use of Linux for ancient notebooks. For those old devices, Win 2000 works fine. So the small footprint of Linux is meaningless. The continued adoption of African-sounding names for distributions is just another turn-off. The same applies to incoherent command line expressions. The more you get to know Linux the less you like it.

[IGotOut]

Re: Another day and another Linux unmade bed

Yawn....

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Another day and another Linux unmade bed

Can it Miracast ? Like wot Windows does out of the box ?

Can it run HFP over Bluetooth ? Like wot Windows does out of the box ?

'nuff said.

[Anonymous Coward]

This is what Gnome…

….should do as an option by default.

I don’t know when Linux became less configurable than iOS, but at least the ability to have a layout like Windows 7/11 or MacOS are not just nice-to-have features…

[therobyouknow]

touch tablet PC support among the best

I find Zorin OS Pro works well on a touchscreen tablet. Minimal user experience (UX) rough edges IF the macOS/Apple like desktop theme and "Use system title bar and borders" in Chrome settings, if you are using Chrome. https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/mutter/-/issues/1603

Using that Apple/macOS like desktop theme means that the onscreen keyboard interferes miniminally app launcher so that apps that are filtered as you type in search will show mostly. With the other themes, either the keyboard or launcher in those is obscured by the other.

And for Chrome, enable that "Use system title bar and borders", so that you can drag Chrome windows around by the title pane. Otherwise the drag doesn't work.

It can be hit or miss with password entry to unlock screen and password entry to connect to a WiFi. The onscreen keyboard is available but typing doesn't always register in the password entry box. I haven't solved that and will contact Zorin.

Brightness controls don't work, again I'll contact Zorin.

But apart from that, among the best. My machine: a Panasonic FZ-G1 mkIII toughpad tablet PC, x86-64, 4Gb RAM, SSD.

I've already tried Mint, Elementary and Ubuntu. Mint had similar onscreen keyboard and launcher obscuring issues but didn't provide a theme that reduced these issues like Zorin does. Elementary was hopeless with the touch screen gestures: the settings for the number of fingers didn't match the actual. Ubuntu might fare better out of those 2 and closer to Zorin, with the Chrome setting but I moved on after some difficulties to Zorin and fixed the issues I could so far on that. Perhaps going back to Ubuntu to try these might have a positive outcome.

It's really great that Zorin is taking user experience (UX) / usablity really seriously with a Linux distribution. Rather than before that where maybe the usual thinking in the community is to make a virtue out of expecting people to fix it themselves and almost suggest that people are lazy for not wanting to tinker. If Linux is to have its year on the desktop (or tablet) then usablity does have to be taken seriously. Not half baked lip service: "it can do that a bit. But I'll go back to my gaming chair with it on a desktop and enthuse about various windows managers". Er, no actually. Expecting real life end use cases to just work is reasonable and benefits everyone. People have limited time and need that for getting real work done.

And tablet touchscreens with Linux is not a niche. Er, hello?! Apple, Android and Windows tablets show there is sizable market for such form factor. The 2 key benefits that a touchscreen enabled Linux like Zorin brings is that unlike Android, Apple and Windows support is not subject to their respective manufacturers. The other benefit, particularly compared to Apple and Android in particular is that running Linux enables the tablet to be a fully functional multipurpose machine. It can be used e.g. for dev work.

With older x86-64/amd64 touchscreen tablets not officially supported by Windows 11, the opportunity with Zorin OS Pro can be favourable for the above 2 reasons, as well as for the environment and the wallet.

[MassiveBrainage]

I purchased zorin pro for $39 on Wednesday May 24, 2023 and after initial setup opened the software manager in zorin. I attempted to install a PDF utility which was accompanied by WINE. These programs came from the software manager that was installed as part of the OS. My system froze and became totally unresponsive. I emailed zorin and they wanted me to troubleshoot and go back and forth with support, etc. This was within two days of installing the OS. I told them I didn't buy the software to troubleshoot it and wanted a refund. They sent an automated reply saying they received my request and would get back to me. Three more emails over the weekend from my end went unanswered. I have uninstalled zorin os and will not be using it. I would avoid this os and try something else.

[f4ff5e1881]

On the other hand...

Sorry to hear you’ve had a bad experience with Zorin, but to provide a bit of counterbalance, my experience has been quite positive.

I’ll admit I tested it quite a bit before using it in anger, so to speak, but now have it running on two old laptops (thereby keeping them happily alive) and on my main laptop in the form of a couple of VMs (albeit with Windows as the host).

I was impressed that after installing Zorin in a VM, it automatically installed the Vmware Tools – that was a nice touch.

I like that its hardware compatibility seems to be very good, and as a long-time Windows user (I’m not proud), the WINE integration was a big plus for me. The WINE configuration is a bit fiddly and basic, but it worked for me – my ‘fist pumps the air’ moment was when I got Arculator running under WINE (Arculator is an Acorn Archimedes emulator).

I faced a couple of issues with running Zorin in a VM – notably sharing a folder with the host (files over a certain size wouldn’t copy), and a disconnecting sound card, but these weren’t insurmountable problems and with a bit of detective work I was able to solve them.

So as someone who’s trying to wean himself away from Windows (or at least, use Linux wherever I can instead of Windows), Zorin turned out to be the ideal distro for me.