Other OS's Discussion Board!

which windows is best windows 7, windows vista, mac osx lion, Linux zorin os

in performing?
in looking?
in gaming?
in working?
etc............

tell the best window and plzz tell me a reasons with the answer..???

Win7: Nice looking, easy to use but pricey, need good hardware to run properly and still a little problematic, get viruses etc.
Vista: I will not even bother to comment. Total failure imo.
MaC OSX: Very nice looking, easy to use, almost virus free (600.000 Macs just got a virus - its all over the news) but unjustifiably pricey, need very good and specific hardware to run properly.
Zorin: Nice looking (as you can get ANY look you like), easy to use (once to get to the idea of linux), a lot of helpful forums, very speedy as they can run properly even in very old machines, no viruses and FREE.

For 100% gaming get win7.
For work get either win7, Mac OSX, or Zorin. (Actually I am using my Zorin laptop for work for over a year. Libre office works great.)

thanx frnds

Hello iconic boY,
why this topic?
( viewtopic.php?f=12&t=1887&p=7015#p7015 )

Best Windows is an uninstalled Windows

The "best" Windows is the free Infowarrior XP version from Ireland.
Win 7 works OK, but why spend all that money for an OS and support Microsoft in the light of what Microsoft stands for?

I admit I have an official Win XP copy running on a partition for windows only tasks like playing Battlefield 2 to Battlefield 3, Call of Duty, Need For Speed and Freespace. Other than that, Windows is history.
But if you don't need Windows, install Zorin 5.2 or Ultimate Edition 3.0.1 or Toorox ( I run all three on the same hard drive). (NOT UE 3.2 , it was a bad flop). Mint 12 and 13 flopped too.

My primary OS is Zorin, however, Ultimate Edition 2.8 was my favorite UE until 3.0.1 which to me is perfect gnome, fully loaded, solid and very configurable, same as 3.0 but with more stuff. I tried 3.2 but it would not install or hardly run at all and it permanently destroyed my SATA drives controller hardware on the motherboard. It had 4 desktops, but I never could get it to work at all before the computer blew up. I don't expect 3.3 to be any better and I am hesitant to install 'it' after the 3.2 disaster. I can't find 3.3 anywhere and the UE site is often gone. Used Mint up to 10, Mageia1 and others but they all eventually broke and I have abandoned them altogether since all the new versions simply don't work right. I heard Comice has all kinds of issues and it's KDE. There are a lot of good ones out there. But why drive a VW when you can have shiny new BMW?
Right now I have these "BMW's". Mostly Zorin 5.2 but with UE 3.0.1, PCLinuxOS FullMonty (One-of-a-kind KDE), Voyager 412, Toorox Gnome (very unique), Knoppix 7.0.1, and of course, Puppy 5.3.3 (the best mini), Tails(best stick surfer), Win 7 and XP all running on adjacent partitions, laptops, live sticks or SDHC cards.

Similar to my list of BMWs, VirtualNexus --
1) On my work desktop, I have Windows 7 Pro, Ubuntu 12.04 (Unity), and Linux Mint 13 (Cinnamon).
2) On my home system, I use Windows 7, Zorin OS 5.2 Ultimate (Gnome), Netrunner (KDE), and Solus OS (Debian Stable).
3) On my notebook, I use Windows 7 Tablet, Pinguy OS 11.04 (Gnome), and Voyager (XFCE).

However, I must say my "GoTo" systems are:
1) for Work - Windows 7,
2) for Home - Zorin OS,
3) for my laptop - Voyager 12.04 LTS.
All of these are fantastic looking and "behaving" OSes, and I like different things about each of them.

Hello iconic boY,
why this topic?
( viewtopic.php?f=12&t=1887&p=7015#p7015 )

Hi gvhools,

I think he might mean "what OS" is the best for his PC !!??.

Regards Wolfman

Hi swarfendor437
I found a torrent and installed UE 3.3 over Knoppix7 on my test partition and I was surprised how nice it is. Nothing at all like the faulty 3.2 and I am glad UE is back on track. The 64 bit version looks awesome and 3.4 is coming soon.

I understand is a complete out of field question. Any linux website is the worst place to do a question like this [ about windows ] yet about another distro not been zorin. Exist many places where post this matter. Here i understand all theme are around zorin or is not a zorin website?

Yea, seems like there could be a special "General All Linux OS's Discussion" topic. It never hurts to compare versions, which BTW, only makes Zorin look that much better. Any one version of any Linux can't be everything. Depends on what you want from it. I know I've pushed the envelope here.

If anyone has a laptop that is too slow for Zorin or others, here's some I tested on my old dinosaur and I use Zen and Slitaz. Puppy on USB. Don't take a hammer to your machine yet!
Mini Linux's in order of elegance:
PCLinuxOS Zen Mini - runs @ 147 mb ram, 348 mb iso, flash and basic software installed, FAST and light. You can add whatever from synaptic. Comes with firefox 10 and Opera is available.
Anti-X - yet another 'super puppy' - fast..
MacPup 5.28 v2 - - Like 'super puppy' - very nice fast and low RAM use.
SliTaz - low RAM use, only 34 mb iso and 80 gb on hdd, plenty of software and really fast. You be surprised.
Puppy 5.3.3 - The fastest of them all - low RAM use, 140 mb iso, firefox w/flash, plenty of basic software. I use it for grub4dos and gparted. Extremely fast. and more utilities than Parted Magic. Makes the best USB, saves in a file on disc or hdd. Starts fast when it's installed.
Tiny Core Plus is another mini.
Tails - Great USB web cruiser.

Wow, downloaded Version 5.28 and road tested MacPup 5.28 v2 and it has been added to the list. It's really nice, I might put that on my EEEPC.
Antix has been added to. I forgot about that one, also another 'super puppy'.

Bewary of laggy Knoppix 7. Not worth installing
If you install it on a separate partition it will probably mess up the grub files/MBR so bad that even if you delete the partition and install another OS, you won't be able to boot from that partition (sda2 in my case) again unless you do some serious work. Even the new installed OS could not overwrite whatever Knoppix did. It keeps showing up as Knoppix on SDA2 and won't boot that partition. At first I used grub4dos in Puppy to at least get the "Find Grub 2" option on the grub and I was able to boot off sda2. Then I decided to go for broke and try the Boot Repair Disc which unfortunately erased the grub2. It took me a long time and using the "Boot Repair Disc" twice from Ubuntu just to get the SDA2 partition booting again, but STILL Knoppix shows up as being on the same SDA2 partition as a boot choice as the newly installed OS on SDA2. I just choose the 'other' SDA2. Knoppix has become a bad dream that won't go away but at least now I don't have to go through two grub screens to boot up sda2. I have no idea what happens if Knoppix gets the whole hard drive but I'm not going to give it that chance.

Hi VN,

you should always (afaik) install the bootloader to MBR (sda1)!!. That is maybe why you are having a problem with it!!.

Regards Wolfman

I did.

No Windows on this HDD, but it's OK, I can boot just fine now. I simply don't choose the 'Knoppix ghost'. I've installed Linux many times and never ran into anything like this. Even when it was installed, it was horribly laggy on a fast desktop and was deleted for that reason. Enough was enough! Not even close to Zorin!

Gnome 3 doesn't seem to work for me at all. But then I'm using 32 bit and maybe that is my big problem with gnome 3. Or is it Ubuntu 12? I'm leaning to building a super 64 bit machine with a 6 core AMD + ATI Video and dump Intel + Nvidia and try some 64 bit for a change. No matter what gnome3 distro I try, they all have weird problems. Disappearing window borders, won't install, white windows, won't shut down, blue faces, no video player works, graphic glitches with 3d cube and wall, strange random freeze ups and crashes, blank desktops with only a background image, programs won't start, xorg issues, kernel panic on boot, Nvidia problems, random glitches or won't install grub properly and so on and to be honest, I refuse to have to rebuild an OS to make it work right.

Only Zorin 5.2 is the most stable trouble free of all and it is my main OS and thank you Zorin for that!. No bugs, no Nvidia issues, just plain works perfect. A crowning Linux achievement.

Other rock solid OS's are UE 3.0.1 for sure (or previous but not not anything after 3.0.1), Toorox Gnome (very unique OS), and Toorox KDE (also unique KDE) ArtistX (also with insane amount of media software) and for EEEPC I have PCLinuxOS Zen (gnome) and PCLinuxOS Full Monty (very unique and KDE like with insane amount of software), Unity OZ (very unique) and Puppy 5.3.3 (the best mini) which I have all installed on various machines, but the Zorin 5.2 is definitely the best gnome OS and RUNS ON EVERYTHING I own. I know there's a few more nice OS's out there and I have tried all of them and eventually, they broke or had a flaw of some kind.

I tried Zorin 6 but there were problems and I wondered if Zorin 5.2 would ever be topped, and sadly it wasn't on my end, but it seems to work for others so who knows

I think Gnome 3 is a disaster for Linux in general. It has trashed many good a OS's like Mint 13 and Mageia2 for example. Now it looks as though KDE will pull ahead as being less trouble free and stable and I am not a big KDE fan but I have listed the best ones I have installed above.

BUT, I can safely say that Zorin 6 is still better than any other gnome 3 I've seen yet, so it's still #1 in the gnome 3 world and if you have to have it, there it is.

.

Let it mature a little bit. In general gnome 3 and kernel 3.2.0-25/26 need some work.
With the latest versions based on 12.04, linux has lost the speed it had and maintained even with older machines.

However, there is some light in the end of the tunnel.
I have tried the alpha2 release of ubuntu 12.10 with a live USB on an old and not-powerful laptop that I use as means of comparison and as a geane-pig, and I was surprised by the speed! 12.10 run faster on the live USB than 12.04 which was installed.
Kernel 3.5.0-2 in my opinion will be a very good step and huge improvement. Canonical has already started tests and they are planning of attaching this kernel to the 12.04 release. This would be great.

Hi,

@Swarf, try the test version of Windows 8, it you really hate Unity, you will hate W8 even more!!.

@VN, Zorin 5 was the best, Z6 relies too heavily on what the G3 devs come up with, they took away the G2 functionality and replaced it with something else!!, what a bummer

@MV, I tried U12.10, it doesn't look any different to 12.04 and as for speed, well I only tried it on one rig but didn't notice anything really!!.

Regards Wolfman

@swarf - I have sent a PM to you.
@WM - I may be wrong but I have indeed seen a good improvement in speed and responce time. In anycase, I hope everything will work out for the best!

I use 5.2 Core as my daily use OS. Testing 6 and Voyager 12.04 LTS.

I must say the last one is a big surprise. Fast and very complete.

Lately I have run across a few Linux OS's - Gnome 3, Debian and Gnome 2 (Ubuntu) that are charging $$ for the download. Can't even test first. I know Zorin does too, but at least there are very nice free versions for us, while some others OS's are charging outright with no free versions.
Why would I pay for Linux when I have the awesome Zorin 5.2 or UE 3.0.1? Zorin 5.2 even works fast and rock solid on my fussy EEEPC 1001P (2 gb RAM). I wanted to test out what looked rather unique OS4 but just could not bring myself to payout for an unknown OS! The only download was at 28 Kbs, a 10 hour download, no thanks!

I also have OZ Unity, PCLinuxOS FullMonty, Pinguy and Puppy 533 as EEEPC fallbacks and PCLinuxOS ZEN on my old annoyingly slow Toshiba Satellite A70 with Zorin 5.2 on a spare HDD.

And BTW, I have donated to some exceptional OS's before.

]I only know of one or two linux distros that charge money and that isn't for the os. It's for commercial tech support.
I only use 64 bit because my box has an AMD Phenom quad core cpu and six gigs of ram. I've used Linux Mint 13-KDE 64 bit since
it was released and it is the most polished and dependable system I've ever used. It's great. On my other hdd I have Zorin 6 64 bit
and I haven't had one problem with it. I'm torn between the two because I don't know which I like best. I just know they're both
better than anything else I've tried and I've tried almost all of them.

I don't know if it has been mentioned but a nice OS for eye candy is Bodhi, it takes a little getting used to but it is very fast as it uses the Entlightenment DE which is great for old systems, they also have one of the best laid out websites I have seen!!.

http://wiki.bodhilinux.com/doku.php

Regards Wolfman

I like a little eye candy and I want my desktop to be attractive, but enough is enough. It's like too much jewelry on a
pretty woman. Instead of being attractive it just becomes a distraction.

I think the only people that get upset by us Moderators are the spammers from different parts of the Globe but in percentage terms, a majority of the spammers are from Russia!

Ha, ha...Artyom Zorin is a Russian name, well at least Artyom is. It is a very old name too, I checked in the net.

Whilst that might be true, the actual fact is that Artyom (Zorin) is of Ukrainian descent! And we know there is no love lost between Russia and the Ukraine!

There is no love lost today, but the first Russian city was Kiev, which is the Ukrainian capitol. I was in Kiev for more than 5 months 4 year ago. It is one of the prettiest cities I have been to. The Soviet times are gone now. Artyom - Артём is a typical Russian first name. The guy, who designed MIGs was also an Artyom--Artyom Mikoyan. (The first name is Russian and the second name is Armenian.)

Anyway, good luck to Артём!
Hope he would spend his energy in making modern DEs than wasting his time and energy on old fashioned Windows stuff. Even the Windows users don't want them any more. I am sure, he could come up with something sensational.

The problem with that is, unfortunately, the old adage of 'Familiarity breeds contempt' is true for a lot of long-time Windows users - and Artyom researched this before launching Zorin!

Am moving these posts to off-topic to the 'Other Distros' thread methinks as it is deviating from the original thread!

We got ourselves a place, where we could talk away!

I am trying out Android x86, which has a complete different look. And it is only 193 MB.
Windows users would get used to Win 8 somehow, for most of them don't know another world of OSs. But, I still think Android is going to beat them, and maybe us Linuxers too.

It's not small but at some stage I want to give PC-BSD a try! [Bring back the Amiga! - NOT just a games machine! - I should know, I did a fair bit of desktop publishing on my A1500 - now that is an OS!]

My first computer was Atari for 105$. those dollars were dollars, maybe 10 times more today.
We have come a long way!
Still nothing to beat Commodore 64 yet, only the new Commodore OS is hard on the eye.

Best Windows is an uninstalled Windows

LOL. Couldn't have said it better myself.

I loved the last answer. Then again if you really want to run Windows, say as a dual boot or a VM, there are two I would consider. For a VM I think I would use Windows XP. For a dual boot, depending on the computer I would go with Win 7. Vista sucked. Win 8 is to be seen? 2000, Millennium and 98 are to ancient. Really for older hardware you just cannot beat Linux. In it's day, Win 95 was very innovative, but those days are long gone. I still prefer Wine and PlayOnLinux to those options if you need to run an .exe program.

I liked the wall paper! Here is why I will never be a Windows 8 user.

"Fingerprints everywhere! Are we ready for 4 million dirty Windows 8 touchscreens?"

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2011665/ ... reens.html

Buy lot's of glass cleaner and lint free paper towels!

I have Zorin-7, Mint-15-KDE and Windows-7 on my desktop computer. I keep windows for one reason only and that's "1 Click DVD Copy".
And that's only for rare occasions because every time I boot into windows, I'm pissed off within five minutes, then it takes ten minutes to shut
it down due to updates installing.

Interesting little graph here:

http://www.zdnet.com/windows-8-continue ... 000016222/

I don't like the Win8 interface at all on a desktop PC, it is real c***!!.

Regards Wolfman

Interesting little graph here:

http://www.zdnet.com/windows-8-continue ... 000016222/

I don't like the Win8 interface at all on a desktop PC, it is real c***!!.

Regards Wolfman

My opinion as well. We bought our daughter a new laptop for Christmas and it came with Windows 8. I played with it a little and
it was just a major irritation. All Windows are anoying, but 8 takes it to a whole new level.

Don't let a little thing like Windows 8 GUI overwhelm you !!
" Dark Ages Windows XP Syndrome "




<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>

Hi datek1, Sorry friend but if I lived in the Dark Ages I would never have used GNU/Linux ... period!

Ah the Dark Ages-- the downfall of the Roman Empire, the age of epidemics, UNIX.

(I'm back! Got that respin out of my system).

Hi datek1, Sorry friend but if I lived in the Dark Ages I would never have used GNU/Linux ... period!

Neither would I Swarf, the Internet connections back then were really bad!!.

Hi Swarf,

I will check that one out!!. Looks good.

Regards Wolfman

Hi Swarf,

I cannot find it anywhere, I looked here: https://www.ultimateeditionoz.com/forum ... m.php?f=49 but still can't see it!!. I assume it is a part of the OS or wot!!.

Regards Wolfman

Or you can just type

Code:

sudo lshw

in terminal

It would be really cool if Zorin could produce something like this!:

OK, been waiting a long time for this ... SONAR. I looked on the magazine shelves in the local supermarket and saw that SONAR was on the cover of LXF Magazine Issue 176 - I came to know of this project via a Special Interest Group that is no longer operational (Open Assistive Technology Special Interest Group). SONAR was supposed to be a project being developed with Trisquel - the version on LXF was an Ubuntu 13.04 Remix and from my perspective, a total disaster! OK so the screen reader works out of the box but does not announce what is under the pointer and no ready way to change Orca Preferences - for example putting the mouse over to the left brought the unity panel up but NOTHING was announced! There was no ready way to see 'Applications' so extremely disappointed. Also on the cover was a distro called ROSA - nice KDE desktop but absolutely rubbish in picking up wireless (same for SONAR in this regard). The best of the bunch? Peppermint! It even picked up my aging Netgear WG111T dongle! Also on the disk this month is Parted Magic OS and 4MLinux 7.0 - the latter is a mini distro with four uses in mind - of which I am yet to discover!

Last week I purchased Linux Magazine which also had some useless distro on it - Mageia 3 - I am pretty sure that Mandriva worked out of the box in respect of Wireless but this took me back to the primitive days of KDE and wicd et. al. NIce interface but if wireless is not working out of the box then I won't touch it! That said my main reason for getting my mits on the magazine was for:

Fighting Malware
Scalpel (data recovery)
StressLinux

I hope to give a useful extract of Scalpel article at some point in the future in the 'How-tos and Tutorials' section of the forum!
I also could not resist getting it for drooling over these :

http://steampunkworkshop.com/keyboard.shtml

I tried on a live USB yesterday Pear OS 8 (beta 2) and I was REALLY impressed.

Very very very very very good looking distro, nice effects, everything working out of the box (codecs, media, wifi etc), pear os apps like firewalls, cloud, pear6 etc, and the general feeling was extremely nice, steady and fast.
The only drawbacks I could find was that:
i) there was no office suite pre-installed (which in some cases it is good as you can install the one you like - even MS office via POL).
ii) It is based on raring ringtail (13.04) i.e. it will not be an LTS.
iii) It is not very configurable but I suppose this is the main idea of this distro. It is meant for people who come from windowz or OSX and do not mind changing options, experimenting, writing terminal code etc. They just need something that works out of the box to do their job and that's it.

In summary, congrats to the pear OS team. It is a distro that I would certainly recommend to any person coming from windowz or Mac. I am tempted to install it myself to be honest.

Hi madvinegar, Pear 7 was loaded with a lot of apps - I am hoping that 8 will have office installed - there has been some issues regarding installing LibreOffice from the Ubuntu Software Center (Renamed Pear Software Center I think). I installed by downloading from the Official Site and then extracting the tar.gz and then navigating to the extracted folder and installing using:

Code:

dpkg -i [followed by name of package]

I think 5 and 6 of Pear had LibreOffice missing - plus I had installs missing! So far the best releases have been 4 (Comice) and 7 (Corella). I understand David Tavares is aiming for an 'ios7' look so I hope it does not get those horrible 'plastik' styled icons that my eldest has on their iphone4!

There is still an issue with wireless as it would not pick up my WNDA3100 but did pick up the aging WG111T - again, WHY don't distributions include the whole ndiswrapper package? - whilst it would not have picked up the dongle any way at least it would mean Windows Wireless Drivers is present and I can install that driver you gave me madvinegar which I keep on all desktops!

I thought that Pear 8 was to be based on 13.10 as the Alpha is not due for release until then - I had assumed that Pear 8 betas were based on 13.10 betas - but I could be wrong.

[Check out my 'Rocha' walls on gnome-look.org ]

WHY don't distributions include the whole ndiswrapper package? -

All you need is (not love , but) my guide here: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5008&p=23910&hilit=ndiswrapper#p23910

Swarf, I suppose no distro can pre-include ALL necessary firmware for ALL USB dongles, wireless cards etc... Windowz have nothing preinstalled and this is why you always get the CD with drivers that accompanies all the hardware and the dongles.
It is a miracle that even so, most of the wireless cards and dongles are automatically picked up in linux.
The rest need just a little bit of tweaking and work fine.
Only a few cannot work or need major tweaking to work.

Hi madvinegar, Thanks for the reminder, but what I was getting at was not necessarily GNU/Linux providing every driver under the Sun - just all the ndiswrapper modules . The two packages that always appear to be missing are the ndiswrapper utils 1.58 stable (or 1.59) and the ndiswrapper module. Do these two packages create an issue if present for 'non-dongle' users?

Cheers mi dears!

OK, not sure if this can be considered an OS as such (even the official site claims it is not one:

http://hybryde.org/site/index.php#myModal

An interesting post was made on the Pear forum where a fellow Pear forumer commented:

"The very best thing about Linux is that if you cluster all the config files of Pear and Zorin and create a script for it you can change between both interfaces without need to reboot and dualboot"

I asked if this was a 'tease' as "I can't script for toffee!"

And so the answer I got was to search for the above web link - now wouldn't that be bliss!

I personally wish Zorin Lite came in a 64bit flavor. I don't run Lite because I have old or underpowered hardware, I run it because it's fast and efficient. I've tried the main version and it's just not for me. The 2 systems I stick with are Zorin Lite and PCLinuxOS (which has a 64bit LXDE version). I would love to find a 64bit distro with LXDE or XFCE and the built in remastersys capability. I looked at OS/4 but it looks like they're heading towards KDE only in future releases.

Sparkylinux has this but sadly it can be very buggy and there are always little glitches with it. For the time being I'll just stay where I am I guess. I really wonder why more distros don't include the remaster capability as I find it something I must have...

Have you looked at Linux Lite?

Yeah I did, it's OK but nothing special...

Hi,

I have 2 x 64 Bit PC's and often run 32 bit systems on them, I really cannot tell the difference to be honest!.

The object behind the Lite version only being 32 Bit is because it is for older PC's, it will work just as fast on a 64 Bit PC!!!.

Regards Wolfman

Yes, Zorin Lite was made for older kit in mind which means brothers Zorin have not lost site of the wider GNU/Linux idiom that it is not just limited to high-flying systems, and so light-weight distros do indeed breathe new, exciting life to old kit! I will have to see if I can get Cardapio installed on Zorin LIte as an additional menu style!

I personally wish Zorin Lite came in a 64bit flavor. I don't run Lite because I have old or underpowered hardware, I run it because it's fast and efficient. I've tried the main version and it's just not for me. The 2 systems I stick with are Zorin Lite and PCLinuxOS (which has a 64bit LXDE version). I would love to find a 64bit distro with LXDE or XFCE and the built in remastersys capability. I looked at OS/4 but it looks like they're heading towards KDE only in future releases.

Sparkylinux has this but sadly it can be very buggy and there are always little glitches with it. For the time being I'll just stay where I am I guess. I really wonder why more distros don't include the remaster capability as I find it something I must have...

I did actually install LXDE on Zorin 6.2!

I installed Pear OS8 on an old toshiba laptop (see the specs) and I can say that it runs great even if pearOS8 is still beta.
Pear OS8 is (will be) the only version available in 32bit as well.
The only problem I had was that the graphics were a little crapy.

The laptop uses an old intel 855gm card which only runs properly if you install the intel graphics driver installer.
Since this installer is available only for ubuntu and fedora, I did that little trick changing the lsb_release information temprorarily (I have written a guide about it) and it worked great! After that all the graphics were absolutely perfect!
I also installed Kingsoft Office (since there is no any office suite preinstalled) and google earth version 6 (as 7 was too heavy for this GPU) and skype!
Internet is powered by a wifi PCMCIA card that I managed to spring to life using ndiswrapper.

This laptop was running on winXP and my mother had all shorts of problems. Wifi issues, delays, freezes etc (even after a fresh install of XP!).

Now the laptop has an extremely modern look and runs 3 times faster than before.
Mind you, I cannot explain why but the wireless netowork runs better, faster and more stable now in linux with ndiswrapper than when the laptop had windows XP and was using the software and same windows drivers !!!(????)!!!!

Hi madvinegar! I see we share the same taste in wallpaper! Well I did - I screwed up my Zorin install as I wanted to see how OpenOffice 4 has come on - no installer for GNU/Linux so after painfully using 'dpkg -i' for each package - nothing! Then I tried to install Kingsoft Office - it stalled on install and I shut down hastily and lost everything! Got a working Zorin back up and while I was checking partitions, they were out of alignment with odd 2 Gbs unallocated here and there - think the hard drive is on its last legs - Hitachi Death Star!

Having visited the Pear Forum recently I understand that if you have the Beta installed you should be able to update to the final release!

When is the final release going to be out?
PearOS8 is based on ubuntu 13.04. The support for that ends on January 2014 (i.e. in 3-4 months from now).

So....what's the plan for PearOS8...?

Well I apologise, you were indeed correct - the launch date has not been finalised but on interviews on Softpedia or an announcement it is set for this month! I hope it will up to 13.10! Either that or David Tavares is going to make an extension to 13.04 - would be a bit silly if he can't make it higher!

Almost gone full circle. Still miss Zorin but on my quest to find another OS that worked better on my PC I tried PCLOS but too bland, Linux Lite was good with KWIN added but the guys on their forum were less than helpful. Tried Mageia & loved it but had an issue with how to back up files & sound issues too. Again unfriendly forum. Over to Sabayon which again worked well but I couldn't get Wine to work at all. Then I found a BRITISH Distro with a German member on the Forum - the most helpful WOLFMAN (although he seems to have been quiet for a few weeks) and thought I would check it out. PINGUY, it runs straight out of the box & so far everything is spot on. Looks like a keeper

Uzi.

Hi Uzi,

it is me!, I am keeping quiet on that forum because I have a problem with my spine and had to decide where to spend my time and the Zorin forum is more active so I chose that, Pinguy is very good although I am still not a fan of Gnome 3, Pinguy did a great job with his OS!.

Regards Wolfman

Sorry to hear about your back mate. I just need a distro that is stable on my PC long enough to learn how to use Linux. I loved Zorin & must say I live Pinguy too.

Time will tell I guess. Keep smiling

Hi Uzi,

it is something I live with despite being uncomfortable, it annoys the muck out of me though!.

Regards Wolfman

I downloaded and installed a LXLE 32 bit os to a DVD to see how it works compared to Zorin 8 in my laptop and desktop computers. First experience was that it runs just fine "out of the box" in both computers. No crashes and internal WiFi worked in HP530 and USB adapter WIFI in my dektop. Only networks security authentication code in and all worked. No problems with sound or graphics. The bottom panel is not the unstable AWN, it is a LXPanel that have same functionality as AWN in Zorin. LXLE is also "Googlefree" the default browser is Fire Fox and search engine is DuckDuckGo. Full HD 1080 pix.resolution videos from You Tube run in full 1680x1050 pix. 22" wide screen nicely on line. LXLE distros are always based on a Long Support release from Ubuntu.

The outlook of desktop can also be changed in LXLE, By default it is Windows XP. The software selection does not include Wine and PlayOnLinux applications or Combiz Configuration Manager. The Software Center support is based on Lubuntu. The eye candies are more limited in the basic setup, but I believe that LXLE os. is very robust and can run in a computer not having the best performance. I hope that next release of Zorin Core can compete also in the robustness of the os. compared to LXLE, when releasing the long supported Zorin 9.

An other thing I learned here when I booted up LXLE from DVD and I had a Zorin 8.1 plugged in a USB port. LXLE started to load from DVD but after some time it switched to load Zorin from USB and finally launched Zorin dektop to my desktop computer. I had to remove the USB Drive to boot the LXLE correctly from DVD. So here I saw that Zorin os. will compete with LXLE os.

Zorin 8/8.1 Core and Ultimate 32 Bit, Ubunbtu 13.10 32 Bit, Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit, Asus AMD Athlon 64 Bit X2 Dual core 4000+, HP 530 Intel Celeron M 32 Bit

Hi, What you have to remember is LXLE is based on Lubuntu (which is basically Ubuntu with LXDE), which is what Zorin Lite was based on. The difference is this is just one guy who has produced it. I was also impressed with how efficient it was at installing printers!

I am moving this thread to 'Off-Topic' as it is not in the correct section!

The panel at the bottom in LXLE is I believe, just Docky modified - you should give Trisquel a try too - also rock solid and people with low bandwidth can download a minimal install of Trisquel (200 Mb) then add apps later!

Sorry, but I did not find out where to put "Reviews", In the Forum there is not such a place.

Better solution to find something from the Forum should be a randomly accessible Data Base where you could find all interesting topics using keywords. So there won't be so many overlapping topics either.

This LXLE distro shows that adding men into a project does not always improve the result. If this is an "one man show" it is an ameisingly good result.

Hi people,

there is a section for discussion of other OS'es here:

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2154

Hi Wolfman - no time to look this lunch time hence the rushed move - now in right place!

Interesting review of SolydXK here!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScfVvpyAXpc

I tried one more "lightweight" Ubuntu based distro to see what Elementary OS Luna can offer as one alternative for beginners and low performing computers. What makes it interesting is that it is at the same time a minimalistic os. (0.7 Gb .iso) and a os. platform to make a very polished full extend customized os. with Mac "look and feel ". There are many "in-house" made and community supported applications ready to install to make it consistently feel more Mac os. than other Linux distros.

Here tweaked to Mac X OS 10.10 Yosemite look desktop

I found it to be very attractive solution for beginners due to it's easy to use approach. I think that it satisfies much better the beginners' needs to grow to use some Linux os. than what ie. Linux Mint does, because it is not limited to the content what you get when downloading and installing the released iso. Here few tutorial video links to make easy customization to modify the look and feel and add and update applications to os. There are the details what I mean.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eit7oQhe8EA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLTxZ69gCG0

(Unfortunately the link to the "elementaryupdate" web page in the later video is not the right one ! )

Luna does look nice - but not great support for wireless compared to Zorin!

Henriolavi >
You want something that you can really say you tweaked.
Install newest Cinnamon 2.4....along with [ Configurable Menu ]
You can conjure any [ desktop ] made within minutes.
I won't give anymore info....for it would spoil the surprise.
A [ Configurable Menu ] clone to meet the needs for Zorin OS with the Mate Desktop.
Is the answer........
I'm playing around with the idea to date !!!!
It's silly... to try to keep things working...that do not work half the time without crashing.
Will see how things workout.....time is the biggest problem.
It was motivation........
But after playing with Cinnamon 2.4..........
Ideas began to popup one after another.........
So many...that I had to start writing the ideas on paper......
We'll see how my energy boost last !!!!

Elementary os. Luna. Good, bad or ugly?

Not ugly, may be the most elegant and most beautiful user interface that any Linux distro can offer. Easily adjustable for personal taste.

Bad, Not bad but requires much more time and effort to make it what you want it to be. More than half of the applications software has to be installed afterwards. Not best suitable to be the first Linux distro to a beginner who doesn't dare to open the terminal. Not either best replacement to former Windows user due to its Mac look and feel. Not so light to run than some of the other small distros. Requires some more CPU power ie. dual core, 2,0 GHz and RAM preferably up to 2 Gb to run fine.

Good, Very stable and consistently designed distribution, boots quickly and everything fits and works perfectly together. Can be used as an os. platform to make the first "own" operating system. Excellent for those who want to have an easy to use Mac style Linux os. so that also as many as possible of its applications are Mac oriented by design.

Cairo-Dock is complex for someone not used to it but once you have the look it is more than good enough to use, and remember, "One Man's OS is another Man's downfall!"

Cairo Dock works fine. I put it to my laptop due to Docky disappeared there every time I connected or removed the battery charger there.

My modified Deepin Desktop (14.04):

Deepin desktop modified further:

Nice looking desktops. I prefer the first one with Windows 7 style menu. It looks good with those (Deepin ?) icons. The background fits well to that theme, icons and outlook. What I think is that Mac failed with its Yosemite theme selecting such backgrounds which doesn't look so nice, even if it may be the message that it is a rock solid, stable os.

What I did with Luna I installed additionally the Mac OSX icons and changed the background to a better one looking now totally like Mac OSX 10.10 Yosemite.

What I really like in Luna is that there is available one Tweaks tool to make all customization from one place. Then it is easy to make and does not need to remember all different places where to go. There is all what is needed to change windows', icons', menu's, and dock's outlooks and define behavior and animations. Change fonts and those size, define shortcuts etc. It however requires that all variants of themes and icons has been installed there.

All this apply only to EOS Luna. The next version Freya seems to be still on Beta 1 stage and seems to have some difficulties to get launched the next final stable 14.04 based LTS. That is then a different story how it works?

Hi the only differnce with those two desktops was that I did not screenshot with the Windows 7 Menu showing - it is still there.

Now the downside when installing Cairo-Dock - and this is where Zorin scores highly - you don't get a choice of DE like you get with the 'cog' next to login details.

What I liked about the unadulterated Deepin was:

Nice Control Panel on the right of screen - you need to use the 'hot corners' for different bits. Left Windows key binding to bring up the apps in rows and area headings.

A nice touch was when you change to/from caps, a nice big indicator briefly appears in the middle of the screen - very nice touch - especially if you are using a keyboard with no caps lock indicator (e.g., wireless solar powered Logiteck Keyboard.

Here is one I missed!:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pplPMA_v1c

I'm using Windows but that part from 4:37 is really cool looking thing. Awesome!

I was running Windows 7 Pro x64 and had dual boot with Windows 10TP, Win 7 ends in 2020 and Win 10 is a bit of a mix of Win 7 & 8.1.1 .. I have used Linux before (not Zorin) so feeling a bit miffed with Microsoft I started looking at what Linux had to offer .. then I found Zorin and my mind was made up .. I have only had Zorin 5 days but I love it !

I'm using Windows but that part from 4:37 is really cool looking thing. Awesome!

Some of that is already available in Zorin 6 - Cylon Linux is based on 12.04 which allowed 'Fire effect' and raised windows - part of the problem is down to kernel change which does not allow compiz effects to work fully as they used to in forks of Ubuntu 12.04 - all of the 'effects' apart from fire and 'raised' windows off the side of the cube is possible in Zorin 9. #

I just raised the awareness of Cylon Linux as it looks a nice desktop interface!

Interesting article about Win 10 here:

http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2015/01/wind ... users-back

Interesting article about Win 10 here:

http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2015/01/wind ... users-back

Well, I am no fan of M$ but I will still need it for Serif Software that does not run on GNU/Linux (and too lazy to learn CSS/HTML etc.

What both Canonical and M$ are achieving is global location spyware - as are Google, Amazon and other third parties you wonder why are there (CIA is linked to Amazon servers!)

Although my main OS is Zorin... i think I'l try this Disto on my spare pc...check it out... ChaletOS, never heard of it but stumbled upon it through youtube.

http://youtu.be/Ryfap_Y3qww

Windows 7 ends in 2020, Windows 8.1.1 is Microsoft trying to make 8 look and behave like 7, Windows 10 is in preview stage atm and its the same old

Although my main OS is Zorin... i think I'l try this Disto on my spare pc...check it out... ChaletOS, never heard of it but stumbled upon it through youtube.

http://youtu.be/Ryfap_Y3qww

After installing ChaletOS, I love it and i'm finding it harder to boot up my other pc with Zorin....

Looks interesting efbe do you have a download link please ?

Looks interesting efbe do you have a download link please ?

https://sites.google.com/site/chaletoslinux/home

Thank you madvinegar, I think I will try it on one of my other systems

Looking at the instillation guide does not ChaletOS not need 3 partitions like ZorinOS

Why do you "need" 3 partitions? Technically you only need two. Main Partition and Swap. An "extended" partition is created automatically during the installation process but is the same as the swap.

Now I am confused (part 3) > viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2601

You create three partitions only if you want to place the /home under a separate partition. This is not obligatory. You just do it in order to feel safer in case you need to reinstall and/or upgrade your system without losing your home folder and settings. But it is not "obligatory".

This is why I said that "technically you need only 2 partitions". One for "/" and one for swap.

Oh I see thank you

Running Chalet OS x64 from live DVD and Wow ! very nice, its a xubuntu remix and has some cool features, Im thinking I may go dual boot with Zorin or just install it on another desktop this is all a great learning curve for me

Chalet OS is a Xubuntu 14.04.2 LTS - based distribution looks great and runs nice but does it have a firewall .. cant find one ?

OK found out how to

To turn on Firewall in Chalet OS

Ctrl + Alt + T then in Terminal

Code:

sudo ufw enable

Type your password and reboot

To check the status of the firewall

Code:

sudo ufw status verbose

Press enter/return and it should look like ..

Default: deny (incoming), allow (outgoing)

Answering my own questions now

Take a look here Stephanie as it is a good vid, I also added it to the post install guide; firewall and security section:

https://ubuntu-mate.community/t/firewal ... -15-04/580

(Yes I know its for Ubuntu Mate but I couldn't find another that showed Zorin!. )

Thanks Wolfman

Hard price competition from Microsoft to keep their market chare. Latest news tell that there will be new Windows phones and tablets under 100 € price tags and with full extent Windows 8.1 operating system installed. Microsoft's benefit is that W 8.1 is suitable os. to be used just in those products. Upgrade to Windows 10 will be free of charge for all Windows 7 and 8.1 users for one year. Also Windows 8.1 will be free to other manufacturers into 8" or smaller tablets.
Apple has an other price strategy. The new iPhone 6 sell well with 700 - 800 € price tags! The lower performance Mac Books with 1000 to 2000 € price levels. Those are just have to have products. Where are Ubuntu Phones and Tablets? Have not seen for sale anywhere. Only seen some You Tube videos that those exists.

Hard price competition from Microsoft to keep their market chare. Latest news tell that there will be new Windows phones and tablets under 100 € price tags and with full extent Windows 8.1 operating system installed. Microsoft's benefit is that W 8.1 is suitable os. to be used just in those products. Upgrade to Windows 10 will be free of charge for all Windows 7 and 8.1 users for one year. Also Windows 8.1 will be free to other manufacturers into 8" or smaller tablets.
Apple has an other price strategy. The new iPhone 6 sell well with 700 - 800 € price tags! The lower performance Mac Books with 1000 to 2000 € price levels. Where are Ubuntu Phones and Tablets? Have not seen for sale anywhere. Only seen some You Tube videos that those exists.

Here you go but they are only available within the EU!:

http://www.bq.com/gb/ubuntu.html

http://www.ubuntu.com/phone

I wouldn't touch any Apple device with a barge pole as they are way too pricey, restrict the user and because of their ethics in relation to the manufacturing plants treatment of their workers:

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2 ... hone-plant

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Apple_Inc.

http://appleinsider.com/articles/14/12/ ... e-supplier

In Apples defence:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/a ... tions.html

Yes, had I known ubuntu phones would be out at £167 I would not have bought Android HTC!

With regards to Apple:

https://stallman.org/apple.html

In addition to their poor labour relations vis-a-vis the companies that put the things together, they are now also destroying Coral due to illegal tin mining in Indonesia which goes into their products.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04vs348

"BBC iPlayer TV programmes are available to play in the UK only. Find out why". Link did not play the BBC's program, shows only this message! I believe that this is just somehow against EU policy, I saw something of this in news few days ago. "The BBC uses Geo-IP technology to identify where you are, based on the location of your internet service provider (ISP). This is to ensure that only people in the UK can enjoy programmes on BBC iPlayer".

You get round that issue by using a web proxy - like Nixie Pixel on YouTube showed how she could watch a BBC programme in the US doing just that!

I get this far using proxy server but it does not play it when I select "Watch in HD". Nothing happens. What should be done? I tried it with Chrome and Firefox browsers.

Hi,

you can try "Hola" for Chrome but I cannot say whether it will work or not as I tried to watch something myself quite recently on I-Player and they bogged me off!.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/deta ... meio?hl=en

Yes, I got it working with "Hola". Thanks for your assistance.

I put this music video link elsewhere on the forum, but does it open outside Finland due to the link is to YLE's page. Just curious to know.

http://yle.fi/aihe/artikkeli/2007/03/22 ... hat-you-do

Your link address plays here in Germany no problem:

http://yle.fi/aihe/artikkeli/2007/03/22 ... hat-you-do

Thanks Wolfman. The content of YLE's pages are mainly in Finnish but there are also some parts with other languages like News in English. Here a link to what ie. Microsoft does or does not do in Finland to keep their promises.

http://yle.fi/uutiset/finnish_pm_talks_ ... re/7772530

I hesitate to believe that Microsoft makes any big data centre investment to Finland when I saw the video of Apple's employer strategy.

And more Microsoft's lay-off news here:

http://yle.fi/uutiset/microsoft_lay-off ... ut/7911044

Hi Henriolavi,

sadly; modern technology will kill many jobs and no matter how big or small you are, you may feel the effect!.

More overpriced products! This time from Samsung the new Android phone, Who really needs?

Yeah!, I'll take 2; NOT!.

Ubuntu phone was a lot cheaper at €167! But I missed my chance!

Nokia is back to device business now with launching the N1 Android Lollipop tablet. It seems to be clearly a competitor to Apple's iPads and there is not a big step to make it smaller and add there the phone feature to compete with iPhone 6 and Samsung Galaxy S6 phones.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WF3jnZTPgeg

I suppose that then there is a need to come down also with iPhone 6 and Galaxy S6 prices. Ubuntu phone is not a competitor before it is really launched on the market and widely available in the stores.

Hi all,

Ubuntu mate have done a good deal with a new computer company which will install Ubuntu Mate as the default desktop:

http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2015/04/ubun ... dware-deal

A few links about Ubuntu Phone here Swarf, be quicker on the uptake next time mate!.

http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/?s=ubuntu+phone

Hi

That "Orion" laptop seems to be just the same hardware as my Lenovo (G50-30) laptop. Only differences are that the Windows key has been replaced with Ubuntu key and in Lenovo there is an additional row of keys on the right. The display frame is also matte not glossy . So, these are good selections to run Ubuntu Mate.

Hardware is tested and works fine also with Zorin 9. Here with Mac look UI. (Cairo dock)

The only trouble with that Orion laptop is its showing the Unity DE!.

MATE is really fast and clean, I am using the 15.04 Beta 2 and have no major problems at the moment!.

I think Orion is worth buying to those who wants to have a preinstalled Linux machine even if it can be little more expensive than the same hw with Windows and Lenovo branding. Lenovo has been sold as Windows machine and you can't get any support to os. from the supplier if you have a Linux installed there. To Lenovo you get however 2 years warranty to hw instead of 1 year that was specified to Orion. If you are a Zorin user, I don't know whether there is any benefit to buy a Orion laptop.

The problem to get preistalled machines is that there are so many Linux os. distros that any of them is not a basis of making money with preinstalled computers for a bigger computer businesses. I can not even see those lower performance and lower cost machines (such as the Lenovo G50-30) on computer stores' tables, which are suitable for use with Linux os. due to the fact that the sale does not generate sufficient cash flow.

I've covered this before in this very thread!

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=8001&hilit=yeeloong&start=10#p34793

as used by Mr. Stallman!

Very slow but Linux friendly! (and that goes for the BIOS too!)

After these news of Nokia merge with Alcatel-Lucent I do not believe that Nokia is coming any more to consumer device business (seriously) like developing and making phones and tablets.

http://yle.fi/uutiset/nokia_and_alcatel ... nd/7929392

It is focusing now on to network equipments and network technology. It may make some high end consumer devices using subcontractors and available os. (Android) only to show it's brand's existence on the market but not a wider business in mind.

After these news of Nokia merge with Alcatel-Lucent I do not believe that Nokia is coming any more to consumer device business (seriously) like developing and making phones and tablets.

http://yle.fi/uutiset/nokia_and_alcatel ... nd/7929392

It is focusing now on to network equipments and network technology. It may make some high end consumer devices using subcontractors and available os. (Android) only to show it's brand's existence on the market but not a wider business in mind.

In case you hadn't noticed, Nokia is now Microsoft!

http://www.engadget.com/2014/04/25/noki ... microsoft/

Just to update the information of Nokia

No, Nokia is not part of Microsoft. Only Nokia's Devices and Services division has been sold to Microsoft including only mobile phones related business. Nokia's Network technologies and equipments business is not part of Microsoft. That has been some misunderstanding that whole Nokia was sold to Microsoft. Also many ip. rights related to mobile phones' technology are still owned by Nokia like HERE maps that are used in Android and Windows phones and tablets (also in Ubuntu phone) instead of Google maps.

Also the title of the news was misleading saying that "Nokia is now officially part of Microsoft". Totally wrong. Things are not always as they look like.

I believe that there was an agreement that Microsoft could use Nokia brand for some time afterwards, but now the new phones from Microsoft uses it's own brand like the first Microsoft's Lumia 535 phone. I believe also that Nokia can make now competing products if it decides to do so, like Nokia N1 tablet.

Nokia Networks was build on merge of Nokia Networks and Siemens Networks some years ago. That is now the existing independent Nokia that is now going to merge Alcatel-Lucent and that is not related to Microsoft at all. The value of Alcatel group shares are worth about 11 billion euros in total and Nokia shares worth about 29 billion euros.

More what Nokia is to day from this link:
http://company.nokia.com/en

Thanks for clearing that up!

And lets not forget Google:

http://mashable.com/2015/04/15/google-e ... source=rss

I mention them because this thread is about other OS's and there is Chrome (Google) OS and Android!.

http://www.cnet.com/news/android-or-chr ... on-one-os/

Well not the OS but the browser Chrome:

http://go.reg.cx/ml/773ff/5553e57f/2b0e0e02/2eXm

Is the Steam OS out yet ?

Steam OS 1.0 Beta Update 153 is the latest version in Distrowatch.

http://distrowatch.com/?newsid=08767

Is the Steam OS out yet ?

If you want an adventure Stephanie, build your own!:

http://store.steampowered.com/steamos/buildyourown

For those moments you are bored!.

As I said earlier there will be hard price and market share competition from Microsoft's Windows phones. I picked up this link from Swarfendor's news.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/04/14 ... lumia_640/

It launches now the upgraded Lumia 635 with very good HW performance and with very attractive price level bundled with all kind of candies, Including cloud storage, free Skype calls and Office 365. "Looks like a winner, so long as WinPho 10 doesn't spoil things later" says the reviewer. It is amazing if Microsoft makes an os. mistake, again, launching it's not working W 10 to the phones when it has now a good working os W 8.1 for smart phones.

Office 365 (and the cloud in general) is Donkey's doodoos!

Outlook layout in 365 is rubbish - at least WPS (Kingsoft Office) is very flexible indeed (got it on the Android Phone which was budget entry level Desire 310 at £129 - I'll let you convert to €!

It has one flaw which means when I have the patience and time I will have to back it all up and 'break' it as if has the 'fake ID' bug and Android placing responsibility on manufacfturers to supply the fix!

Thank you for the link Wolfman

I have not any experience of using MS Office 365, so I can not comment on that but I have WPS Office installed on my Denver 9" Android tablet and works fine there. It is really a budget tablet, less than 100 €, only shortcoming that there is not internal mobile net, 3G or 4G. Have to use an external dongle.

As some of you know, I'm the eeepc Queen ; I have two of the 900 series running Zorin Lite 9, which seems tailor-made for these little guys. They are great, and I've customized them for different purposes, one for travel and one for gaming. I also have a third one with 20GB combined SSD (a 4 and a 16) that I wanted to do something else with. I do a lot of recording/studio work with acoustic instruments and used to use Windoze (just on an amateur basis); I say "used to" because I found avlinux, ( http://bandshed.net/AVLinux.html )a multimedia distro so packed with programs to try that it really is quite ridiculous; everything for audio, video and graphics you could think of, including some specifically tailored for the distro. It's set up to run lean (so no pretty bells and whistles). I installed it on that third machine, partitioning everything so the distro and swap are on the 16GB drive and cleaning out the 4GB for storage. I also added an 8GB sd card (probably up this later), and will likely save a lot on a stick. (The eeepc has no CD-rom, but I have an external that I can use for burning, or use my "big" computer.) I then set about trying the various DAWs, midi sequencers, notation, etc., and gleaning down to the ones I would use most often (I can always put them back on later if I want). Everything is honed really well in this distro, with all the peripherals needed to work seamlessly. As a result, no updates....(except for browser, etc.).
*there are some demos on it for paid programs; I didn't find them necessary, but you might like trying them.

I've done some recording and my USB interface/controller device worked great through ALSA and Jack. Crystal clear, lovely to work with. I had read it was tricky to get these to work properly in Linux, but the distro developer tweaked everything so they work!

Although they state that you COULD use the distro for everyday as well (it does have other stuff on it), I'm whittling down for multimedia use only.

Still in the early stages of playing with this, but really happy with it so far! Who would have thought you could do this stuff on an eeepc? One more big step away from the big W.

Thank you for the link Wolfman

You is welcome!.

I found avlinux, ( http://bandshed.net/AVLinux.html ).

Nice one, I tried Bodhi 3.0 out the other day, a nice lean distro for low spec PC's!. Too many settings for my liking but a good distro!.

Hi Swarfendor

I converted the price of your HTC Desire 310 to euros. It seems to be even expensive with 180 € price and with those specs that I found. A 4.5" display (480x854 pix.), 4 Gb internal memory, 512 Mb RAM and a 5 Mpix fix focus camera. I prefer 5" display due to the texts are often unreadable small from a smaller display. Then there should be at least 8 Gb memory and 1Gb RAM to be able to add and run more applications there. Even if there is an ext. SD card, all Android aps. can not be transferred into that memory either at all or only partly, so you run out of memory very soon. 5 Mpix camera is ok. in a budget phone but not with fix focus. It reduces the picture quality remarkable. Should be preferably autofocus. I really hope that you have some improved version of that phone or you have to make a visit to the phone store ?

What comes to cloud services I do not use in general those for backups or data storing, but I found Dropbox handy to be used for transferring big amounts of data to someone else.

I did not want to spend megabucks but I have the tools to 'unlock' the phone which I will have to do as it has 'FakeID' bug and Android are not fixing - expecting HTC to do that!

Back to posting: http://sparkylinux.org/download/

I will be trying this on eeepc!

I have now this Lumia 535 W8.1 phone with reasonable good specs. Very,very budget phone, ca 100 € (72£)

http://www.gsmarena.com/microsoft_lumia_535-6791.php

There was some touch screen problems but corrected with few update releases working now very good. Being a Widows phone there are some compatibility issues with Linux (Zorin 9) but I have good workarounds to do what I need. Files can be transferred via Email or Dropox. I selected this mainly due to good balanced specs, 5" screen size, 8 Gb/1 Gb memory with supporting additional 128 Gb SD card and there is a good 5 Mpix autofocus rear camera with flash. I have to look additional apps so that I am not tied up to Microsoft (like having MS Office 356). Libre office made documents can be accessed with ScanWriter app.

If you had an Android phone you could have had Kingsoft Office!

Yes, I know, I have it on my 9" Android tablet as mentioned, but I think that I do not have a need to make documents with a phone. I do not even try to use it for that purpose. For me it is enough that I can open, look and read, print, save, store and share documents with my phone. I have optimized and made some compromises to have a phone with good camera, big enough memory to apps, big enough and good resolution display to read news, look videos and TV etc, good maps and easy to use navigator, it does not cost over my budget and that it fits to my pocket. Last but not least is that it still uses the approved Nokia phone's to Microsoft licensed hardware technology.

If I were now buying that phone I could possibly take this Lumia 640 LTE, slightly improved version, for sale now for 175 € (125£) price.
http://www.gsmarena.com/microsoft_lumia ... e-7055.php

I appreciate that but useful to carry around - if you have a screen with USB connectivity and a bluetooth keyboard (which I don't!) you can use the Android device big screen and store documents on the device. I have temporarily been able to access the external storage using ES File Viewer.

I admit that Android has better connectivity to Linux os. and it is more open os. for new apps than Windows. There are also some good to have apps that are not available for Windows phone like WPS Office and lack of alternative browsers for IE (Opera Beta seems to be now available). There is a risk that it ties up to use only Microsoft apps (like MS Office) and can come also costly that way. However, if you accept Windows phone with it's limitations you can get very good hardware specs and reasonable priced phone from MS due to it takes now market share with a price whatsoever. Dual booters don't have either that connectivity problem to access the phone via USB connection.

I try to be as objective as possible in my comments and telling experiences "as is" cause I have them all. Linux (Zorin 9) and Windows 7 in my separate custom made desktops, Zorin 9 with Mac look on my Lenovo laptop, Android 4.2.2 in my 9" Denver tablet and Windows 8.1 Phone Update in my Lumia 535 smartphone. All kind of very biased and opposite "User opinions and reviews" can be seen on gsmarena's 220 pages. Partly very funny.

Like this:
"- It's a good mobile but not friendly. can't install android apps."

"- Really!?
Could that have something to do with the fact that it is a Microsoft Phone and not an Android Phone??? "

It is interesting to note the 'free' set top box recently thrown at me at renewal of ISP contract only has android app to program recordings remotely - no app in iTunes for Apple users such as my work colleague!

No problem, Nokia is coming back to phone business next year with Android phones.
http://recode.net/2015/04/20/nokia-plot ... ne-market/

Tried Elementary OS Freya on my vaio laptop. Quite nice and smooth.
And as you can see, I am using firefox with the latest adobe flash version 17.0.0.169. As you will recall, firefox stopped receiving flash updates since version 11.2.
Of course this trick can be done in any ubuntu based distro, including ZorinOS. In case you want to know how to do it, I can prepare a guide.

I prefer html5 to be honest, and I wish that we could discard adobe flash completely. However, there are cases (certain videos or games etc.) that require the latest version of flash player. And since I prefer using Firefox, this trick works out fine.

it depends what you like on personal opinion is different with each person
all have pro and cons
and what you use to it.

after xp came vista and vista has lot of problems with drivers i had a Pentium 4
think need lot of memory and fast hard disk.after came windows 7 was qwiet easy to use

i had pc linux and could t with wifi connect to the internet
Ubuntu the same.zorin OS so for have no problem

don't forget about the dangerous html5 code that can fill up your drive and render it useless!

and madvinegar, please do a tutorial for the how-to section!

Hi
Something strange happens with my Android tablet. First some update installed there an alternative APUS menu interface (startpage) with a new wallpaper. I removed that application but it was asking then the reason to that or wanted to install it back. Difficult to get rid of that. The other thing is that now the display is divided to two parts the right part shows much lighter than the left part all the time. Here two screenshots. I suppose that it is some malware? Don't know what to do. How to stop installing unwanted apps there?

I would start here, as I don't have one, I cannot be of more assistance!:

http://forums.androidcentral.com/

Thanks Wolfman, I put there the question, lets see whether I get an answer.

I looked closer the display settings and I find that there is some "demo effect mode" that was selected causing that the half of display is lighter than the other. Thanks however of the link to forum. Now it looks like it should.

It certainly looks better!.

What comes to pros and cons at least in Android tablet (Denver 9") using 4.2 os. version, there is a problem with memory allocation. That 8 Gb internal memory I have is divided to two parts, one 1Gb for primary software installation and rest to be used for data storing. Each application can be partly moved to the data storing memory area but not all and not completely.

Depending on app each one from 0% up to 70% can be moved. This means that when the primary 1Gb (787 Mb) is occupied, lets say up to ca. 90 %, you can not install any more any app bigger than 78 Mb there, even if you have still plenty of free internal memory unused. Limitations appear when 30 - 40 typical apps are installed. I have not found out whether there is a solution to that.

In Windows 8.1 Phone os. there is not that problem, 8 Gb internal memory entirely and additional up to 128 Gb microSD card can be used also to apps software installation. Some application makers however don't allow their apps to be installed to the microSD card.

Here can be seen the Android tablet (Denver 9") memory (partitions) allocations, green means there installed apps, gray free memory space.

Why I miss OzDiamond II 64-bit (audio greetings etc just one of them!):

https://vimeo.com/126311678

It seems to be impossible to add primary memory for apps in my Android tablet. At least it goes over my knowledge how to do that. Partial solution to manage that situation is to install only apps which occupies the primary (1Gb) memory as little as possible. Here in screenshot is an example when selecting Firefox (17 Mb) instead of Chrome (49 Mb). Chrome uses only the primary memory but Firefox is partially moved to use the additional memory space. Entire sizes are almost the same. Also removing overlapping apps helps to get free space to add other type applications.

The situation gets worse along time due to all new developed apps and updates of the old ones increases the demand for memory.

Next possible solution is to go to tablet store and buy a new one with bigger apps memory.

Did you look here again?:

http://forums.androidcentral.com/

Yes, I have asked and looked the answers and found this guide there.

http://forums.androidcentral.com/ambass ... nings.html

It explains very much the same problem and what can then be done there. However it does not say that the memory allocation can be changed. I believe that it is not possible. I have done now all suggested according to that guide and that is ok. However the shortage of memory space for apps remains.

The guide is very well done and helpful to understand the Android's memory system.

Often in the Android devices' specs there are only mentioned that there are ie. 1 Gb RAM, 8Gb internal memory and can be added with 32 Gb using microSD card, which may seem to be reasonable, but not mentioned the primary apps memory size if divided memory is used or that the ext. microSD can't be used to store apps. I suppose that this has been corrected to the newest devices using "unified storage" or bigger primary apps memory.

According to many comments on the forum there seems to be complications with memory management in older and low cost devices and it is dependent on used make and Android os. version. So, thorough examination before you buy one will help avoid surprises.

I made a light market research and found that there are still for sale, in relation to today's needs and requirements, underpowered Android tablets up to 100 € price range. These are not often for sale in computer stores. Can be found only in markets or some web stores.

However, some of these devices are reasonable featured if you merely increase only with limited amount, less than 30 add-on applications there in order to, browse web, look You Tube videos, watch TV and store photos, read e-mails and newspapers, handle and make some documents, but have not requirements for high gaming characteristics due to a slower processor or low RAM memory.

In these devices, there are not often either a good enough camera (only max. 2 Mpix fixfocus no more) and the build-in 3G /4G feature is missing. These also have a relatively low screen resolution even in 9" and 10" sized devices. The advertised argument that for Android there are over 1 million apps to download is not just valid for these devices.

Edit: There are still memory management problems in the newest Android 5.1 os.:
http://www.ubergizmo.com/2015/04/nexus- ... -1-update/

I have received the final confirmation to my suspicion and the answer from Denver Electronics A/S regarding the Android apps memory allocation problem as follows:

"Hello

Sorry. this is standard Android. And cannot be changed.

It is up to the App developer wether they program the app to be able to install on the larger storage part, or if it can only be installed on the small “installation” part of the memory.
There are not other to do than uninstall some apps if it is suddenly full.

Best regards
INTER SALES A/S
DENVER ELECTRONICS A/S

Morten Pannen
Quality & Support Manager
Sales/technical support & quality control"

Hi

I wrote this one and half months ago, 1th of April :

Hard price competition from Microsoft to keep their market chare. Latest news tell that there will be new Windows phones and tablets under 100 € price tags and with full extent Windows 8.1 operating system installed. Microsoft's benefit is that W 8.1 is suitable os. to be used just in those products. Upgrade to Windows 10 will be free of charge for all Windows 7 and 8.1 users for one year. Also Windows 8.1 will be free to other manufacturers into 8" or smaller tablets.
Apple has an other price strategy. The new iPhone 6 sell well with 700 - 800 € price tags! The lower performance Mac Books with 1000 to 2000 € price levels. Those are just have to have products. Where are Ubuntu Phones and Tablets? Have not seen for sale anywhere. Only seen some You Tube videos that those exists.

It was not April Fools, now it is reality, Lumia 535 for sale to day for 79 €, one tenth part of iPhone 6 price. iPhone 6 is slightly better on some specs but also worse in some other like having only dual core CPU . Not so big differences for a everyday phone user. Hard to find that 700 € additional value of a iPhone 6.

Henriolavi It seems like [ Missing The Boat ] is a regular thing with your so called regular research !!!!
Those phones have been dirt cheap for well over a year now.
The future of the [ Smart Phone ] will be changing in a serious manner over the next year after the Windows 10 Mobile release !!!!
I 'll give you a brief update that is a hard fact !!!!
Once the global consumer gets wind that they can own a real [ Computer OS ] via a Smart Phone !!!! " Windows 10 Mobile "
Instead of a Gizmo [ Mobile Smart OS ]
Apple IOS Garbage
Android Mobile OS
Microsoft Windows 10 Mobile will in a way after time dominate the [ Smart Phone ] business for a good while !!!!
I see all or most of the [ Smart Phone Manufactures ] shifting towards Windows10 Mobile after time.
Apple is in for a rude awakening which will hurt them dearly via the stock market !!!!
It won't take as much of an effort for Google to produce a full fledge Android OS to survive with the competition. [ Microsoft ]
The good part.... in the long run it will help boost [ Ubuntu Mobile ] understanding/popularity in the long run !!!!
Ubuntu Mobile will be a nice alternative for those whom want a [ Full Mobile OS ] ... but don't want to be attached to " Microsoft '' !!!!
The [ Gizmo Mobile OS ] will soon be dead as we know it !!!!
Don't be surprised...If Microsoft releases a separate Winows 10 Mobile installation software package for one to purchase to install on any [ Windows 10 Mobile Compatible Smart Phone ] of their choosing !!!!

Gizmuntu said: "Henriolavi It seems like [ Missing The Boat ] is a regular thing with your so called regular research !!!!
Those phones have been dirt cheap for well over a year now."

True, but not this cheap until now. They (Microsoft) launched also few new cheaper Lumia 435 and 532 types just one month ago. However, I mainly agree and believe on your "update"-vision even though it is difficult to predict the future. One thing I hesitate to believe is that Ubuntu phone will play any bigger role on the market, at least not with these marketing efforts.

But never know, who believed that the market leader Nokia with it's 40% global market share is out of the mobile phone business after only two years. This can happen to anyone of the now leading phone manufacturers or leading phone os. Windows 10 Phone os. will for sure have a future due to already now "Windows 8,1 Phone Update" is near the same os. with the coming W 10 Phone os. and works just fine with mobile phone hardware platforms.

Glad I did not get an Ubuntu phone having read a review in one of the GNU/Linux mags - issue with icons and screenlock!

Had a look at a couple of new distros this weekend in VB, BlueStar Linux 4.01 and SuperX 3.0 'Grace' - the first one is one person's project using Arch Linux as the Base with KDE (Konqueror Desktop Environment) using Cairo-Dock - very nice as the pictures show. The latter is from Assam in India - also nice but Blue Star gets my vote. The one area whee it fails (and that is not the Distro's fault) is the inclusion of SMTube - due to YouTube (sic. Google) changinig the licencing arrangements, SMTube no longer works as fully as it used to - apps that have download functionality have to enter into a licence agreement - their help page now states you have to use 'uget' - it didn't work for me. VLC normally works but not in Zorin (downloads) but it did work admirably well in BlueStar Linux! For those missing functionality of SMTube and VLC here is a great site: http://clipconverter.cc

A cute GNU/Linux lightweight distro - MakuluLinux:

MakuluLinux "fun build"!

OK, first look at the Beta of MakuluLinux "Aero" 10 LTS:

https://vimeo.com/132269126

OK, just thought I should advise that if you have a rig with more than one drive and you have Windows 10 and GNU/Linux on one drive and GNU/Linux on a second drive - if you boot from GRUB on the second drive and choose to boot into Windows 10 what I have discovered is that Wndows 10 will fail to shut down as GRUB uses the 'Recovery' partition to boot Windows 10!

Well my 'love affair' nay 'dalliance' with Windows 10 is over. Having read how a local business lost all its sql interfaces has left me cold - colder still since I can no longer boot into Windows 7 or Zorin 9 64-bit Ultimate. Windows 10 reminds me of the old adage 'all that glitters is not gold'. I am not many years from retirement (hopefully unless the government hikes retirement age to the 80's by which time I will probably be just using GNU/Linux online and Windows for anything else I want to do off-line (Windows 7).

My machine has continually been wanting to run chkdisk on boot, starting with 'D' - as I am booting to Windows 7, 'D' was 'Windows 10 insider' and recently booting to the latter (win10) I was hearing the boot music during the black screen moment of Windows 7 boot music! EasyBCD then added Windows 10 Pro (recovered) to the mbr on Windows 7 disk! I had just paid for an upgrade to Cyberlink Power2Go for the BluRay Burner - all the downloads have disappeared apart from the manual for the program I can no longer access. I did the wrong thing with Test-Disk and have lost my mbr! (I am losing my touch!) All I get to boot to now is 'TestDisk'. (Yes I know I am like the builder who is good at his job but the garden gate is swinging on its hinges! )

I have tried the Windows Boot repair disk to overwrite the mbr just to get back into Windows - and then I could reinstall EasyBCD to reconfigure the mbr to boot into Zorin 9 64-bit Ultimate! Hey ho!

Windows 10 reminds me of a Hitman with its screen prompts:

"Hi, We are getting things ready for you"

Then after the Hit:

"We are just taking care of a few things"

Hi Swarf,

does your Win 10 PC have UEFI?, have you checked that it will only boot from legacy in BIOS?. (Also that quickboot/secureboot are disabled).

Both my PC's don't have UEFI (thank the heavens) and I am running Win 10 on both of them no problem, I did (in both cases) a fresh install of Win 7 + SP1 and then ran Win 10 updater from a USB stick.

Was your Win 7 install clean or did you install Win 10 on an older running system?.

I am not having any problems with boot managers on either PC!.

I can only recommend a copy of "Boot Repair" which might help you!:

http://sourceforge.net/p/boot-repair/home/Home/

Hi Wolfman,

No I have built 4 out of the 6 machines here (2 are dormant - the first one I ever purchased Pentium 120 which I upgraded to AMD400 and the second one the processor was put on the mobo at the pc shop which has Windows 98 on (AMD400 Mobo) My rig has never had UEFI in the BIOS. The drive I put Windows 10 Insider preview on was the drive that had had Windows 7 on - WD 200 Gb - I bought a new 500 Gb drive and cloned the Windows 7 onto the new drive - then shrank this to make room for Zorin 9 Ultimate 64-bit.

The best for Windows 10 is as you have done or as posted here:

http://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft- ... indows-10/

I have run Test Disk and the drive is healthy - even Windows 10 says it is healthy but could not open it - period! But I fear I may have screwed the mbr period by pressing something in Test-Disk tools I should have paid more attention to (= read up on! )

Acronis Disk Director could see what was there and what wasn't - downloaded my paid for updates to CyberMedia Power2 go on another machine before download time limit expires.

Am followng tomshardware advice on checking for nasties using Comodo Rescue Disk. The bizarre thing is that when I wanted to boot into 7 it kept wanting to run chkdsk on 'D' which = Win 10 partition on the next hard drive!

OK, so guess what? The reason why it can't find anything to boot is because a lot of Windows files have been put in a .found directory with hundreds of .chk directories/files - perhaps I should not have been foolish enough to select the freespace within C drive of Windows 7 as the place for Win 10 to put its backups to!

OK, so guess what? The reason why it can't find anything to boot is because a lot of Windows files have been put in a .found directory with hundreds of .chk directories/files - perhaps I should not have been foolish enough to select the freespace within C drive of Windows 7 as the place for Win 10 to put its backups to!

Backups should always be on a different drive as it kinda defeats the object if you have a virus attack, they can infect the backup files too if they are on the same drive as the main OS!.

OK, so guess what? The reason why it can't find anything to boot is because a lot of Windows files have been put in a .found directory with hundreds of .chk directories/files - perhaps I should not have been foolish enough to select the freespace within C drive of Windows 7 as the place for Win 10 to put its backups to!

Backups should always be on a different drive as it kinda defeats the object if you have a virus attack, they can infect the backup files too if they are on the same drive as the main OS!.

That's right the backups were on a different drive!

Hi Swarf,

then I can only assume that your backups have become corrupted in some way!.

Yes, so much so that 7 went 'doo lally' - just to add, because the Store is broken on Windows 10 (and I have seen issues with the Store on 8.1 whilst trying to find a solution - tried the cmd prompt solution as administrator and still not working so I tried a refresh the other day and it was attempting to go back to insider release 10130 and wanted to remove EasyBCD in the process - it failed but that is not working either now!

What is your partition layout like?.

sda Win 7 was - 100 Mb Recovery 220 Gb for Windows 7 system partition and programs, then Zorin 64-bit Ultimate - 30 Gb System (/) 164 Gb /home and 4 Gb swap area

sdb Win 10 recovery 350 Mb Win10 system partition and programs 70 Gb then Makulu Linux with 15 Gb System (/) 60 Gb /home 4 Gb swap area - this was in an extended partition as Win 10 has a 350 Mb partition at the end as well as at the start!

If you erased Win7 on sda and you only have Linux, might this be the problem?, Windows should always be on the first partition (after the MBR) on /dev/sda?.

Yes Win7 was on the first partition of sda1 in fact my setup on this drive was as seen in the video. I suspect the issue has arisen because I had easy BCD on both 7 & 10

Well, just got this in my mailbox - needless to say I could not help but laugh - people of a nervous disposition to bad language should not read it!:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/07/29 ... _be_happy/

another good article here:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/09/10 ... _download/

OK - update. Having just read about major security issues (on Windows) re Thunderbird I have ditched it for Claws Mail (aka Sylpheed at one point).

There is a new update of Thunderbird which I have installed and use almost daily, I cannot really comment on the security issues though!.

Hi Wolfman, I picked up a recent copy of Computer Active - even on Mozillazine it states a 'red' security issue that anyone gaining access to users appdata file can overwrite data (I assumed that to include the whole drive as funnily enough, Thunderbird was the first app to disappear before everything else - managed to get 7 back on the offending drive but curiously withoug the 100 Mb system partition that usually occurs during install!

Hi Swarf,

have you checked the HDD for errors (bad blocks)?. How old is it?.

Hi, I ran test disk when it started playing up - zilch errors! and it is just over a year old (Western Digital Black with 5 year warranty - 500 Gb).

There are several HDD failure tips here (For that just-in-case scenario!):

http://www.pcworld.com/article/144258/article.html

Hi Wolfman,

Had a look at the article - the free test repair link is dead:

"BTW, you might want to download the free DTIData NTFS Partition Recovery Tool "

brings back a 404 - and the site no longer appears to have said tool apart from partition recovery - unlikely since I have reinstalled and overwritten the drive - I do have Acronis Disk Director for that but it was strange that things started to go wrong after I had paid for new DVD software - fortunately able to redownload to a different machine!

I'm also not too worried not having 100 Mb system partition:

http://www.sevenforums.com/general-disc ... eeded.html

Sorry Swarf but I didn't bother clicking on the links to take a look!.

OK, lot of more technically minded people than me having enough of Windows here in Sheffield:

http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthr ... ?t=1429727

I got rid of the aggressive GWX on the main Windows 7 rig by using SUPER-AntiSpywares aggressive delete Option!

Deepin 15.1 - First impressions in 'live' mode - pretty cool on a number of fronts - the login sounds, the logout sounds, the moving swirling login 'wait' which moves as your mouse moves around the screen. Has Cross-over built in - not sure on the legality of that one - not clear if it is a 14-day demo or otherwise. One thing that did impress was the 'Deepin Music' player - unlike Rhythm Box in Zorin, it had NO difficulty in:
1. Matching artist pictures to the music files I imported from my Zorin /home/music folder of recent 'Various Artists' albums purchased, AND Lyrics that scroll in time to the music at the bottom of the screen.
2. As always, the 'de facto' office suite is Kingsoft Office (WPS)

So it's failings?
1. Accessibility - No screenreader present and because of 2. above, even if it was present it would not be able to speak any text produced because LibreOffice is the Suite that works best with Orca. This last application that is absent is no longer functional thanks to the Gnome project ditching Gnome2:

https://www.linux.com/learn/accessibility-leaders-linux

Thanks to Gnome Project effectively killing off 'functional' accessibility (see https://vimeo.com/95682732)

https://opensource.com/life/15/5/accessibility-linux

Because of its lack of accessibility software Deepin 15.1 scores 7/10.

For those who download to try, be warned that 'live' mode is only available by choosing 'safe graphics' mode i.e., the second menu item that appears on booting from DVD/USB - 2.0 Gb is the size of the image so bear that in mind if you have capped data usage, which I am lucky enough not to suffer from.

Oh forgot, upgraded to 7/10 from 6/10 - simple scan works out of the box with Deepin 15.1 - never worked in Zorin 9 - had to download proprietary scangear from Canon (GNU/Linux) drivers to get it to work - Zorin Devs I hope you can fix this in 12!

(I am going to install alongside MakuluLinux "Aero")

Deepin 15.1 - First impressions in 'live' mode - pretty cool on a number of fronts - the login sounds, the logout sounds, the moving swirling login 'wait' which moves as your mouse moves around the screen. Has Cross-over built in - not sure on the legality of that one - not clear if it is a 14-day demo or otherwise. One thing that did impress was the 'Deepin Music' player - unlike Rhythm Box in Zorin, it had NO difficulty in:
1. Matching artist pictures to the music files I imported from my Zorin /home/music folder of recent 'Various Artists' albums purchased, AND Lyrics that scroll in time to the music at the bottom of the screen.
2. As always, the 'de facto' office suite is Kingsoft Office (WPS)

So it's failings?
1. Accessibility - No screenreader present and because of 2. above, even if it was present it would not be able to speak any text produced because LibreOffice is the Suite that works best with Orca. This last application that is absent is no longer functional thanks to the Gnome project ditching Gnome2:

https://www.linux.com/learn/accessibility-leaders-linux

Thanks to Gnome Project effectively killing off 'functional' accessibility (see https://vimeo.com/95682732)

https://opensource.com/life/15/5/accessibility-linux

Because of its lack of accessibility software Deepin 15.1 scores 7/10.

For those who download to try, be warned that 'live' mode is only available by choosing 'safe graphics' mode i.e., the second menu item that appears on booting from DVD/USB - 2.0 Gb is the size of the image so bear that in mind if you have capped data usage, which I am lucky enough not to suffer from.

Oh forgot, upgraded to 7/10 from 6/10 - simple scan works out of the box with Deepin 15.1 - never worked in Zorin 9 - had to download proprietary scangear from Canon (GNU/Linux) drivers to get it to work - Zorin Devs I hope you can fix this in 12!

(I am going to install alongside MakuluLinux "Aero")

Have had Deepin 15.1 installed on my old laptop ( Core Duo at 1.6 ghz , 2 Gb ram ) since it was released... and having a hard time to replace it with any other

Not like i dislike other distros but... Deepin looks so laptop-made ... so simple to use... don't even want to change it .

My only complain about Deepin so far is... their servers. It's really hard to download updates, whatever the server you choose it's always hard to even connect... and even if it does, downloads aren't that fast , not to mention that if you're lucky enough to start updating, i better leave the laptop inmediatly... the very thought of keep using it doesn't even cross my mind, i just want it to finally get their updates once and for all

Not that is a real issue for me anyways.

On the positive side... everything is sooooo extremely easy to do. Granted... i just use my laptop for the most basic stuff ( navigate, check pictures, maybe a video, move pictures from my camera... ) ... for my desktop pc's i just use Zorin OS9 ... and hoping Zorin OS12 is really worthy... without all those malfunctions from the new Ubuntu 16.04 fixed

By the way: I absolutely agree with you. Deepin Music player is absolutely awesome !!!!! Have been struggling with the usual players ( rhythmbox , clementine , audacious ... you name it ) but none of 'em work for me as i want 'em to ... they always hide at some point or another or have some weird bug or ....

The best one was Audacious... although i have Cairo-dock installed with the music player add-on... and for some reason doesn't get along after showing/hiding a couple times . Deepin Music Player just pops up on the dock like any other app so i always know where it is, and those in-between-songs transitions by default are also lovely... so i'm slowly switching to it.

Deepin Terminal is nice as well; i have it installed on my Zorin OS9 along with the default one


Which version of Makulu are you using ? Not really sure about their current state of development. Looks like their web was hacked recently and they are still recovering. It was stated that hackers deleted lots of stuff so not even sure if the latest news displayed there are up to date.

Looks like they have something going on with that Makulu-desktop ( Cinnamon fork ) , although i still don't get the concept behind Makulu-desktop integrating into other different desktops .... or rather... transforming other desktops into a Makulu-desktop .... care to throw some light into this ?

Deepin 15.1 - First impressions in 'live' mode - pretty cool on a number of fronts - the login sounds, the logout sounds, the moving swirling login 'wait' which moves as your mouse moves around the screen. Has Cross-over built in - not sure on the legality of that one - not clear if it is a 14-day demo or otherwise. One thing that did impress was the 'Deepin Music' player - unlike Rhythm Box in Zorin, it had NO difficulty in:
1. Matching artist pictures to the music files I imported from my Zorin /home/music folder of recent 'Various Artists' albums purchased, AND Lyrics that scroll in time to the music at the bottom of the screen.
2. As always, the 'de facto' office suite is Kingsoft Office (WPS)

So it's failings?
1. Accessibility - No screenreader present and because of 2. above, even if it was present it would not be able to speak any text produced because LibreOffice is the Suite that works best with Orca. This last application that is absent is no longer functional thanks to the Gnome project ditching Gnome2:

https://www.linux.com/learn/accessibility-leaders-linux

Thanks to Gnome Project effectively killing off 'functional' accessibility (see https://vimeo.com/95682732)

https://opensource.com/life/15/5/accessibility-linux

Because of its lack of accessibility software Deepin 15.1 scores 7/10.

For those who download to try, be warned that 'live' mode is only available by choosing 'safe graphics' mode i.e., the second menu item that appears on booting from DVD/USB - 2.0 Gb is the size of the image so bear that in mind if you have capped data usage, which I am lucky enough not to suffer from.

Oh forgot, upgraded to 7/10 from 6/10 - simple scan works out of the box with Deepin 15.1 - never worked in Zorin 9 - had to download proprietary scangear from Canon (GNU/Linux) drivers to get it to work - Zorin Devs I hope you can fix this in 12!

(I am going to install alongside MakuluLinux "Aero")

Have had Deepin 15.1 installed on my old laptop ( Core Duo at 1.6 ghz , 2 Gb ram ) since it was released... and having a hard time to replace it with any other

Not like i dislike other distros but... Deepin looks so laptop-made ... so simple to use... don't even want to change it .

My only complain about Deepin so far is... their servers. It's really hard to download updates, whatever the server you choose it's always hard to even connect... and even if it does, downloads aren't that fast , not to mention that if you're lucky enough to start updating, i better leave the laptop inmediatly... the very thought of keep using it doesn't even cross my mind, i just want it to finally get their updates once and for all

When I had the earlier Deepin on the rig, I thought it would be impossible to keep up-to-date - until I found the servers in France! The earlier version had a login icon of a Leopard (now where have I seen that before?! with 'blue space' animation of 'space the final frontier'

Not that is a real issue for me anyways.

On the positive side... everything is sooooo extremely easy to do. Granted... i just use my laptop for the most basic stuff ( navigate, check pictures, maybe a video, move pictures from my camera... ) ... for my desktop pc's i just use Zorin OS9 ... and hoping Zorin OS12 is really worthy... without all those malfunctions from the new Ubuntu 16.04 fixed

By the way: I absolutely agree with you. Deepin Music player is absolutely awesome !!!!! Have been struggling with the usual players ( rhythmbox , clementine , audacious ... you name it ) but none of 'em work for me as i want 'em to ... they always hide at some point or another or have some weird bug or ....

(I have been surprised at the poor integration of Clementine recently - when I had it on PearOS it could even give you the album art for your country the album was released in! Can't remember which one it was in earlier Zorin versions, think it was Amarok (they should sue Volkswagen for using GPL name on their equivalent of Toyota Hi-Ace!) that had a plugin that resembled the iPod method of shuffling albums. Going back to Clementine, it does have THE best visualisation plugin, 'ProjectM'.

The best one was Audacious... although i have Cairo-dock installed with the music player add-on... and for some reason doesn't get along after showing/hiding a couple times . Deepin Music Player just pops up on the dock like any other app so i always know where it is, and those in-between-songs transitions by default are also lovely... so i'm slowly switching to it.

Yes, I like the 'karaoke' function that 'lights' in time with the music/words!

Deepin Terminal is nice as well; i have it installed on my Zorin OS9 along with the default one


Which version of Makulu are you using ? Not really sure about their current state of development. Looks like their web was hacked recently and they are still recovering. It was stated that hackers deleted lots of stuff so not even sure if the latest news displayed there are up to date.

I am "using" Makulu "Aero" - the final edition, but to be honest I have been mainly booting into Zorin and Win 10 dev fast ring - the latter for free games - for me Windows 10 is the Amiga of the 21st Century - by that I mean the derogatory remarks made [falsely] by others that the Amiga was not a real computer - well Aardvark animations used an Amiga to create the first Wallace and Gromit short! But in Windows 10's case the derogatory remarks are true - it's a gaming os - I recently installed the Spybot Search and Destroy Beacon - that kills all M$ monitoring!

Looks like they have something going on with that Makulu-desktop ( Cinnamon fork ) , although i still don't get the concept behind Makulu-desktop integrating into other different desktops .... or rather... transforming other desktops into a Makulu-desktop .... care to throw some light into this ?

OK, for clarity, there is no 'they' it is all the work of ONE guy, Jacque Raymer - a South African who now resides in China. "Aero" was a request made by friends to help others who were brought up on Windows to migrate to GNU/Linux - I just wish he would have made a 32-bit version for older kit - his mainstay releases are based on the ultra light XFCE Desktop Environment (alternate to LXDE). The reason that Cinammon was added (and this is really down to the 'Menu' element, is that you don't just get one Windows key but BOTH will launch the Cinammon Menu - just like Windows does. The success or failure of the distro will be down to donations to the project. He needs to really get hold of some other devs as the boot splash claims to have a full Office suite - it doesn't - it comes with WPS Office (Kingsoft Office) which will not work with the GNU/Linux screenreader - only LibreOffice does that and I pointed that out when Jacque had his first website. He is even attempting to set up his own repos - initailly an Ubuntu/Debian and Mint mix but last time I looked on his YouTube Channel I think he was plumping for Ubuntu based repo as no point in re-inventing the wheel with Cinnamon/Mate. Clearly there are fans of Zorin who have themed the Menu to a high standard. I do hope that Zorin will go back to at least having the left Windows key on the next release - I have already proved it can be done by substituting GnoMenu for ZorinMenu!

Well here is a screenshot of my MakuluLinux desktop:

(It comes with Opera Developer which would not allow me to upload screenshot - as Zorin has fixed the Firefox issue, installed the latest version - could not upload! Had to go back to 'trusty' Opera 12.16.1680 to upload for you!

Updates don't appear to be working at all apart from clam av.

Well, Aero 11 is just around the corner!:

http://makululinux.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HpRxulW3pg

Deepin Control Center/re showing different servers for updates when you select 'switch' from the information update panel:

When I had the earlier Deepin on the rig, I thought it would be impossible to keep up-to-date - until I found the servers in France! The earlier version had a login icon of a Leopard (now where have I seen that before?! with 'blue space' animation of 'space the final frontier'

O__o ... how do you add that french server to the list ? I don't have it ... or at least can't seem to find it... and needless to say, Deepin isn't exactly complicated to check such things... Just checked now... and certainly, there's more servers than last time... but none of 'em located in France . Just tried with Yandex server now ( Russia ) and even though it took a couple minutes... it is connected & downloading right now .

(I have been surprised at the poor integration of Clementine recently - when I had it on PearOS it could even give you the album art for your country the album was released in! Can't remember which one it was in earlier Zorin versions, think it was Amarok (they should sue Volkswagen for using GPL name on their equivalent of Toyota Hi-Ace!) that had a plugin that resembled the iPod method of shuffling albums. Going back to Clementine, it does have THE best visualisation plugin, 'ProjectM'.

Hmm... it's been a while since i tried Clementine for the last time. For some reason never been able to stick with it, think i'll give it another chance . Thanks

I am "using" Makulu "Aero" - the final edition, but to be honest I have been mainly booting into Zorin and Win 10 dev fast ring - the latter for free games - for me Windows 10 is the Amiga of the 21st Century - by that I mean the derogatory remarks made [falsely] by others that the Amiga was not a real computer - well Aardvark animations used an Amiga to create the first Wallace and Gromit short! But in Windows 10's case the derogatory remarks are true - it's a gaming os - I recently installed the Spybot Search and Destroy Beacon - that kills all M$ monitoring!

Oh my ... you just brought back some memories here . I was born & raised among Amstrad CPC , Amiga 500 & Spectrum ^__^ ... and from there, switched to PC's and the usual video game consoles , guess we might be around the same age .

Indeed... the only reason i have Windows 10 installed nowadays ... is for gaming purpouses. Only have been using Linux over the last couple years ... but bought a GTX 970 card past September/October 2015 to see what i've missed over the last 15 years ( barely played games, if any, over that timeframe )... so was coerced into it .

As for anti-Windows10 spyware, i have been highly recommended these ones:

-Anti-Beacon ( freeware )
- DonotSpy10 ( freeware, although beware with adware during installation )
- DestroyWindows10spying aka DWS ( open source )

People that recommended these ones are quite used to install new computers on a daily basis, so they seem to be reliable enough.

Anyways Windows 10 spyware doesn't ( or barely ) affect me at all .

Not sure if i'm too old school but i absolutely dislike playing online ... and also, while i love what valve/steam is doing ( finally making games prices affordable for everybody that is patient enough or their advances with Vulkan and what it means for the Linux world , etc... ) ... can't stand the idea of having to rely on my internet connection just to play videogames... as a matter of fact... doesn't even make sense to me... i mean: the old ways of installing the game on your pc and playing anytime you want... worked decades ago... and still works nowadays... i don't see why i should change something that works perfectly fine for me .

Granted, with the most recent games you need to dowload all those updates & patches but... here's the thing why Windows 10 spyware and game updates doesn't affect me:

1) Everytime i choose to start Windows ( translated to, "i want to play a game" ) , disconnect that computer from my domestic network... so no internet access at all for Windows
2) Not in a hurry to play the newest & latest games, plus i don't mind so-called "dated" graphics . I'm mostly into Jrpg's , Rpg's , and plenty retro/2D looking indie games ... and not very much into shooters / popular sandbox games, etc.... plus i like to play sagas from the start... so ... all games i pick are a few/couple years old... are avaliable with all the latest patches/updates already... so it's just install once and don't worry about it. Some of them i can buy physically & really cheap ( Trine deluxe trilogy edition, just 5 Euros O__O ) and others, i can buy on GOG ( more according to my philosophy, with no DRMs ) and download while using Linux .

I'm aware my particular point of view is what helps me being independent of being connected to the net and avoid risks, this is hardly a recipe for everybody.

OK, for clarity, there is no 'they' it is all the work of ONE guy, Jacque Raymer - a South African who now resides in China. "Aero" was a request made by friends to help others who were brought up on Windows to migrate to GNU/Linux - I just wish he would have made a 32-bit version for older kit - his mainstay releases are based on the ultra light XFCE Desktop Environment (alternate to LXDE). The reason that Cinammon was added (and this is really down to the 'Menu' element, is that you don't just get one Windows key but BOTH will launch the Cinammon Menu - just like Windows does. The success or failure of the distro will be down to donations to the project. He needs to really get hold of some other devs as the boot splash claims to have a full Office suite - it doesn't - it comes with WPS Office (Kingsoft Office) which will not work with the GNU/Linux screenreader - only LibreOffice does that and I pointed that out when Jacque had his first website. He is even attempting to set up his own repos - initailly an Ubuntu/Debian and Mint mix but last time I looked on his YouTube Channel I think he was plumping for Ubuntu based repo as no point in re-inventing the wheel with Cinnamon/Mate. Clearly there are fans of Zorin who have themed the Menu to a high standard. I do hope that Zorin will go back to at least having the left Windows key on the next release - I have already proved it can be done by substituting GnoMenu for ZorinMenu! [/color]

Sorry for not expressing myself properly and thanks for clearing that out.

Yes, i'm aware Makulu is a one-man-army distro... still, i tend to use "they" as everybody receives some kind of help in some way... even if it's just in the form of feedback about bugs, or tips about improving some things here & there so it's always one + the community somehow... after all, no distro would spread in such ecosystem if it doesn't find some kind of community support... that always is involved one way or another .

Makulu certainly looks nice, hope it manages to keep alive, there's never enough beginner friendly distros .

Also: saw your tutorial about Gnomenu , nice work there

Hi Maerskian,

I think I might have imagined the French server - I just know it was in Europe - and it was the only country in Europe listed at the time (think it was deepin 13 or 14 - age causing memory issues - must get more RAM inserted into Grey Matter! )

Anyway, the 'slingshot' apps launcher appears to be temperamental when switching between panel modes (Fashion (Mac look), Efficient (Windows panel look), Classic (Aero? - similar to Efficient but larger!).

Clementine doesn't seem to work as nicely as it used to and it could be down to the new kernels.

In terms of Win10 I just use it for free games from the 'Store' and have just recently added the 'Beacon' but I don't intend to upgrade any of the Windows 7 machines to Win 10 here - I will stick with the Fast Ring Dev release until they pull the plug on it.

I first started out with a ZX Spectrum 128 with heat sink - I made a slight profit on it when I sold it - which I did because I wanted to program it for budgeting - there was a built in ROM fault so you could not create more records than 1000 entries! Plus, remember 'colour' on a spectrum? 3 bands of different horizontal hue! My next purchase was an Amiga 1500 (which I still have) and later the Amiga CD32 (which I also still have) - the Amiga 1500 got an upgrade about 5 years after purchase selling old diecast Cars and other toys at a famous auction house. It currently has a SCSI 1 Gb drive and 4 Mb Zip Ram and was faster at boot and shut-down than my Windows 98 rig running on AMD400 Processor and 128 Mb RAM! And at the same time bought my first PC, a grey P120 which I upgraded to an Evergreen Processor - AMD 400 Processor - [not the same machine as mentioned running 98!]. Well now I have Deepin with Cross-Over I will see what games I can get running on that!

Just to add, Makulu 10 "Aero" was not updateable, due to issues with Cinammon and Mate - Makulu 11 is out in about 2 weeks time from date of me posting this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HpRxulW3pg

Hi Maerskian,

I think I might have imagined the French server - I just know it was in Europe - and it was the only country in Europe listed at the time (think it was deepin 13 or 14 - age causing memory issues - must get more RAM inserted into Grey Matter! )

Not necessarily my friend ; i'm aware they have been working on their servers since they have had issues with them even since the very moment Deepin 15.1 was released, many users complained about it on their forums.

Also, i didn't recognize many new servers today compared to the last time i checked... so it's very possible a french server was avaliable last time you checked ^__^ .

By the way, the russian Yandex server worked quite well ... dowloaded 300+ mb of updates within 4-5 minutes or so. It might not sound like much speed-wise... but it's the fastest updates pack i've ever downloaded while using Deepin, so i'm happy enough .

Anyway, the 'slingshot' apps launcher appears to be temperamental when switching between panel modes (Fashion (Mac look), Efficient (Windows panel look), Classic (Aero? - similar to Efficient but larger!).

I let it stay on "dock-mode" mainly, but played a little with the efficient/classic modes ( all funny names by the way ) and didn't experience any issue... and it's been installed for a good while on my old ( and only ) laptop... this one :

http://www.cnet.com/products/hp-compaq- ... hdd/specs/

It might be around 8 years old already, but works quite well

Maybe it's some hardware compatibility issue ? It'd be weird, considering Debian tends to get along with older hardware ( in my experience at the very least )

Clementine doesn't seem to work as nicely as it used to and it could be down to the new kernels.

Hmmm... was planning on trying it soon now you are kinda discouraging me already

In terms of Win10 I just use it for free games from the 'Store' and have just recently added the 'Beacon' but I don't intend to upgrade any of the Windows 7 machines to Win 10 here - I will stick with the Fast Ring Dev release until they pull the plug on it.

And it might be for the best . Quite honestly, Windows 10 feels ancient and just made on the last minute to erase the Windows 8.1 interface off people's minds .

It was supposed to be resource friendly ( compared to previous versions ) ... and looks like it is... and also looks like it could be a nice OS... but for that to happen you have to do an incredible amount lot of work ( clean it off MS spyware, configure plenty stuff just to be sure the system works as it should from the very beginning, configure the options to work properly with SSDs, configure the launcher to be more intuitive/easier to use than how it is by default ... , watch out for suspicious updates, install & configure AV & firewall properly , install additional privacy/security software ... ) ... on top of installing & configuring drivers for everything, reboot a dozen times... and even so... you're left with an OS that still uses NTFS with its high fragmentation rate... in 2016 !!!!! ... the only ones still sticking to such ancient filesystem nowadays if i'm not mistaken... it's even hard to believe !!

I first started out with a ZX Spectrum 128 with heat sink - I made a slight profit on it when I sold it - which I did because I wanted to program it for budgeting - there was a built in ROM fault so you could not create more records than 1000 entries! Plus, remember 'colour' on a spectrum? 3 bands of different horizontal hue!

Oh... how could i forget about it ? ... those were the days... waiting almost one whole hour anxiously just to play one game while enjoying all those weird signals coming out of the tape... back when i was younger, even wanted to believe there was some coded message on it and always tried hard to find a sequence or something i could break
I even remember being amazed by seeing so many colours at once on the same screen and yelling the usual "it's the same as the arcade!!! " ... while, of course, it really wasn't ...

My next purchase was an Amiga 1500 (which I still have) and later the Amiga CD32 (which I also still have) - the Amiga 1500 got an upgrade about 5 years after purchase selling old diecast Cars and other toys at a famous auction house. It currently has a SCSI 1 Gb drive and 4 Mb Zip Ram and was faster at boot and shut-down than my Windows 98 rig running on AMD400 Processor and 128 Mb RAM!

I got myself the Amiga 500 while i was still living in Germany. Shortly after moved to Spain with my parents and... well, it was a small village/town back then ( nowadays it's WAY bigger ) so i was the "king" of my neighborhood... i even sported an "otherworldy" and never seen before 1mb extension plus an external disk drive ... around that time, that was too much to handle around here ... but an Amiga 1500 ... oh my... that's a major machine you had there

By the way... i throwed my old Amiga 500 to the bin many years ago.... tears of regret surface my cheeks every time i think about it T__T

And at the same time bought my first PC, a grey P120 which I upgraded to an Evergreen Processor - AMD 400 Processor - [not the same machine as mentioned running 98!].

I just ended up switching to a 66mhz pc from a relative, then to a Pentium 100... then another Pentium at 200mhz... and from that very point i became loyal to AMD, and that's what i bought ... until time passed and bought the 2 most recent computers from my signature given current circumstances :/ ... it's a pity AMD downsized that much, they always managed to stay ahead of intel for a good while .

Well now I have Deepin with Cross-Over I will see what games I can get running on that!

I'm the all-or-nothing type when it comes to games unfortunately... didn't play in 15 years... but now i paid for a gamer GPU and a few games... i'm going to check as much as i can... with the little time i have for such things T__T

Just to add, Makulu 10 "Aero" was not updateable, due to issues with Cinammon and Mate - Makulu 11 is out in about 2 weeks time from date of me posting this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HpRxulW3pg

Will be checkign Makulu 11. By the way, thanks for mentioning Makulu and other distros ( SolydXK for example ) ; didn't stop to check 'em out while glancing around distrowatch... and your feedback just encouraged me to check 'em out .

Cheers !

OK, So MakuluLinux latest release is called 'LinDoz'. It's 'de facto' theming upon running live and after install is Windows 10 with a black panel at the bottom and a black menu - check out Jacques video here:

https://youtu.be/s7kOp9EIlnc

Now here is list of issues I had after install - I would post to the makulu forums but I get a 'blocked' message' when I log into the site so I will have to post here:

1. Sound does work but if you go in Settings the 'Test Sound' just does not run! nada! Play a sound track or YouTube video - no issues. Screenreader does not run - period.

2. Default browser is Google Chrome - so you will now realise that MakuluLinux LinDoz only comes in 64-bit flavour. One of its let downs is the fact that whilst the Menu mimicks Windows 7 layout, just like ZorinMenu there is no keybinding - if you reset the panel to defaults you get a 'Mate/Mint' looking Menu - but then the Windows Key binding does work - and you get the word 'Menu' appearing next to a 'Mint' logo.

3. It comes with WPS (also known as 'Kingsoft') Office (Writer Presentation Spreadsheet) - this will not work with ANY screenreader on ANY platform!

So, the first thing to go was Google Chrome - why? They still owe my country unpaid taxes - unpaid taxes helps this Government to bulldoze through its 'austerity measures' because they, like the previous Government, failed to push HMRC (that is the UK equivalent of the US's IRS) to pursue corporate tax dodgers like Google and Amazon among others.

Next, spyware Zeitgeist was removed.

Then 'gnome-calculator' was removed and replaced with 'accessibility-friendly' 'galculator' for those who have difficulty seeing any other calculator on any platform 'galculaor' is the best out there!
[https://vimeo.com/95682732]

Going back to the Orca issue, I tried to install all the codecs as per Wolfman's instructions on here (post-install guide] - still nothing - I also searched synaptic for screenreader alternatives - installed everything but could not get it to run.

Installs - First Firefox - but this too would not allow uploads of images in MakuluLinux LinDoz so I am writing this up in Opera 12.16.

I then had an issue replacing WPS with LibreOffice - I had 'held packages' etc and finally circumvented the issue but then had a permissions issue with LibreOffice so I had to follow advice on this issue elsewhere on other forums/help sites. It is really really fast at lalunching. I am currently running MakuluLinux on the drive that had Zorin 9 Ulitmate 32-bit as I messed up my install messing with Compiz I believe.

So now, how to get round the Wndows key to be bound to the menu? Solution:

!. Install GnoMenu - AWN has no candidates to be installed to Makulu - solution? Install Cairo-Dock - on selecting it as a separate DE at login just kept me in the eternal login-loop - managed to launch Cairo-Dock from the termnal then told it to boot at each subsequent run.

For comparison purposes, here is Makulu panel which I have moved to the top, with an XP themed DE with the XP style menu only working via the mouse:

And at the bottom is Cairo-Dock with GnoMenu present, bound to the Wndows key with Cairo-Dock Tux'n'Color' clock below the default clock of Makulu and above the '2 hourly' 'Quotes' app. - Loved the Tommy Cooper gag the other day: 'So I ring up a local building merchant, and I said to him "I want a skip outside my house". He said "I'm not stopping you!" [just like that, hah, hah, hah.]

Sadly, the Weather Applet of Cairo Dock that worked in Zorin does not run at all well in Makulu! So hence it's absence.

So Why bother with XP Theme? Well with the 'harsh' brightness of Windows that came out later, and thinking of appalling Office 365/2013, XP theming is pleasant to the eyes

- so well done Jacque for making a desktop for all (potentially) ex-Windows users - it is just a shame that the Windows look does not follow through to the Menu like GnoMenu only appears to do so, i.e,, binding of the Windows key.
Just to add the screenshot app does not have a timer so I had to revert to the keyboard command of shift and printscreen (SysRq key) to bring up 'selection' to take 'windowed' shots.

@Swarfendor437

Thanks a lot for the extensive post . Certainly the new Makulu looks great ^__^

Unfortunately this time i'm delivering bad news ... as it seems PinguyOS will be shutting down really soon

Source: http://pinguyos.com/2016/05/thinking-ab ... pinguy-os/

Thinking about killing off Pinguy OS

by PINGUY on 19/05/2016 in PINGUYOS

Thinking about killing off Pinguy OS. It is costing me more to run than I get from the project. The project is a sink hole.

For the last 12 months I have been personally financing the project to keep it afloat.

http://i.imgur.com/pcL0svy.png
(right click open in new tab for full view)

The project isn’t self-financing anymore. I thought Pinguy-Builder would help fund the project, but it hasn’t helped. 120hrs to produce Pinguy-Builder/fork Remaster was a complete waste of time.

I even tried doing a bounty for elementary OS to keep the project afloat, but they don’t pay out: http://i.imgur.com/hv9aG6D.jpg
(right click open in new tab for full view)

I loved making Pinguy OS and interacting with the open source projects and helping them, but at some point you have to call it a day.

At least I have made a difference. Bodhi, Linux Lite and Budgie Remix I had a hand in helping getting them started.

https://plus.google.com/u/0/+AntoniNorm ... qmDd9y9NA6

It's a real pity... the personalization level of the main desktop was quite interesting, but even more so the fact it was pre-configured with activated firewall, privacy settings, options to extend battery's life on laptops, app's preload... and some more ... things most people would love to have ready to use instead of wasting time doing this kind of mechanical tasks .

Hi Maerskian, It is not fully extensive review - it too comes with Clam AV and Firewall running out of the box - so apart from Google Chrome spy (but to be fair the settings are turned off - though you never can tell what is running deep with Google!) and Zeitgeist the platform is pretty secure. It is always a sad day when any project folds - Wolvix was the best for drilling down graphics to the lowest level on old kit like a Toshiba Sattelite Pro with only 256 Mb RAM! The only other item I forgot to state is that there appears to be lots of xsane backends but no apps like 'Simple Scan' which works out of the box with my all-in-one on Deepin 15.1 32-bit but does NOT work in Zorin 9 32-bit!

Some more MakuluLinux 'LinDoz' screenshots for you:

Win10 black:

Zorin 8 Black - now I found an applet to add launchers to the Panel! Yay!: {Note I had to download this theme - there are themes for Zorin 6, 8, and 10]

Now this is what Zorin could do with for migrators:

For quite some time I haven't read something about PCLinuxOS.

I use PCLinuxOS with the MATE Desktop since about 2 years and one think I really like is the fact that I don't have to install new versions. Rather I update about bi-weekly and have the latest updates with this rolling model.

My favorite PALOS was 2007. My biggest gripe with PALOS was their 'sacking' of it's main developer after he took 12 month's sabbatical leave from the project, that plus the bizarre behavior of wireless no longer working after changing locale from US to UK!

I remember that leave was quite a bad thing to the distro. I also remember the time when the live USB wouldn't connect to my wireless - only after installation it was ok and that kept many users from even installing it.

Today there's mainly the issue that 32-bit is withdrawn. However, that will probably happen with many distros in the near future.

But I still like the setup very much. I can even run the 64-bit Mate on an old Laptop with just 1GB RAM.

Well, what can I say? A distribution that listens! Galculator by default in Ultimate Edition 5.0 Lite (and i386 = 32-bit) customised version of Ubuntu Mate - so nice:

Tron Themed MakuluLinux Lindoz 12 Beta (1.42) desktop:

SolydXK 8 (Community Stable) Edition 32-bit non-pae - but you can add it later if your machine is capable!!

Current SolydXK desktop:

Brief look at SolydXK 8 uploaded today/yesterday?:

https://vimeo.com/198422833

I'm having a look from the future as it is already Sunday the 8th in my part of the world...
Not sure I've ever investigated this distro before.

I'm having a look from the future as it is already Sunday the 8th in my part of the world...
Not sure I've ever investigated this distro before.

They are Devs from the Mint Team - well the full blown K (KDE) version is - more Debian than Mint ever was according to an online Linux review show I watched some time ago.

Well I downloaded the K so I'll have a look at it later on. I had the X already from back about June/July 2016 so I likely did have brief look at it then.
KDE versions do look nice but I've always thought they are a little bit "Full' and 'Busy' and the KDE 'Cube' is no match for the Compiz one IMHO.

I have been following Makulu Lindoz for awhile now, and I am in contact with the developer in the chat room. Makulu Linux is going with Debian for better stability and compatibility. And specifically Makulu Lindoz is going to use the latest 4.9 kernal. Currently the developer Jacque is putting on the final touches and is testing the OS. When the next BETA version comes out, I, including a lot of other's will be testing it. And if all goes well, we should be seeing a full release soon.

This seems as good as anywhere else to ask so here goes.
Anyone tried Pearl OS lately? I've given OS 4 and OS 5 a bit of a run. A few bugs and glitches mostly in OS 4. Compiz installed out of the box and some nice theming also.
Just after some input from other users really as some of the issues make me wonder about stability and future updates etc.

I can't remember if I only tried Pearl OS 1 when it first came out. Think I had some issues that prevented me from ever getting it to run.

Well the early version I always found enticing, even though unstable, e-live looked like an OS of the future - I was sad to see it has fallen to the 100 spot in distrowatch - this video by the Author of the OS is quite catchy - petty not in high res.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cH9WLrcsrx8 - WARNING - FLASHING IMAGERY!!!

Well I have downloaded elive 2.7.8 beta and will give it a try soon. As I recall this OS sweats you rather hard for some cash during the install making you wait for some key or such to complete the install. Not the best way to go about things in the Linux world IMHO. In fact I rather agree with the Zorin method of Core for free, no hassles and if you want this 'extra' stuff and support give us $20 or so. I think this is a good business model for a Linux Distro myself, a sort of try before you buy! Enough of the politics.
I put my welding mask on before watching the video link you posted above, thanks for the heads up. I had seen it before which is what made me try it out previously, all that bling and magic well how could I resist?
I would post a screen shot of my Pearl OS 4 but print screen doesn't seem to work...nor does the 'num lock' persist after reboot, not sure if these are "Mac' like features or bugs but not a deal breaker just yet, I did see something about 'take a screen shot' but can't remember right now. I am still enjoying the Pearl experience ATM. In fact I got the SSD in my test rig ready yesterday so Pearl OS 5 will go LIVE and fast for a while, maybe this afternoon as the temp is going to about 35-40 degrees Celsius here and the AC with cold beer while destroying a computer might be just the thing...stand by.

Managed to figure out screen shot, an app you start, what about just using print screen button...

So it got to 38 degrees and this all happened. This is fresh Pearl Mate 5.0 with Cairo Dock and Compiz as Window manager.
It runs nice but it did play up a couple of times, maybe the heat as I was playing up also???
I have removed/replaced Plank dock with Cairo Dock, enabled Compiz and configured it the way I like it and default theme is now "My Metal" window borders and "Window 10 Dark" for the 'controls' with "pearl-osx-icons". The "My Metal" part I copied from my Pearl OS 4 system which is set up about the same.
So a fresh 16.04 system with my Cairo/Compiz/Dark theme/Thin Window Frames as I like it so see what happens from here. Might even try the same with a vanilla ubuntu distro, a few screenies.

Thunar with the dark theme

Main Menu

Firefox with xpad preferences open, note large icon, it is supposed to look like this as far as I know, thought it was a bug at first

Expo all 4 Desktops with apps running

My beloved CUBE

I see Elive 2.8.0 Beta is out, I haven't even tried the 2.7.8 I downloaded the other day.

Should point out that I only ever used the disc in live mode. I have now backed up my data off Deepin 15.2 as I was getting security NSS errors about YouTube and other sites using out-of-date security - possibly malware on app servers? Anyhow, got Zorin 12 64-bit and screwed it up messing with Enlightenment 21 for Ubuntu 16.04! Hey-ho a fresh install we go!

I did see your other post about enlightenment 21, I installed Elive 2.8.0 beta hybrid onto the old rig. It does look rather nice and works well but I couldn't get the sound working via the HDMI GPU. It is a little hard to find stuff as the settings are buried deep all over the place and the dialogue boxes are small. Likely play with it a little bit more but not looking like a daily driver for me. Also got to sit up and beg while installing regarding donating etc, I did expect this. They make it out to be fantastic and awesome but me no think so... Enlightenment/Elive, make KDE look simple!

Shame about deepin, most reviews I've seen on this Distro on YouTube rave about it, I have tried it a few times but always issues such as settings that won't persist upon reboot, language issues and I always felt the desktop/icons looked a little bland but each to there own, the choices of Linux yippe
That said it has lots of new and fresh ideas in it and I always check out the latest versions when released, lucky to have a test machine as from memory it has no Live Mode.
Assuming your just doing whatever you normally do with it those errors sound a little worrying also.
Oh and proud of you for breaking a fresh install of Zorin, 60 blue jewels to you for that
Nothing like the smell of a freshly installed OS

Well I'm replying from my Pearl Linux 4.0 LTS that is 2 weeks old today and my (current) daily driver , not the one above as that’s Pearl 5 on the test PC. I didn't think it would last this long but the fact I am still using it speaks for itself I guess. Had about half a dozen issues I've written down to resolve but not done any fixes yet , just little things like not remember Num Lock on boot up and the sound from the top panel won't adjust with mouse wheel roll are the main 2 but hit Num Lock and use volume on Cairo Dock all good (my 'media' buttons on wireless KB don't work either!!!). Might end up "driving it till it drops". Issues aside it runs good and seems stable. Installed on MintBox Mini PC so no power house hardware.

A few Pearl Linux 4.0 screen shots. Note, not how this Distro looks out of the box.

Details, MintBox Mini is what it is installed on, only about 1Ghz 4 core CPU

Cairo Dock Menu with Synaptic open, note large top icons and rows in Synaptic, I thought was theming issue but how a MAC looks from what I've seen in other reviews, System Monitor and a few others look this way also!

Thunar file manager with some Main Menu open

Hi mbmz10, Meant to say I liked your desktop screenshots earlier as well as these you just submitted. I think I said I coiuldn't get Pearl 1 to run it was Peach 1 I think as there were various rumours that one or the other was the 'successor' to Pear Linux when in fact I found out much later it was GMacLinux that was it's successor but nowhere near as polished as David Tavares' ilterations of Pear - Sadly missed!

It looks like Apple have got to the successor as no files available on Sourceforge or Softpedia - I found a hidden link somewhere a while back but can't remember where!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6X0IH7LyN1Y

You are to kind really but thank you for the compliment. Pear Pearl Peach, how could one possibly get them confused...
I read something about Apple shutting down these MAC looking Linux spins also, so much for freedom! Maybe it was to do with naming/copyright or such but either way big brother wins.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Unless money is involved. So glad that Linux (GNU/Linux) is what it is without all this corporate greed stuff. So much Freedom, very refreshing.

I'm not after a MAC look or feel necessarily just something like my old Zorin 9 with Cairo Dock. If Zorin didn't spoil me with OS 11 I could stay on OS 9 on the 'main pc' and 'daily driver' but now that I've had a taste of something a bit nicer than OS 9 it looks a little dated, still love firing up the test rig with it on though!
Also I'm starting to rather enjoy search. I was initially disappointed that OS 12 took a major turn but now enjoying the hunt, maybe its the journey and not the destination?
They say a Pearl is formed from an 'irritation' so this seems apt for me I guess, getting all philosophical on my journey.
Cheers.

I take it that your use of the word 'apt' was an unintentional pun!

It was whilst I was typing it but once I saw it it became intentional glad you liked it

OK, think I have found a distribution I can finally live with - Zorin 12 64-bit Ultimate disappeared up itself while I was removing apps I did not care to have - just watch the OS disappear in no time at all! (Reminds me of the time for the fun of it purchased Dragon Dictate Solo for £4.95 from Electronic Boutique that later became GAME. Going a long time back, had Windows 95 and Office 95 - decided to uninstall Dragon Dictate and it promptly removed Office '95 - what a great product!). I really would have liked Debian Jessie (8.3.0) to use but after install neither root or user password would work. Fedora 24 workstation just left me with a blinking cursor dash 3 inches from the top of the screen after bootsplash of the mobo logo! Finally, minor glitch when choosing location caused the installer to crash but I get a weather App that picks up Sheffield UK! Another fail not just for Zorin but Fedora 24 in live mode uses the same app and the same fail! There is no Zeitgeist, no Evolution Calendar hogging resources! I truly wish Zorin would have considered sticking to Xfce or LXDE for its main distributions - I am sure they could have worked something out. I feel it is goodnight to Zorin and Good Morning to Voyager 16.04:

Adios Amigos - but before I go - something far more precious I need to share with you: https://youtu.be/ycUZN6kuUO8

Bon Voyager

win 7 win 8
zorinos and lite linux lite

performance depend on specs of your computer or laptop
and a from mechanical harddrive to a solid state hard drive makes any system faster

win 7 win 8
zorinos and lite linux lite

performance depend on specs of your computer or laptop
and a from mechanical harddrive to a solid state hard drive makes any system faster

I'm afraid my penchant is for standard hard drives - can't cope with SSD config!

Well let's hope Zorin 12 Lite can match this!:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_cMUvQqfPQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWDtkaf_0bk

Way to go Jacque!

Cool.

Found this on Distrowatch today also, https://distrowatch.com/ or https://peppermintos.com/

Still no Zorin 12 Lite after more than 2 months from the announcement of a "sneak peek of Zorin OS 12 Lite within the next few weeks" from the Zorin Blog at http://zoringroup.com/blog/2017/03/21/z ... downloads/ .......

I've gone back to Linux Mint!

Makulu Flash which has xfce with a simple compiz on/off is really astounding for such a lightweight distribution - also Stacer is pretty good dashboard and includes lots of configurable system settings:

Just to add the reason why the hard disk space showing 1.7 out of 1.7 is that it was in live DVD mode.

Well I thought I would replace SolydX 8 for Makulu Flash 32-bit - no joy when I discovered that it is a PAE version! I could manage to get it to run when using the 'forcepae' command but it took almost 20 minutes to get to the desktop and was taking far too long in its responses from the Optical Drive, so I gave up! It is a pity that only SolydX community editions appear to be the only distro producing 32-bit non-PAE isos so that older kit can breathe new life again. So Jacque if you get to read this - PLEASE produce a non-PAE OS!

OK, AZorin has explained to me that to install pae distro to non-pae computer the command is 'forcepae -- forcepae'. But the main reason for posting is looking at Voyager 16.04.2:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEO4Hul ... e=youtu.be

We created a list of 50+ lightweight Linux distros if anyone is interested. Of course, Zorin OS Lite is included.

What do you use on your old hardware? Would love to get some suggestions/ideas.

Wow, great list. It's nice to be able to actually get a good view of the GUI. I like Linux Lite, except I think the feather logo is ugly. But it has system restore, something I have not seen on any other Linux. And I love LXLE. Zorin will also be in my top 3 or 4, when it finally goes public. I'm done demoing it. It performed perfectly and I want to demo other things while I wait for it. Your list will provide way too many temptations!

Well old software is not recommended for security but from recollection of when I was playing with an old Toshiba Satellite Pro 430CD there was only one for it's exceptional 'drill-down' settings for the graphics on limited memory etc - Wolvix Cub.

https://archiveos.org/wolvix/

http://archive.oreilly.com/pub/post/wol ... e_ani.html

Sadly now a dead project!

Well, look what OS just got resurrected this year!:

http://www.pc-opensystems.com/

OK, here is something for older hardware (32-bit Q4OS):

Linux Mint 19 (Cinammon 'Tara'). Well, just thought I would share with you my poor install experience of LM19. I decided to let it auto install and on completion it moaned that there was no swap and so would not boot at all. I had to choose the 'something else method'. From an accessibility point of view it is poor compared to Zorin Core. For starters, NO solid backgrounds - had to use GIMP to create one! Wine non-existent then when I installed the 64-bit version 3 of Wine, Winetricks was complaining it could not run its 32-bit libraries for packages! On the plus side it comes with Timeshift and you can rsync a backup of your system to your /home drive should anything go wrong. Ideally an external drive but this was on a works machine that had a borked HDD and the spare one from an old rig was not of the same size and would not have taken the restore image which would have looked for a same capacity drive. Zorin still number one for me in respect of Core and Ultimate - I can't say the same for Lite.

Whilst trying to find out how to get root access in Mint I discovered this interesting site (which could also apply to Zorin!) for the benefit of newbies:

https://sites.google.com/site/easylinux ... almistakes

Here's a new fork of Mint - Feren OS based on the latest Mint release of Tara (Mint 19) with Cinnamon DE:

Some interesting points - because it is based on Cinnamon the Windows key launches the menu, not Alt+ F1 as in Zorin 12.x. To make the panel familiar to Windows users it even has hidden icons that you reveal by hovering over the left pointing Chevron. No clock in the panel as it is on the Desktop toward top right. Discovered it has a Web Browser Manager like Zorin - the default is Vivaldi which in live mode is extremely snappy. A nice touch compared to Mint is the shortcut to Themes on the desktop, not buried into the context menu of Panel Editing like Mint does. What struck me about this particular OS is its informative Welcome screen in live mode, covering Introduction, Features, Getting started and a whole section on Installation Help, stating minimum requirements and recommended specification. There's a link to the Online Store, Community, Get Involved link, and a Donate link. A thoroughly well though out Welcome screen which I would love Zorin to include in it's next major release with additional information for the newcomer with regards to flatpak and snapd.

Well, Zorin is still the top dog when it comes to accessibility - whilst Feren (and Mint) have Orca present, it fails to read the 'de facto' 'Clutter' Menu that comes with Cinnamon DE - I now realise why Zorin did not go down this fateful route of Cinnamon DE with the release of 12 - they have done an excellent job in creating the best GNU/Linux distro for Windows migraters.

[Posted in Firefox in my Virtual Machine of Windows 7 Professional 32-bit running inside of Virtual Box inside of FerenOS 64-bit. ]

FerenOS 2018 with Vista theme applied:

LinDoz 15 as you'd never expect to see it! And accessibility of Orca screen reader working with YAMA (Yet Another Menu Application) on the old AWN Panel!

AWN got me thinking. I know AWN panel caused its fair share of issues but it looked great and offered many options.


Zorin OS 9 Ultimate with some of the theme/look change tools, the good old days...

Zorin look changer, theme changer, web browsers manager, background plus (video wallpaper), file manager and menu

Virtual machines, great way to explore the many variants of the Linux possibility’s, look at new distro's, test and destroy!

Currently using Linux Mint 18.1 (if it ain't broke don't fix) Mate Desktop, Compiz, Cairo Dock set up similar to my old Zorin 9 and 11 systems, as 'daily drivers' and very happy with it, and Zorin 12 Lite on a couple of low spec machines and happy with that also.

Two of my systems dual boot with Windows 10 and that makes me really appreciate just how good Linux is, anyone else experienced Windows 10 updating....

Hi MBMz10,

I only use Windows 10 Insider Preview builds. Recently I had a major headache trying to help work out as they do not have big enough memory stick for a Notebook that was now off network and needed Windows 10 reinstalling and the recovery media didn't work as the Network guys flatten the drive completely! Basically I had to backup 25 Gb off my 64 Gb Patriot disk so I used Wiindows 10 that is on a dodgy drive I accessed my Windows 7 installation to backup the memory stick - after that my Windows 7 would not boot because 10 had overwritten the permissions file on 7 - all I got was the windows logo then mouse pointer and black screen. I endeavour to keep 10 totally separate and only put it in the hot bay and disconnect all other drives for some games that are only available on 10. Have heard about the 'green screen of death' for those on the 'fast ring' of the preview builds. I am wary of using 10 and hardly ever use it. My main issue now is that I managed to upgrade my BIOS but have lost USB 3 functionality - I may have to install Windows 7 properly to install the drivers as I can't whilst it is in FerenOS as a Virtual Machine - I have had problems with it for some time. FerenOS is a derivative of Mint and it doesn't feel as boring as Mint.
Even if you choose to reduce the amount of data that you are going to share, Windows 10 records all your keystrokes from what I have picked up on the Seven Forums. I can see myself finally ditching 10 completely. I did manage to make a Windows 10 look alike on Makulu, as Slingshot is almost similar to Win10 but GnoMenu is probably a better looking Win 10 menu look alike.

Gidda Swarfendor437
I feel your pain, when your done jumping through all those hoops we'll set 'em on fire for the next run. MS buying Git Hub, also doing some 'Linux/Ubuntu' work for Windows plus whatever else they might be up to. I smell a rat and just do not trust MS. For some reason these big 'tech giants' seem to believe that they can treat customers (the 'used' as Richard Stallman says) as they see (un) fit too. This mindset has filtered out to other industries and now many corporations feel the need (assume they have the right) to acquire and use our information for their own purposes, what has become of the world? Skynet is already here, it just isn't what we thought it would be. We haven’t even mentioned governments...

I only used 10 for some games that wouldn't run on Linux when I built my 'gaming pc' 2 years ago, I also got the licence transferred from another PC so I have never paid MS for a licence of any Windows product (rather proud of that I must say). With Steam gaming now developing their Proton (WINE) back end many of those games now run seamlessly on Linux Not sure if other issues arise from this but looks like a step in the right direction to me. Windows spyware is on a short leash here, plus that UEFI and whatever else 'they' impose on us the people.

Linux could even have been a bit of the "Red P!ll" wake up call that I needed as when you step out of the control system a little you start to see how bit by bit (pun in there) our freedom (cough cough) is being eroded away all over the place. End of rant, I feel much better now.

You're right about Mint being 'Boring' unless you like flat grey with some green thrown in! Fortunately, Linux being what it is, a few tweaks with some themes, icons, colour, Compiz and Cairo and presto, I have what I wanted Zorin 12 to be. Well not quiet but very happy with the end result given that I just didn't like the Gnome direction that Zorin took with version 12, they always make great looking distro's though.

A couple of screen shots of my system:

Linux Mint Mate 18.1 with Compiz Cube

Compiz Cube- Zoom 0.2500, with 3D windows thick edges red and green

Linux Mint Mate 18.1 with Compiz Expo

Compiz Expo Mode all 4 virtual Desktops, reflection

Linux Mint Mate 18.1 Mate Menu Ardis Icons

Mate Menu, Ardis Icons, Windows 10 Dark Borders, PearlBlackMate controls - blue scroll bars and dark colour in theme/windows

Not as professional as the Zorin Devs do but not bad for a beginner. Floats my boat at the moment. Lots of other bling like cover flow, shift and ring switcher, animations and more that I even forget about...Windows 10 is BORING

Gidday MBMz10,

Yes, Agree with everything you have said. I was very sad to see the demise of UltimateEdition-Oz website about 2 years back due to lack of funding. And you can still get some of the old Oz spin-offs of UE on sourceforge. My favourite based on 13.10 was Oz Diamond B-II which I did a brief video on one of the reasons why I liked it on my Vimeo Channel.

And yes in terms of skynet I did post a link to an xTed talk given by an American Defense Expert on how AI will kill us all:

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=13989

Keep smiling in spite of it all!

Ubuntu 18.04 - what a mess! If you have HDMI, fine, if you have an old card like mine, an nvidia GT620 you are out of luck - it won't get past the loading graphics drivers script. What is ironic is that the nearly £200 I would have to spend on a new Graphics card is more expensive than if I were to pay for a brand new OEM disc for Windows 10 that ironically again works on old kit - something that GNU/Linux distros appear to be forgetting. Perhaps it is time for me to move away from Windows and GNU/Linux and move to BSD!

Ouch. Feel better now do we?

No HDMI port? What about adaptors? I get your point though.
Anyway that Ryzen deserves a little more don't you think! Maybe even a colour telly while you're at it.
Lots of 'ex' mining cards around....
Regarding Windows 10, you don't even get a disc these days and please refrain from such language.

Do you fume when someone cuts you off in traffic? Does your blood pressure rocket when your administrator refuses to cooperate? Anger is a normal and even healthy emotion

+++

Ouch. Feel better now do we?

No HDMI port? What about adaptors? I get your point though.
Anyway that Ryzen deserves a little more don't you think! Maybe even a colour telly while you're at it.
Lots of 'ex' mining cards around....
Regarding Windows 10, you don't even get a disc these days and please refrain from such language.

Adaptors are not the point friend. I was not aware that in 18.04 and it's derivatives, my onboard sound chipset might as well not exist. HDMI is very limiting when it comes to sound. I like VGA as I prefer a full splash logo, not a black-framed splash screen. It is connected to a colour telly that I sacrificed my Viewsonic 27" screen to. In 18.04 derivative I got crazy OEM screen size of 7" on a 32" Sanyo TV that wouldn't fit on family member's desk due to shelving, hence the swap - and I have also sacrificed my lovely Diamond 3d speakers I rescued of a defunct 17" Packard Bell. The viewsonic only had 10W speakers - no where near as good as the Diamond 3D speakers with bass boost! I have found a reseller of Windows 10 Pro DVD's out of curiosity as another family member needed a decent notebook for Uni and that only came with Home - to upgrade M$ would want over £300 if memory served me correctly - a retailer was offering £180 - so you see my point. Added to that you have the wonderful noVideo people 'retiring' support for 32-bit Operating Systems, and ceasing support of their (like mine) 'old' video cards when they are still perfectly functional. In the past M$ was always accused of needing newer kit for the latest release - no doubt in cahoots with hardware manufacturers to increase their falling sales. Perhaps one day I will dig deep, sell off my new rig and by an Entroware Linux ready Desktop/Notebook and join FinstonPickle! Remember what GNU/Linux 'de facto' message was? "Breathe new life into old kit" - Well it seems GNU/Linux distros (not all) are now potentially creating an Environmental disaster or rather adding to it.

Well, there we all were thinking Zorin 15 was 'fresh' - only to discover the settings interface was 'stolen' (first appeared in) from Fedora 27 Workstation!

And no break up of 'Largest' cursor in Fedora! Which leads me to suggest it could well be down to a kernel bug?

OK, posting this from Elive 3.6.0. Now this would be really cool but for the fact that it comes with an out-of-date Google Chrome Browser, failed to identify onboard NIC (having to use Netgear WG111v3 to connect to the internet).
Having said that it identified correctly that there are 'multiple' audio cards and internally sent sound out via the SoundBlaster card I have been having difficulties with!

Soundcard configurator!:

login sound:

elive-wm-login-3.0.mp3.tar.gz

(492.29 KiB)

Yet another great distribution for soundcard compatibility - SparkyLinux 5.7!:

Ooooh! and it looks like you can add different DE's too throgh it's unique APTus app plus a whole lot more!:

Well gaff of the year has to be this one/two (three?):

And the cover DVD had CondresOS (based on Arch):

- and what is the default browser? Google Chrome!

Also:

Chuckle, todays lesson: preach the same way you act. Much better than giving lip service while doing another thing.

Well work were disposing of kit that can't be upgraded to Windows 10 so I bagged an XP licenced Dell Latitude D830. Decided to give E-live a try and installed automatically - then I remembered why I don't like E-live in the same way I don't like Knoppix - ReiserFS being the default of both, written by a guy who murdered his wife, and in the past, has cost me lost data when I was running SuSE Linux 9.3 Professional! Tried Zorin Core but it behaved very strangely. Played with 64-bit Feren OS and wanted to see what an OEM install would do, but unlike Mint, it doesn't appear to have a removal tool. So for now I am (not currently as I write this on my desktop), playing with Sparky Linux that went on very smoothly! Waiting for Zorin Lite to see how that will perform!

Well work were disposing of kit

What?

Dell

Well, there's your problem.

Just had a quick look at Xubuntu 19.10 on cover of latest Linux Format - very nice:

Just messing with an old Beta of Epidemic on this ancient D600:

Well just installed VHD of VectorLinux 7.1 Standard (32-bit) on FerenOS:

Well just installed VHD of VectorLinux 7.1 Standard (32-bit) on FerenOS:

That's nice.
Well...



WHADDYA THINK OF IT?!

It looks pretty but the issue might be on the application front. I think it always has had Gnome Office (Abi Word and Gnomecalc) - neither of which work with Gnome screenreader. Visually stunning with a proper xfce Menu that can be stretched. Forgot to check which version but this distro's last outing was 2015. The distro is 'alive' just, but at a cross-roads. It was the first project I ever donated to for the deluxe version which had a limited Enlightenment Wallpapers (e.g. Left bend ahead chevron flashing wallpaper) and had a decent first perspective shooter game. I don't think it would meet the demands of the predomninant smartphone user but very nice wallpapers too!

Here's my xfce wallpaper contribution: https://www.pling.com/p/1161911/

The most recent millennials don't even know what a computer is SWARF. They are all cell phone users. And school's now I hear use tablet's instead of desktop computers. Which explains why the kids on Fine Brother's Entertainment didn't know how to turn on a desktop computer. I've also heard that most people don't own computer's in the home anymore either, most people surf with their phone, tablet, or smart TV. Although desktop computer's are still popular in the gaming world, but most of them build their PC's anyways.

AntiX 19 is looking pretty cool:

https://youtu.be/mUicofUy3Bk

Amazed at what is possible, even off USB in Live mode and is free of p.a.e. cr ... rubbish!

Don't know how I missed this one - Jessbuntu 64:

based (apparently) on Zorin (Ubuntu 12.04)

Here's a nice xfce 4.12 enabled 18.04.2 LTS distro (xubuntu):

Voyager!

and here's a desktop of Voyager for star treker - only 'nebulaic' wallpaper in there!

WOW SWARF, you've been really testing out the distsro's! Yep, I sure do love my Star Trek, Voyager was awesome, and so is that wallpaper hehe.

I noticed one of the distro's you were looking at was Xubuntu 18.04 using XFCE 4.12. Aravisian recently had me downloading that, because eventually, Zorin OS 12 is going to lose its support, and Zorin OS 15 sure don't look promising enough for me to jump to it. And with no sign that Zorin OS is going to switch to XFCE 4.12 permanently, I will eventually have to install Xubunto 18.04 on my machine.

Hi star trekker, just to be clear the distro is Voyager based on xUbuntu and is available in both 32-bit and 64-bit.

Well here's some interesting information (32-bit cf. 64-bit installers):

https://ferenos.weebly.com/news/release ... 1804-based

So if you want to install 64-bit FerenOS that uses the Calamares installer, and you want to partition, nope! But 32-bit Ubiquity installer - no issues! The future's bright - the future is 32-bit!

Even though I used to be on the beta team for Ferren OS, I can't for the life of me remember why Ferren uses the Callamares installer. There was some form of advantage however by having it, over the standard installer that most distro's use, I just can't remember now, its been like a year ago so ya lol. You will have to go to the Ferren OS forum and ask Ferren why he chose to use that.

Well I initially attempted 32-bit Feren OS from 2018 as I liked that desktop and it was Cinnamon DE but not sure what underlying bit was. However following updates the Menu and icons to the right disappeared leaving only the System Tray. Had to reluctantly bite the bullet and go for the recent Classic which is KDE based and comes with KDE connect (like Zorin Connect). It also has a neat Compositor tweaker to deal with tearing. The card in this rig is an old EVGA 256 Mb AGP nVidia graphics Chip. The Calamares failed on first attempt but succeeded on second as I hadn't spotted the drop-downs first time around for naming convention ('/', '/home', 'linux swap'). Ironically the best working menu is the one that looks like Windows 10 and the other reason I chose it was because it has Timeshift already part of the system. Took most of the day and the night after the failed update. Wallpapers not as versatile as the other Feren release but my good lady now has her Sunset Beach theme from Windows 7 installed wallpapers as well as all the sounds from the theme. The other neat thing is that it picked up the Logitech Solar powered keyboard and even gives a visual indication of the charge of the keyboard on the panel under power settings so I am well impressed. Only time will tell:

Well FerenOS wins again, even over Voyager 18.04.2 LTS which had same issues of flipping screen and loads of other messages before getting to the login screen and it appears to have created 2 entries in GRUB - the top one must be some sort of 'root' account as login screen headed with "Otherr" then login username and password. Setup same details on all three OS's and it baulked - this is after system update. Feren OS seems to boot up faster than anything else on this old notebook so hat's off to the Feren OS dev - it will be the only OS staying on this D830:

OK, update on Feren OS. On newer rigs, FerenOS will not install using Partitioning with either mbr or GPT. Solution: use a distro that uses the Ubiquity installer or rather includes GParted. Run that to setup the partitions (FAT32 50 Mb for /efiboot, 50 Gb for '/', double your physical RAM number for linux swap at end of drive and what is left between '/' and 'linuxswap' format to Ext 4 and mark as '/home'. Feeling very guilty as I used Zorin 15 off Cover DVD of Linux Magazine to do this!

Oh my gosh, that sloth is so cute lol. "Welcome to Feren OS, I'ma sloth named Slothenaras, and I am your OS assistant!" "Oh, do you perhaps know Cortona?" "Don't mention her name, that beotch tried to steal my code and then delete me"

"Doesn't anybody care about Sid the sloth?"

"Doesn't anybody care about Sid the sloth?"

My youngest does - hence the great wallpaper find! Just enter Sloth then images in DuckDuckGo search engine!

star treker, you clearly have never watched Ice Age!

I'm all about Scrat, myself.

Awww! Forgot about the brilliant Scrat short on one of the children's DVD's. I love him too:

Awww! Forgot about the brilliant Scrat short on one of the children's DVD's. I love him too:

scrat.jpg

I saw it in the theater when it came out. Scrat had us almost dead- our sides were hurting and tears in our eyes from laughing so hard.... And then the movie started.

Actually I have seen Ice Age, and I think there was a Ice Age 2 if I am not mistaken. The problem is, I haven't seen it in years, and I don't remember anybodies names, and I can only barely remember a seen involving dumbarse birds falling off a cliff, cause well, their dumbarses with brains the size of a pee.

One of the benefits you guys have with having kids, is you get apprised of the latest animated films. I don't have kids, so I am not apprised of the latest. I've been eagerly awaiting James Camrons new Avatar movies. That man takes longer to make a movie then anybody, but he promises that all of the next movies will release at regular intervals once Avatar 2 is released. Well its about time lol

BTW, do millennials even watch older Disney movies these days? On Fine Brother's Entertainment, they will have kids reacting to past movies. And it seemed like only 1/4 of the number of kids reacting, recognized the movies themselves, or the songs from the movies. But they sure do know all the movies released in their time period, they know them so well they can sing the songs from the new movies lol.

"The last... Melon..."



We are getting off-topic, here...

"The last... Melon..."



We are getting off-topic, here...

Well at least it's in the right section!

Activating Off Topic Mode...

Off Topic Mode Initiated...

WARNING: Internet Has Damaged My Brain...

Initiating Shutdown Procedure To Protect Against Dead Brain Cells...

Wakes Up, Opens Eyes, Sees Brain From Pinkie And The Brain, OMG This Is So Insane...

Activating Off Topic Mode...

Off Topic Mode Initiated...

WARNING: Internet Has Damaged My Brain...

Initiating Shutdown Procedure To Protect Against Dead Brain Cells...

Wakes Up, Opens Eyes, Sees Brain From Pinkie And The Brain, OMG This Is So Insane...

Now I am wondering if you are going to go bouncing off a cliff chasing a melon.

LOL

I'm pretty sure star treker isn't meloncholy!

I love to crack jokes and make people laugh. Even if I can only get a smirk out of them, I consider that mission accomplished. With so much c*** going on in the world that creates a lot of depression and meloncholy as SWARF puts it, now is more time then ever to create some laughter and happiness in the world.

Whilst staying at home thought I would catch up on some cover DVD's. Fedora Workstation 31 now recognises my Canton TS8151 scanner. Instead of Simple Scan, Fedora calls it Document Scanner:

I hope it won't be long before Zorin updates so that Simple Scan will then work instead of relying on scangearmp2 which was a retrograde step from scangearmp which had the same interface in Linux as for windows users. Shame on you Canon!

The bizarre thing with Fedora Workstation 31 in live mode is that the keyboard would not work until I unplugged it and put it back in again. No such issues with the mouse.

On the printing side, Fedora in live mode found the Printer and named it in Printers but totally inactive. Had to Add the prnter using the driver shown in test print page:

In Printers I had to add it again - bottom entry is the working printer:

On the reverse side (Side A) was Ubuntu 19.10 - same thing with the printer, but interestingly, Document Scanner in Ubuntu did NOT pick up the scanner as shown in screenshot. (Also another reason to avoid Ubuntu is it still has Amazon spyware as can be seen in left panel of screenshot!):

So any updates to Zorin may not benefit us when it comes to Scanning!

Makulu Flash - too flash for me! I decided (fatefully) to take the latest offering for a spin. Comes with Google Chrome by default. Launch the Makulu 'Store' and want to remove it. It asks for authentication before I can remove it. So I enter my login password - no you need an account with freedesktop.org package kit (snapd). Launched synaptic and removed Chrome that way. Tried to install Firefox - that needed password for package kit account. If Linux is going down the route of snapd where you need an account to login then I will have to seriously consider going back to Windows as much as I hate it! So, bottom line avoid Makulu as much as you would COVID-19!!
Oh, forgot the best bit - if you try to remove 'package kit' (any part of it) for either removal or full removal via synaptic it shows you that you will basically uninstall the system. Goodbye forever Makulu!

I used to be a beta tester for Makulu for awhile. But I was unhappy with the direction that Makulu was going in. And since I was just a lame beta tester, none of my opinions had sway over the direction that Jacque was going in. Because of that, I decided it was time to leave. When I came back to Zorin, I really did start feeling better.

My FerenOS desktop (copied the wallpaper from my Cinnamon version to this one):

Interestingly did not have an issue installing on this rig - the problem one had Intel Processor in it! I wonder if there is a link?

It still can't do accessibility as well as Zorin can but it would be my second choice to Zorin. I am using FerenOS to work on from home - don't want anything work related on my Zorin desktop thank you very much!

In case you are wondering where in the world is this beautiful lake? It is Lake Bled (Slovenia) - I first visited on my first ever overseas trip, doing a two-centre break - first week Hvar (Croatia) second week Lake Bled (the locals pronounced it Lake Blit). Whilst there visited kranjska gora (https://www.kranjska-gora.si/en). Whilst there we visited the 4th deepest cave network at Postonia (https://youtu.be/U-_Ye4iJKjg), and the Lipizzana Riding School. (https://youtu.be/HPYual08iXg).

My first thought, what a beautiful place! My second thought, that must have been some feat bringing all that cement on site to build that light house on a micro island!

Regarding Feren OS, it will always be second best in regards to accessibility, it just doesn't have the same features Zorin does in that regard, never has. And past iterations of Feren OS had the memory leak bug, that would rear its ugly head in only about 4-hours of use, not sure about modern iterations, I am a Zorin fan now lol.

My first thought, what a beautiful place! My second thought, that must have been some feat bringing all that cement on site to build that light house on a micro island!

Regarding Feren OS, it will always be second best in regards to accessibility, it just doesn't have the same features Zorin does in that regard, never has. And past iterations of Feren OS had the memory leak bug, that would rear its ugly head in only about 4-hours of use, not sure about modern iterations, I am a Zorin fan now lol.

It's actually a church my friend (https://finestayslovenia.com/whattosee/ ... lake-bled/) - which by the way, we never did get to see!

Whilst staying at home thought I would catch up on some cover DVD's. Fedora Workstation 31 now recognises my Canton TS8151 scanner. Instead of Simple Scan, Fedora calls it Document Scanner:

Screenshot from 2020-03-28 10-56-15.jpg

I hope it won't be long before Zorin updates so that Simple Scan will then work instead of relying on scangearmp2 which was a retrograde step from scangearmp which had the same interface in Linux as for windows users. Shame on you Canon!

The bizarre thing with Fedora Workstation 31 in live mode is that the keyboard would not work until I unplugged it and put it back in again. No such issues with the mouse.

On the printing side, Fedora in live mode found the Printer and named it in Printers but totally inactive. Had to Add the prnter using the driver shown in test print page:

Printer Test Page.jpg

In Printers I had to add it again - bottom entry is the working printer:

DriverlessPrinter.jpg

On the reverse side (Side A) was Ubuntu 19.10 - same thing with the printer, but interestingly, Document Scanner in Ubuntu did NOT pick up the scanner as shown in screenshot. (Also another reason to avoid Ubuntu is it still has Amazon spyware as can be seen in left panel of screenshot!):

Ubuntu 19.10 Live.jpg

So any updates to Zorin may not benefit us when it comes to Scanning!

Well, I got an old drive and overwrote SparkyLinux and Elive 3.06 with Fedora Workstation 31 - waste of time - no Software manager other than Software - had to install apfer after install and not a patch on Synaptic Package Manager - the best releases have Synaptic present on their systems - needless to say it will be wiped - I just might try Zorin 15 Lite - who knows - a manual might follow!

My current FerenOS desktop:

Well just gave Ubuntu 20.04 a spin as a VM inside of Feren OS - picked up the printer straight off in live mode and Document Scanner works with the scanner element of the all-in-one so looking forward to when Zorin upgrades its base-line to Ubuntu's 20.04 model. The same for FerenOS too as that is not up to speed with the scanner yet.

Lockscreen shots from FerenOS 2020.04 - You can still use your media player (Clementine in this instance) even when screen is locked!

Well distributions came up for discussion at the recent LUG I 'attended' - Emmabuntus - currently downlowding it (LX/Qt DE) Screenshots look beautiful!:

https://youtu.be/SmlTrkydN6s

Lockscreen shots from FerenOS 2020.04 - You can still use your media player (Clementine in this instance) even when screen is locked!

IMG_20200609_200632.jpg

What a pretty lock screen! It reminds me of the time that I was caught in the string of a Nebula. It was touch and go there for a moment. I was farting gas, the ship was farting gas, and the Nebula was all gas, it was quite gascious.

Been playing with emmabuntus in live mode having installed it to my MultiSystem Multi-Boot Memory Stick - some screenshots which show how good it is for a new user:

I'll upload the video and come back here with the link in due course.

There is something seriously wrong with your first screenshot, but I am sure you already know that.

The next one about choosing which version of the dock you want to choose, she sure did customize the simple option, mentioning madame Michu.

The Emmabuntus Welcome screen reminds me of the one you will see after booting into your install of Makulu for the first time. I wonder if it is indeed the same welcome screen, just updated for Emmabuntus use.

One thing I've noticed by a lot of these new distro's, is that they seem to come with lots of wallpapers already installed, ready for your choosing. I'm guessing Emmabuntus is no different. I sure do love the pretty wallpapers that Makulu comes with. I just prefer Zorin OS for the core experience, with some XFCE desktop flare added on for good measure HEHE.

Actually it doesn't come with many wallpapers - just standard Debian ones - I did not realise this but the distro has been around since 2014!

Well here is the emmabuntus quick tour video:

https://vimeo.com/431605936

Enjoy the copyright free music if nothing else!

Well today I received my new Cherry DW 9000 slim keyboard and matching mouse. Zorin vs FerenOs - Zorin wins outright as FerenOS is unable to utilise the 'Calculator Launch' key on the keyboard - no issues in ZorinOS!

Somebody should get a key with the word ZORIN on it, then just above that key as a description, have it say, IT JUST WORKS.

When it comes to desktop computer use, especially when typing thousands of words, or doing gaming, I prefer a full function mechanical keyboard. Corsairs top of the line K95 is my proffered mechanical keyboard.

Having said that however, for portable on the go, or short term use, I prefer thinner profile keyboards for mobile use. I recently acquired an Arteck universal bluetooth keyboard and I can't recommend it enough! Ready for some pretty pictures?

The keyboard comes with a stainless steel backing, first time I've ever seen that!

This keyboard is capable of pairing up to 3-devices at 1-time, and you program them, and switch between them, using these beautiful blue buttons.

When you look at those keys, your first thought is membrane keyboard right? Well you would be wrong! It actually is a mechanical keyboard, it just uses scissor lift keys, in order to maintain a low profile design.

The keyboard is super light, around 400 grams, its the kind of item that aint gonna weigh you down if you carried this around with you.

From a YouTube review of the Cherry keyboard, I think it is scissor keys too!

As long as it has scissor keys, that its mechanical, just low profile. I really don't like membrane keyboards. Sure they are quiet to type on, but are mushy, and annoying. I like the tactile feedback from mechanical. Scissor keys don't give you as much tactile feedback as a full on mechanical using cherry switches, but they do give you more feedback then membrane, so I think you will enjoy your new keyboard. I am already enjoying my Arteck.