Zorin 9 Rocks - Ready To Blow My Win10 Install Away

The subject line pretty much says it all. Kudos Zorin developers. The day is getting close where I wipe out my Win10 because I do not believe in what MS is doing with .NET Core and requiring an internet connection just to compile- these mega-businesses are becoming too powerful- too intrusive and too nosy and I feel it is my responsibility as a developer to stay away from them as corporate executives wouldn't have a clue as to what the risks are. Same with NetSuite and other cloud based systems- can't believe companies trust their data to anyone like that yet us developers need to go through massive **** testing, massive background checks before they trust us and we're the ones that care - and I digress badly sorry.

I wanted to let others know that might be considering the move that it is worth the week or two that it takes to begin becoming comfortable. As we all know Win10 is becoming unreliable now that MS is pushing updates whenever they feel like it and my Win10 install was barely functional with no Start Menu, No Display Settings window and other sporadic odd behavior not to mention slow as molasses. If I need help figuring things out I usually look for Ubuntu instructions because there are lot's more than Zorin instructions and most everything works.

The ONLY problem I'm encountering on Zorin is occasional "graysdown" where the screen starts turning gray and everything goes unresponsive or periods if unresponsiveness in browser windows without it going gray and I've tried to remedy by using Firefox and Chrome with ad blocker. I wonder if it's a driver problem maybe NVIDIA or something the mouse still moves just the browser becomes unresponsive can't scroll or anything- annoying as heck. Oh and come entry boxes that are editable become not editable you can click in them but you can't type - the only way to fix is to scroll off the page and back or hit the back button and forward again but this problem seems to be slowly going away.

As I get used to Zorin and the Linux world- I see why people like it so much. I used to hate apt-get because I didn't understand it but it's awesome and easier than an install program. The hard part is getting used to where things belong- if I want software not in the Software Center or Package application I don't know what to do after downloading- should I unzip it in the DL folder or put it somewhere else- and I'm finding there are idosyncracies about Linux such as /home/username and /var/www/html for the websites and /etc/apache2 for apache and sometimes it's hard to figure out where something is unlike windoze where apps are in Program Files not scattered all over (or seemingly so). Also remembering to unzip with yxzf option (why?) those things still bug me- I even compiled a program but the instructions were pretty good. Also noticed that Linux software in general is pretty poor compared to Windows which is depressing but there are some apps that are really good- oh and the file explorers with the 1950's looking dialogs - yuck- but again am here to praise Zorin they accomplished something great, a comfortable system for life-long Windoze developers.

My toughest decision now is which language to focus on- been playing with PHP, Python, C++, GTX+ (yuck),

My Computer Specs - Zorin Runs Faster Than Win10 except in browsers
AMD FX-8300 8-Core Processor
GeForce GT 740/PCle/SSE2
Memory 11.7GiB
64-bit

Hi, Can only comment on a couple of items you touch upon.

1. Grayness (or Greyness in the Queen's English) occurs with me also and never found why (AMD Processor/nVidia? - I don't touch nVidia drivers by the way - I just use the default GNU/Linux driver that comes with Zorn.

2. Installation - to keep life simple, search for .deb packages - Ubuntu uses its own version of Debian package management, and the best application to use is 'gdebi' - just open a terminal and enter:

Code:

sudo apt-get install gdebi

Can't find a .deb package you particularly are interested in?

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=12203

Whenever an application becomes unresponsive, it greys out, has happened to me a few times. Kdenlive is a programs I found most unstable, where as I didn't have issues with GIMP, those are the only two editors that got extensive use from me on Zorin OS 9 Ultimate. I also understand what you are saying with locations of applications on the hard drive, they are all over the place. Heck, it took me awhile just to find out where the desktop is located on the drive if being accessed from another drive. The problem with Windows is that it spoils us, it does so much for us automatically, and what is not automatic, is still easy to accomplish manually, without the need for console commands.

The problem however is that Microsoft has become an evil monster who is using their new OS for world domination. And just as you said, the upgrade to it bricks peoples machines, and those machines that don't get bricked, have major driver issues and malfunctions such as your computer did. So the solution is to switch to Zorin. But as much as we love Zorin OS 9, its got issues, as my OS 9 has been bricked by a video driver update. And since I was an idiot and disabled the GRUB loader to speed up boot time, I can't access Linux version of SAFE MODE, to get my OS repaired. So the only solution for me is a full reinstall. And I am not going to do that now as OS 12 is along the way.

I am hoping that the Zorin team developers have got all the glitches and kinks rolled out from the old release. Also beware of the boot partition space bug when it comes to the updates. Zorin doesn't automatically clean it out so you need something like Ubuntu Tweak with the janitor deal to clean things up. Cause if you run out of space, you can't update anymore. Ya, updating is what killed my installation so makes you wonder why updating is a good thing lol! Well, I will break it down with a few ratings. I gave Windows XP a 10 out of 10, one of the best OS's ever to be made by Microsoft. I gave Windows 7 a 9 out of 10, as I felt it was a very good OS too. Zorin OS 9 gets a 7 out of 10 for me.

But don't missunderstand me, that is still a good rating. Because I tried Linux distro's in the passed and hated them so much they got a 0 out of 10. Cause if your a Windows user, your going to be so frustrated with Gnome, or whatever other GUI interface most linux packages used in the past. Where as Zorin actually provides you a useable system that you can do almost everything on. But it doesn't help with the excess use of console commands, and it also doesn't help that companies still do not support Linux in general. I think that Zorin team devs are hoping tha the integration of Google with Zorin OS 12, will yield a better user experience. I know it will for me, as I got a google tablet that is linked to all my google stuff, and anytime I get a message, I get an instant notification, and makes it easy for me to access it.

I am trying to be patient for Zorin OS 12, but I am so pumped for the newest release that I can't hardly keep my bum on the coutch lol. I am really hoping to love the new OS when it comes out, I am really hoping that I can give it a rating of 9 or higher.