mdavies5
Wed Oct 15, 2014 5:14:08 am
I spend a lot of time testing new releases and decided to give Zorin 9 a try as it included a 64 bit version. There is a lot to like about Zorin so I spent longer than usual with it to see if I could overcome any negatives and make it match my default poreference (Mint LMDE). I hope these comments are useful to you:
1. I used Mint Imagewriter to create a USB stick but it failed to boot. Also tried to use UnetBootin. This booted to first menu then hung. I find most modern releases have this problem with Unetbootin but run fine with Imagewriter. I finally tried to burn a DVD. It warned me that the file size did not match the header but I went ahead anyway. After burning it said the burn had failed but all the files were there so I booted up from the DVD and installed without problem.
2. I then tried to create a USB stick using your Startup Disk Creator. I selected to erase my USB stick but got stuck in an infinite loop so I erased with Gparted and then created then tried to create the Startup USb but got an I/O error 5. I also noted that I could not format my USB stick with Gnome Disks as I got synchronous error(udisks-error-quark,0). Gparted had no problem.
3. I now ran the update manager and installed NVidia drivers. All went very smoothly.
4. A quick look at the apps showed that it included many of my favourites. I personally would not include Wine although I appreciate you are aiming at Windows users. Personally I find too many apps do not run under Wine and this is of-putting for new users.
5. I found configuration rather tricky as it is not centralised. There is the Ubuntu "Settings" window for most basic items. There is the AWN dock panel. There is the Zorin Look Changer and Theme Changer. Make sure you use these first because they will change many other options you may have set. Finally there is Compiz which is not for the faint-hearted.
6. I loved the AWN dock. So easily configurable and only let down by the the Indicator3 applet, which is essential, but is 2 pixels higher than the AWN dock. This is regardless of how you change the height of AWN.
7. There is no facility to edit startup programs. You must manually run "gnome-session-properties" which would baffle Windows users.
8. I like the choice of Zorin menus although there seems to be an obsession with dark themes. However this a personal choice not a criticism.
9. I personally didn't like the default menu because sub-menus replace the main menu and you have to use the back button. However the YAMA menu solved this problem. It has one minor bug; the right-click has an "edit" menu but this does nothing. A Windows user would not know to edit the /usr/share/applications/desktop files.
10. I like the choice of icons and fonts which make the desktop very clean and legible; a pleasure to work with.
11. I like to use conky on my desktop and this works ok but it will disappear randomly. I could not produce it consistently but it seems to happen when I run a bash script (not related to conky) or to change wallpapers. Not a problem for me as I have a link on my desktop to reload conky. I have also noticed this problem with SolydK which is also based on Ubuntu.
12. The file manager appears to be Nautilus although it is very different to the last version I used and has a few oddities. If you use Tree view and expand a folder, the files do not appear under the folder. They appear at the end of all the folders, mixed in with any files from the parent folder. Also you use the Windows nomenclature "Computer" instead of "System" or "Root" as most Linux distros prefer. This may be a help to Windows users but it appears under "Devices" along with any unmounted drives rather than in the "Places" section. Also, in some apps such as Geany or LibreOffice, when you select "Open File" they display "System" or "File System" not "Computer". This will confuse Windows users.
13. I notice from some posts that people are asking for other flavors of Zorin such as xfce, KDE, Cinnamon etc. Obviously you have limited resources so I suggest you concentrate on ironing out the kinks and make one really good Zorin. It is certainly a very good distro which deserves the effort.
Finally I attach of my Zorin screen after a few hours of setting it up. Thanks for your efforts.
1. I used Mint Imagewriter to create a USB stick but it failed to boot. Also tried to use UnetBootin. This booted to first menu then hung. I find most modern releases have this problem with Unetbootin but run fine with Imagewriter. I finally tried to burn a DVD. It warned me that the file size did not match the header but I went ahead anyway. After burning it said the burn had failed but all the files were there so I booted up from the DVD and installed without problem.
2. I then tried to create a USB stick using your Startup Disk Creator. I selected to erase my USB stick but got stuck in an infinite loop so I erased with Gparted and then created then tried to create the Startup USb but got an I/O error 5. I also noted that I could not format my USB stick with Gnome Disks as I got synchronous error(udisks-error-quark,0). Gparted had no problem.
3. I now ran the update manager and installed NVidia drivers. All went very smoothly.
4. A quick look at the apps showed that it included many of my favourites. I personally would not include Wine although I appreciate you are aiming at Windows users. Personally I find too many apps do not run under Wine and this is of-putting for new users.
5. I found configuration rather tricky as it is not centralised. There is the Ubuntu "Settings" window for most basic items. There is the AWN dock panel. There is the Zorin Look Changer and Theme Changer. Make sure you use these first because they will change many other options you may have set. Finally there is Compiz which is not for the faint-hearted.
6. I loved the AWN dock. So easily configurable and only let down by the the Indicator3 applet, which is essential, but is 2 pixels higher than the AWN dock. This is regardless of how you change the height of AWN.
7. There is no facility to edit startup programs. You must manually run "gnome-session-properties" which would baffle Windows users.
8. I like the choice of Zorin menus although there seems to be an obsession with dark themes. However this a personal choice not a criticism.
9. I personally didn't like the default menu because sub-menus replace the main menu and you have to use the back button. However the YAMA menu solved this problem. It has one minor bug; the right-click has an "edit" menu but this does nothing. A Windows user would not know to edit the /usr/share/applications/desktop files.
10. I like the choice of icons and fonts which make the desktop very clean and legible; a pleasure to work with.
11. I like to use conky on my desktop and this works ok but it will disappear randomly. I could not produce it consistently but it seems to happen when I run a bash script (not related to conky) or to change wallpapers. Not a problem for me as I have a link on my desktop to reload conky. I have also noticed this problem with SolydK which is also based on Ubuntu.
12. The file manager appears to be Nautilus although it is very different to the last version I used and has a few oddities. If you use Tree view and expand a folder, the files do not appear under the folder. They appear at the end of all the folders, mixed in with any files from the parent folder. Also you use the Windows nomenclature "Computer" instead of "System" or "Root" as most Linux distros prefer. This may be a help to Windows users but it appears under "Devices" along with any unmounted drives rather than in the "Places" section. Also, in some apps such as Geany or LibreOffice, when you select "Open File" they display "System" or "File System" not "Computer". This will confuse Windows users.
13. I notice from some posts that people are asking for other flavors of Zorin such as xfce, KDE, Cinnamon etc. Obviously you have limited resources so I suggest you concentrate on ironing out the kinks and make one really good Zorin. It is certainly a very good distro which deserves the effort.
Finally I attach of my Zorin screen after a few hours of setting it up. Thanks for your efforts.
