First week running Z11Core as only OS installed

I am impressed. Very impressed!

I have been dabbling with Linux for several years now, mostly booting up different live distros and playing around. I am a big fan of Puppy Linux and have had it running for weeks in memory. I once installed Mandrake on an old K7 rig from the free discs that came in a Linux magazine years ago. That's what first sparked my interest.

Two weeks ago I started having a lot of problems with Vista. Bad pool header blue screens, constant drive thrashing, general sluggishness, etc and etc. Chrome slapping a big ugly yellow banner on the browser saying that there will be no more browser updates because Vista is no longer supported. Then, I was asked to troubleshoot a new Windows 10 install. I had to go through several tutorials just to get informed on the new stuff. And it was right there that I decided to kick Win to the curb and go 100% Linux. I started going through the new live distros that I had good luck with before, trying them out and making sure everything worked and made notes on likes/dislikes. I settled on Linux Mint Cinnamon and installed it. It ran well but it just didn't grab me right. Zorin was my second choice and I figured I would go all out and install 11 Core. I have installed/uninstalled some stuff, read some help here on the forum and tweaked things a little. I have it looking great for me and am getting comfortable running it. I'm still learning what it can do. The only grumble I have is with the AWN sometimes not showing right, but a simple log out/in fixes it.

I know 11 is only supported until July but I don't want to uninstall it. It is plenty quick enough, it's simple (but powerful), clean, elegant and easy to use. All the packages I need are available. And I feel like I have finally found my /home! My big thanks to everyone involved...hope to be here for a long time.

Yes, I am with you on the Mint side of things - however, you CAN install Cinammon as an additional Desktop Environment, as you also can Cairo-Dock DE! (see my 'swarfendor437 miscellania' thread in the 'How-tos and Tutorials' section!)

I too am very impressed with 11 especially how they have managed to bring back Compiz working as it should. It would be really great if they can work on an update ready for the next release to turn Zorin into a rolling distro!

I have been thinking about going the Cairo direction. I checked out your "how to" and it seems pretty straight forward.

I didn't know I could install Cinnamon as well. However, what I would really like to do, if possible, is install Fluxbox. I like its minimalist ideal, everything being able to be launched by a simple right click!

I had Makulu running live recently and was rather excited about the animated log-in screens available. That would be the "icing" on my Zorin instal !!

Hi, I appreciate this thread digressing a little, but with the animated screens of Makulu, is that the latest xfce edition?

Makulu says it's 4.12.x. Softpedia lists the new Xfce as 4.12.3 whereas the Xfce website just lists it as 4.12, which came out about this time last year.

I have been trying to find out more about animated login screens. Not much, mostly info on creating boot/splash animated screens. Will research further. I think Makulu is my 2nd favorite right now. Can't wait to see the Gnome version come out!

But in keeping with the thread header.......I have dropped Rhythmbox for Decibel as I play music by the folder, Decibel has this feature in the right click menu. I installed gThumb, Sound Converter, Chromium, Ked Password Manager (but might go with Pasaffe instead), CD Player for ripping, Tweak Tool to get the icons off the desktop and a couple of simple games.

A couple other little things: (1) When I'm in Software Center, go to a package, then come back to the menu.....sometimes I am unable to scroll at all until I minimize/maximize the window. (2) When viewing an embedded YouTube video I sometimes do not get the video control buttons. But all-in-all, I am still enjoying it!

Not got round to installing on main rig but did have 'fun' getting 32-bit on old Notebook:

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=11439#p51445

My favourite music player is Clementine - especially for its superior visualisation add-in from 'projectM'. You may also like to know that keepass is also available on GNU/Linux and not just on Windows. Can't remember on another GNU/Linux forum I visit mentioned this was the best - possibly keepass2?

Anyway, glad you are enjoying Zorin!

Wow...have been thinking about using Zorin as my only OS on my current laptop. It currently is running Win 7 Home Premium SP1 64 Bit. My laptop is as follows: Acer Aspire 5250-BZ873 / AMD C-50 1.00GHz / 15.6 HD LED LCD / AMD Radeon HD 6250 / 4 GB DDR3 / 250 GB HD. I am thinking about installing Zorin 9 Lite and build it as I need. Or take a rainy day and try both Core and Lite versions.

I had Clementine at one time on my main Vista rig and liked it very well. The only problem I have with several of the "big player-managers" is that I download a LOT of music online and they may not show up correctly in the manager...hence my need for a "folder player".

I used KeePass for years on Windows. I had it syncing with Dropbox for my Android devices. But I started having trouple with the Android version of KeePass. I dropped it in favor of Safe In Cloud, which has more features. I might go back with KeePass2 since I don't do that much anymore with my smartphone. Actually, I keep my website passwords on a Pocketmod (http://www.pocketmod.com/ in my wallet!

Yes, I do miss the 'Shuffle' of Album covers - can't remember it it was on Amarok back on Zorin 4 (based on Ubuntu 10.10) like the old i-pod 'shuffle' effect (I don't own anything Apple by the way!). I thought the incarnation of Mac Panel on Zorin incorrect but recently a Mac was brought into work so Zorin have replicated the 'Mac' Panel similar to what it is currently - flat (and boring!) but essential for someone with vision impairment - 3d perspective does not work well for such folks - so we are lucky in that regard!