My Experience With OS 12 So Far

This post is regarding my experience with Zorin OS 12 Ultimate 64-bit

I will update this thread as I go, as I wish to give my thoughts on installation and in operation of the OS.

Yesterday was quite eventful I must say. Because my computer wouldn't boot normally cause the OS was bricked, I had to boot it up into OS 9 live mode off of DVD. I had my USB flash drive ready to create the OS, only I ran into a new snag where Zorin ran out of space, can you believe that one? So, I was apparantly wrong about the size of the archive, its actually 4.1GB. I tried to extract it but it couldn't due to the fact Zorin only had 66MB of space left LOL! So I had to send the archive to another computer to extract it, then sent the extracted archive back to this computer. WOW what fun!

I was going to use Unetbootin to transfer the OS to USB, only to discover there were no options for Zorin in the list, and as I didn't trust using it because it didn't, I went back onto Zorin's website once again to see what they recommended, as they haven't been wrong yet lol. Zorin recommends to use Etcher, which I of course did. I didn't bother formatting the flash drive as I assumed Etcher would do that. I rebooted my computer, went into the bios to select the USB drive for boot. I saw a new icon I didn't recognize, and then I saw what looked like a few errors showing up, but then the screen changed with a background of the Zorin logo. And then all the sudden I was in live mode ready to install.

I chose erase disk, plus LVM, and to include download of updates for installation. The installation took a little while but it went without a hitch. Then when the installer was finished, I accepted the restart of computer, then it went back to that black screen again and showed a ton of error messages, which I thought was weird. I then hit ctl alt del to restart the computer, removed the flash drive, and selected HDD as boot. It boot into OS 12 without a hitch, not even any error messages, logged in and wala, beautiful background screen lol. The OS most certainly is different if your used to OS 9, certain things are located in different places, like screen dim and turn off is located under power for example. I locked that junk down fast, hate it when my screen goes off, I don't mind a screen saver, but hate it when the screen turns off lol.

So of course I was WTF when I saw that the clock was set to the 24 hour clock cycle, haven't figured out how to change that yet. I told the install my region and it still is on military time so whatever. I got some learning to do with this OS as I want to get it customised. I really hope this OS has a live starfield wallpaper background like OS 9 did, that was my favorite desktop arrangement lol. So I will update this thread as I continue to get more experience with it.

Lesson learned, when Zorin says use Quick Hash, you use QH and follow directions to the letter. When Zorin says use Etcher, you better darn sure use Etcher. When I tried to do things my own way, things were not going so well, so ya, lesson learned lol

Aright...Since my last post I was able to make many customizations. Unfortunately you can't change your mouse curser, and IMO the curser is far too tiny for my tv screen. I was able to chagne teh screen fonts, background, overall theme, even change the size of the panel and opacity. The animated live starfield wallpaper appears to be gone so, which sucks cause I really liked that one. So appearence wise, I am overall pleased, but of course there is room for improvement such as custome cursers, more animated backgrounds, but other then that, pretty solid, love the new theme packages.

Functionally wise however, I am not so pleased. I have had two different things crash, don't know what the are, but have sent the error reports when the dialog showed up. Also there appears to be no software center, so I have no idea where to go to install new software such as firefox for example. Another big issue I have run into is while I have net access and everything, I can't seem to see my network. Took me forever to find where to view the wired network cause you guys changed it so much.

In OS 9, it worked straight right out of the box.I was able to get onto my network no problem. But in OS 12, if I click on the words windows network, I get the error, failed to retrieve share list from server: no such file or directory. So I am not really sure whats going on with this OS but so far I am not too pleased. OS 12 is running fairly stable considering a few crash reports have been involved. Maybe I just don't know what I am doing with this new OS but this cannot be rocket science lol.

Had another crash, I guess its gnome shell, I keep sending in the reports as they popup. So another issue to add to the list. I have my computer and tablet plugged into a HDMI switch box, this allows me to switch between them to send the signal to the tv. With OS 9.0 and even Windows 7, when I switched to my tablet and switch back to the computer, nothing bad happened. But now with OS 12, as soon as I switch to the tablet, the OS decides to crash into some suspend mode, even though I disabled going into suspend. Its almost as if when the OS looses the signal to the tv, it takes a dump. Also, when this happens, the pwoer to the external plugged in keyboard goes out, so you can't get access to the computer, nor does the external mouse work either when this happens. The only way to get the computer back is to open the notebook and hit a built in keyboard key.

IDK, most people who leave feedback on OS 12 don't seem to be as unhappy with it as I am once they got it installed that is. But me I have been having nothing but problems.

Hi, take a read of Wolfman's Post Install Guide - yes I know it was for earlier versions, but in particular, get rid of 'apport' - section headed:

Disable Ubuntu Apport error messages.

viewtopic.php?f=0&t=9785&p=48475&hilit=apport#p48475

Hello,
If you really want to have the galaxy as the live wallpaper (as I do), go to https://launchpad.net/~fyrmir/+archive/ ... per-stable
For the software store, you have a shortcut at the right of the menu over the sessions buttons
And for browsing a Windows network, I do use Smb4K (available from the software store)

Thanks for the link dude, I will be sure to check that out, cause nothing beats that original galaxy starfield wallpaper from OS 9 lol. So ya, I did find that software button you were talking about above the session buttons, when I click on it, the software dialog pops up but it says, no application data found. So look, I am going to do a restart to see if it fixes any problems although I somehow doubt it. Another thing I notice is when I click on the minimise icon at the top right of the chromium browser, it won't minimise the browser, but after clicking on the minus icon, then if I hit the escape key, then it will minimise.

I'll be honest, I feel like a serious beta tester right now. And this is the reason I didn't want to install the beta, as I didn't want to have to deal with all this, I thought with the full release that it would be more stable then this, but we will see what happens in the upcoming month.

Something really got wrong with your installation because on my end, if have nothing to report like this : I get the software store without problem and Chrome does reduce (and acts) exactly as it should.
I am terribly sorry for what you experience and hope that the reboot will fix.

Ya, I did all that customization too, well it didn't take me too long to do all that. And honestly, one good thing about Zorin OS 12, is that they put more of the customizations in one place. It used to be you had to right click on the panel to adjust its settings, then you had to go to zorin look changer to apply your theme, and then you had that one other zorin theme deal forget its name. So it does make sense to only have to go to really two places instead of 3 or 4 places to get it done. So anyways, as much as I rather not to, I am thinking that maybe its a good idea to reinstall this os. Now you said you didn't have any issues at all, did you get the same version? Zorin OS 12 Ultimate 64-bit edition, and its the archive from yesterday?

I saw a video of a guy reviewing OS 12 on youtube back when it was still in beta stage, and I noticed that it was running better for him then it is for me using the full release. I think you are right more that I think about it, that my OS installation went to the crapper. I wonder if what could have caused this is when I was installing Zorin, the live mode installer decided to suspend after I had switched the screen to my tablet. OMG, I wonder if thats is indeed what screwed up the installation? So when I reinstall this OS, I need to not switch signals to the tablet, cause currently that makes the OS take a dump, even during the install stage.

BTW, both you and Swarf are really nice guys, I really appreciate the input from you both, especially in times like this where I just feel like my whole lifes going to the crapper lol.

Yes, I do confirm that I am currently running Zorin 12, 64 bits, Ultimate edition released yesterday

Code:

inxi -Fzx
System:    Host: Inspiron-3531 Kernel: 4.4.0-47-generic x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 5.4.0)
           Desktop: Gnome 3.18.5 (Gtk 3.18.9-1ubuntu3.1+zorin1)
           Distro: Zorin 12 xenial
Machine:   System: Dell product: Inspiron 3531 v: A03
           Mobo: Dell model: 00FTTX v: A00 Bios: Dell v: A03 date: 07/30/2014
CPU:       Dual core Intel Celeron N2830 (-MCP-) cache: 1024 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 8652
           clock speeds: max: 2415 MHz 1: 2415 MHz 2: 2390 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Intel Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series Graphics & Display
           bus-ID: 00:02.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 driver: N/A
           Resolution: 1366x768@59.99hz
           GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel Bay Trail
           GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 11.2.0 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card Intel Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series High Definition Audio Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.4.0-47-generic
Network:   Card: Qualcomm Atheros AR9485 Wireless Network Adapter
           driver: ath9k bus-ID: 02:00.0
           IF: wlp2s0 state: up mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 1000.2GB (1.8% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: TOSHIBA_MQ01ABD1 size: 1000.2GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 913G used: 14G (2%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2
           ID-2: swap-1 size: 4.17GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda3
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 48.0C mobo: N/A
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: 0
Info:      Processes: 241 Uptime: 47 min Memory: 2444.9/3835.2MB
           Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 5.4.0
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.461) inxi: 2.2.35

Crossing fingers

Found a free video file to install a galaxy background and use it with Zorin Background Plus : viewtopic.php?f=12&t=12429

OK dudes, I don't know what is going on, but since I got some sleep and woke up, all the sudden Zorin is working properly. The software center is now loading and doing as it should instead of throwing up an error. And I am able to access my windows network without an error too! So the question is, did sending in those error reports to Zorin cause Zorin to fix my problems, or did some higher power grant me a wish to make my life a little easier? LOL All I know is, if Zorin keeps acting right like this, I am not reinstalling any time soon. I am happy! YAY!

OK, as I said in my last post, I am most pleased that most of the problems I've had have been magically fixed, I am always happier when my OS is performing as it should. lol There is one issue that I am still having but I found a fix. It seems when I am on a browser or application full screened for too long, the panel will stop popping up and I can't minimize the screen. If I try to minimize the screen, then all the sudden I can't do anything on the screen. However, using the lovely task switcher that linux has by holding down both ALT and TAB, I am able to popout of the program, and then its fixed for awhile. So probably just some glitch that Zorin needs to work out. The hardest thing about making software for computers is that its very difficult to make it work for all people's hardware, your always going to run into an issue of some kind. But thats why you report the problem, so that the team can fix it.

So I have some new thoughts as I've used this OS longer now. I am seeing both pro's and negatives with OS 12 when comparing to OS 9. Lets get the obvious out of the way, Zorin OS 12 just looks so much better then OS 9, especially if you customize it as I have. I really like being able to make the OS my own, so I appreciate the customizational options. I am however disapointed that OS 12 doesn't have any other cursers in the system. I think I might have to use Ubuntu tweak or something to allow me to change the curser. I actually had a cool space ship looking curser I installed on OS 9, but it required at least one program, plus a dozen terminal commands to install it system wide. I haven't yet done that with this OS.

As I said before, I also appreciate how Zorin streemlined the system to make it easier to use. Although I am on the fence regarding gnome shell, so far, I neither like it nor dislike it, so I think I need more time with that one to form a firm opinion. Its deffinetly a little different then how OS 9 used its shell. One of the problems I had with OS 9, is that no matter what application you used, the scrolling border was so narrow, it was hard to grab the slider, and I'd often times accidently scale the window size when I meant to scroll. OS12 uses a wider border on the apps, much like Windows 7 if you've used that, so I can scroll a lot easier now, so thankyou Zorin team!

Now regarding transfering of files over networks, this is a component of gnome shell that leaves a little to be desired. Yes, networking works, now that its been magically fixed, yes I have been able to successfully transfer files, thats not a problem thank goodness lol. The thing that I liked about OS 9, is when you transfered files across the networking, a dialog popped up showing you the progress, and it also more importantly, showed you the speed in which the files were transfering over, a good way to gauge your actual networking speed. With OS 12, you don't get any such dialog, I actually almost missed it, its a little pie wheel at the top right of the window that slowly fills up, basically showing you the progress of the transfer, but I obviously don't know the speed of my transfers.

This is important to me because I am currently in progress of upgrading my network to gigabit speeds, and its a good way to gauge weather things are working well or not with the file server based on the speed I am getting. Is there a way in OS 12 to get some kind of dialog to popup to show my speed or am I stuck with the new shell design regarding that? One of the things I noticed right away is how much faster chromium navigates the net on my 29MB connection, literally I click on my youtube bookmark and its there instantly like flipping a light switch, OS 9 was most certainly slower, so way to go again Zorin! lol

I haven't used any of the other apps yet other then the chromium and the firefox browser I installed. Basically I've customized the system, changed the clock to the 12 hour clock cycle, browsed the internet, and transfered some files to my system. I think as time goes Zorin will fix these bugs that are left with the OS in its current state and it will only get better. I on the other hand need to spend some more time to do some research on further customization of the system, and I need to try and get certain things reinstalled again like Doom for example. Hey man, you aint a true gamer unless you've played Doom. lol

OK, I remember this being a difficult task before but not impossible. I now deem it impossible to setup a custom mouse curser in Zorin OS 12, its just not possible. However, what I was able to do as before, was use Dconf to alter the size of my curser, so its easier to see on my tv. FYI, if you are viewing your computer on a tv screen and your sitting at least 8 feet or more away from it, I highly recommend you adjust your mouse curser size to "60"

Install Dconf editor from the software center. Navigate to system tools, thats where you will find it. Expand "ORG" then "Gnome" then "Desktop" then "Interface" Adjust curser size to 60, now you don't have to squint lol. Also, if you are viewing on a tv, you should also think about enlarging your font size in Settings, Zorin Appearence, and Panel. The nice thing about the internet browsers is that they allow you to zoom in on the pages making that easy thank goodness lol.

Regarding screen savers, I don't think I am going to be able to install one. With Zorin OS 9, you at least had a screen saver option, and all you had to do was replace the default screen saver with the X screen savers that you could get from the repositories. But with Zorin OS 12, they have done away all together with screen savers, so I don't see how trying to install a custom one is going to help, when there is no option to choose one.

So for now, a live background will have to be your screen saver, which is really good enough actually. All you gotta do is set your panel options to intelligent auto hide, and then it will get out of the way, so that your live background can truly be a screen saver. So that answers that I guess. Learning new things as I go BTW, a member on this forum gave me the name of a program to use for networking in Zorin, but I lost his post and I don't remember the name.

I am happy that networking is actually working again in my OS, but if there is a faster networking app that can make file transfers faster between computers, I am interested in that. One of the things I hate about Windows on my file server, is that its networking technique has so much security in it that it slows down file transfers on my gigabit network.

Hi, Have you tried installing Comix cursors? You will need to install Synaptic Package Manager from the Software Centre/er

No I haven't tried those, have not heard of them. Hey, Synaptic Package Manager came loaded with every previous OS distrobution, you mean it doesn't come with OS 12? Thats weird. Well I got a new thing I am trying to figure out. How in the heck to get Chromium browser to work with Netflix? Should I just use Firefox? Netflix doens't like my browser or OS or I don't know what. It showed this huge dialog with a bunch of mumble jumbo about HTML5. plus silverlight yada yada yada. I tried to look for standard chrome browser in the software center but nothing came up. I guess for now I will have to use my blueray player netflix app in order to watch Netflix for now until I get this going.

To install Synaptic : CTRL + ALT + T and then

Code:

sudo apt install synaptic

To work with Netflix, you would need version 54 of Chrome (I did need it to cast too). So go to chrome.google.com and download the .deb packet. Install it with the Software store or with Gdebi

Hi, better still, install netflix app directly:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=8760&hilit=+netflix

OK Swarf, I wasted my time following directions to install that Pipeline thing and also file space no doubt. I followed directions exactly as they said, I even installed the netflix app. But I can't find it on my system even with a search. So I had to do what I did last time, install google chrome. Now I tried to find it in the software center but like I said, couldn't find it this time. So following ZapZ's directions, I went straight to google chrome website and downloaded it, installed it, and works fine as you would expect. I rather use Chromium and Firefox as I customized them to look how I wanted. So I chose to set google chrome's home page to netflix so each time I load google chrome, it goes straight there, as that is all I will be using that browser for. I wish I could remove everything I installed with pipeline since I can't obviously use it. It made a mention of Unity on there, well Zorin doesn't use Unity, it uses Gnome, so maybe thats why I can't find the c*** on my system lol. OK, I will be installing the synaptic package manager next so I can try those comix cursers or whatever they are called. Hopefully that advice will pan out.

Don't worry Swarf, I still think your awesome man, its just sometimes things dont work out, so thats why we try the next solution.

OK I have more good news. I installed Synaptic Package Manager, yes my old friend has returned lol. I copied and past comix cursers into the search and wala, there they were, both for left handed and right handed operators. I obviously installed the right handed ones, and chose to go with translucent to check those out. OK, the comix cursers may not be as cool as the space ship Azenis cursers, but these are darn cool too! I used Tweak Tool to choose the blue curser, and used Dconf to set the size of the curser. Unfortunately you can't get the curser to be as big as the default curser or Azenis curser. However, at its largest size, I think its big enough.

I love the translucent look, how I can see stuff behind the curser, and when the curser changes while hovering over text, now thats cool, its like a little warp core or something, I like! Swarf, let me buy you a beer cause this here is time to celebrate our awesomeness! I'm also eagerly waiting for your opinions on OS 12 so hopefully you will have had some time to check it out. hehe

Also, something else I've noticed about OS 12, no GRUB menu? It doesn't auto load into GRUB upon boot, and if I hold down the shift key, it still won't get me into GRUB. So without a GRUB menu, not sure how I would go about making package repairs and stuff.

Netflix may not always show and earlier versions of Zorin did not have Unity either: try running 'netflix-desktop' in the terminal. As for GRUB you can install from the repository.

Thanks, I will look into the Grub deal. I ran into a new issue involving the inability to empty the trash, it emptied fine before then all the sudden it wouldn't empty certain items I had trashed. So I had to lookup and find a terminal command for force it to empty, so that problem is solved thank god lol. So, took me awhile, but I finally got Doom reinstalled. But as expected, I am having some miner graphical tearing issues and bad performance all around, because I am not running a proper Nvidia driver for my Nvidia graphics GPU. What do you recommend to fix this and how to go about it? Cause clearly I can't play games with this default driver that is running my GPU now.

BTW, installed GRUB but the menu is not showing up in boot so I guess maybe it needs configured. But I am not a seasoned Linux user so I don't know what I am doing. Which means I either have to look it up or have you tell me. Sorry I am being a pain, its just I am not a Linux Pro and I am still learning as I go.

Alright, so new issue, and its a bad one yes unfortunately. My Acer notebook has a Pioneer branded DVD burner inside it, don't remember the model, not really important. When I had Windows on my computer, it had no trouble with blank media disks, to format them and burn on them, and of course read them. But with Zorin OS 9 and even Zorin OS 12 now, both OS's don't want to read blank media disks. I am able to get my Pioneer drive to read any already burned disk or retail software disk just fine with Linux. But as soon as I put a blank Memorix disk in, it just tries to read the disk endlessly with no result.

So I put the disk in my file server running windows, pops right up right away, I can format the disk, and burn to the disk. Also my brother's Acer notebook, not sure if his drive is Pioneer or not but probably is, can also read blank media and burn on them as he has Windows on his computer too. So not sure whats up but if I had to guess, probably linux needs a new driver? Any thoughts? Looks like I am getting ready for some video and disk driver upgrades lol.

See this interesting thread:

https://community.sony.co.uk/t5/pcs-acc ... td-p/24135

It could be a firmware issue with that particular burner. Has the lense ever been cleaned?
Also, from experience, don't right-click an image (iso) and then select 'Burn with Brasero' or you will end up with a 'coaster' (a mat for your mug of coffee). Always open Brasenose first then browse for image to burn. Try installing k3b and see if things improve. On a side note my preferred media comes on Verbatim, TDK, or Sony not Memorex.

Once again thankyou for your expert information. OK, so I looked up my Pioneer model on the web and didn't find a new driver or firmware that could install under Linux. And it looks like I am not the only one who's had this issue with my exact Pioneer model. If you have Windows, everythings Rosy, but if you got Linux, then things get a bit dicy. Good news is, I was able to install K3B through the Synaptic Package Manager, gotta love how easy to use that APP is lol. I made a couple configuration changes in the K3B app, but I haven't tested it yet. But seeing as how it was able to see exactly what my burner model name and model were, (A function I've never seen in any other burner software) suggests that it might work fine when the next time I go to put blank media in.

Also I've learned that depending on blank media used, it does indeed effect burner drives, but I have a brand new pack of 98 DVD blank media disks left, there is no way in heck that I am going to the store to pay another 25 dollars for another 100 pack spool of Verbatims lol. Thanks again for the help. Now regarding my Nvidia graphics, I might be forced to have to use a Nvidia graphics proprietary driver, unless Linux has a better Linux based driver for my adapter?

BTW: I figured something cool out! When doing file transfers across the network and the pie that fills up showing the progress of the transfer appears on screen, just click on the pie, then it opens a full dialog showing both progress and speed of file transfer. Now that makes me happy

Hi, can you now start posting issues in Help and support now that 12 final has been released. It will not benefit visitors looking for solutions who need help. Thanks. This thread is now locked.