My great experience with Zorin OS

These are the computers involved:

An iBM Thinkpad T-60
A Lenovo Desktop computer
An IBM Desktop computer

These computers I would imagine are between 5-8 years. I don't know. What I do know that a friend of mine bought them from the company she works at for around $40.00 each. They all had windows on them. Her kids hated them. They were so frustrated with the performance, viruses, worms etc... They were slow and didn't fit too well into what they wanted to do. They gave them to me to install Linux on. The Laptop had Zorin OS 6 and the IBM had Zorin Lite. The Lenovo had Puppy Linux 5.2.8. All the computers needed to work wirelessly. The laptop, no problem, the IBM had a USB Zonet stick that I was told was incompatible with Linux. I got it working in Zorin pretty quickly.

When I plugged them all in, they worked fine. Here is an email I received from one of the children. She is using the Laptop for school:

I just wanted to email you just saying thank you for fixing up my laptop. I actually made myself a goal this year to do better in school and to actually do my homework and having that laptop makes it a lot easier and more enjoyable. I don't have to fight for the main computer (iMac 24") and I can do my work in the peace and quiet of my room. I really do appreciate you making it into a new laptop. Thank you so much and i'll be sure to email you any questions I have. Though the system seems pretty user-friendly so i have had no trouble so far.


P.S. The desktop you added is really cool, i have no idea what picture is gonna come up next and its a nice little surprise in the middle of doing an english essay.
P.P.S. I know I already said but a big thank you once again

These kind of comments really make me feel good regarding Linux distros and how they can work given the opportunity to put it in people's hands. I'm in the middle of getting my Mom's laptop up and running with Linux. For me this is really important considering some of the negative press recently that the Linux desktop is dead or dying. I don't buy that at all.

Thanks to the entire Zorin team for continuing to make a great product!!

Nice

Yes for sure. I have to say that I was very happy not only because everything worked fine but also by the smiles on the faces from my friends who had to put up with these PCs running windows and encountering all kinds of issues and now with Linux installed, the machines are faster, snappier and I would think easier for them to use.

At the moment I am trying out Xubuntu 12.04, but I think the real important thng as far as I am concerned regarding Linux, is the choice we have as users. Want something basic? Try Arch Linux or something similar. What all the bells and whistles? Try KDE or something along those lines. This to me is sooooooo important.

I installed Puppy Linux on my 2GB USB stick that I can boot from at any time. A full blown OS on a stick. Imagine that. Simply amazing and I for one really appreciate all the things that Linux developers and users are doing around the world. I recently watched the movie Revolution OS. Opened up my eyes regarding the history of Linux etc... I'm still learning the Linux way but I have to say that although challenging at times is actually a fun and enlightening journey.

Randy

Wow. that's a very busy 16GB stick! Your version of UE 3.4, is that the latest one? I tried accessing their web site a while back but it seemed to be down.

How do you like using Hiren's Boot CD. I DL'd it a few days ago and remember getting stuck when I launched Windows XP Lite.

I would love to reinstall UE again and try it out. Never tried Backtrack or PearLinux. It's funny how I seem to be using my iMac less and less and my older computers with Linux more and more. Go figure

Thanks for the update. I will have to DL Pear and give it a try.

Thanks