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General Zorin Questions from New User

mr_x

Fri Aug 07, 2020 9:03:43 pm

Hi. I am very new to Zorin OS. I had been using Manjaro previously for a few years prior, and recently went distro-hopping. I think I've found my new home on Zorin OS. I love the look and feel of it, and the performance I'm getting. I paid for the ultimate version to support the developers.
I just have a few questions however.
1. How come Zorin OS is way behind Ubuntu LTS? (For example, current 15.2 version is based on 18.04 LTS release), whereas other Ubuntu based distros like Pop OS are already on 20.04 LTS.
2. Is there a way to upgrade the distro version in the future WITHOUT losing ANY of my data?

Thanks in advance.

Swarfendor437

Sat Aug 08, 2020 11:51:43 am

The reason why Zorin might be behind other distributions is that they ensure that their system remains stable and don't rush things for the sake of new things on the block. As for updating, on any system you should first make a full backup. There is supposed to be a guide somewhere on Zorin's FAQ on updates. Personally I would make sure that your install is a manual install (the 'something else') method, i.e., 3 Partitions.
1. Format 50 Gb for '/' formatted to Ext4 and mark as Primary.
2. Extended partition: a. at end make a 'swap area' double the physical size of your physical RAM.
b. to the left of a. mark as '/home' and formatted to Ext4, Logical
If SSD format to Ext2 for partitions and no swap area as not needed but you will need to set up TRIM which windows does automatically:

https://www.howtogeek.com/176978/ubuntu ... -yourself/.

Then when upgrading use my reinstall method here:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=14472#p63840

Aravisian

Sat Aug 08, 2020 1:49:23 pm

Swarfendor437 wrote:The reason why Zorin might be behind other distributions is that they ensure that their system remains stable and don't rush things for the sake of new things on the block.

Very true and a good thing, too. Focal Fossa is still very new and while some think "new=Great," in computers new=bugs; issues; unstable; more testing needed.

mr_x

Sat Aug 08, 2020 6:16:51 pm

Thank you so much for your replies.
I will follow your guide and advice when I need to update Zorin.
And while I agree that it's a good thing Zorin don't rush things to maintain stability, I still think being this far behind isn't ideal. 2 years since the release of 20.04. I reckon a good balance between not rushing the updates, but also not stretching them out that long. Just my 2 cents anyway.

Aravisian

Sat Aug 08, 2020 11:04:15 pm

mr_x wrote: 2 years since the release of 20.04.

20.04 was released in April of this year, not two years ago. As I said, it is still very new.

If that was a typo and you meant 18.04 was released two years ago, that is not very long. 18.04 is supported for Five years. There are a great many people that are still using 16.04 Xenial.
I understand in Microsoft World, they like to pretend that 2 years is forever, even though in actual reality, very little in Windows changes in the course of two years. The barebones of MS windows has remained unchanged for about fifteen years. Other than Vista where they tried to get away from the NT kernel and failed miserably... Then tried again with 8...
XP, 7 and 10 are all pretty much the same basic operating system except for 7 and 10 having more bloat and better graphical visuals.

mr_x

Sun Aug 09, 2020 12:06:40 am

Yeah sorry I meant to write 18.04.
I do agree with you but I came from Manjaro that’s updated all the time. I haven’t used Windows in a while.
But regardless of the versions Zorin uses, I’m very happy with the distro as a whole. I’m just dreading the time when I’ll have to go through the update procedures

Aravisian

Sun Aug 09, 2020 5:37:13 am

mr_x wrote:Yeah sorry I meant to write 18.04.
I do agree with you but I came from Manjaro that’s updated all the time. I haven’t used Windows in a while.
But regardless of the versions Zorin uses, I’m very happy with the distro as a whole. I’m just dreading the time when I’ll have to go through the update procedures

When you say update procedures, are you referring to upgrading the OS to the next version?
For example, upgrading from Zorin 15 to Zorin 16...

Yes, I can understand dreading that, if so. That is a wipe and reload.

When I moved over to Linux operating systems from Windows last year, it was... a hard transition. I had never used Linux before and the unfamiliarity of it was daunting.
Me, being me, I was not satisfied with just installing things and hoping that they ran and worked. I wanted to know HOW they worked. So I went into root and poked and prodded and pried things up to look underneath. Needless to say, I utterly destroyed my O.S. a lot.
I made a lot of mistakes that resulted in devastation, as well. Such as Not Reading Terminal Output and just hitting "Y" to commands... which once removed the entire Zorin Desktop on a 'sudo apt autoremove'.
After about 15 or so wipe and reloads, I got pretty adept at having back ups at the ready and doing a re-install of the O.S. and having all things back to normal and running like it was within less than thirty minutes of one of my nuclear experiments reaching critical mass.
I went from dreading the wipe n' reload to feeling like I got it under control.
Which probably was a mistake because it made me more bold to poke, prod, pry and destroy....

But my point is that with proper backups, a wipe and reload is almost never as bad as a person fears. My curiosity trained me to be fearless, to get in the good habit of making regular back ups (I do not use software to do it, I make them manually). This is a good habit as a hardware failure can cause their necessity, not just software changes. In my case, it even was a boon sometimes as it resulted in a fresh clean slate of a shiny new desktop experience, unfettered by multiple installations and removals that did not destroy the OS but did clutter it up. There were times I did a wipe and reload out of the blue just to get a Fresh new start.
I learned to make a list that I save in my documents of tweaks, settings changes- Whenever I made a change or adjustment, I noted it on the list and saved. That way, it was backed up too, on the new OS in Documents, and I would open it and fly down the list putting everything back to the way it was.

I do not dread the Wipe and reload as I once did or as many still do. Maybe the above can help you to not only find it not something to dread, but something that can be an advantage, too.

But I do understand what you mean. You may prefer a distro that offers Rolling Release. It is not my cup of tea because I have Zorin tweaked, set, adjusted to my preferences and Stable in such- I would not want a Rolling Release changing things on me all the time or me chasing it to revert changes I did not like. With a rolling release, for me, comes endless troubleshooting.
It may be YOUR cup of tea and that is one thing that makes Linux great. We can have different flavors and preferences in our tea and not get forced to drink the same tea as everyone else.
KaOS, OpenSuse, Manjaro offer rolling releases.

mr_x

Sun Aug 09, 2020 7:10:28 pm

Aravisian wrote:
mr_x wrote:Yeah sorry I meant to write 18.04.
I do agree with you but I came from Manjaro that’s updated all the time. I haven’t used Windows in a while.
But regardless of the versions Zorin uses, I’m very happy with the distro as a whole. I’m just dreading the time when I’ll have to go through the update procedures

When you say update procedures, are you referring to upgrading the OS to the next version?
For example, upgrading from Zorin 15 to Zorin 16...

Yes, I can understand dreading that, if so. That is a wipe and reload.

When I moved over to Linux operating systems from Windows last year, it was... a hard transition. I had never used Linux before and the unfamiliarity of it was daunting.
Me, being me, I was not satisfied with just installing things and hoping that they ran and worked. I wanted to know HOW they worked. So I went into root and poked and prodded and pried things up to look underneath. Needless to say, I utterly destroyed my O.S. a lot.
I made a lot of mistakes that resulted in devastation, as well. Such as Not Reading Terminal Output and just hitting "Y" to commands... which once removed the entire Zorin Desktop on a 'sudo apt autoremove'.
After about 15 or so wipe and reloads, I got pretty adept at having back ups at the ready and doing a re-install of the O.S. and having all things back to normal and running like it was within less than thirty minutes of one of my nuclear experiments reaching critical mass.
I went from dreading the wipe n' reload to feeling like I got it under control.
Which probably was a mistake because it made me more bold to poke, prod, pry and destroy....

But my point is that with proper backups, a wipe and reload is almost never as bad as a person fears. My curiosity trained me to be fearless, to get in the good habit of making regular back ups (I do not use software to do it, I make them manually). This is a good habit as a hardware failure can cause their necessity, not just software changes. In my case, it even was a boon sometimes as it resulted in a fresh clean slate of a shiny new desktop experience, unfettered by multiple installations and removals that did not destroy the OS but did clutter it up. There were times I did a wipe and reload out of the blue just to get a Fresh new start.
I learned to make a list that I save in my documents of tweaks, settings changes- Whenever I made a change or adjustment, I noted it on the list and saved. That way, it was backed up too, on the new OS in Documents, and I would open it and fly down the list putting everything back to the way it was.

I do not dread the Wipe and reload as I once did or as many still do. Maybe the above can help you to not only find it not something to dread, but something that can be an advantage, too.

But I do understand what you mean. You may prefer a distro that offers Rolling Release. It is not my cup of tea because I have Zorin tweaked, set, adjusted to my preferences and Stable in such- I would not want a Rolling Release changing things on me all the time or me chasing it to revert changes I did not like. With a rolling release, for me, comes endless troubleshooting.
It may be YOUR cup of tea and that is one thing that makes Linux great. We can have different flavors and preferences in our tea and not get forced to drink the same tea as everyone else.
KaOS, OpenSuse, Manjaro offer rolling releases.


Yeah I meant when updating from 15 to 16.
Curious how you have Zorin tweaked, set, adjusted to your preferences if you have to do a wipe to install a new version (aka from 15 to 16)? How can you have it set when you'll have to wipe?
Anyway, on a side note, I have found my new home in OpenSUSE Tumbleweed, which is rolling release which is what I prefer as you stated, and it's surprisingly more stable than Manjaro, aka the system hasn't broken from just updating NVIDIA drivers and it's backed my AMD, B1 Systems, Heinlein Support and IP Exchange so that's good peace of mind for me to have.
Thank you for your help on here regardless though, it's much appreciated.

Swarfendor437

Sun Aug 09, 2020 8:10:29 pm

When 16 does eventually get released I will try my 'reinstall' method ... and cross everything ... AFTER I have backed up my /home which is all that is needed to back up. :D

mr_x

Sun Aug 09, 2020 9:04:15 pm

Meh tbh rolling release is better anyway. As long as it’s stable, which OpenSUSE is.
But I guess it’s based on personal preference. I just hate the idea of having to do a reinstall just to upgrade the OS version.
I’m so used to Manjaro/rolling releases and as long as the rolling release distro is stable, it means it’s one less thing I have to do/worry about.

Aravisian

Sun Aug 09, 2020 9:37:31 pm

mr_x wrote:Curious how you have Zorin tweaked, set, adjusted to your preferences if you have to do a wipe to install a new version (aka from 15 to 16)? How can you have it set when you'll have to wipe?

Back up the .local and the .config folders.
In my case, back up the .cinnamon folder, as well.
Basic back up of the Home folder.
After that is restored, it's just installing Software that I already have saved configs for.
Such as conky.
mr_x wrote:Anyway, on a side note, I have found my new home in OpenSUSE Tumbleweed, which is rolling release which is what I prefer as you stated, and it's surprisingly more stable than Manjaro, aka the system hasn't broken from just updating NVIDIA drivers and it's backed my AMD, B1 Systems, Heinlein Support and IP Exchange so that's good peace of mind for me to have.
Thank you for your help on here regardless though, it's much appreciated.

Good to know you are sorted out.
:)

Swarfendor437

Mon Aug 10, 2020 3:27:28 pm

Well forgot to mention I won't be going back to SuSE anytime soon:

http://techrights.org/2019/07/11/micros ... ide-linux/

And Novell (owners of SuSE) are complicit with M$. ;) :evil:

Aravisian

Mon Aug 10, 2020 5:29:03 pm

Thanks for the informative article. You know how I get my dander up...