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A non techie newbie experience of Zorin

Uzi

Mon Jun 10, 2013 7:37:05 am

I thought I would put this together to help non techies take the plunge & install Zorin instead of in my case, Windows XP which decided to get corrupted & kept closing as soon as I got the desktop. Thanks Microsoft for making me look at an alternative. :lol:

My thanks go to Wolfman and Swarfender for patiently helping me understand some of the areas I got wrong.

So – Installing;

I downloaded the ISO from the main Zorin site. Now I have been told by Wolfman I should have used the slowest speed to burn to disc. Something I didn't do (finding this forum can happen only AFTER you get in trouble :oops: ) & maybe the cause of the only issue I still have and that is Recovery mode at boot up just leads me to a black screen. Not an issue really it seems as the included backup function (like Windows System Restore) works very well. You can also use a USB Flash drive for the ISO by getting a very simple to use tool called Unetbootin. The installation itself is fast & simple to do, just chose a partition size of 20 – 30 Gb if you can spare it (needs minimum 7Gb to install).

There are many more detailed instructions listed in the INSTALLATION menu on this Forum.

First use setup:

First off it looks very Windows & not alien. 'Computer' has your drives which are not shown as C or D etc so need to get used to the new names but that doesn't take long. To use the drive you must 'Mount' it by clicking on it. Home is like Windows 'My Documents'.

Zorin comes pre loaded with some programs like Google Chrome for internet but by selecting the menu button you can open the Software center & get others like Firefox loaded in seconds. It has VLC player for movies but you can get SMPlayer or XMBC too . Word & Excel open with LibreOffice. Some other Windows programs will open with WINE.

Desktop shortcuts caught me out as the usual drag & drop or Send to Desktop shortcut can sometimes lead to a shortcut that doesn't work. If this happens try right click & in Permissions select 'Allow executing file as a program'.

When a program is showing in the tray right click to PIN it if you want it to remain there each time you boot up.

The first issue I had was that the screen kept 'Blinking' every 10 seconds. This was because I hadn't got the correct driver loaded for my Nvidia graphics. This was sorted from 'System Tools' – 'System Settings' – 'Additional Drivers' & selecting the recommended one. Reboot & all ok now.

I also lost my 5.1 surround sound & could only get Stereo when watching a movie. See this thread http://www.zoringroup.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3810 for an easy way to set that up.

I also had all my Firefox bookmarks on the XP version and my emails & address book in the XP version of Thunderbird. I followed the instructions here http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox & all are now working in Zorin too.

Zipped / compressed files (tar.gz) were a mystery too but by downloading to your download folder then right click 'Extract Here' & presto done. Well that is how I got the PDF opened in the Guide for Newies here - http://www.zoringroup.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1823

A week in & I haven't needed Windows once. Zorin opens VERY fast, closes fast too. Yes it is a little different but not so much that the average user wont get used to very quickly.

I need to figure out why multiple programs are not viewable on top of each other. Working solution is to minimize to the tray so only one is viewed at a time. Need to get the answer on that from Wolfman Or Swarf.

EDIT - solution to the multi window issue with Nvidia is here & works http://www.zoringroup.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2490

So a few days playing & learning & my desktop now looks like this:

Screen.jpg


Pretty isn't it 8-)

So ...... if I can do it ANYONE CAN :D

Wolfman

Mon Jun 10, 2013 8:06:10 am

Looking good Uzi :D :D :D :D :D :D

Regards Wolfman :D

Wolfman

Mon Jun 10, 2013 1:33:32 pm

One further thing Uzi,

if you want smaller desktop icons, below is the info about Dconf-Editor from the post install guide:

Dconf-Editor:

Now you need to install a few packages which you will need to adjust settings on your PC, open Synaptic and type “dconf-tools” and mark it for install, do the same with “gdebi” and then click on “Apply”, once the packages are installed; close Synaptic. (gdebi is installed now by default!)
(dconf-tools is the new configuration editor for Gnome 3 and gdebi is a single deb package install tool)

Dconf-Editor Settings:

Click on Applications > System Tools > dconf Editor and drag it to the desktop (see below for info about adding icons to the desktop) and then double click it to open it. Once dconf has started you might want to make a couple of changes, the following are some important ones I used:

Show date and day in clock:
Dconf Editor > Com > Canonical > Indicator > Datetime > Show Date/Show Day

Change global font size:
Dconf Editor > Org > Gnome > Desktop > Interface > Text-scaling-factor 1.0 (1.0 = font size 10. and 1.1 would be font size 11 and so on) (Mine is set to 1.2 = Font size 12)

Change icon size on desktop:
Dconf Editor > Org > Gnome > Nautilus > Icon-View > Default-Zoom-Level = Small


Show/Hide buttons:
Dconf Editor > Org > Gnome > Gnome Panel > Layout > Toplevels > Top Panel

Show/Hide Desktop icons = Trash/Computer/Home;
Dconf-Editor > Org > Gnome > Nautilus > Desktop

Stop Media Auto Mounting:
Dconf Editor > Org > Gnome > Desktop > Media-Handling > Automount/Automount-open/Autorun Never

Regards Wolfman :D

Uzi

Mon Jun 10, 2013 2:00:21 pm

swarfendor437 wrote:Hey Uzi, is that wallpaper with Zorin or did you make it? Please let me know your source! :D

Glad you are enjoying the Zorin ride to M$ freedom! :D


Swarf,

Here - http://admin-amir.blogspot.com/2012/03/zorin-6-wallpapers-6.html

The Orange one is cool too.

Uzi

Uzi

Mon Jun 10, 2013 2:27:25 pm

Wolfman wrote:One further thing Uzi,

if you want smaller desktop icons, below is the info about Dconf-Editor from the post install guide:

Dconf-Editor:

Now you need to install a few packages which you will need to adjust settings on your PC, open Synaptic and type “dconf-tools” and mark it for install, do the same with “gdebi” and then click on “Apply”, once the packages are installed; close Synaptic. (gdebi is installed now by default!)
(dconf-tools is the new configuration editor for Gnome 3 and gdebi is a single deb package install tool)

Dconf-Editor Settings:

Click on Applications > System Tools > dconf Editor and drag it to the desktop (see below for info about adding icons to the desktop) and then double click it to open it. Once dconf has started you might want to make a couple of changes, the following are some important ones I used:

Show date and day in clock:
Dconf Editor > Com > Canonical > Indicator > Datetime > Show Date/Show Day

Change global font size:
Dconf Editor > Org > Gnome > Desktop > Interface > Text-scaling-factor 1.0 (1.0 = font size 10. and 1.1 would be font size 11 and so on) (Mine is set to 1.2 = Font size 12)

Change icon size on desktop:
Dconf Editor > Org > Gnome > Nautilus > Icon-View > Default-Zoom-Level = Small


Show/Hide buttons:
Dconf Editor > Org > Gnome > Gnome Panel > Layout > Toplevels > Top Panel

Show/Hide Desktop icons = Trash/Computer/Home;
Dconf-Editor > Org > Gnome > Nautilus > Desktop

Stop Media Auto Mounting:
Dconf Editor > Org > Gnome > Desktop > Media-Handling > Automount/Automount-open/Autorun Never

Regards Wolfman :D


The icons are the size I want. I am viewing on a 42" LCD screen. Resizing is easy with just a right click but they are fine for what I want. Still playing with the clock though. :geek:

Uzi

Wed Jun 19, 2013 1:53:17 am

BTW - just an update. This is what it looks like now I added the Conky Lua

Conky.jpg


Now it doesn't look or feel quite so 'Windows' but still as familiar to use.

Uzi

Uzi

Sat Jul 06, 2013 2:16:44 am

One month later & still loving it. Windows never looked this good or ran so well:

PC.jpg

Wolfman

Sat Jul 06, 2013 8:07:41 am

Uzi wrote:One month later & still loving it. Windows never looked this good or ran so well:

PC.jpg

And your scanner/printer works now too!!!! :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Looks good Uzi!.

Regards Wolfman :D

Uzi

Sat Jul 06, 2013 8:46:37 am

Wolfman wrote:
Uzi wrote:One month later & still loving it. Windows never looked this good or ran so well:

PC.jpg

And your scanner/printer works now too!!!! :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Looks good Uzi!.

Regards Wolfman :D


Yeah everything runs beautifully, even my scanner issue is fixed :D

One issue left outstanding only - the Recovery Mode only going to a black screen. I may have a handle on that too.

I downloaded Zorin 7 to have a look at & it did the same thing, just a black screen. DVD drive was flashing but nothing ever appeared on screen. Yes I burnt it at the slowest speed :roll: I put the disc in my Laptop & it booted up no problem. Assumption - my graphics card stops the process in Zorin 7 and my Zorin 6 Recovery Mode.

When I get a DVI to HDMI adaptor I will see if that displays better. If not, well nothing really lost. If Zorin crashes I can still access everything through the Live boot & reinstall. My HOME is backed up too.

Uzi.