Thoughts on Zorin OS?

[RageBurner]

I don't know where else to put this, so I hope it isn't in the wrong thread space.
A friend's Windows installation got borked beyond repair and they decided to switch things around and migrate to Linux.

Based on their use case (Windows adjacent gaming, they opted for Zorin OS, but I've been doing most of the heavy lifting and having to learn as I go (I never used Linux distro on desktop).

So, Linux meisters, general thoughts? things I should do? should I run towards the nearest bomb shelter?

Thanks!

 

[Yousef]

I use arch btw

 

[RageBurner]

I use arch btw

My decidedly limited read on arch is that it is as powerful as it is arcane.

 

[Yousef]

My decidedly limited read on arch is that it is as powerful as it is arcane.

Don’t worry, the phrase is a meme. You can ignore it.

 

[RageBurner]

No one in their right mind would ignore a Yousememe, though. It's funneh!

 

[Yousef]

No one in their right mind would ignore a Yousememe, though. It's funneh!

YOUSEMEME LOOOL, brilliantly crafted, as expected from you.

 

[Ajderniz]

I mean... This is just my experience, but whenever I've tried using anything Ubuntu-related, the OS has always punched me in the gut and spat in my face. So, my opinion is... low, sadly

Having a couple years of experience with the system (I would've sworn it was more time...), I can attest that Linux in general can be a delight, but it most often is a pain in the ass, and no amount of abstraction can delay the impending situation where the entire little system the distribution boasts of having just decides to break a few hours before an important deadline or a meeting.

Every single distro is a certain degree into the bullshit factor, but if you want a system that is handy in a it-just-works way, and yet does not shy away from letting you fucking around with the settings, I'd recommend EndeavourOS. It's really just Arch, with a wizard utility on top which helps you maintain the whole thing.

I use Void btw

 

[Zerpina]

@RageBurner With Linux and Windows Games..
WINE
Proton
Q4Wine
Bottles
Are you're friends.

 

[RageBurner]

@RageBurner With Linux and Windows Games..
WINE
Proton
Q4Wine
Bottles
Are you're friends.
View attachment 16366

Indeed! Zorin includes an app compatibility layer that uses Wine and Bottles together (how else would you store it after all). I'm trying to learn to use it as I go.

 

[Zerpina]

Indeed! Zorin includes an app compatibility layer that uses Wine and Bottles together (how else would you store it after all). I'm trying to learn to use it as I go.

This will get you started, Alot easier to Watch a Tutorial video. than have it Text'splained to you

 

[Iguana-0]

Shoulda called it Zorak OS. Anyone catch the Space Ghost reference?

 

[RageBurner]

This will get you started, Alot easier to Watch a Tutorial video. than have it Text'splained to you

Thank you so much!

 

[Zerpina]

Shoulda called it Zorak OS. Anyone catch the Space Ghost reference?

 

[RageBurner]

Shoulda called it Zorak OS. Anyone catch the Space Ghost reference?

I did LOL and yes, missed opportunity.

 

[Zerpina]

Thank you so much!

Again, that'll get you started. may want to do some more Tubein for other things.
Myself i like Q4wine more than bottles and Straight out wine, but you're mileage will vary.

 

[homesforgnomes]

@RageBurner With Linux and Windows Games..
WINE
Proton
Q4Wine
Bottles
Are you're friends.
View attachment 16366

Don't forget Lutris, the user-made install scripts make it easy to set up most popular games with little to no technical know-how.

My 2cents on distros for newbies:
- Debian is still the least painful (in terms of updates breaking things) but there are times that having stable (out of date, often) software gets in the way. There was one time near the end of the last point release of Debian where I had to use an older version of Wine (or DXVK) that wouldn't work with some games because of old Nvidia drivers. Probably better with an AMD GPU.
- Mint and MX are like Debian but with newer software and an easier time installing more recent GPU drivers/kernels. My friend uses Mint for gaming and it's mostly been issue-free, but a couple times an update to Wine or Lutris has broken something for him.
- Endeavour I haven't used, but I did use Arch (which it's based on) for a year or so. You'll always have the latest drivers and wine versions, but (if it's anything like Arch) sometimes updates will break things. For what it's worth I probably had less issues on Arch than my friend has had on Mint.

 

[χKai]

Heard good things about Zorin.
I'm a Windows n00b, but I hear good things about Zorin from people who know a lot more than I do...

 

[Zerpina]

Don't forget Lutris

I have actually never used Lutris.
As stated above, i use Q4Wine, and work's for what i play on Linux.
But fair point, i had actually forgotten Lutris was a thing. Thank's for pointing it out

 

[RageBurner]

Don't forget Lutris, the user-made install scripts make it easy to set up most popular games with little to no technical know-how.

My 2cents on distros for newbies:
- Debian is still the least painful (in terms of updates breaking things) but there are times that having stable (out of date, often) software gets in the way. There was one time near the end of the last point release of Debian where I had to use an older version of Wine (or DXVK) that wouldn't work with some games because of old Nvidia drivers. Probably better with an AMD GPU.
- Mint and MX are like Debian but with newer software and an easier time installing more recent GPU drivers/kernels. My friend uses Mint for gaming and it's mostly been issue-free, but a couple times an update to Wine or Lutris has broken something for him.
- Endeavour I haven't used, but I did use Arch (which it's based on) for a year or so. You'll always have the latest drivers and wine versions, but (if it's anything like Arch) sometimes updates will break things. For what it's worth I probably had less issues on Arch than my friend has had on Mint.

Zorin seems to be geared towards good NVDIA support out of the box as its ethos (it offers to install up to date drivers during installation) and it's been very painless in regards to video (offering the same pluses as the Windows based driver control does), but I did hear from many people AMD tends to have better mileage.

Mint was considered by me, but the person was adamant on Zorin. It's working well so far.

 

[homesforgnomes]

Zorin seems to be geared towards good NVDIA support out of the box as its ethos (it offers to install up to date drivers during installation) and it's been very painless in regards to video (offering the same pluses as the Windows based driver control does), but I did hear from many people AMD tends to have better mileage.

Mint was considered by me, but the person was adamant on Zorin. It's working well so far.

The only problems Nvidia has really given me on Linux (aside from Debian being slow to update their drivers) are Wayland support related, really, and I still use X11 window managers anyway. There are rare cases of an Nvidia driver update causing users to boot into a black screen, too, but there's usually a quick fix for those so long as you have another device you can use to check the forums. This happened to me 2 or 3 times on Arch.

 

[Zerpina]

Zorin seems to be geared towards good NVDIA support out of the box as its ethos (it offers to install up to date drivers during installation) and it's been very painless in regards to video (offering the same pluses as the Windows based driver control does), but I did hear from many people AMD tends to have better mileage.

Mint was considered by me, but the person was adamant on Zorin. It's working well so far.

I Use mint myself, and here, just to show you. Street Fighter X Tekken <Windows version> useing Q4Wine.
And for whatever Reason on here. it shows i using Windows 7. and on Windows 10 it says im using Vista, no idea what that's about. So i Fastfetched my sys specs
*Edit*And shows the wrong GPU as well. aain no idea <L>

 

[RageBurner]

I Use mint myself, and here, just to show you. Street Fighter X Tekken <Windows version> useing Q4Wine.
And for whatever Reason on here. it shows i using Windows 7. and on Windows 10 it says im using Vista, no idea what that's about. So i Fastfetched my sys specs
*Edit*And shows the wrong GPU as well. aain no idea <L>

View attachment 16384
View attachment 16381View attachment 16382View attachment 16383

So would you say Q4W is more reliable than bottles at getting games running?

 

[Leon]

As others said, mint is better than zorin for beginners, but if he's set on it then so be it.
If he ever wants to upgrade (or you want to try it yourself) i'd suggest mint or possibly bazzite for ease of use for gamers.

The one thing to keep in mind about linux distros is that there are really only at max 10, the rest are just custom versions of those 10, about 60% of which is debian customs, probably 10% fedora customs and 20% arch customs, i'm on garuda linux, which is a custom arch linux distro for example.

As for linux itself, it's theoretically possible to get any program with linux support to work on any distro, but some are under terms like applimage, deb, snaps, flatpak or AUR packages, the 3 can be ran on most distros but snaps are ubuntu based and take work getting to work, though tbh your better off ignoring them (snaps suck) and AUR are functionally made for rolling release arch linux distros.

Keep in mind the stuff i said above is just stuff to keep in mind if you want to go further into linux, in theory he shouldn't need to go beyond zorin os if he's happy with it(zorin os is debian based if i remember right btw).

As for the arch meme, arch is actually fairly easy to install, if you want real challenge you go with something like gentoo, slackware or linux from scratch.

 

[Zerpina]

So would you say Q4W is more reliable than bottles at getting games running?

Myself i found Q4Wine Seems to work better, but that could be due to alot of things.
again could be mint making it run better, ram amount, GPU/CPU. i only ever dabbled with zorin so it may run better under bottles or right out WINE. i'd just give each a Try and see how it went

 

[RageBurner]

As others said, mint is better than zorin for beginners, but if he's set on it then so be it.
If he ever wants to upgrade (or you want to try it yourself) i'd suggest mint or possibly bazzite for ease of use for gamers.

The one thing to keep in mind about linux distros is that there are really only at max 10, the rest are just custom versions of those 10, about 60% of which is debian customs, probably 10% fedora customs and 20% arch customs, i'm on garuda linux, which is a custom arch linux distro for example.

As for linux itself, it's theoretically possible to get any program with linux support to work on any distro, but some are under terms like applimage, deb, snaps, flatpak or AUR packages, the 3 can be ran on most distros but snaps are ubuntu based and take work getting to work, though tbh your better off ignoring them (snaps suck) and AUR are functionally made for rolling release arch linux distros.

Keep in mind the stuff i said above is just stuff to keep in mind if you want to go further into linux, in theory he shouldn't need to go beyond zorin os if he's happy with it(zorin os is debian based if i remember right btw).

As for the arch meme, arch is actually fairly easy to install, if you want real challenge you go with something like gentoo, slackware or linux from scratch.

That's a lot to take in for a Windows normie like me, but I really appreciate the information! distro lineage is something that I've always found interesting to look into.