I’ll never understand how people recommend Zorin or Mint instead of the, much more Windows-like, and HUGELY supported Kubuntu or Fedora KDE.
KDE Plasma is the way to go.
Mint looks pretty Windows-like out of the box too. Both Cinnamon and KDE Plasma can be customised extensively too, which is nice. Mint is really good for beginners, very user-friendly and such. Fedora is plenty user-friendly too (and probably Kubuntu, but I haven’t used that one yet), but Mint takes it a step further in my opinion. This is coming from a Fedora user. I do agree that Mint and Zorin shouldn’t be the only options that beginners should consider. On the other hand, KDE Plasma shouldn’t be the only option either. The best way to pick distros, in my opinion, is by creating a Ventoy drive with Mint (to try out Cinnamon), Fedora Workstation (to try out GNOME), and either Fedora KDE or Kubuntu (to try out KDE). Cinnamon, GNOME, and KDE Plasma are all great in their own ways.
Currently I am using KDE Plasma as I like the customisability, but I can see the appeal of GNOME if you want something that looks sleek and “minimal” (or if you really love padding), and Cinnamon is a bit more like Windows 10. They all have their own aesthetics (contrasty KDE vs maximally padded GNOME vs colourful Cinnamon)
I’ll never understand how people recommend Zorin or Mint instead of the, much more Windows-like, and HUGELY supported Kubuntu or Fedora KDE
I rebuilt an old Windows PC as a host for a Jellyfin server and used Mint because that’s what the guide recommended.
Easy setup. Everything works great. So I told my friends about it. And, naturally, they went with Mint, too, because we all know that setup works.
That’s it. That’s the only real reason why. I have a simple need and Mint got the job done.
Genuine question: Why not mint? Whats wrong with it and why is kubuntu much better?
I’m not saying that Mint is bad. But with Kubuntu or Fedora KDE you get more overall support, and KDE software is much more used, developed, tested and supported than Mint’s self-mantained things.
There is a much higher chance of KDE thriving in the next 10 years than Mint.
This is my opinion, of course. And based mostly on my subjective observations.
100% agree. Don’t get me wrong, zorin looks nice and I’ve considered trying it a couple times. But kubuntu is where it’s at. My brother is old school though, and has a Gentoo install he keeps going, but he gets the latest plasma, kubuntu is a major release behind.
There are options that get you latest, still on a Debian base, but it wasn’t as stable as kubuntu so I switched back.
Linux is the only thing that will really revive an old apple product, even if it runs macos pretty well still, you can’t get any of the apps to run because they’re no longer offered, and then if you can install an old one, it auto updates to a non-functional version. (This just happened to me)
I still can’t quit Windows entirely, visual studio is important to what I’m working on.
I am just happy it‘s linux that people choose
Yes! Yeeeesss!
Let the distribution flame wars begin. Strike Zorin down with all your heart and forget that it is Linux and a move away from Windows.
Let the snake eat its own tail!!
Let us hope their wine integration is up to the task. They’ll be gone just as fast if too much of the software doesn’t run with a double click, or MAYBE from the context menu
Windows 10 support ends. Open the floodgates. Let the windows refugees come !!
Been a Linux user at work for decades, windows at home for gaming. This week I am 100% a Linux user full-time.
I wish I could get steam to run on my Linux OS, it’ll only play like 3 of the games I want, and none of the VR ones
Have you looked into proton support. Not sure what games you play, but it plays the majority of my library
That a distro? I’ll look into it
Proton is like wine, it allows you to run games on any distro
Proton is a compatibility layer that basically tricks an application into thinking it’s running in Windows, allowing to run in Linux.
Many saw “end of support” and thought windows would stop working, which is good, but also kinda dumb.
I have a sneaking suspicion we’re going to see a rash of system vulnerability start popping up in Win10 over the next few years. And we’ll get deluged with national news announcements that boil down to “Win10 is unsafe!! Your data is compromised!! Only 11 will save you!!”
3 of my friends asked me to help them with linux installs this week XD
What did you use for install?
Mint :3
This is just wonderful news.
I’ve never used Zorin. It doesn’t seem to match my preferences and needs. Regardless, anyone switching from Windows [and Mac] to any Linux distro is fantastic for all of us, including remaining Windows users (probably not Mac users though).
Let’s hope more keep switching, leading to a surge in Linux, and open source in general, funding. More people becoming interested in Linux development, potentially turning into more and more open source devs. I think we can be quite optimistic about this.
It feels pretty fucking ironic when my old macbook/laptop supports new OS versions for a decade, but my few years old high-end gaming PC? Outdated for Win11.
You can buy a Firewire to USB-C adapter and MacOS knows what to do with a first-gen iPod. If you’ve got a 25 year old mp3 player in functioning condition a current day Mac can make it go.
You just try making a Zune go.
As much noise as Microsoft makes about software backwards compatibility, they are absolute fuckpuke at supporting old hardware.
Enshittification!
Why zorin?
Zorin and Mint are frequently recommended foe Windows users. With Zorin having paid support for schools etcetera.
Zorin is a bit more commercial but it looks good and not much can go wrong.
I used zorin when I first switched like 5 years ago, ended up on fedora not too soon after and haven’t left. It was a good stepping stone for me though.
Why not?
Someone asking why isn’t inherently saying no.
Someone asking why not isn’t inherently negative.
Year of Linux on the desktop. Why not say it? It’s been true for decades now.
year of the
it’s been decades.
Should we tell them?
let him rest, he has lost his mind from all the compiling through the years
Every year it is true.
Tell who, you?
So I’ve mucked around with ubuntu… gonna switch over to linux. Ideally something more user friendly at first.
Can someone TLDR Zorin OS vs Mint?
For now I just want something I can swap out my main device until I have more time to finish learning ubuntu.
I would say try a few out, see which DEs (desktop environments, pretty much the part of the OS that you look at) you like. I recommend trying Fedora Workstation (which is GNOME, a purer form of it compared to Ubuntu’s flavour, and is unrelated to gnomes of the fantasy world), a KDE Plasma distro (like Kubuntu or Fedora KDE), as well as Mint (which is Cinnamon) and ZorinOS (I think it uses a custom variant of GNOME, but I’m not sure).
You either love or hate GNOME, there’s a lot of padding, and it’s very “minimal” and “clean”. Some people say the UI is similar to Mac in that it has a bar on the top and the “dock” (GNOME’s version of the taskbar) looks very similar to Mac. It also has a bunch of touch gestures and such, so it would be good if you have a touchscreen laptop, for example. Make sure to look at GNOME extensions, which helps you customise GNOME to your liking (e.g. transparency, having the dock always be shown kind of like one Windows)
KDE Plasma, out of the box, looks similar to Windows. It, however, is the most customisable and you can change pretty much anything (position of the taskbar, text size of different parts of the UI, colours of all the buttons, etc.) and it’s kind of overwhelming. I particularly like KRunner (which is kind of like Spotlight on Mac and lets you search apps, files, settings, etc. straight from the desktop). Currently I’m using KDE Plasma.
Cinnamon is Linux Mint’s homegrown take on GNOME, which tries to mimic Windows 10 to ease the transition to Linux. Mint focuses on the usability of its GUI apps, so you won’t have to touch the terminal as often (I do recommend you learn how to do simple things like apt to install apps, it’s really useful!). If you don’t like the excessive padding and touch-optimised design of GNOME or think KDE Plasma isn’t for you, Cinnamon might be what you want.
There’s also a bunch of other DEs like Xfce (which is lightweight and meant for lower end devices), MATE (which keeps the design of old GNOME, so it looks less “modern” than other DEs), and COSMIC (which is by System76, recently went from Alpha to Beta so it isn’t perfectly stable yet, but it looks pretty cool with tiling and such).
Take your time to pick, you can always swap out your DE (that’s one of the cool things with Linux, you can literally change the desktop of the entire OS if you want to! It’s kind of insane if you think about it. Recently, I switched from GNOME to KDE Plasma with little issue on Fedora. So don’t be afraid to pick the “wrong” desktop, you can always change it after the fact! You can even install multiple and choose which one to use when you log in, but that will mean having an excess of default apps, meaning multiple file managers, multiple calendar apps, etc.)
Zorin has a commercial license for additional GUI front ends, installation support, and a bunch of “professional” apps. It’s not clear if they’ve done something to make adobe/Autodesk/pro audio stuff work on Linux, pre-bundled their FOSS alternatives, or have made software themselves.
Personally, if I was looking for something “professional”, I’d go PopOS!. But if I were a small or mid-sized business I’d consider Zorin Pro if I could get license to include additional support outside the installer… Or just buy System76 computers with PopOS! pre-installed and support built-in to their sales pipeline already.
That said, Mint is also very Windows (classic)-like in their GUI experince (intentionally). It also has one of the largest Linux communities focusing on GUI usability.
Depends on your use case on which flavor you should go. But for $50, I’m curious what Zorin’s software suite is and might dive in.
and a bunch of “professional” apps.
It is in fact a bunch of pre-installed free software. I like Zorin, but Zorin Pro just seems like a way to trick businesses into paying for the distro. I guess having access to a support team is nice, but otherwise it’s not worth it at all.
I think that is the point. Its like red hat. You pay for support.
Or just buy System76 computers with PopOS! pre-installed and support built-in to their sales pipeline already.
S76 (and all Linux PCs) are all just insanely expensive and overpowered for the needs of most people. I wish they would just offer a barebones model with an N100 or something for $500 that normal people could afford…
I mean, that’s kinda the cost for low volume sales + computer support.
They’re not selling computers for the average Linux user, they’re selling computers for independent professionals and businesses that need the support licenses to confidently run their operations.
For the average Linux user, they have put out an incredibly stable version of their OS that has a professional in mind (docking station ready, highly optimized GUI workflow tooling, familiar OS styling, and more). We can then go grab a bare machine and toss their OS on ourselves.
I get it though. I’ve strongly considered snagging one of their laptops in the past. Especially since I want to support them. I’ve even considered some other machines for niche purposes (HTPC, home lab VM host) , but always wind up snagging a Lenovo or IBM laptop or building my own desktop instead.
No, that’s the cost of high-end hardware.
Both have an Ubuntu base
Mint develops their own desktop called Cinnamon which is like a cross between Gnome2 and windows 7 UIs. Its looks a bit bland, but some people prefer that.
Zorin uses Gnome3, but is heavily customized to give people a choice between windows 7, windows 10 or MacOS type experiences. The UI does look a lot more modern than mint in the looks department. They also have a commercial support option.
Both have a pretty good suite of software for customization and management.
Personally I’m loving Bazzite, which is Fedora based with a lot of customizations for gaming and modern hardware. It’s also immutable, which makes it difficult to break.
Both are adequate. Both are based on Ubuntu. The biggest difference is going to be the interface.
Zorin has a Gnome-ish interface. If you pay a few extra bucks, you can customize it to make it function like Mac or Windows or Ubuntu, etc. in one click.
Mint has a (in my opinion) much less modern interface that I don’t like. But it’s also, I believe, the single most popular Linux distro so there will be endless amounts of community support for it.
zorin is more out of box and mint is lighter. so when you install zorin its going to put in libre office, disk burning, windows rpd, wine with play on linux, its a long list. So it comes down to out of box (I want a bunch of software I may use to be installed along with the os) or lighter and get what you want later. zorin is basically a lazier distro which is why I like it :) while some stuff may be a waste of space I just want it available right away or in a situation where im offline and did not think to install it previously for some reason (disk burning is a good example for this kind of thing)
Just go Mint and then you can get as deep or not as you want into Linux.
Nyarchlinux is the Linux for you!
Honestly I downloaded it as a joke but it’s great
Username checks out? LOL
Looks fun enough to spin up in a VM at least. :)
I love that this exists
Is this a serious comment? Because I don’t see an /s
I use nyarch, btw
I honestly dont know what would drive a Windows refugee to choose such a niche and likely unable to support them distro.
Is ZorinOS niche? It’s Ubuntu with a Windows ricing.
That’s why it’s only ~70k downloads. Probably many more for Ubuntu, Mint, Fedora, Manjaro, Bazzite and so on.
I really with EndeavorOS or Garuda would replace Manjaro on that list.
I think Zorin is a pretty solid choice for people with no Linux experience tbh.
It’s at least going to feel familiar
So does Mint though
And people are free to use mint if they want
They charge extra for theming that people could get themselves for free. I don’t like that it’s taking advantage of vulnerable people.
I don’t think that’s “taking advantage of vulnerable people”
The options still exist for people to learn and theming is incredibly inconsequential.
They’re monetising to support development in a minimally impactful way, that is completely optional, and I think that’s a good thing.
They should advertise that everything is free and can be installed after installation if you choose not say $80 gets you a Windows like desktop and software replacements that will save you thousands (Blender/Xournal++/OfficeSuite)
The value proposition is ease of use and integration of these theming utilities.
I honestly think this monetisation strategy of theirs is a non-issue.
People who want a streamlined experience have the option of paying for that, people who want the option of doing it all themselves have that opportunity too.
My problem is them not communicating that.
Not communicating that there are alternatives to their services?
I don’t really think it’s their responsibility to spoon feed alternatives to their customers; they’re not being anticompetitive, they’re not being deceptive, they’re not blocking alternatives.
I think your requirements here are unfair and kind of irrational
Marketing
Amazing. Makes me truly happy.
as someone that have been scrolling lemmy daily for 2 years, i am surprised i have never heard of this distro, i thought being a lemming made me a linux expert
Did it three days ago. Took the windows partition out back and formatted it.
If you don’t mind me asking, why did you choose Zorin? How do you hear about Zorin?
I don’t think you’ll get an honest answer tbh.
It might be my lemmy client but when I go to that link I just see a basic steam next fest post with a Linux picking section from a different user.
What am I missing?
It’s a comment link from Xenny that they just installed Bazzite. Maybe they did both?
Some folks change Linux distros like I change my underwear.
I used to switch a lot, and created scripts that install distroboxes with all the stuff needed for various purposes like java programming etc. Now on a fresh install I can get back to having all third party libraries and IDE set up with extensions, git configured etc in a couple of minutes. Debian distroboxes for things where versions don’t matter, tumbleweed for latest versions when needed. I looked forward to distrohopping all the time. But now I’m just on debian as the “host” system, no need to switch.
Changed three times. Settled on cachy
3 days ago?
Hola!
Que tal cabron
How is it with nVidia?
About as good as Nvidia allows.
Thank you
I actually just switched to Zorin as my daily driver this past summer. Good riddance Windows
