Full Circle Magazine FR

I’ve been a Linux fan for close to two decades and have used Ubuntu derivatives for a good chunk of that time. Some of you may even remember I wrote a few reviews here and there for this magazine some time ago. In my OS trials I’ve come across some oddities such as ArtistX (take everything in the store and ram it on a DVD and then wonder why most of it didn’t work), PearOS (made it look so much like Apple’s OS X they were seen by some as a Hackintosh substitute), Ultimate Edition (a lot of pizzazz mixed with a bit of gee-wizardry and dark undertones to create a hodgepodge that’s hard to describe), and UberStudent (a top notch educational offering that should have worked but just never gained much of a following). My major problem then became gratification, or lack thereof. Everybody was so content to be like Ubuntu they just stopped trying and merely added programs galore without addressing shortcomings or improving much of anything.

Je suis grand amateur de Linux depuis presque deux décennies et pendant une bonne partie de ces années, j'utilisais des dérivés d'Ubuntu. Certains d'entre vous peuvent vous rappeler que j'en ai fait quelques critiques pour cette revue il y a pas mal de temps.

Lors de mes essais de système d'exploitation, j'ai découvert des bizarreries comme ArtistX (prenez tout ce qu'il y a dans la boutique, le faites tenir sur un DVD, puis vous demandez pourquoi le plus grande partie ne fonctionnait pas), PearOS (ils l'ont rendu tellement similaire à OS X d'Apple, qu'on le considérait comme un substitut piraté), Ultimate Edition (beaucoup de pep mélangé à de la sorcellerie de geek avec des accents sombres pour créer un méli-mélo difficile à décrire) et UberStudent (une excellente offrande dans le domaine de l'éducation qui aurait dû marcher, mais qui n'a jamais suscité beaucoup d'attention).

Mon plus grand problème est alors devenu la gratification, ou son manque. Tout le monde était tellement content de ressembler à Ubuntu qu'ils ont tout simplement cessé d'essayer de faire autre chose et se sont contentés d'ajouter une pléthore de programmes sans confronter leurs défauts ou faire de véritables améliorations.

Then came Linux Mint and I didn’t look back, especially when Ubuntu went to that awful Unity desktop and started losing market share. It comes with everything I need and little I don’t. Even has a neat update feature for dummies like me that forget to check every once in a while. However, wanderlust got the best of me again so I decided to look at other offerings to play with. ArtistX went bye-bye a few years ago, PearOS (was bought out, changed their name to Pearl OS or Pearl Linux – even they aren’t sure, and became another Ubuntu clone), Ultimate Edition defected to KDE but is still as dark as ever, and UberStudent wasn’t uber enough and all but stopped updating nearly 3 years ago (and then the website vaporized, too). Yet others, like base Ubuntu and derivatives that start with K or L, were just too plain. I want an OS that’s different, and I’m not talking Ubuntu with flashy wallpapers.

Et alors, Linux Mint est arrivée et je n'ai pas regardé en arrière, surtout quand Ubuntu est passé à l'affreux bureau Unity et commençait à perdre des parts de marché. Mint est livrée avec tout ce dont j'ai besoin et très peu de choses qui ne me sont pas nécessaires. Elle a même une chouette fonctionnalité de mise à jour pour les imbéciles comme moi, qui oublient de vérifier ça de temps en temps.

Toutefois, l'envie de changer s'empara de moi à nouveau et j'ai donc décidé de chercher d'autres OS pour m'amuser avec. ArtistX a disparu il y a quelques années, PearOS fut racheté et renommé Pearl OS ou Pearl Linux - même la société ne sait pas - et est devenu un autre clone d'Ubuntu), Ultimate Edition est passé à KDE, mais reste aussi sombre que jamais, et UberStudent n'était pas assez uber et a presque arrêté ses mises à jour il y environ 3 ans, puis le site Web s'est vaporisé, lui aussi.

D'autres encore, comme Ubuntu Base et ses dérivés qui commencent par un K ou un L, étaient tout simplement trop terne. Je veux un système d'exploitation qui est différent et je ne parle pas d'Ubuntu avec des fonds d'écran qui en jettent.

In my research I came across Zorin OS, an Irish offering I spotted a couple of years ago and tried. Its major claim to fame was a switch that allowed users to change the desktop menu and scheme from Ubuntu based to Windows or Apple lookalikes. Yippee (all lack of enthusiasm intended). Otherwise, it wasn’t anything much. I guess they got the hint and decided to beef up the “try me” incentives by pulling the Linux version of the automotive shell game (you know, Acura is a gussied-up Honda, Infiniti is Nissan and Toyota cranks out the Lexus line – all at shockingly higher prices than the base models they come from). Like your Linux websites short and to the point? Prefer not to have them resembling the NYC Yellow Pages? You’ve come to the right place at www.zorinos.com. Nothing but the facts here, ma’am. Not even a good gallery, in my opinion.

Au cours de mes recherches, j'ai découvert Zorin OS, proposé par un groupe irlandais, que j'ai vu et essayé il y a deux ans. Il s'est fait remarqué surtout par un commutateur qui permettait de changer le menu et thème du bureau de ceux basés sur Ubuntu vers des sosies de Windows ou d'Apple.

Youpi (tout manque d'enthousiasme est voulu).

Autrement, ce n'était pas grand' chose.

Je pense qu'ils ont enfin compris et ont décidé de renforcer leurs incitations à des essais en créant la version Linux du tour de passe-passe du secteur automobile (vous le connaissez : Acura est une Honda embellie, Infiniti est Nissan et Toyota produit la gamme Lexus, le tout a des prix scandaleusement plus élevés que ceux des modèles de base dont elles sont issues).

Vous aimez les sites Web Linux courts et directes ? Préférez-vous qu'ils ne ressemblent pas aux Pages jaunes de la ville de New York ?

Vous êtes au bon endroit chez www.zorinos.com. Rien que les faits, môsieu. Même pas une bonne galerie, à mon avis.

In short, you get your choices, what they include, how much they cost and what you’ll need in the way of computing power. As for the basics, you’ll need a computer running: • Minimum single core processor with a 1GHz processor. • At least 1GB RAM. • 10GB free HDD space for all versions but Ultimate and it requires 20GB. • Resolution of at least 800×600. Lite versions of Zorin drop these requirements to a 700 MHz processor, 512 RAM, 8GB free HDD space and 680×400 resolution. In short, about any PC sold by your local big box store within the past decade; however, my guess is you’ll want more horsepower under the hood if you’re running their beefier offerings such as Business or Ultimate. As for versions you’ll find the following (all in 32 or 64 bit offerings): Lite. Made for older computers, this is free to download and comes in at 1.4GB. As the name implies, it’s Ubuntu basic in what it offers. Core. At 1.5GB it includes a few more programs but is still free and can run well on newer computers.

Business Lite. Contains all the Core programs plus a few more geared to the business owner with older computers. Runs €15 per computer, or slightly less than $19USD when I wrote this. It comes at around 2.4GB. Business. Contains everything in Business Lite plus a few other programs thrown in. Slightly over 2.5GB and costs the same per computer as Business Lite. Education. Geared, obviously, to the younger student crowd (many of the apps seem to cater to the pre-high schoolers), this version comes with math and science programs. Free to download and comes in around 2.5GB. Education Lite. You guessed, a smaller version of above running about 2.4GB. Still free. Ultimate. As the name implies, this is the granddaddy of them all but the 3.6GB download also includes tech support in the price of €19 or a little less than $24USD. For those on a budget, like me, you can opt to go to www.osdisc.com where a DVD copy will set you back about $8 with shipping (the pay a cut to Zorin); however, beware of Softpedia.com where they advertise it for €9.99 but then link you to the Zorin page where it jumps up to €19. It turns out Zorin doubled the price but somebody at Softpedia didn’t get the memo.

As for me, I merely borrowed a DVD from another user. I opted to try mine on all old 80GB HDD I had left over from my Windows 7 days and installation wasn’t anything painful or slow. In fact, from start to finish took the usual 20 minutes or so and I imagine that time would have been cut substantially had I been using a USB drive to SSD instead. Once installed, it does a nice job of booting up within 20 seconds, surprising considering I’m using it on my 7-year-old Dell e6430 workhorse and the HDD is an “slow” spinner at 5,400 RPM. I was pleasantly surprised to find everything worked out of the box; however, there was a disturbing lack of wireless notification. No icon and no nag message stating networks were in the area. Turns out it’s there, just playing hide-and-go-seek. You must click the taskbar area near the clock and it’ll bring up the wireless sub-menu. Gee, and this is a beginner’s introduction to Linux over Windows? Newbies want and expect an icon. Come to think of it, so do I.

For those transitioning from early Windows (XP through 7) to Linux, you might appreciate Zorin’s attempt to make users feel at home. The desktop exudes minimalism and functionalism at the same time. Plus, there are options under settings for those desiring a little more visual zest (at least in paid versions). Click on the desktop switcher and choose between Mac OS, Gnome, Unity or Windows 7. As you might have figured on your own, the Gnome versions put the menu option in a corner, Unity crams everything to the left, Mac OS gives you the bottom, center mounted, icon bar and Windows 7 gives you the Windows menu in the corner. By default, it’s usually Gnome. Then there’s the design I can’t figure out. You get an icon bar to the right and yet another to the left. When I clicked on it absolutely nothing came up. Guess it’s a work in progress or you’re supposed to do something I’m unaware of. There is another fault here, though. The switcher doesn’t tell you what the designs are meant to represent. You had better know what Mac OS, or any of the others, look like or you’ll be stabbing in the dark.

And this brings up a point an observer mentioned. Since all new Windows computers come with 10 and 7 effectively ended a few years ago, why would anybody transitioning really want the 7 design unless that’s the last one they have fond memories of? For those looking for a little visual pizzazz, there is an option to have a live desktop; however, Zorin offers just one design and you’ll have to go fishing for the rest (if you go to their website, it’s the one swirling about there). If you do opt for it, be prepared to have a RAM usage spike. As for programs you get the usual inclusions such as LibreOffice (which I upgraded to 6) but you’ll also find: In the Audio/Visual department: Mixxx DJ, Blender 3D, GIMP Image Editor, LMMS (digital audio), Kdenlive Video editor, MyPaint, Ardour Audio Workstation, Audacity Sound Editor, Inkscape (Vector Graphics), Builder (for compiling desktop apps), Kodi Media Center, VLC Media Center, Photos (now with better online cooperation with Facebook and Google Photos), Cheese, Brasero and a few others.

For the office crowd you’ll find FreeCAD, HomeBank (a nice Quicken sub), VYM (mind mapping), Planner (project planning), Calendar (decent Google interactive substitute), Referencer (I’ve used this in the past to log references and produce bibliographies), PDFMod, Xournal (note taker and personal daily log), CellWriter Dia, LibreCAD and GnuCash. I purposely separated the last two because they are effectively repeats of CAD and financial programs mentioned earlier. For the gaming set: Super Tux Kart, Xonotic (arena shooter), Neverball (one of my personal favorites), Neverputt, Pingus, Frets on Fire, Gweled and Warzone 2100. I probably missed a couple but you get the idea. And for those looking for the internet experience, you’ll find Chromium (not Chrome, though), Maps (a Google Earth lookalike also known as Gnome Maps), and Weather (the new Gnome 3 version, I take it) Finally, for those who can’t quite wean themselves off the Windows practice, you’ll find Wine and Play on Linux. In general, daily operation I found Zorin to be okay but with a few quirks.

First, some taskbar icons seem to have an agenda of their own. The wireless icon was adept at disappearing and reappearing at will along with others like Dropbox. Mind you, the wireless still worked and I’ll assume so did Dropbox, but the icons weren’t there. Second, the software store is a hit or miss proposition with the latter being truer than the former. Often it would open and attempt to install programs of my choice and just stall. Not only that, it would then lock up my system requiring a force quit or restart. Even when it did work the result appeared laborious with downloads getting off to a grand start and then trickling down to 1990s modem standards or just dying. After a while it just became frustrating and I’d go back to the command line to install what I wanted. However, I do have to give praise to the store design. It’s intelligently designed with a layout a few other Linux offerings could take a clue from. Even a newbie could figure it out.

Third, and finally, when it worked Zorin was indeed speedy with programs generally opening in a snap; however, it was prone to bogging down at the most inopportune times. For example, browser pages would occasionally not open and instead post a page about not being there only to open a couple seconds later. I even thought this might be a Chromium issue and installed Opera, a browser I’ve found speedier than Chrome. Nope, that didn’t help. Same issue would crop up on a random basis and not under the same circumstances. Oh, if you’re wondering, it’s not RAM overload, either. I’m pushing 6GB DDR3 so an open website shouldn’t bother the overall operation. Otherwise, Zorin is just another Ubuntu derivative loaded with programs you might want and some you won’t (such as the repeats you may have noticed in the listings above). In fact, here’s an idea – download Linux Mint with its predictable, yet reliable, daily operations. Then add any of the programs I listed. Not only do you get a stable system, you just saved yourself a few bucks!

And, therefore, I can give Zorin OS Ultimate no more than 3 out of 5 stars. For the price requested it should work much better than it does.

If you are interested, I’d advise you start with one of the free versions first and work your way up.**