Zorin Os

[OnOff]

I'm liking this! Zorin OS. Ubuntu based but with a built in "look changer". Looks maybe a better bet for someone thinking about making the change but wanting some familiarity etc. Looks very crisp to me:

http://zorin-os.com/

 

[Blue Duck]

why not just use windows 

 

[NozSpark]

:slap

 

[OnOff]

Wonders never cease! After being VERY resistive to ANYTHING 'nix for as long as I can remember, the wife LIKES Zorin OS and even commented on how quick it is!

Actually said "It's much better than Ubuntu!" The fact that it's Ubuntu base with a "pretty" Windows like look...................

 

[OnOff]

Another plus for Zorin. A couple of cans of Fosters in and I've managed a painless install of 64-bit Zorin OS 8.1..........it even easily "wiped" the previously partitioned SSD that had Win 7 and Ubuntu on as dual boot. And on this old pc it's flying!

 

[steptoe]

did you put /home  on a seperate partition ?

 

[OnOff]

did you put /home  on a seperate partition ?

Erm.........no. This is where you tell me I should have done I'm guessing? Why.......think you said before about this but can't remember. I just followed the Zorin install wizard. Quickest install ever tbh.

Just trying to get my head round installing MS Office 2010 (for the missus) and her fave Ulead Photo Express on it. Never really played with WINE or this PlayLinux thing either!

 

[steptoe]

if you put /home on its own partition it keeps all your files, pictures,music etc totally separate from the OS, so if the OS crashes or you want to change it you can without upsetting your data,

also allows you to copy your files [in one massive block] to somewhere else if you want, or, if windoze ever gets the ability to read a modern filesystem, it can access your files too,

I actually have a FAT32 partition on one of my systems for the wife to keep work stuff on[her work lappie is W7]

its not a biggie, but, if you are thinking of keeping it as an OS then Id deffo re-install at some point before you make too many changes or save too many files.

is MSoffice really that different from LibreOffice  ?

go to software centre,

install WINE & playonLinux

when you download the .exe , try and open it, and WINE/PoL should just do its stuff .

be aware, ive had loadsa trouble with Wine and  .dll files in the past  ,  there are workarounds, but for me, not worth the hassle, open/libre office does all I need.

 

[OnOff]

if you put /home on its own partition it keeps all your files, pictures,music etc totally separate from the OS, so if the OS crashes or you want to change it you can without upsetting your data,

also allows you to copy your files [in one massive block] to somewhere else if you want, or, if windoze ever gets the ability to read a modern filesystem, it can access your files too,

I actually have a FAT32 partition on one of my systems for the wife to keep work stuff on[her work lappie is W7]

its not a biggie, but, if you are thinking of keeping it as an OS then Id deffo re-install at some point before you make too many changes or save too many files.

is MSoffice really that different from LibreOffice  ?

go to software centre,

install WINE & playonLinux

when you download the .exe , try and open it, and WINE/PoL should just do its stuff .

be aware, ive had loadsa trouble with Wine and  .dll files in the past  ,  there are workarounds, but for me, not worth the hassle, open/libre office does all I need.

The wife is even "getting used to Libre" now..............

Can I add another partition now or is it best to re-install?

Also gone for the 64-bit as my processor supports it but only have 2GB of RAM, an issue?

 

[steptoe]

the more RAM the faster it will run,

*nix general will run from RAM as much as possible, thats what makes it so much faster than OS that runs from HDD,

you cant move your partitions now, as you dont have any, you only have one BIG partition with everything on it,

BTW, Ive recently resized  / and  /home partitions and completely moved a /swap on a PC with no lose of data, but its sometimes dodgy, I had nothing important on it that I was worried about losing.

TBH, before you do anything more I'd re-install with separate partitions, will make life so much easier in the future.

oh, another thing, there are a few programs that dont arent 64bit native,

I had one a while back, cant remember its name, or why I needed it, but I musta found a solution, most have workarounds/32bit emulators

 

[NozSpark]

IIRC when I ran a linux os I had 3 partitions. .. one for the os, one for programs and one for data

It ran fine for ages like that, then I had an update which fubar'd it... so I went back to xp its the wifes laptop now so I dont care

 

[OnOff]

MS Office 2010 Professional running a treat on Zorin using PlayOnLinux.

 

[steptoe]

MS Office 2010 Professional running a treat on Zorin using PlayOnLinux.

:Applaud

did you re-install with partitions?  :C

 

[OnOff]

So much for the missus being open to trying new things! 

Came home tonight to find her looking at buying Windows 7........this on the newly Zorin'd (Ubuntu) pc. Apparently she "can't get on with Zorin" and it won't run properly her old arty farty programs, a couple of them being:

Ulead Photo Express 2.0 SE

Hallmark Scrapbook Studio Deluxe V3

???

 

[ProDave]

Mrs PD is quite happy with her re vamped lap top with ubuntu.  It does all she wants of it and she is impressed how quick it is.

And it saved me ££££.  She was talking of buying a ipad to replace it before I put the newHDD in the lappy and ubuntu.

 

[Sidewinder]

Onoff,

Can you not run them under a virtual machine type system, with an old Windoze OS?

 

[OnOff]

Onoff,

Can you not run them under a virtual machine type system, with an old Windoze OS?

Yes, was thinking of a VM. Thinking to install XP or 7 on it. Not had much experience of them tbh. Can you recommend one? Cheers.

 

[Sidewinder]

Sorry bud, not familiar enough, Steps, Canoe?

 

[steptoe]

I have no idea what I use, I won't be back home til Tuesday, sorry 

 

[OnOff]

Been using this Zorin OS 64-bit for quite a while now on the main home laptop and desktop. I quite like it but for a couple of reservations. It's basically Ubuntu with a Windows skin so very easy to migrate from. However it does suffer (both machines) from the odd glitch about if I'm honest as often as my XP installs used to. We get "Error....do you wish to report" windows pop up which you can generally just cancel and carry on. I've not got a screen dump of that to hand at the mo. Then,on occasion the whole start/task bar along the bottom of the screen will grey out and become inaccessible - there is though a "cog" icon remains bottom right where you can Shut Down / Restart / Suspend and access Settings and this remains accessible. Again this happens on both machines. Then there's the built in "Music" app. Plays MP3s fine but where's the STOP button??? (Thinking of trying one of the Mint / Peppermint distros actually).

I can live with the Zorin quirks (I think) but just found on my Desktop a folder appeared called "bin". Not something I've deliberately done so where did it come from? Maybe I inadvertently dragged it from somewhere? Dump of it on the Desktop and it's contents below. Any ideas? Can't find anything on Google. Cheers.