From Windows to Zorin

Greetings, all.

(Apologies up front - this is going to be a long one...)

First of all - Zorin 8 is AN AWESOME EXPERIENCE! This might well be the greatest operating system I have seen in years.

To be sure, I am a life-long Windows fan. Starting with PC DOS on an IBM AT, I have seen and used every DOS version, and Windows 3.11 / 95 / 98SE / NT 3.51 / XP and 7, both professionally and at home. The last few years I have developed a small problem with my eyes (very light sensitive), so I always use a high contrast interface, with white, lime or yellow font on a black background.

Yesterday, I tried to reinstall Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit) on a Sony Viao notebook (Athlon II P360 Dual with 4 GB internal and 300 GB hard disk). System recovery took two hours (and seven reboots), tweaking and installing my own software took another hour (I mostly use portable software), and then, just to be sure, I started a Microsoft Update, which informed me there were 128 vital security updates to be made. After another three hours of downloading, accepting licenses, and rebooting... I gave up. The bloody thing wasn't even half way ready!

I inserted a USB drive (Yumi boot with Zorin 8 Core 64), installed Zorin in eight minutes, had a problem with the login screen, reinstalled in eight minutes, took a half hour tour to get the feel of it, and installed Firefox instead of Chrome (in Firefox, I can override the color scheme of web pages). Within one hour, I had a fully operational system. Everything works: screen, sound, mouse pad, wifi and even the special function keys. Awesome!

It looks fantastic, uses about 9 GB of hard disk space (Windows 7 used 23 GB), needs some 500 MB internal memory when idle (Windows 7 used 1.5 GB), and it keeps running smoothly, even when I turn my processor down to 800 MHz.

So now I need find answers for a whole range of small problems. Here are few examples:

- the opening screen of the Software Center look good, but when I open a category (say Books & Magazines), I get a white screen with just icons and stars. Work-around: switch back to Zorin Light theme?

- if I select Help, I get a list of light blue subjects, but the help itself is unreadable (light gray text on white background). Work-around: select all with Ctrl-A gives white text on blue background.

- when I started to write this message, I went to Home\Document, wanting to create a new text file. In Windows, this is right-click | New | Text file. But right-click only gives me New Folder. Work-around: start Text Editor and save in Home\Documents.

- switching between active windows with Alt-Tab works as expected, but I also managed to add Shiny Switcher, which gives me three additional desktops. Is there a keyboard shortcut to switch between desktops? Work-around: by mouse click.

(and this is only a start... -smile-)

Obviously, I could figure out all these things out by myself, without bothering anybody, but my guess is that any Windows user trying to switch to Zorin will run into the same problems, and what Zorin needs, in my humble opinion, is a nicely organized list of all these tips and tricks, written from the viewpoint of a Windows user. If X is what you do in Windows, how do you do it in Zorin?

If such a list already exists, my sincere apologies for wasting your time, and please, point me to it.

If not, I wouldn't mind spending a few weeks trying to write such an introduction. Providing I am allow to ask all kinds of stupid questions on this forum.

I would highly appreciate any thoughts on this subject.

Take care,
Simon

(simonvanmeygaarden@gmail.com)

Hi,

start here:

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2054

Ubuntu User Manual:

https://ubuntu-manual.org/

(Apologies up front - this is going to be a long one...)

The man said

First of all - Zorin 8 is AN AWESOME EXPERIENCE! This might well be the greatest operating system I have seen in years.

I would completely agree.

To be sure, I am a life-long Windows fan. Starting with PC DOS on an IBM AT, I have seen and used every DOS version, and Windows 3.11 / 95 / 98SE / NT 3.51 / XP and 7, both professionally and at home.

DOS - wow that was a fantastic and stable OS. I used NT 3.5 and shortly afterwards I bought NT4.0 but I think 2000 was possibly the best 32bit OS MS released closely followed by XP. Windows 2000, you had more control over the system while XP tried to automate more which meant less control but still a fantastic OS. In China MS still support XP so why not the rest of the world? I know they would not make much money in supporting old OS but people loved it and may be they needed to learn the lesson. Windows 8 or should it be called Windows Hate?

The last few years I have developed a small problem with my eyes (very light sensitive), so I always use a high contrast interface, with white, lime or yellow font on a black background.

Sorry to hear that and I wish you well.

Yesterday, I tried to reinstall Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit) on a Sony Viao notebook (Athlon II P360 Dual with 4 GB internal and 300 GB hard disk). System recovery took two hours (and seven reboots), tweaking and installing my own software took another hour (I mostly use portable software), and then, just to be sure, I started a Microsoft Update, which informed me there were 128 vital security updates to be made. After another three hours of downloading, accepting licenses, and rebooting... I gave up. The bloody thing wasn't even half way ready!

Windows

I inserted a USB drive (Yumi boot with Zorin 8 Core 64), installed Zorin in eight minutes, had a problem with the login screen, reinstalled in eight minutes, took a half hour tour to get the feel of it, and installed Firefox instead of Chrome (in Firefox, I can override the color scheme of web pages). Within one hour, I had a fully operational system. Everything works: screen, sound, mouse pad, wifi and even the special function keys. Awesome!

Congratulations and welcome to modern computing

It looks fantastic, uses about 9 GB of hard disk space (Windows 7 used 23 GB), needs some 500 MB internal memory when idle (Windows 7 used 1.5 GB), and it keeps running smoothly, even when I turn my processor down to 800 MHz.

I think the OS should be stable, easy to use and keep resources to a minimum so that more of the resources can be reserved for the user. Zorin fits the bill - in my opinion.

So now I need find answers for a whole range of small problems. Here are few examples:

Lets see what we can sort out for you.

- when I started to write this message, I went to Home\Document, wanting to create a new text file. In Windows, this is right-click | New | Text file. But right-click only gives me New Folder. Work-around: start Text Editor and save in Home\Documents.

May be ask the developers see if that can be incorporated. I must admit I do miss that functionality too. I normally open a text file by going to the command prompt. Your way may be easier.

- switching between active windows with Alt-Tab works as expected, but I also managed to add Shiny Switcher, which gives me three additional desktops. Is there a keyboard shortcut to switch between desktops? Work-around: by mouse click.

<CTRL> + <ALT> + <L or R arrow key> to switch desktops and <CTRL> + <ALT> + <down arrow key> gives you a pararmic view of your desktops.

Obviously, I could figure out all these things out by myself, without bothering anybody, but my guess is that any Windows user trying to switch to Zorin will run into the same problems, and what Zorin needs, in my humble opinion, is a nicely organized list of all these tips and tricks, written from the viewpoint of a Windows user. If X is what you do in Windows, how do you do it in Zorin?

It would be nice and also some Zorin tips and tricks too.

If such a list already exists, my sincere apologies for wasting your time, and please, point me to it.

Wolfman already has done but you could write one for Zorin and see if you could make it a sticky for all of us to read,

If not, I wouldn't mind spending a few weeks trying to write such an introduction. Providing I am allow to ask all kinds of stupid questions on this forum.

You can ask as many questions as you like. I sometimes find some of my answers using the search on this forum but in any case, remember to list all your questions into seperate topics (/ threads) as it makes it easier for people to answer and also for other members to find answers to their questions.

I would highly appreciate any thoughts on this subject.

You will only get my honest opinion - I do have a saying "If my opinion offendes you then it was not my opinion you seek but my agreement"

testing... wrote an answer yesterday, but I didn't came through... guess I'm still a spammer -smile-
when this gets published, I'll replace it with the original post...

Yeh! I'm a regular user now!
but I can't find a way to edit my previous post...

Greetings, Wolfman / Wolfgang.

Thanks for a great welcome! -smile-

As to asking all kinds of stupid questions - I've probably expressed myself poorly (please note: I am Dutch *and* over fifty!).

The entire purpose of my previous post was (a) to give some feedback and let the fellows behind Zorin know how much I liked my first experience with it, and (b) to find out whether or not there is a "Starters Guide to Zorin", specifically written for Windows users. There seem to be some 25.000 posts on this forum, and a search for "tutorial" returned some 140 matches, and so, to save some time, I figured, I could just as well ask for it.

(Which is, BTW, why I posted it in "How-tos and Tutorials", and, when I came back a few hours later, I spend about half an hour to find out that it was moved to "Help and Support". LOL)

Judging from Wolfman's response to my request, and to another post ("Is there a User's Manual" - viewtopic.php?f=5&t=7261), I fear I must conclude that there is no Beginners Guide for Zorin, and so I've already created a new project and started collecting notes.

With all due respect, the Post Install Guide (viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2054) and the Update Guide (viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2247) really require some background knowledge (which might be an understatement), and "Getting Started with Ubuntu 13.10" looks like an interesting read, and I am the kind of nerd that will probably read it (RTFM), but I really doubt that an average Windows user will actually try to read it, and if they do, they will most probably install Ubuntu itself and forget about Zorin.

So, to be absolutely clear about it, if I ask a question about some feature of Zorin, or the lack of it, or what looks to be a bug; I am not asking for a step-by-step instruction, or a work-around, or some bulk of documentation; I just need a general direction.

Status of my first four questions:

- Software Center in Dark Theme: I've seen a few posts about this, I'll try those first.
- Help in Dark Theme: presuming Help has its own config, I might solve this myself.
- New File in File Manager: this seems to work in Ubuntu, is this a bug?
- Keyboard shortcuts: found a list, some work, some don't - will post a separate question about those tomorrow.

Let me add another question. -smile-

Can anyone tell me the history of Zorin? Who created it, who's involved?

Take care,
Simon

BTW Wolfgang - I totaly agree about W2K, still got that running smoothly on several 15-year old Toshiba notebooks, I even go online with those, without firewall or virus scanner; never had a problem with them. I do, once a year, restore a Ghost image, just to be sure. And DOS, ah, don't tempt me! Single user, single tasking, that's control. Still playing with the idea to build my own 64-bit version of it. In assembler, of course. -smile-

It seems that small remarks are approved immediately, but longer posts have to wait until a mod clears them. I might have posted my long rant twice now, so I apologize for the inconvenience, and I'll just keep quiet until it gets published.

Take care,
Simon

Hi Simon,

simple answer there is to keep your posts short and to the point, ask a seperate question in a seperate thread, asking multiple questions in one thread will just confuse people.

Start a new thread for things you need to know, you are expected to learn as you go and I know the post install guide is overflowing with things you might not understand now and I have tried to keep it as simple as possible.

Also; I for one don't have the time/energy/interest to read posts that are too long as I don't have the time!. Keep the posts short and to the point please!.

Saw your profile | # of posts: switching to telegraphic style... DONE

Greetings, Wolfman / Wolfgang.

Thanks for a great welcome! -smile-

As to asking all kinds of stupid questions - I've probably expressed myself poorly (please note: I am Dutch *and* over fifty!).

The entire purpose of my previous post was (a) to give some feedback and let the fellows behind Zorin know how much I liked my first experience with it, and (b) to find out whether or not there is a "Starters Guide to Zorin", specifically written for Windows users. There seem to be some 25.000 posts on this forum, and a search for "tutorial" returned some 140 matches, and so, to save some time, I figured, I could just as well ask for it.

(Which is, BTW, why I posted it in "How-tos and Tutorials", and, when I came back a few hours later, I spend about half an hour to find out that it was moved to "Help and Support". LOL)

Judging from Wolfman's response to my request, and to another post ("Is there a User's Manual" - viewtopic.php?f=5&t=7261), I fear I must conclude that there is no Beginners Guide for Zorin, and so I've already created a new project and started collecting notes.

With all due respect, the Post Install Guide (viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2054) and the Update Guide (viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2247) really require some background knowledge (which might be an understatement), and "Getting Started with Ubuntu 13.10" looks like an interesting read, and I am the kind of nerd that will probably read it (RTFM), but I really doubt that an average Windows user will actually try to read it, and if they do, they will most probably install Ubuntu itself and forget about Zorin.

So, to be absolutely clear about it, if I ask a question about some feature of Zorin, or the lack of it, or what looks to be a bug; I am not asking for a step-by-step instruction, or a work-around, or some bulk of documentation; I just need a general direction.

Status of my first four questions:

- Software Center in Dark Theme: I've seen a few posts about this, I'll try those first.
- Help in Dark Theme: presuming Help has its own config, I might solve this myself.
- New File in File Manager: this seems to work in Ubuntu, is this a bug?
- Keyboard shortcuts: found a list, some work, some don't - will post a separate question about those tomorrow.

Let me add another question. -smile-

Can anyone tell me the history of Zorin? Who created it, who's involved?

Take care,
Simon

BTW Wolfgang - I totaly agree about W2K, still got that running smoothly on several 15-year old Toshiba notebooks, I even go online with those, without firewall or virus scanner; never had a problem with them. I do, once a year, restore a Ghost image, just to be sure. And DOS, ah, don't tempt me! Single user, single tasking, that's control. Still playing with the idea to build my own 64-bit version of it. In assembler, of course. -smile-

The distribution was created by Artyom and Kyril Zorin from Dublin - their Grandparents emigrated from the Ukraine - they developed Zorin when they were about 9 and 11 years old respectively - I may have got that bit wrong but they must be the youngest GNU/Linux devs ever - see this interesting article here:

http://linuxblog.darkduck.com/2012/04/a ... ay-to.html

Thx!

Read the interview, and visited both their facebook pages. Really young, says he who still feels about 25.

Related question: is there some standard procedure for bug tracking, reporting problems and requesting for new features? In other words, who do I need to bribe to take a closer look at my problem with Help in Zorin Black?

Take care,
Simon

PM AZorin and zorink! and/or through their contact link on the main site. http://www.zorin-os.com/contacts.html