I have been using Zorin OS for my workstation for almost a year now, and only recently started using it for gaming. I had no idea that Zorin had all of these compatibility features built into the OS (kind of). I’m strictly using Steam Proton, ProtonGE, and Lutris, but it's been flawless for gaming. Frankly, I wasn't even aware of the "Windows-like" DE when I picked it. The only reason that I recommend Zorin to others is because it is the distro that kept me from distro hopping.
Wow. I learned yesterday that Proton's implementation could be all managed by the Steam client, differently from what I was tinkering with, and now that adding a fork may consist only of filling a directory. Zorin should update their statement on PlayOnLinux's v Valve's deployments and both their situations
funny you should mention that. Distro-hopping is precisely what I was trying to avoid. 101 flavours is a real pain when all you want is a good chocolate milkshake.
@@PeBoVision Agreed. When windows 10 is no longer supported I want a single Linux OS that I can stick to. Zorin OS and Pop OS are the 2 I've been looking into.
In a word, "Lutris". Use any Linux distribution with Lutris installed and your good, solves all your problems running windows programs on Linux. Cheers!
I converted all my computers to Linux a while back. For those thinking about asking, ...yes Zorin is on some and MX Linux is on others. I have no regrets at all. I'm very happy with Linux.
AMD GPU users: check what Mesa version you have vs. what the latest version is. You may want to add the kisak-mesa PPA to get the latest drivers. For my Radeon 570, it helped to get Proton 8/Experimental running.
I agree, I moved from Linux Mint to Ubuntu about a year ago because of the Mesa drivers, and at the beginning it was great, until I learned the problem was not Mint but me having just a crappy GPU, R9 390X, not AMD's best gpu really, having to disable the radeon drivers caused issues with proton. Upgraded to the RX 6600XT, earlier this year and everything has been ok, but Ubuntu really hates when I install any 3rd party software, a lot of conflicts with 3rd party repositories, having to disable a lot of stuff. Brave browser does not work as well as it used to in Linux Mint, slower Mesa driver updates. Now my mouse scrolling speed has been reduced. Will go back to Mint next year and I build a new PC.
_Ironically_ a community on the Discord platform known as Discord Linux _doesn't_ promote Ubuntu as a beginner friendly distro, hadn't for several years, but if you have problems with either Zorin or Mint, you get zero help there. Can't even tell people to visit their respective forums without staff hounding you. It's ridiculous.
@@bluephreakr That sucks, I tend to use askubuntu or stackoverflow, pretty helpful places. Or my favorite place to go for help r/linux_gaming . Linux, to me who has been trying it for the past 2 years, seems to be a place of freedom, a mix of libertarianism and wild wild west worlds for software. People should be excited to recommend to others to try different flavors of Linux, but distro snobs and fanatics really suck. I am curious about Zorin OS, will try it on a laptop I have that has been gathering dust, but will be going back to Mint for my new Gaming PC I'll build next year because I am comfortable with it, not saying it's the best, just a friendly distro of debian for someone like me that has used Windows since 98 SE, and uses my PCs mostly for gaming and emulation.
@@shadow_house9428 It's not even fanaticism. Some of their restrictions are for good reason, such as Manjaro's recent incompetence, or Nobara's lack of proven record. Others are deeply rooted in the past like Linux Mint's failure to adequately harden their servers which was cause for people to receive a maliciously modified copy of LM Cinnamon. Others still make no sense such as other popular non-Canonical Ubuntu derivatives being rejected, or forks of Arch regardless of competence. And others still you just get _RTFM or GTFO_ as they likely would for Gentoo or Slackware. Regardless, they possess a hostile attitude toward anything not mainstream, not corporate-backed and hobby projects such as use-case distributions. If a smaller distro that _could_ be on their good list slip with security, no amount of improvement will yield repentance. And much of it is nonsense.
@@shadow_house9428 the slow scrolling speed I had to fix with a chrome extension on mint 21, though the back/forward buttons on my mouse worked natively so that was a win.
I've been gaming on Zorin for ~2 years now! While it's definitely not perfect and there's the odd thing I can't run overall it works shockingly well. I imagine if you play a lot of competitive/multiplayer games you could have more difficulty due to the usual 'anti-cheat on Linux has issues' situation but that's an issue across all distros.
Zorin lite (lite pro) uses xfce for the DE, and Core/Pro uses customized gnome, But is a great distro and I used it as my daily driver for the last 2 years. Though i use steam w/ proton to run all my win games.
Playing Doom (2016) and Doom Eternal here on Zorin. Game running as smooth as runs on Windoze. Almost 212 fps (Ryzen 3700x / RX6750 XT specs). No tearing, 2K resolution and 5:1 sound.
Outstanding! 👍 M$ pissed me off with their rollout of Win11, for the Win10 features they took out of it. On top of that, I've been reading that there are _still_ problems with it. I have Win10, but I will wait for Win12 before I decide to upgrade... ...And that is only for my first drive. I've experimented with Zorin when they were still at v.12, and as I rebuild my system, I'm planning to use it for my second drive. I hesitated because I wanted to know how stable WINE was, and if it depended on the software and games you used. I still have software that goes as far back as WinME, and most of my old-school games were made for WinXP and Vista/7. _DOOM Eternal_ was not the kind of game that I thought could run in WINE. This being the case, I imagine I should have little trouble with my old-school collection; that is, if the graphics drivers work. I have an RX6600; and when last I checked, AMD rarely (if ever) releases drivers for Linux.
This is really interesting! The idea of a distro natively building in Wine + Proton is a really compelling idea (if the do go that route in the future), and I really like the approach that Zorin appears to be taking with their Desktop/Window management.
TBF, Steam OS v3.x for the Steam Deck does some of this. Granted it's not a desktop OS in terms of intended use. Having Wine preconfigured is a big time saver, though Proton within Steam is something more on the "user needs to toggle it" type of thing as this will make sure they know a tiny bit of what they're doing to toggle a switch (since there are a few versions of Proton that Steam uses and one might work better for some games than the current version out)
I am considering installing Zorin on that exact NUC, so this was VERY informative. It is my HTPC/vintage-gaming machine at the moment (it is an absolute MAME beast ! ) I have a closet full of discs that I have long written off as 'never-play-again' titles (because of drivers or DX issues) that may have new life breathed into them! I truly had not considered that. I'll start with an installation of Light on an old core-duo Windows 7 laptop to get the feel, and then install Core or Pro on my more modern PC's. Although most of my PC'S are fully Win 11 compatible, extracating myself from the Microsoft planned-obsolescense loop is just too tempting to ignore.
KDE Plasma on top is glorious and the most comfortably Windows without being so. As for old games, certain Wine commands are more effective than any preset you can think of.
Looking forward to the day I can say I can fully ditch Windows and do everything in Linux. The only thing I can't do 100% on Linux is running the games I like natively or without issues. And of course some hardware that aren't fully supported. But it has been getting better over the years. I use Linux 100% in my servers but on my workstation for now Windows will have to do. And by that I do not mean Windows is better, it isn't.
Hey Hey Hey, I noticed the colorful plastic "some assembly required" case down there in the corner. I hope you are doing a review on that? It's very cool and different from most other cases
I'm also in this boat. swapped around distros until I landed on fedora workstation. Have been using it for a year now with a few, but not many complaints
One thing I really didn't like about Zorin is... as a blind person... it did not default to Dark Theme. Having to switch it to Dark them mode so it wasn't burning out my eye sockets like staring into the sun would be foryou... was a major chore of squinting at the screen one inch away while holding my fingers against the screen to block out most of the blazing light around the word I was trying to read. Blind people absolutely need a dark theme by default, it's not optional. Think Dark High Contrast Mode in Windows. No Joke.
Jeff..... I am disappoint. How is there not even a single 'A View to a Kill' reference? Not a single Bond reference? Not a single Supervillain reference, despite a passing mention of superpower.
The Upgrader did not work at all for me. I mean my last version of Zprin was only installed 6 months ago. So i was rather P.O.ed and I jsut reformatted the disk to empty under Win10. I'll try it again, but I'm doing it fresh from a new ISO install. I didn't get any games to run under Zorin. I got Steam installed but never could get it to Login. I wouldn't even think of gaming on Linux unless its a native Linux Game. You're just entering a shell prompt spagetti mess ahead. I gave up on Zorin on my main desktop, but might install it on some Intneret Access Client older comptuers where I needa Windows 7 like operating system that won't expire hopefully for the next... 5 years? Is Zorin going to last that long? 10? 15? I'd prefer getting up there in the 15 to 20 range because I want to make these things and be done with them. I put Mandriva on them originally expecting the same but how well has Mandriva fared? I guess it's still around and getting updates but is no longer anybody's darling. The explosive fragmentation of Linux is just... a disaster... from a end users point of view. More choice isn't necessarly good, we all wish there was just one... good... linux.
If I can get Magix Sony Movie Studio / Sony Vegas to work under Zorin (which Im on now), I will dump Windows so fast... well okay it won't be fast... it will take a while to move as much over a possible... and Iguess put everything else inside a VM?
You're sure? There isn't any U model for the 2nd gen intels (2000 series), I think they started with either 5th or 6th generations (5000 or 6000). Anyways since I have an actual 2nd gen intel (i5 2430m), if you have one too like mine, what distro would you reccomend me? I'm new to Linux so I need something very easy to setup, while at the same time being the lightest possible because I use programs that take all the RAM and CPU, so I need an extremely light OS that would take up to 512mb of RAM and have no background processes that make the CPU work even the slightest. I need every little resource out of my computer, I really do programs that max it out. I already tried AntiX and it was great for its lightness, but I'm not so sure about it, I don't know if it has an old kernel and it had only a windows manager which I think made it harder to use for me. I'd like the kde plasma desktop enviroment if it's available with the same performance.
@@leothehuman_9476try bodhi if you want Ubuntu/Debian, or archcraft. they're both lightning fast but I think antix/legacyOS is in the same range of hardware requirements
I mean, yeah. Valve have proven this with SteamOS, and even without their tweaks, there were games that ran better under Linux through Wine than on Windows. The real irony is that Wine and Valve's Windows compatibility layer gave Linux its only stable ABI.
world of tanks ran at 170fps on my 6700k integraded graphics with proton vs 70 fps on windows on the same settings. Some dont run as well, but the differences can be astonishing
The problem is Windows itself. Lots of bs going on the background, spy trains etc. Game devs and software devs should start focusing on Linux! At my work we use Windows XP to run our machines and we use QT Frontend and backend programs... As far as i know QT is cross-platform software for creating graphical user interfaces as well as cross-platform applications that run on various software and hardware platforms such as Linux, Windows, macOS, Android or embedded systems...
I think the main scheme for ZorinOS reminds me of the days of Windows XP and I think people should use it over Linux Mint if they want a good beginner Linux distro the lay out is definitely more modern than on Windows. We gotta think realistically because not a lot of us can afford upgrades or new computers I think ZorinOS has my respect and deserves to be the next Windows XP king for Windows enthusiasts who like the layout they really did put a lot of work into ZorinOS and I might make it my main drive after Windows 10 stops working I think ZorinOS deserves more praise than Microsoft who fails to listen to customers in what they want rather Microsoft only wants what they want. I think ZorinOS is really one of the best Linux experiences I have had possibly since Windows XP I though Linux Mint was good damn dude these guys are at least trying to bring out their best half of me wants to get rid of Windows 10 all together for ZorinOS I got a Dual WIFi Adapter and I can pop out 900mpbs download rate if I wanted to over on ZorinOS I am feeling naturally overclocked and feel like I got a bit of my childhood nostalgia back I swear you not the main scheme really does remind me of Windows XP and I instantly dived in almost thinking I was using it for second but I knew it was ZorinOS.
NVIDIA are still dragging their heels. Wayland is still problematic with NVIDIA and some apps ( but its coming on nicely ). Better scaling support is still being worked on. HDR support is still being worked on. Intel are still working on MESA GPU support. Basically its not ready for "normies". Any number of actual desktop distros are perfectly good, better, alternatives for generic hardware.
Bro , you can literally use the steam wine bottle , glorious eggroll wine and any other wine version or bottle . By using q4 wine . Smh Its just a nice af gui for making wine bottles and switching wine versions easy as fk . Its almost as useful as lutris . And more useful for seamlessly running windows software .
I love Zorin and have been using it as my main distro for years. However Zorin's claim that it has now solved windows game issues is simply not true. Many of the older classic games still have serious problems and trying to get them working under Zorin 16.3 is quite a quest. Things are getting better, but we are not here yet.
Id install batocera Linux on a separate internal ssd for your emulation while keeping a modern windows operating system as your base best of both worlds
I've been using Windows since 1990, but moved to Linux in 2020. Tried Mint, Ubuntu, Manjaro, PopOS and MX Linux on several machines, but a couple of months ago I ended up installing Zorin everywhere. A good selection of default packaging, easy install, familiar UX, packed app store and superb compatibility with AMD, Nvidia and Intel graphics chips makes it a run like a dream, it plays almost every game. The default kernel version is a bit old, but you can easily install Xanmod to use the latest kernel iteration. I only use Windows in dual-boot for work purposes and the occasional VR-games with my Quest 2.
This is the first time I knew that windows games can run in linux, so in theory simple windows app like metatrader 4-5 can run on this? I would definitely try out Zorin, and im here also for the beer break. Like watching a marvel movie, the post credit scenes is sometimes more interesting to watch beside the main video.
Laughs in Fedora Workstation. Seriously though while Zorin is an excellent distro the WINE implementation isn't really intended for gaming, its more to support the official list of Windows apps on WINE HQ. If gaming is your thing go the container route, flatpak Lutris etc. It's a good distro but not one you would pick for gaming... right tool for the job as they say.
What is your opinion of the latest LMDE distro? The last Linux distro I used was Mint 20 cinnamon. I liked it , . . actually , I don't remember what it was that prompted me to switch back to windows 10. I play older dx9-10 games the most often.
I generally only play older games and indi games but I've used ZORIN for years and have native Linux games, Native Windows .exe games, GOG GALAXY and Steam set to run all games types. There isn't anything I've used that dosn't run fine with ZORIN. Again I don't realy ever play modern AAA games at all though.
I think Triple A gaming is a joke to begin with I am testing ZorinOS and it looks way BETTER than Windows 11 and will restore some Windows XP nostalgia on first setup I love the interface layout and how everything runs on demand. You don't need to learn ANYTHING to use ZorinOS as a good beginner Linux desktop if you want something SIMILAR to Windows XP in 2024 this is as close as you can get but it's pushing it to pay for premium for extra themes I don't really need. They could of at least enabled a donation services even the main taskbar theme looks way BETTER than Windows combined I feel like I am using Windows XP all over again the classic start menu design is definitely a treat worth looking into for those who are Windows XP enthusiasts. Downloading Steam was a smooth transaction and I think it still depends on your hardware to make the games work I am using a Radeon RX 580 8G playing games like CyberPunk 2077 perfectly fine if not better than on Windows. I might use ZorinOS as an escape from Windows and keep Windows 10 as my main drive and use ZorinOS for extended Steam support but so far it doesn't look as if anything is breaking and so far feels more stable than any other Linux distro out there available. The taskbar also looks way better than MacOS and ChromeOS Flex it's definitely worth noting to put it on an older computer though if you plan on staying on Windows 10 after End of Life for specific software you will need but I say ZorinOS gets a 10/10 for me for the fashion design the developers have created BETTER than Windows 11 if you don't want Linux Mint I would DEFINITELY recommend ZorinOS to Windows users especially if your intentions is to just play basic Steam games. I tried all my 55 Steam games in my library and they actually WORKED I just need to see how hard it would be to use the Meta Quest 3 on ZorinOS using virtual desktop and Steam link rather than Meta LInk which LOOKS to be possible I wish Valve made their own All in One alternative to the Meta Quest devices though.
It was a beautiful OS but with no native support it is hard to use for my case as a gamer. some games just freezes and reason for me to revert back to windows
I mean it is still Debian-based Linux at the end of the day and with most games designed more on for Windows there will always be chances of preparing for unexpected hiccups or issues when trying to run it under compatibility layers like Wine/Proton. While a good amount of games will work fine others need tweaking or cannot work due to specific behaviors/anti-cheat. I can understand reverting to Windows for gaming specifially, just saying about expectations for gaming with Linux is something to prepare for. Many of the games I do play can work with Linux, but someone desiring to play say Warzone will need Windows.
@@autotropicplaybench1819 yes definitely. It is worth trying until devs and other software providers fully support linux. I will stay with windows even if I wanted to move out
Yeah. I really like Zorin overall. I don't have it on anything powerful enough to really push it though. I'm hoping to change that in the next few months. Zorin + Proton seems like a great marriage in theory.
Hello dear Craft))) Having a beer while watching your video is best of both worlds). Thank you for this great video and lot of information. Have a best time!
You can always remove it, if you don't like it. Though, personally I don't find it that bad. The only "downside" is that it's not an open platform, with it being run by Canonical. So long as you use an SSD, you don't really get those nasty launch times, like with a spinning drive. Even if my go-to is Flatpak, I can't deny Snapd has it's advantages.
@@madness1931 I stand with DistroTube's points, most of the software I install through Snapd doesn't take an eternity to launch, though Bitwarden is a fair exception to my experience. Oh, and the VLC call also takes a little too long to open it.
You should try AtlasOS, it is basically Windows 10, but with the fewest services you need running in the back ground. I even used it on my old laptop which strugled with the normal one. I even got to play a game with 2 fps. xD But at least it worked, unlike the normal Win 10.
5:38 This is where you lost 90% of windows users. So let me be clear. I install all games through Steam or Lutris. All the stuff he mentions will be handled for you. THERE IS NO NEED FOR COMMANDS IN THE TERMINAL. EVER.
I got the Windows Steam version installed through some hooks I can detail if requested and the first game I had in my library that I ran did okay, all playable! I know, it was a 2D click game (Simulacra), but it's somewhat amazing to see the gap constraining. I'm thinking of what to try running next, pairing with my hardware power, which isn't spectacular but gets it delivered for what I need.
@@mttkl There're games that aren't natively listed in the Linux version, and PlayOnLinux actually adverts in its docs using the Windows installer is doable. So Wine is used to open the installer and later the store itself, as well as the games (that may fail to launch if triggered through shortcuts but that's minor).
@@citizenkimi Ah I see, I have the native Linux version of Steam and I can see and install all Windows games (and play the majority of them too). Enabling Steam Play and Proton is the only thing I had to do, no need to jump through weird hoops nor anything.
@@mttkl I didn't know Steam provided it as a checkbox in the app, should I know it (thought building from source would be needed) I'd had already enabled it whatsoever. The shortcuts interestingly still don't work, but the processes take less RAM which was annoying me a bit before. Thank you for explaining and making me track it down
Using the lite version leaves you limited in capabilities because you aren't taking full advantage of your computer its optimized for older hardware well beneath your setups capabilities
For JKDF2 you could try OpenJKDF2. It supports the emissive textures which are only in SW mode. Also it has modern MP, SSAO, Bloom and built in jkgfxmod support.
Friend, I mean this in the nicest way possible, but if you care enough about your distro not being based on Ubuntu, nor using SystemD, Zorin won't ever be for you. Most new users moving from Windows won't even know the difference between SystemD, SysVinit, etc or really care tbh. The Mint devs may develop LMDE along side the Ubuntu-based version, but they will still continue to develop Mint with Ubuntu for the foreseeable future, seeing as 21.3 is said to release around Christmas.
I dont game, So for running a business Zorin is equal too if not better than Windows. I would never go back to windows. It found my printers without any problems.
Steam games regardless also work and I just tested out the benchmarking and works way BETTER than on Windows and I am hooked on the main taskbar theme reminds me an awful like the Windows XP days. It does advertise to positively resurrect your older hardware running ZorinOS which this computer was SUPPOSED to be a Windows 10 mid range gaming desktop I can see people playing classic and retro gaming on ZorinOS definitely especially games from mid 2000s and early 2000s I've played Alan Wake the original not the second game and games like Control and it works perfectly fine I'm not needing the Pro version because the main theme reminds me of Windows XP by a lot ZorinOS does need to be looked at by those who value privacy and security on their computers in fact video games on Steam running minimum requirements works just as fine as Windows if not better including better than Windows 11 by default I am definitely debating on making ZorinOS possibly after Windows 10 End of Life because Windows users still have time to think about upgrading but do definitely virtual machine ZorinOS before you decide to switch over you will not regret though how amazing the developers made this distro I swear I could stay on ZorinOS for the remainder of my life if I wanted to and ditch Microsoft all together.
Right but, you forgot the most important question which is : are you a douche bag? personally I think you are but that's not important… what IS important is that you didn't ask that burning question…
Vanilla wine is not suitable for running most games. It's better to use Proton instead. Proton is a patched version of wine (for the most part) bundled with some libraries needed to run your games. Bottles and Lutris are great tools for managing your Windows apps and games.
Mate I'll never understand why anyone would go through this. Why not just buy a 2tb ssd for a couple hundred bucks and dual boot windows for games if you want to use linux.
There is a significant overlap between people who want to use Linux to begin with and people who want to tinker with their OS and see just what they can get it to do. To some extent it’s a dedication to Open Source and finally achieving a long-held dream of releasing Microsoft’s stranglehold on the OS market. And over the last couple years we’ve advanced by leaps and bounds thanks to tech like Proton.
average ppl don't need windows anymore. linux gaming is not 100% perfect but 80~90% perfect therefore if you are not a serious gamer then you don't need windows. if you are graphic designer or video editor then you may have some issue and I can't recommend linux for daily work OS. but most people don't need that kind of S/W. nowdays windows is not mandatory OS. why do you pay for OS that don't need.
As much as they make the "Linux gaming experience" more "user-friendly" and the like -- it'll always be "not windows" kind of experience. As in, you've got to expect to do some dirty job compared to the "plug-and-play" experience you'd have on Windows. If anything, thats awesome for old folk like me who needs to "work out" their brains a little bit.
I have been using Zorin OS for my workstation for almost a year now, and only recently started using it for gaming. I had no idea that Zorin had all of these compatibility features built into the OS (kind of). I’m strictly using Steam Proton, ProtonGE, and Lutris, but it's been flawless for gaming. Frankly, I wasn't even aware of the "Windows-like" DE when I picked it.
The only reason that I recommend Zorin to others is because it is the distro that kept me from distro hopping.
Wow. I learned yesterday that Proton's implementation could be all managed by the Steam client, differently from what I was tinkering with, and now that adding a fork may consist only of filling a directory. Zorin should update their statement on PlayOnLinux's v Valve's deployments and both their situations
What games do you mainly play? I am trying to build my linux library
funny you should mention that. Distro-hopping is precisely what I was trying to avoid.
101 flavours is a real pain when all you want is a good chocolate milkshake.
@@PeBoVision Agreed. When windows 10 is no longer supported I want a single Linux OS that I can stick to.
Zorin OS and Pop OS are the 2 I've been looking into.
In a word, "Lutris". Use any Linux distribution with Lutris installed and your good, solves all your problems running windows programs on Linux. Cheers!
Came for the ZorinOS video, stayed for the five minute beer review
I converted all my computers to Linux a while back.
For those thinking about asking, ...yes Zorin is on some and MX Linux is on others.
I have no regrets at all. I'm very happy with Linux.
AMD GPU users: check what Mesa version you have vs. what the latest version is. You may want to add the kisak-mesa PPA to get the latest drivers. For my Radeon 570, it helped to get Proton 8/Experimental running.
Zorin is the only distro next to Mint that just works. I love Ubuntu's look but every revision just breaks something from the last one.
I agree, I moved from Linux Mint to Ubuntu about a year ago because of the Mesa drivers, and at the beginning it was great, until I learned the problem was not Mint but me having just a crappy GPU, R9 390X, not AMD's best gpu really, having to disable the radeon drivers caused issues with proton. Upgraded to the RX 6600XT, earlier this year and everything has been ok, but Ubuntu really hates when I install any 3rd party software, a lot of conflicts with 3rd party repositories, having to disable a lot of stuff. Brave browser does not work as well as it used to in Linux Mint, slower Mesa driver updates. Now my mouse scrolling speed has been reduced. Will go back to Mint next year and I build a new PC.
_Ironically_ a community on the Discord platform known as Discord Linux _doesn't_ promote Ubuntu as a beginner friendly distro, hadn't for several years, but if you have problems with either Zorin or Mint, you get zero help there. Can't even tell people to visit their respective forums without staff hounding you.
It's ridiculous.
@@bluephreakr That sucks, I tend to use askubuntu or stackoverflow, pretty helpful places. Or my favorite place to go for help r/linux_gaming . Linux, to me who has been trying it for the past 2 years, seems to be a place of freedom, a mix of libertarianism and wild wild west worlds for software.
People should be excited to recommend to others to try different flavors of Linux, but distro snobs and fanatics really suck.
I am curious about Zorin OS, will try it on a laptop I have that has been gathering dust, but will be going back to Mint for my new Gaming PC I'll build next year because I am comfortable with it, not saying it's the best, just a friendly distro of debian for someone like me that has used Windows since 98 SE, and uses my PCs mostly for gaming and emulation.
@@shadow_house9428 It's not even fanaticism. Some of their restrictions are for good reason, such as Manjaro's recent incompetence, or Nobara's lack of proven record. Others are deeply rooted in the past like Linux Mint's failure to adequately harden their servers which was cause for people to receive a maliciously modified copy of LM Cinnamon. Others still make no sense such as other popular non-Canonical Ubuntu derivatives being rejected, or forks of Arch regardless of competence. And others still you just get _RTFM or GTFO_ as they likely would for Gentoo or Slackware.
Regardless, they possess a hostile attitude toward anything not mainstream, not corporate-backed and hobby projects such as use-case distributions. If a smaller distro that _could_ be on their good list slip with security, no amount of improvement will yield repentance. And much of it is nonsense.
@@shadow_house9428 the slow scrolling speed I had to fix with a chrome extension on mint 21, though the back/forward buttons on my mouse worked natively so that was a win.
I've been gaming on Zorin for ~2 years now! While it's definitely not perfect and there's the odd thing I can't run overall it works shockingly well.
I imagine if you play a lot of competitive/multiplayer games you could have more difficulty due to the usual 'anti-cheat on Linux has issues' situation but that's an issue across all distros.
Zorin lite (lite pro) uses xfce for the DE, and Core/Pro uses customized gnome, But is a great distro and I used it as my daily driver for the last 2 years. Though i use steam w/ proton to run all my win games.
FYI, not a Skull Canyon. That's actually the Hades Canyon
Playing Doom (2016) and Doom Eternal here on Zorin.
Game running as smooth as runs on Windoze.
Almost 212 fps (Ryzen 3700x / RX6750 XT specs).
No tearing, 2K resolution and 5:1 sound.
Outstanding! 👍 M$ pissed me off with their rollout of Win11, for the Win10 features they took out of it. On top of that, I've been reading that there are _still_ problems with it. I have Win10, but I will wait for Win12 before I decide to upgrade...
...And that is only for my first drive. I've experimented with Zorin when they were still at v.12, and as I rebuild my system, I'm planning to use it for my second drive. I hesitated because I wanted to know how stable WINE was, and if it depended on the software and games you used. I still have software that goes as far back as WinME, and most of my old-school games were made for WinXP and Vista/7.
_DOOM Eternal_ was not the kind of game that I thought could run in WINE. This being the case, I imagine I should have little trouble with my old-school collection; that is, if the graphics drivers work. I have an RX6600; and when last I checked, AMD rarely (if ever) releases drivers for Linux.
@@CookyMonzta because amd drivers are baked into the kernel...
@@jolynele2587 I didn't know that.
I installed it yesterday, everything loaded and works without problems and faster than on Windows
9:25 - Thanks for the seizure warning. I was already suffering a small headache and appreciate the heads up on when to look away from the screen.
The "Lite" version also uses XFCE desktop instead of Gnome
All 26 letters are wonderful, but you are absolutely correct, I , P, and A are the very best letters to combine with B , E, and R.
You thought this beer review was long? There was originally gonna be two whole reviews.
This is really interesting! The idea of a distro natively building in Wine + Proton is a really compelling idea (if the do go that route in the future), and I really like the approach that Zorin appears to be taking with their Desktop/Window management.
TBF, Steam OS v3.x for the Steam Deck does some of this. Granted it's not a desktop OS in terms of intended use. Having Wine preconfigured is a big time saver, though Proton within Steam is something more on the "user needs to toggle it" type of thing as this will make sure they know a tiny bit of what they're doing to toggle a switch (since there are a few versions of Proton that Steam uses and one might work better for some games than the current version out)
@@experimental0000 SteamOS doesn't have it preinstalled either. You need to use the Wine Flatpak
Check out the Nobara Project.
I am looking at installing Zorin Os alongside Windows 11 on my Dell Optiplex 9010
Probably mentioned before but that seems like a Hades Canyon NUC instead of Skull Canyon.
I am considering installing Zorin on that exact NUC, so this was VERY informative. It is my HTPC/vintage-gaming machine at the moment (it is an absolute MAME beast ! )
I have a closet full of discs that I have long written off as 'never-play-again' titles (because of drivers or DX issues) that may have new life breathed into them! I truly had not considered that.
I'll start with an installation of Light on an old core-duo Windows 7 laptop to get the feel, and then install Core or Pro on my more modern PC's. Although most of my PC'S are fully Win 11 compatible, extracating myself from the Microsoft planned-obsolescense loop is just too tempting to ignore.
KDE Plasma on top is glorious and the most comfortably Windows without being so.
As for old games, certain Wine commands are more effective than any preset you can think of.
Looking forward to the day I can say I can fully ditch Windows and do everything in Linux. The only thing I can't do 100% on Linux is running the games I like natively or without issues. And of course some hardware that aren't fully supported. But it has been getting better over the years. I use Linux 100% in my servers but on my workstation for now Windows will have to do. And by that I do not mean Windows is better, it isn't.
Should try RegataOS made for gaming, all of your drivers and game stores are already installed.
Hey Hey Hey, I noticed the colorful plastic "some assembly required" case down there in the corner. I hope you are doing a review on that? It's very cool and different from most other cases
You'll see it next week hopefully 😁
I really like using Fedora. Current kernels and drivers for all my stuff.
I'm also in this boat. swapped around distros until I landed on fedora workstation. Have been using it for a year now with a few, but not many complaints
I'm running Nobara already, would I see much difference switching to Zorin?
Yes, your gaming performance probably won't be as good, particularly if you're using an AMD GPU.
One thing I really didn't like about Zorin is... as a blind person... it did not default to Dark Theme.
Having to switch it to Dark them mode so it wasn't burning out my eye sockets like staring into the sun would be foryou... was a major chore of squinting at the screen one inch away while holding my fingers against the screen to block out most of the blazing light around the word I was trying to read. Blind people absolutely need a dark theme by default, it's not optional. Think Dark High Contrast Mode in Windows. No Joke.
Wow thats a long beer review :D
What about Zorin 17....has it become better?
Would dgvoodoo work to help with older titles in this os?
Jeff..... I am disappoint. How is there not even a single 'A View to a Kill' reference? Not a single Bond reference? Not a single Supervillain reference, despite a passing mention of superpower.
The Upgrader did not work at all for me.
I mean my last version of Zprin was only installed 6 months ago.
So i was rather P.O.ed and I jsut reformatted the disk to empty under Win10.
I'll try it again, but I'm doing it fresh from a new ISO install.
I didn't get any games to run under Zorin. I got Steam installed but never could get it to Login. I wouldn't even think of gaming on Linux unless its a native Linux Game. You're just entering a shell prompt spagetti mess ahead.
I gave up on Zorin on my main desktop, but might install it on some Intneret Access Client older comptuers where I needa Windows 7 like operating system that won't expire hopefully for the next... 5 years? Is Zorin going to last that long? 10? 15? I'd prefer getting up there in the 15 to 20 range because I want to make these things and be done with them.
I put Mandriva on them originally expecting the same but how well has Mandriva fared? I guess it's still around and getting updates but is no longer anybody's darling.
The explosive fragmentation of Linux is just... a disaster... from a end users point of view. More choice isn't necessarly good, we all wish there was just one... good... linux.
If I can get Magix Sony Movie Studio / Sony Vegas to work under Zorin (which Im on now), I will dump Windows so fast... well okay it won't be fast... it will take a while to move as much over a possible... and Iguess put everything else inside a VM?
"..hybrid 62/32 bit goofiness"? 😉
People tell me to either use Zorin or Nobara. I'm new to Linux either way and windows won't go on my next PC build.
Is that Bud Light on the table?
I've been using Zorin for a long time, very light, very easy to use. Have never tried gaming on it because I'm using it on like, i5-2500u machines.
You're sure? There isn't any U model for the 2nd gen intels (2000 series), I think they started with either 5th or 6th generations (5000 or 6000).
Anyways since I have an actual 2nd gen intel (i5 2430m), if you have one too like mine, what distro would you reccomend me?
I'm new to Linux so I need something very easy to setup, while at the same time being the lightest possible because I use programs that take all the RAM and CPU, so I need an extremely light OS that would take up to 512mb of RAM and have no background processes that make the CPU work even the slightest.
I need every little resource out of my computer, I really do programs that max it out.
I already tried AntiX and it was great for its lightness, but I'm not so sure about it, I don't know if it has an old kernel and it had only a windows manager which I think made it harder to use for me. I'd like the kde plasma desktop enviroment if it's available with the same performance.
@@leothehuman_9476try bodhi if you want Ubuntu/Debian, or archcraft. they're both lightning fast but I think antix/legacyOS is in the same range of hardware requirements
Can you play turtle wow on zorin os?
*'a nuq DaHechlaH'a'?*
- Kahless the Unforgettable
Loving this osne of the few Linix OS's i paid for pro.
I mean, yeah. Valve have proven this with SteamOS, and even without their tweaks, there were games that ran better under Linux through Wine than on Windows. The real irony is that Wine and Valve's Windows compatibility layer gave Linux its only stable ABI.
world of tanks ran at 170fps on my 6700k integraded graphics with proton vs 70 fps on windows on the same settings. Some dont run as well, but the differences can be astonishing
The problem is Windows itself. Lots of bs going on the background, spy trains etc. Game devs and software devs should start focusing on Linux! At my work we use Windows XP to run our machines and we use QT Frontend and backend programs... As far as i know QT is cross-platform software for creating graphical user interfaces as well as cross-platform applications that run on various software and hardware platforms such as Linux, Windows, macOS, Android or embedded systems...
It's like 2 years later. Still laughing. "Shock-o-pee" lol
This is why i run windows apps trough proton(and their forks) and not wine.
I think the main scheme for ZorinOS reminds me of the days of Windows XP and I think people should use it over Linux Mint if they want a good beginner Linux distro the lay out is definitely more modern than on Windows. We gotta think realistically because not a lot of us can afford upgrades or new computers I think ZorinOS has my respect and deserves to be the next Windows XP king for Windows enthusiasts who like the layout they really did put a lot of work into ZorinOS and I might make it my main drive after Windows 10 stops working I think ZorinOS deserves more praise than Microsoft who fails to listen to customers in what they want rather Microsoft only wants what they want. I think ZorinOS is really one of the best Linux experiences I have had possibly since Windows XP I though Linux Mint was good damn dude these guys are at least trying to bring out their best half of me wants to get rid of Windows 10 all together for ZorinOS I got a Dual WIFi Adapter and I can pop out 900mpbs download rate if I wanted to over on ZorinOS I am feeling naturally overclocked and feel like I got a bit of my childhood nostalgia back I swear you not the main scheme really does remind me of Windows XP and I instantly dived in almost thinking I was using it for second but I knew it was ZorinOS.
Where the heck is my steam os I know thers holoiso but wtf doesn't steam just update there steam os download
NVIDIA are still dragging their heels.
Wayland is still problematic with NVIDIA and some apps ( but its coming on nicely ).
Better scaling support is still being worked on.
HDR support is still being worked on.
Intel are still working on MESA GPU support.
Basically its not ready for "normies".
Any number of actual desktop distros are perfectly good, better, alternatives for generic hardware.
Bro , you can literally use the steam wine bottle , glorious eggroll wine and any other wine version or bottle .
By using q4 wine . Smh
Its just a nice af gui for making wine bottles and switching wine versions easy as fk . Its almost as useful as lutris . And more useful for seamlessly running windows software .
I love Zorin and have been using it as my main distro for years. However Zorin's claim that it has now solved windows game issues is simply not true.
Many of the older classic games still have serious problems and trying to get them working under Zorin 16.3 is quite a quest.
Things are getting better, but we are not here yet.
Ok.
Seen it.
But Jeff, how about creating a most useful gaming on Linux guide.
For example,using 3Dfx cards,or any hardware at all,like old Radeons?
I don't think 3D is supported on linux
Aaaargh another Tech site with subtle LGBTQI+ messaging. Stop with it all ready.
Lutris didn't work for me. Downloaded Steam and Heroic from the store and it was a breeze. No Mans Sky works great.
Id install batocera Linux on a separate internal ssd for your emulation while keeping a modern windows operating system as your base best of both worlds
I've been using Windows since 1990, but moved to Linux in 2020. Tried Mint, Ubuntu, Manjaro, PopOS and MX Linux on several machines, but a couple of months ago I ended up installing Zorin everywhere. A good selection of default packaging, easy install, familiar UX, packed app store and superb compatibility with AMD, Nvidia and Intel graphics chips makes it a run like a dream, it plays almost every game. The default kernel version is a bit old, but you can easily install Xanmod to use the latest kernel iteration. I only use Windows in dual-boot for work purposes and the occasional VR-games with my Quest 2.
I love me some LINUX!! Nice video!
This is the first time I knew that windows games can run in linux, so in theory simple windows app like metatrader 4-5 can run on this?
I would definitely try out Zorin, and im here also for the beer break. Like watching a marvel movie, the post credit scenes is sometimes more interesting to watch beside the main video.
If it runs in Wine.
"windows games can run in linux" Go take a look at the Steam Deck.
Laughs in Fedora Workstation. Seriously though while Zorin is an excellent distro the WINE implementation isn't really intended for gaming, its more to support the official list of Windows apps on WINE HQ. If gaming is your thing go the container route, flatpak Lutris etc. It's a good distro but not one you would pick for gaming... right tool for the job as they say.
pretty sure they install some ancient ass version of wine anyway, you can tell by the theme, it's something older than 7.2 for sure
@@etaashmathamsetty7399 @Craft Computing what does this command return in Zorin?
wine --version
@@notjustforhackers4252 hold up lemme install it in a vm real quick /s (won't actually do this, hence the /s)
fedora is my go to for gaming and everything else
What is your opinion of the latest LMDE distro? The last Linux distro I used was Mint 20 cinnamon. I liked it , . . actually , I don't remember what it was that prompted me to switch back to windows 10. I play older dx9-10 games the most often.
Someone got a new Radeon RX 7000 series card there in the background.
😕 nope
It's the 6000 series if you're referring to the one next to the left of the monitor (the 7000 series design is all black so far)
Yo...that case in the corner. Colors pop nice. That jawn fresh though
Video on that one coming next week :-)
a sorry from MN, we have a lot of native names that are often mispronounced. it's Shock-a-pee
Chemawa, Puyallup, Chemeketa, Clatskanie.... Try me.
Well try batocera next time
A new red shirt jeff
I prefer 'Mirror Universe' Jeff.
8:42 damn! I remember this game! I used to play it when I was little. XD
Are you certain it wont 'break the lock' and set up a double earthquake on the San Andreas fault?
Does it at least have a funky Blimp?
I generally only play older games and indi games but I've used ZORIN for years and have native Linux games, Native Windows .exe games, GOG GALAXY and Steam set to run all games types. There isn't anything I've used that dosn't run fine with ZORIN.
Again I don't realy ever play modern AAA games at all though.
I think Triple A gaming is a joke to begin with I am testing ZorinOS and it looks way BETTER than Windows 11 and will restore some Windows XP nostalgia on first setup I love the interface layout and how everything runs on demand. You don't need to learn ANYTHING to use ZorinOS as a good beginner Linux desktop if you want something SIMILAR to Windows XP in 2024 this is as close as you can get but it's pushing it to pay for premium for extra themes I don't really need. They could of at least enabled a donation services even the main taskbar theme looks way BETTER than Windows combined I feel like I am using Windows XP all over again the classic start menu design is definitely a treat worth looking into for those who are Windows XP enthusiasts. Downloading Steam was a smooth transaction and I think it still depends on your hardware to make the games work I am using a Radeon RX 580 8G playing games like CyberPunk 2077 perfectly fine if not better than on Windows. I might use ZorinOS as an escape from Windows and keep Windows 10 as my main drive and use ZorinOS for extended Steam support but so far it doesn't look as if anything is breaking and so far feels more stable than any other Linux distro out there available. The taskbar also looks way better than MacOS and ChromeOS Flex it's definitely worth noting to put it on an older computer though if you plan on staying on Windows 10 after End of Life for specific software you will need but I say ZorinOS gets a 10/10 for me for the fashion design the developers have created BETTER than Windows 11 if you don't want Linux Mint I would DEFINITELY recommend ZorinOS to Windows users especially if your intentions is to just play basic Steam games. I tried all my 55 Steam games in my library and they actually WORKED I just need to see how hard it would be to use the Meta Quest 3 on ZorinOS using virtual desktop and Steam link rather than Meta LInk which LOOKS to be possible I wish Valve made their own All in One alternative to the Meta Quest devices though.
It was a beautiful OS but with no native support it is hard to use for my case as a gamer. some games just freezes and reason for me to revert back to windows
I mean it is still Debian-based Linux at the end of the day and with most games designed more on for Windows there will always be chances of preparing for unexpected hiccups or issues when trying to run it under compatibility layers like Wine/Proton. While a good amount of games will work fine others need tweaking or cannot work due to specific behaviors/anti-cheat.
I can understand reverting to Windows for gaming specifially, just saying about expectations for gaming with Linux is something to prepare for. Many of the games I do play can work with Linux, but someone desiring to play say Warzone will need Windows.
@@autotropicplaybench1819 yes definitely. It is worth trying until devs and other software providers fully support linux. I will stay with windows even if I wanted to move out
damn just when i was done distro hopping
Yeah. I really like Zorin overall. I don't have it on anything powerful enough to really push it though. I'm hoping to change that in the next few months. Zorin + Proton seems like a great marriage in theory.
For kde fans, there is a project similar to zorin os, but with kde. Its name is Feren OS
Hello dear Craft))) Having a beer while watching your video is best of both worlds). Thank you for this great video and lot of information. Have a best time!
You talk about morrowind and didn’t show it? Rhett must have been hog tied during editing to let that happen
The video would have been an hour long.
I really like Zorin, I do... I just wish it didn't ship with Snapd
You can always remove it, if you don't like it. Though, personally I don't find it that bad. The only "downside" is that it's not an open platform, with it being run by Canonical. So long as you use an SSD, you don't really get those nasty launch times, like with a spinning drive. Even if my go-to is Flatpak, I can't deny Snapd has it's advantages.
@@madness1931 I stand with DistroTube's points, most of the software I install through Snapd doesn't take an eternity to launch, though Bitwarden is a fair exception to my experience. Oh, and the VLC call also takes a little too long to open it.
You should try AtlasOS, it is basically Windows 10, but with the fewest services you need running in the back ground. I even used it on my old laptop which strugled with the normal one. I even got to play a game with 2 fps. xD But at least it worked, unlike the normal Win 10.
for many older games that used 3dfx glide api, you can use glide wrapper to run them with proper graphics quality - maybe even beyond.
Thx for the warning!
Came here from the public humiliation tweet, shamed to see the comment is gone so I can't do my part
Me too.
Did that beer taste fruity?
5:38 This is where you lost 90% of windows users. So let me be clear.
I install all games through Steam or Lutris. All the stuff he mentions will be handled for you.
THERE IS NO NEED FOR COMMANDS IN THE TERMINAL. EVER.
I really like Zorin, it's the distro I switched to from windows and I've been running it since.
Just tell the sauce wtf...
but can it modern warfare and warzone?
I got the Windows Steam version installed through some hooks I can detail if requested and the first game I had in my library that I ran did okay, all playable! I know, it was a 2D click game (Simulacra), but it's somewhat amazing to see the gap constraining. I'm thinking of what to try running next, pairing with my hardware power, which isn't spectacular but gets it delivered for what I need.
What's the advantage of using the Windows version of Steam instead of the native Linux one? I only ever used the native one.
@@mttkl There're games that aren't natively listed in the Linux version, and PlayOnLinux actually adverts in its docs using the Windows installer is doable. So Wine is used to open the installer and later the store itself, as well as the games (that may fail to launch if triggered through shortcuts but that's minor).
@@citizenkimi Ah I see, I have the native Linux version of Steam and I can see and install all Windows games (and play the majority of them too).
Enabling Steam Play and Proton is the only thing I had to do, no need to jump through weird hoops nor anything.
@@mttkl I didn't know Steam provided it as a checkbox in the app, should I know it (thought building from source would be needed) I'd had already enabled it whatsoever. The shortcuts interestingly still don't work, but the processes take less RAM which was annoying me a bit before. Thank you for explaining and making me track it down
Using the lite version leaves you limited in capabilities because you aren't taking full advantage of your computer its optimized for older hardware well beneath your setups capabilities
For JKDF2 you could try OpenJKDF2. It supports the emissive textures which are only in SW mode. Also it has modern MP, SSAO, Bloom and built in jkgfxmod support.
Just the video I was waiting for
I wish they'd decouple from Ubuntu the way Mint has, and from SystemD(umpster) the way MX has, then I'd happily outright buy 16.3 Pro in a nanosecond.
Friend, I mean this in the nicest way possible, but if you care enough about your distro not being based on Ubuntu, nor using SystemD, Zorin won't ever be for you. Most new users moving from Windows won't even know the difference between SystemD, SysVinit, etc or really care tbh. The Mint devs may develop LMDE along side the Ubuntu-based version, but they will still continue to develop Mint with Ubuntu for the foreseeable future, seeing as 21.3 is said to release around Christmas.
and you still can't run netflix in 1080p in linux...smh
But can it run Cry
Pop Os is the bee's kness
@User-Joycemeyer3 deeze nuts
proton ge outside steam isnt supported they make wine ge for that.
Interesting, to say the least.
or... you know... you could install bottles on any distro and run stuff through that!
Imagine using ZorinOs at first place...
I dont game, So for running a business Zorin is equal too if not better than Windows. I would never go back to windows. It found my printers without any problems.
Steam games regardless also work and I just tested out the benchmarking and works way BETTER than on Windows and I am hooked on the main taskbar theme reminds me an awful like the Windows XP days. It does advertise to positively resurrect your older hardware running ZorinOS which this computer was SUPPOSED to be a Windows 10 mid range gaming desktop I can see people playing classic and retro gaming on ZorinOS definitely especially games from mid 2000s and early 2000s I've played Alan Wake the original not the second game and games like Control and it works perfectly fine I'm not needing the Pro version because the main theme reminds me of Windows XP by a lot ZorinOS does need to be looked at by those who value privacy and security on their computers in fact video games on Steam running minimum requirements works just as fine as Windows if not better including better than Windows 11 by default I am definitely debating on making ZorinOS possibly after Windows 10 End of Life because Windows users still have time to think about upgrading but do definitely virtual machine ZorinOS before you decide to switch over you will not regret though how amazing the developers made this distro I swear I could stay on ZorinOS for the remainder of my life if I wanted to and ditch Microsoft all together.
are you singing or talking ? 😁
ZorinOS looks cool , a bit outdated but cool. For desktop i rather use a rolling release type of distribution
Right but, you forgot the most important question which is : are you a douche bag? personally I think you are but that's not important… what IS important is that you didn't ask that burning question…
i used zorin back in 2013, and really liked it.
Vanilla wine is not suitable for running most games. It's better to use Proton instead. Proton is a patched version of wine (for the most part) bundled with some libraries needed to run your games. Bottles and Lutris are great tools for managing your Windows apps and games.
Mate I'll never understand why anyone would go through this. Why not just buy a 2tb ssd for a couple hundred bucks and dual boot windows for games if you want to use linux.
There is a significant overlap between people who want to use Linux to begin with and people who want to tinker with their OS and see just what they can get it to do. To some extent it’s a dedication to Open Source and finally achieving a long-held dream of releasing Microsoft’s stranglehold on the OS market. And over the last couple years we’ve advanced by leaps and bounds thanks to tech like Proton.
average ppl don't need windows anymore. linux gaming is not 100% perfect but 80~90% perfect therefore if you are not a serious gamer then you don't need windows. if you are graphic designer or video editor then you may have some issue and I can't recommend linux for daily work OS. but most people don't need that kind of S/W. nowdays windows is not mandatory OS. why do you pay for OS that don't need.
Clear linux as my host OS, kvm/ qemu for trying stuff/running the few apps/games i need to.
Been using Zorin since version 14. It’s been dual booted with Windows on every machine I’ve owned
As much as they make the "Linux gaming experience" more "user-friendly" and the like -- it'll always be "not windows" kind of experience. As in, you've got to expect to do some dirty job compared to the "plug-and-play" experience you'd have on Windows. If anything, thats awesome for old folk like me who needs to "work out" their brains a little bit.
I understand some dirty job but with Linux everything is a dirty job sometimes.