Zorin OS 17: Linux for Windows Users

Zorin OS 17 Linux distro review, including obtaining and installing the Core or Pro versions, and a demo of new and key features.
You can learn more and download Zorin OS 17 from: zorin.com/os/
My video on “PC BIOS Settings” is here:
• PC BIOS Settings
And if you enjoy this video, you may be interested in some of my other Linux episodes, including:
Linux Mint 21:
• Linux Mint 21: The Bes...
Debian 12:
• Debian 12: Milestone L...
Linux Survival Guide series -- first episode here:
• Linux Survival Guide #...
Promoting Linux: A User Manifesto:
• Promoting Linux: An En...
And there is a complete list of all ExplainingComputers Linux videos here: www.explainingcomputers.com/l...
For additional ExplainingComputers videos and weekly updates, you can learn about becoming a channel member here: / @explainingcomputers
More videos on computing and related topics can be found at:
/ @explainingcomputers
You may also like my ExplainingTheFuture channel at: / @explainingthefuture
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
00:36 Getting Zorin OS
03:56 Installation
07:47 Demo
16:38 Zorin OS 17 Pro
21:22 Wrap
#ZorinOS #Linux #ExplainingComputers

[@dragon2knight]

I just wanted to say thank you for stating that the Pro version is mainly for supporting the devs with some added fluff to say "thanks for the support!". Too many reviewers on YT have been sour on it and they should know better!

[@dannyboots]

I have the Pro premium plus deluxe special anniversary edition it's great so far

[@linuxrant]

I kinda like it to be called, the LITE version, the CORE version and the THANK YOU version...

[@DanElgaard9]

ABOUT TIME !!! We haven't seen a single video from you since last year!

[@ExplainingComputers]

You had me going there for a little bit! Happy 2024. :)

[@DanElgaard9]

@@ExplainingComputers (Almost) got you 🙂

[@TigerPaw193]

Ah, but it was worth the wait!

[@DanElgaard9]

@@TigerPaw193 Always 🙂

[@ffieditor]

I love your overviews. they get to the point and show off all the good stuff!

[@Alan-rt3se]

I totally agree--Zorin OS 17 is the best Linux distro for Windows users like myself. It's the first Linux distro I've tried that could be completely installed without any need for Terminal command-line inputs to install drivers or software. Previously I tried Linux Mint and Zorin 16.2, and both of them required a difficult process to install the drivers for my USB wi-fi adapter. Zorin 17 installed the drivers automatically.

[@kensmith5694]

New versions of Mint may have you covered on the wi-fi adapter. Improvements tend to spread out in the community.

[@CommodoreFan64]

Give Manjaro a try as they make using an Arch based distro very easy(stick to official builds for the best experience), they don't roll as fast pure Arch so more vetting before things get pushed out, and there Manjaro settings manager makes it easy to install WiFi drivers, along with most other hardware if it's not picked up at boot, same for updating kernels. just make sure an ethernet cable, or another known USB WiFi adapter is plugged in, and connected to the net. Only hardware issues I've personally had on Manjaro is some odd USB Bluetooth adapters, and a Canon printer a client of mine has, but HP, and Brother printers seem to have overall good Linux support.

[@Bareego]

Yeah, also Zorin was the first linux distro that enabled sound over hdmi properly for me.

[@mhavock]

It would be nice if he could actually test some windows apps on it. That is the BIGGEST reason people dont want to switch from windows. A fancy desktop is secondary.

[@kensmith5694]

@@mhavock All well written windows software works just fine under wine. In great many cases there is a native linux version or an equivalent program. It is a question of what you want to do more than a question of which software. Linux comes with a solitaire game and you can watch cat videos so almost all used are covered.

[@johncundiff7075]

I LOVE your Zorin videos!! I'm a diehard Mint guy, but this is the best case I've seen to change over to Zorin!! Thanks Mr. Barnatt!! Happy 2024!

[@vendetta.02]

You should be wary of switching to Zorin. Sadly Zorin uses snap, which is a proprietary package format made by Canonical in an attempt for them to control the while linux ecosystem and create a closed ecosystem similar to apple which is locked-off from end users. We should be supporting distros like Mint who use flatpak without snaps.

[@MoultrieGeek]

@@vendetta.02 By default Zorin uses Flatpak and traditional apt packaging. Snapd is installed and remains an option but is not used by any installed application and is simplicity itself to remove. I was a longtime Ubuntu user but switched to Zorin simply to get away from snap and Canonical's world domination plans for mainstream Linux.

[@maxirunpl]

​@@vendetta.02 I would install Linux mint, but the only thing keeping me from doing this is that they doesn't have Intel architecture(x86), only AMD64, and I don't like AMD that much, that's why I'll go with Zorin which has x86 architecture from Intel.

[@cellone710]

​@@maxirunplIt's the same architecture. AMD was the first to create the 64bit CPU architecture, hence the naming AMD64.

[@maxirunpl]

@@cellone710 To be honest I expected them to work the same. It's just my OCD, perfectionism and inexplicable hatred towards AMD. So I have to have that Intel/nvidia architecture or whatever name alongside amd.

[@AndyWJP]

A nice feature of the new Linux installers is that it tells you to unplug the USB dongle before rebooting and gives you the time to do it, before you were left guessing when to pull out the USB dongle.

[@Bewefau]

you should always pull out :3

[@easymoney480]

i have been confused many times about why i'm stuck on a loop and turns out i keep booting from the usb. Normally I know when to pull out but not this time

[@jamesdinsmore9022]

We have a stack of old loaner laptops at my MakerSpace for visitors and classes; most with I3 processors and limited resources; and after your last Zorin video I tried and liked it very much to extend the usefulness of these machines.

[@ExplainingComputers]

This is a great use case.

[@watsoft70]

I'm still running Windows 10 on an Phenom x4 processor that is probably way slower than your I3 with only 4GB, generally without any noticeable performance problems. The only bottleneck was the HDD, which once swapped for an SSD breathed new life into the machine. Performance does dip on this and even current lower end machines when Windows update or defender running in the background...when they are not used daily and these services need to catch up. If you want something that runs like a rocket on even older hardware see Christopher's video on installing Chrome OS onto PC hardware. Obviously you are happy with Zorin, but I just thought I'd mention other options.

[@zerocal76]

I'm about to try out Zorin and saw this. Love hearing about old tech being re-purposed or brought back to life w/ software & hardware changes (like SSD swaps)! Cheers to that mate 🍻

[@watsoft70]

@kevinlsims7330 XFCE is perhaps my favourite environment in Linux. I like it because of its no faff or frills approach and its general robustness. But despite wanting to use Linux I still find Windows more reliable, less faff and a better option all round for myself. If you're a mainstream user with ageing hardware and basic needs, then IF (notice that's a big one) it will install, Chrome OS Flex is a snappy Linux based distro that is robust, works out of the box, doesn't require frequent CLI intervention and is more robust that any of the many Linux distros I have tried. It's cool that Linux provides what you want and it has come on massively since I started trying it, but while it works now it's like using a Beta OS and not practical for many desktop users...server side (its original scope) is another ball game.

[@camerondean6804]

Love Zorin. What I run on my 10+ year-old laptop with very, very few issues. Less headaches than Windows, better performance than Windows (given the laptops capabilities), and lower cost (I bought the version to make a donation to the project). Thank you for the video. Love your videos.

[@funkadellicd]

I used Zorin Lite on a decade old laptop as my daily driver for months last year - incredible how modern it feels while only using 500 megs of ram at idle, super useful for revitalizing old laptops for light home use.

[@generalawareness101]

I wish we could use our own OS on our smartphones but the corporation doesn't allow it. Notice, I said a singular there.

[@paulfaruga]

Hi mate. Being a 73 Yr old numpty who has only ever used windows I have found this to be extremely helpful. Its a shame I can only put one thumbs up on it as I must have watched it about 20 times already as I fully intend, in the future, to fully migrate to this system. Thank you once again.😊

[@ExplainingComputers]

Good luck with Zorin OS and Linux! You may find useful some of my other Linux videos, including my "Linux Survival Guide": kzbin.info/www/bejne/fJaniqt4qtGNbMU -- or all the video are listed here: www.explainingcomputers.com/linux_videos.html

[@SuperFredAZ]

You are a great teacher! I tried Ubuntu a few years ago, it was OK, but I had difficulty with some of my peripherals. Keep up the great work, I look forward to your videos every week.

[@perrymcclusky4695]

Linux has definitely matured over the years, as we can tell with Zorin 17. As always, looking forward to your next video!

[@222inverter]

great video Chris!...I've also got Zorin OS 17 Pro...I tried the Beta first then upgraded with a fresh install.. thanks for the work you do...keep up the great content.

[@BenjaminEmm]

Great to see Zorin still going. I remember trying it out in 2017/18 and back then it felt great as well. I'll have to give it another go after many years of improvements!

[@karstentopp]

Not only for Windows users. I have run Zorin 16 Pro and it simply is just a good, working Linux Distro. It does what's printed on the tin. Disclaimer: I uses Linux since the days of pre-1.0 Kernels...

[@PhilipBallGarry]

Impressive! Always a fan of Mint, I have checked out Zorin a few times over the years and it's great to see it has matured so nicely. Gone are the days of scratching around for drivers like we used to have to. A Linux distro these days on a decent device really is a relevant windows replacement as a daily driver.

[@klwthe3rd]

It always makes my day when Chris does Zorin OS videos since it was him directly who is responsible for me switching over to Linux because of this Distro. I have been using Zorin OS 17 beta so i will now be updating to this version. I have noticed that the store manager where you download all your applications is much more smooth in it's operation and they polished all of the smaller details as outlined in the video. Honestly i'm not sure why people rave about Linux Mint so much when i personally believe that Zorin OS blows it away in all categories. Thank you again for promoting such a wonderful Distro that will persuade so many Window's users to switch over to a Linux due to it's ease of use and familiar utility.

[@brianwall9592]

I'm about to (finally) switch from M$ myself, so what do you like better about Zorin 17 than Mint, please?

[@kenrock2]

to my understanding Zorin is target to more modern UI windows users, while Linux Mint is mostly for more traditional and familiar UI which has been maintain for the past few years. I have use Zorin before in the past, it was good for couple of months, but started to slow down for unknown reason after few updates later. Boot up and shutdown has been taking much longer than was initial installed. Therefore I always going back to Linux mint, due to its light resources as compare to Zorin. I have 13 years old laptop, and it isn't really that stable running Zorin OS for my system. However this is just my opinion on older Zorin version, maybe this version would be better than older one.

[@kenrock2]

@@brianwall9592 UI, and learning curve is extremely easy. Whatever you know about windows, has almost the same as Zorin OS. The only thing Mint is better than Zorin is light weight. If you are beginner and zero experience in Linux, Zorin OS is the way to go... there is many different UI flavor to choose which you can switch easily if you wish to try on Mac style, Gnome style, Windows 10 style or windows 11 style.. Linux mint is also beginner friendly with almost zero issues, but you are stuck with one UI design layout unless you want to fiddle on 3rd party customization..

[@Bewefau]

doesn't spy on you. edward Snowden use's it.

[@namesakeradio]

I love Zorin. It's gorgeous. I wanted the more Gnome/Mac look, and it worked so well that I paid for the "Pro' version and upgraded. I have since purchased it 4 more times for other PCs and a couple of elderly family members that just need something to see pictures and videos with, etc. And honestly, to find good reasons to support them for such a fantastic desktop linux product. I was a Linux Mint user for years - always distro hopping trying to find that 'something missing'. PopOS was close, but as much as I liked Gnome, it was flaky the way they had it implemented. Zorin's gnome interface is perfect. Fast, everything is drag and drop groupable, able to be renamed, they have the menu editor right there to add / remove items and it works properly, etc. Just really well done. Really appreciate you doing this video. So glad someone did this without the poo-pooing on them for offering a paid version. They deserve every bit of it in my humble opinion.

[@duncanmackintosh]

which desktop selection on Zorin is like a mac layout ?(i am new from macbook to Zorin).. thanks

[@alastairstaunton7081]

​@@duncanmackintoshThe options are all laid out visually when you open it. No need to worry about names. Just click on the appearance you want.

[@shinto29]

Mad. I didn't even know it was developed in Ireland, only down the road from me.

[@klwthe3rd]

Yeah i never knew that either about it being based in Ireland. Wicked kewl.

[@Antonio-fl3nr]

Nice to see you again, Chris. As always, an inviting Linux review. I'm between this and Mint. Both are excellent.

[@iandron7119]

Thanks Christopher, excellent video. Happy New Year to you!

[@michalmason5490]

I switched to Zorin OS over a year ago due to a video you made on it. It was version 16. What appealed to me was its clean layout and pretty much an easy transition from Windows environment. I like it a lot more than Mint. Now I'm using 95% of my time Zorin. I don't miss Win. Linux is much snappier and looks right out of box especially with Thinkpads. Many thanks for directing me into the world of Linux.

[@petewarby7158]

Without doubt, yours are the best tutorials on KZbin by a country mile. Thank you.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks for your kind feedback. :)

[@mythicalentity]

Definitely going to try it out. Love how their start menu looks :)

[@Lizard_of_Linux_Lane]

Cool demonstration, thanks for continuing to spread awareness of Linux.

[@siddiousuk]

Fantastic video as always! It looks very slick and straightforward to use!

[@youenjoy8468]

Wow, this is a great OS. Thank you for the comprehensive review, as always!

[@giannistsolebas6962]

Yet another awesome video, it's always nice to meet new Linux distros because they are worth of attention and most of us should start using them. I would also like to watch a video about how you manage to maintain your systems so neet and clean. Which are your secrets? The other days I was watching one of your silent pc build video where you upgraded a 10 year old PC and inside it was like it just came out from the delivery box. Keep up the good work!

[@jimjol9069]

Wow. Linux has come a long way. I used it about 20 years ago to run some apps that were only available on linux. Splat, a vhf propagation predictor, and Ethereal, now Wireshark. This was on a SUSE distro. It was very difficult to work with for a Windows user. I loaded Zorin 17 last week and was up and running instantly. Well, almost instantly. I am truly impressed. Thanks for your help and encouragement. I now have a tired old Lenovo running like new.

[@GertBoers]

If I'm not mistaken, I may have mentioned it in another of your video's: since I found Ventoy, I stopped using Balena Etcher. You can put multiple ISO's an a single USB stick. (This comment is mainly for supporting the KZbin algorithms. ;) )

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks for feeding the AI. :) Ventoy is indeed cool -- I have a video on it here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y2ikgaKQr7ODr7c But Etcher is clearer and more straight-forward to present in a video, and is also the software that Zorin OS document in their own instructions.

[@iNowHateAtSigns]

Thanks for reminding me, I really need to try Ventoy!

[@dianaalyssa8726]

Ventoy is great when it can be used. Had a case with live test working with Debian 12.2 and not installing correctly, so it might be the case sometimes you still have to use Baleena/Etcher. Granted I have an ISO for 12.4 maybe that works. I love Ventoy though can still use the stick after and add more ISOs.

[@klwthe3rd]

Balena Etcher is a great product. I have used it since learning about it from this video. Not everyone wants to use Ventoy.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

Ventoy and Balena Etcher are not the same thing. Ventoy simply boots ISO images into a "pseudo real" filesystem that, in turn, may allow some read/write access through the use of RAM disks. It essentially provides "temporary" OS environments so you can try out live CDs or run a diagnostic CD in the event of a computer failure. Balena Etcher writes an actual filesystem and contents to read-write storage media which is ultimately designed as more permanent solution. Ultimately, your use cases will decide which of the two you need, but I certainly use both of them very regularly.

[@don_lock]

Another great video! Since this is an OS which is cited as good for users coming from Windows I wish you would talk a little about the Zorin support for windows apps feature, and even more, about the use of Wine, which Zorin uses, and playonlinux (which also uses Wine, I'm sure you know). I appreciate all your hard work planning, recording, editing and posting your videos. Thank you very much!

[@greenmoose_]

I last tried a desktop distro of linux a few years ago and frankly it made me want to scratch my eyes out with a fork. Your video convinced me to check this distro out on a spare, but relatively modern laptop I had lying around (10th gen i5 cpu). I got my Windows browser (vivaldi) working easily, got discord working, I even got the latest version of Minecraft installed! I found myself using the thing for general desktop work all day without even really thinking about it not being Windows. Honestly, very impressed! Thankyou for this video!

[@thomasburnett4712]

I recently replaced Linux Mint with Zorin OS 17 Core on an old Mac mini and I’m very favorably impressed with the change!

[@energymarketchile]

Great way to start the year Chris! Happy New Year.

[@mikefinn2101]

Thanks Peter great video might try it for the wife. This will really help those who use Windows go to Linux, really enjoy your channel immensely.

[@MicrobyteAlan]

I’ve been using Zorin 17 for a couple of weeks now, very smooth. I even have jelly mode turned on. Thanks

[@ExplainingComputers]

:)

[@klaxoncow]

Wobbly Windows!

[@fritzrobinson6064]

The jelly windows look sick

[@joeg3950]

Great presentation! Outstanding. Thank you

[@alanthornton3530]

Thanks Chris for a thoroughly interesting review of Zorin OS 17, I really like the clean look of it & if I ever switch from Mint this would be a good choice. For me I'd use the core version, once the install is completed I do love to tinker in the settings, adding the software for my use case.

[@dylanwilsonYT]

I've been running Zorin OS 17 on my Laptop, it's a great OS for it in my opinion - Nice clean, simple interface. :)

[@samuraiwarriorsunite]

Great vid as usual Chris. I've been tinkering with different versions of Linux because I definitely plan to make the switch when Windows 10 becomes obsolete. Zorin 17 looks very promising. Luckily, the core programs I need to function work on Linux, so the switch for me will be a bit easier than for some.

[@zetsuboushinjiruu9350]

Thank you sir for this video, now with this OS. I can revive some of our old laptops. I've learned so much from you😊

[@chrisanckaert]

Hi Christopher, I have an older (2014) MacBook Air on which I wanted to install either Ubuntu or LinuxMint. I tried both and both had the same problem, wifi didn't work. Not surprising as Mint is based on Ubuntu of course. I went to both websites and although both had several workarounds, nothing worked. Then I remembered the excellent video about Zorin OS, and I downloaded and installed version 17. And this time, everything worked immediately right after the installation. As the MacBook Air has an i7 processor and 8 GB ram it works absolutely flawlessly. Even KZbin in HD fullscreen without any dropped frames. Very happy with Zorin!

[@mijalic1]

Thank you for your time and effort to make this video and share your knowledge with us. Greetings from Croatia.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Greetings from the UK! :)

[@jonathanleach3914]

thanks for the film As always very clear and helpful. It looks a nice distro.....

[@dang48]

Great way to start 2024. Very informative and as always, broken down to make the information easy to process.

[@ObsidianMercian]

Another wonderful review, thank you.

[@riderofthewhitehorse]

Happy New Year to you & Mr. Scissors!

[@ExplainingComputers]

Happy new year!

[@superangrybrit]

The appearance settings is very appealing. Cheers! 👍

[@ditzydoo4378]

Zorin OS 17 may just be the new OS for me since I currently have an older Laptop with Windows 10 Pro. Thank you for sharing. ^~^

[@Punisher9419]

I'm very much a Windows user but it's always very interesting to see what Linux is up to these days, honestly it looks very nice. If I didn't need the compatability of Windows I probably would be on Linux by now.

[@coronelkittycannon]

me 2, there's always that little app that sends me back to windows.

[@asimms65]

You can have both. I use Windows in a VM for whenever I need it.

[@Punisher9419]

@@coronelkittycannon Yea it's all those little applications I have that I use every now and then or every day that make my life that little bit easier. Like how I have my MPC-HC and MadVR with all the LAV Decoders set up and that. How I have all my games already setup and mods installed. Driver support and so on. You could probably find alternatives on Linux I'm sure but I've spent so many years to get all the ones I already have why start from scratch?

[@Punisher9419]

@@asimms65 I did run Mint alongside W7 years back and I enjoyed it but I just found I used Windows instead all the time so I figured why have Mint at all. I think I just gravitate to what I know and already have everything setup how I like it. Still on W10 and I know I will need to go to W11 at some point if not W12 but I know all my software will go over no problem and work out the box.

[@JCO2002]

@@asimms65 Yes, I do the same, and prevent it from connecting to the internet while using it. Not big on spyware.

[@Majikai33]

Thank you! I've pretty much been sour with windows since they discontinued support for XP! While I didn't mind windows 10, I was still annoyed with the lack of control and lack of privacy. My recent laptop I tried Ubuntu and while I imagine if I had given it more time I could've gotten better at it, I was to the point of installing windows in a partition just to avoid headaches with certain things. I came across your video and the next morning I installed Zorin. So far it has been amazing. Especially for my wife who is not computer savvy. Thank you sir!

[@ExplainingComputers]

Great to hear. Zorin OS is certainly a much easier transition from Windows than Ubuntu. I wish you the best of luck with it.

[@Leahi84]

Looks really interesting! Definitely going to try it out. Thank you for switching to dark mode. I never use light mode, as it hurts my eyes really badly.

[@TheNetRiper]

Excellent video as always! Not as many creators here - use this, use that and if you watch more of their videos every distro is awesome (same with mini PCs and gadgets)...

[@PS_Tube]

Greetings. I've just recently set up Linux Mint Edge 21 for getting newer kernels. Thought of trying Zorin, and you've made this review video. Thank you.

[@haralddunkel7654]

Impressive video. Reading the title I was concerned this might be yet another "hey windows user, you should give Linux a try". Instead it is a very comprehensive description of a mature Linux distribution, useful to everybody interested in computing.

[@acerforge3882]

Thanks for another excellent review. I was inspired to give Zorin 17 a try and it certainly is a tidy desktop implementation. I only had to open a terminal once! Performance was perhaps a bit disappointing but as it was on a lowly and old Gigabyte Brix mini-computer I was probably expecting too much.

[@Sonya_Makepeace]

I would love to see 80% of the world using Linux within 5 years. I'm done with Microsoft, and Adobe. Linux distro's have such beautiful interfaces.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

I don't think it's relevant how many people use Linux - I know that 3% or 93% desktop usage would not change how I use it. For "Joe Public", the vast majority of them really couldn't care less what OSes their computing devices run because it's all about the applications they can run. if you asked "the person in the street" if they know that their Android phones run (at their core) an OS called "Linux", most wouldn't care and even fewer would bother to look Linux up on the Internet when they got home. There seems to be this perception that "the more people that use Linux means that more proprietary applications would get ported to it". I think that might have been true a decade ago but everything has moved to The Cloud now and so many applications are "cross-platform" through browser access anyway. Adobe is usually quoted as an example for their products to be ported to Linux - but they can just turn around and say "Install Windows if you want to use our products". Windows is virtually free these days anyway, there's no reason for Adobe to port to Linux. And even if a company ports their products to Linux, then they''ll probably start to do it when there's say 30% Linux desktop penetration, rather than 3% now - and by the time 30% of users are on Linux, they'll have learned to get around using commercial applications to do what they need to anyway - why would 95% of users need Photoshop if they've already learned to use GIMP, for example? But, yes, the main appeal of Linux is you have choice and you can have the interface that works for you - absolutely.

[@user-kf7oq6uw8f]

Looking pretty means nothing if GUI has no tools Windows Explorer have been providing for over a decade already. For example, an option to open terminal in current folder is somewhat rare among DEs, what kind of a joke is this? Hell, even not being able to go to a specific higher level folder by clicking on it in path to current folder or even provide a shortcut to '/' root directory in the left navigation panel.

[@user-kf7oq6uw8f]

So I'm not surprising Linux devs can't do good DEs - they just simply don't even understand basic Windows user needs

[@Bassquake76]

Probably not really possible as there's too many different versions which confuses the average user.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

@@user-kf7oq6uw8f "Looking pretty means nothing if GUI has no tools Windows Explorer have been providing for over a decade already." Then you have two options: 1. Stay with Windows and be happy, or 2. Be proactive and contact the developers of those GUIs in Linux that you don't like and tell them why you don't like them. Your choice... now, would you like a piece of cheese with that whine?

[@Kw1161]

Thanks Chris for another excellent review. Zorin 17 looks really polished and worth a look. I assume it is only for X86 chips. I guess I’ll have to try the pro version on my Miniforum computer since my scrolling privileges were taken away…😂😂! Have a great 2024 and week.🎉

[@srvuk]

This is the best demonstration of how truly tempting it would be to switch over, with it looking and feeling very much the same as your desired layout. The ability to install side by side Windows makes translation easier by being gradual, allowing for full climatization before making the big leap.

[@Bareego]

For windows gamers still on the fence, it's really easy installing steam and they have a lot of games running native on linux, and a good portion of the windows games also run with the help of proton. And it's really easy to do without any command line stuff. In steam you just go to the game settings and enable emulation with proton, and then you can install the game and (hopefully) play it. There are still some games that won't work, but in my experience that was maybe 2 out of 10 games.

[@Praxibetel-Ix]

Good morning! Zorin is one of my favorite Bond villains. I'm sorry, I had to. 😆

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks for your support. :)

[@Praxibetel-Ix]

​@@ExplainingComputersYou're welcome! ❤️ I see you caught our latest bot visitor. I was fixing to email you about them, but I see no need now! They had a very amusing URL on their profile.

[@TheLinuxWarrior]

Wow another great video. As always. I am running Zorin OS 17. Pro on my Surface Pro incuding the touch funktion. It works great. And yes I payed for it , why not support such companies for their works ? Thumbs Up and more of these. Greetings from Germany.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks for this. :)

[@privateagent]

Danke für Ihre support

[@miboxcmpinto4977]

Thank you, for this video, doc!

[@ltnicekiwi4534]

Ahh, so happy the YT algorithm finally decided to show me your videos again, I've missed you!

[@ExplainingComputers]

Glad you are back! I've kept on posting every Sunday. :)

[@merbertancriwalli8622]

9:09 - G-nome. You've now got me trained to look out for these mentions. Lovin your channel Chris! 🙂

[@hankhulator5007]

Hey Christopher, happy new year :)

[@RoboNuggie]

Thank you Chris for an interesting video - I'm not a Linux or Windows user, but I can see the appeal.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks for your support. I must return to FreeBSD on this channel. :)

[@nicolasvln]

Thank you so much for this video my friend greetings from Ecuador!

[@privateagent]

Vamonos aliarnos a los amigos mágicos.. del Equador! 😊😂🎉

[@fbushphone]

Comprehensive overview thank you for sharing

[@energyideas]

Going to send some money to Zorin, even thou not loading at this time. Important to support nonWindows efforts. Thanks for the video.

[@agostinhomatos321]

Zorin OS is one of the few linux distros that come with full screen preview of running applications as default, which is the aero mode in windows since windows 7, something I value as a productivity tool. It is also standard in linux KDE desktop and in Gnome with the extension Dash To Panel.

[@mohamad20zx34]

Thanks again for your amazing linux distros videos I have finally switched to Linux thanks to Zorin OS

[@ExplainingComputers]

Great to hear!

[@keithwesley2471]

Zorin so far appears really great! I can access all the drives which I created on Windows along with many of the files.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Yes, Zorin OS can access drives formatted and used by Windows. Data access will depend on the file types -- but you can certainly access all common document (word processor and spreadsheet), image, audio and video files in Linux applications.

[@Ollital]

Happy new year Chris.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Happy new year!

[@alexhudspeth1213]

Ubuntu Jammy is just ridiculously stable and smooth on legacy hardware, I'm glad to see it get (what's the word, forked?) into other versions. This old laptop would be in the bin by now if it weren't for Ubuntu and it's kin. Another excellent video!

[@CommodoreFan64]

It looks like Ubuntu is going to be raising CPU hardware requirements in the near future, and dropping support for older X86-64 bit CPUs that don't support V3, so don't count on your statement being true forever. So do have a non Ubuntu based distro for when that day comes, and you have not upgraded your hardware. I find Mint DE(Debian Edition), and Manjaro official builds are good choices.

[@alexhudspeth1213]

@@CommodoreFan64 You've got me going down the X86-64 V3 rabbit hole, thanks! I'm on an I5-5300, I'll see where I land.

[@CommodoreFan64]

@@alexhudspeth1213 it's a bit technical, but do Look up Brodie Robertson, as he did a video on it not too long back, going into way more detail than I can in a comment, and it's a bit of a ways out, but the day is coming, and stuff like this is why for a long time I've called Canonical/Ubuntu MS/Windows of the Linux world. Edit: the Thumbnail is titled Begon Pre Haswell CPUs(it was 2013 when Intel released Haswell chips), which means CPU's older than just shy of 11 years as of my comment, and I feel there still plenty of good systems out there older than that with some simple upgrades like SSD/RAM, and maybe a super budget AMD GPU if it's a desktop that can still be good for daily task on Linux.

[@alexhudspeth1213]

Broadwell, so hardly legacy. I was a little loose with the term, lol.

[@MetalMugger]

You should've showed off the jelly mode! It's absolutely adorable, all the windows flutter like jelly whenever you move them! 🍮

[@wikwayer]

Thank you for the review I'm glad to see that Linux has matured enough to reach 4 percent of the PC users although text editing, photo editing and video game are working fine now, I hope to see better video editing for the future

[@Noodles.FreeUkraine]

How about DaVinci Resolve?

[@privateagent]

Yeah about the 4%.. I'm also on the 4% of un-va%%ed in my country. It's good to be apart of the sheeple.

[@wikwayer]

@@privateagentwhat country is this 🤣

[@xtopherxy]

Thank you for using dark mode. I literally was not going to watch the video. But you did, and so I watched :)

[@ExplainingComputers]

:)

[@rickster2317]

Super video Chris! Makes me want to grab one of my older Windows PCs and install Zorin OS 17. I think it is a real alternative to the Windows 11/12 upgrade dilemma. Do you know what kind malware and virus protection is available for it?

[@nodak81]

I recently got an ancient Dell Studio laptop and threw Zorin OS 17 Core on there and it works amazingly well. In fact, I also put it on my other three ancient laptops and they all work really well. This isn't related to Zorin, but I can't recommend Ventoy enough. I have it installed to a little portable HDD and it lets you boot from any ISO images you want. I have about 20 different Linux ISOs and a Windows 11 as well and all of them boot perfectly, including Zorin. So much easier than having to create a separate bootable USB drive over and over just to try out different distros.

[@privateagent]

Ventoy really is amazing. The whole open source community is, unlike corporate spying on people's lifes.

[@DukeNukem2417]

Zorin, Zorin....didn't they have an advertising campaign involving a blimp flying over Silicon Valley and the Golden Gate Bridge? All seriousness, great video. I've never used Linux, but it looks fascinating.

[@zil6470]

Thank You for this video!

[@peterwassmuth4014]

Awesome Thank you for Sharing! 💯✴

[@dmiracle74]

Zorin is looking better with each release. It is looking great! If it wasn't for me enjoying Linux Mint Debian Edition. I would give Zorin another look. I will probably check it out anyway. I like looking at the improvements in the various distros.

[@rv6amark]

Oh my! So many options, so little time. As a relatively new Linux user (Win11 drove me to switch), I keep thinking, maybe I should have installed Zorin OS instead of Linux Mint, or now even LMDE. I know, I can try them easily enough using Ventoy or maybe one of the web based trial systems like DistroSea. Again, so many options. It all makes my head spin!

[@ahah8797]

Chris, Thank you for a very informative video. May I suggest that when you accelerate some operations on screen you give an indication to how long it actually takes. When doing OS installs, I have often had to wait very long times for whatever reason and having a sense of whether things are stalled is helpful.

[@stevenemert837]

Thanks for this video! Based on it, I installed Zorin on a 13 year old i5 laptop, putting it on a 500 GB SSD. The PC with this OS is very usable for this semi-neophyte Linux user.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Great to hear! :)

[@Richardj410]

Nice OS I'll have to try it on my test rig. Thanks

[@user-qw4oe7eb3y]

Because I had two failed attempts before successfully installing Zorin 17 Pro, I had two annoying extra links in my GRUB that did not work. After upgrading Zorin 17 Pro recently, the two extra links disappeared, and now, I only have Zorin 17 Pro or Windows 10 options. Thank you for your regular KZbin productions. 73, Ian

[@bertblankenstein3738]

For me, I'm excited about that desktop cube switching. I really like that stuff.

[@kuumaroshtheundyingfury6843]

I just switched to Zorin 17 from Windows 11. Running it on a Lenovo Legion 5 laptop i5 10th Gen with 32GB DDR4. I'm testing apps like Lutris + Wine and so far the process has been quite smooth sailing.

[@privateagent]

Funny, I've been using Windows since 3.1, way before 3.11 for workgroups.. Finally got tired of Microsoft and I'm proud to say that I haven't yet used Windows 11. Unfortunately my daily job forces me to use Windows 10, but I do the coding on Mint. This video got me thinking into installing Zorin for my kid's laptop to introduce him to Linux. Fingers crossed!

[@_indrid_cold_]

I’ve been trying W11, Mint and Zorin on my Dell XPS15 laptop. Using each for a month at a time in that order. For me the winner was Mint and I’m pleased to have just wiped the SSD and reinstalled it cleanly, this time for keeps. I would have put Zorin a close second and W11 is just poor UI with added bloat, unending slow updates and still underlying insecurity. It’s taken a while, but we finally have a genuine giant killer in Mint.

[@user-pg5sz2vn1w]

that is actually one of the nicest websites i have seen for a linux distro.

[@MD-sc1jk]

I installed Zorin 17 on My 2011 13" MacBook Pro with 16GB RAM 500GB SSD and a secondary 750GB SSD and I loved it.

[@leemanwrong]

Does all the hardware work?

[@ascott7321]

What's nice is that full desktop color calibration works in this distro. My wide gamut monitor is automatically calibrated to sRGB on default.

[@user-nn7lc1xc2l]

For me, this is the best operating system I've been using it for three years and I'm happy

[@EmirKATIRCI]

I've been on an off on Linux because of personal and business reasons. Couple months back I went full on Linux and get rid of windows for good. I was using ZorinOS 16 and decided to install ZorinOS 17. I'm enjoying it. I recommend it. There are just couple of things I don't like. 1) If you choose a language and choose a time zone on a country with a different language for example let's say you choose English and choose a time zone in China it turns date&time, measurements etc. into Chinese language and format without asking you. This happened on ZorinOS 16 as well. 2) if you change your language and keyboard settings after the installation it still keeps the installation keyboard layout at the logins screen. I don't know if this is specific to ZorinOS or not. But that's what I experienced on ZorinOS.

[@Rodger_Phillips]

I have dabbled with Linux with many Distros over the years, the Distro that won me over was Ubuntu back when they would mail out physical disks, I ordered a 10 pack, loved it and handed out the extras to people I knew. Since then I have always kept an Ubuntu PC running, I have tried many others and even bought a 2nd PC once that came with Mint which was really good, these days I prefer Zorin, I used it on a small HP notebook which gave it more life than what the factory installed Windows 7 Starter could do, that old thing is still in use today without Windows.

[@zetectic7968]

Very interesting. I will have to give this a try via USB before too long.

[@ManasBharat]

Looking forward to the Garuda OS video!