Zorin OS Core 15.3 - Linux Distro Review!

In this new blog series, I'm going to check out and review different Linux distributions and give you my thoughts on each of them. To kick off this series, I have decided to go with a virtual installation of Zorin OS 15.3 Core. I've always wanted to run Zorin OS, but I was put off before by their paywall for their Ultimate Edition. So I decided to stick to other distributions such as Ubuntu, Manjaro, Pop! OS, Elementary OS, and Kali. Zorin OS has several flavors, such as Ultimate ($39 USD), Core (Free), Lite (Free and for older low-spec computers), and Education (Free). For this test, I decided to go with the Core version, since that's what I'd imagine most people would run, however, I might also have to take a look at the Education version for myself, since that includes education and coding applications by default. I'm currently thinking about replacing my old Lenovo Ideapad 110 with a fresh gaming laptop at some point when I start a new job, so I figured this is an excellent time for me to explore different distributions, not only to inform my readers of each one, but to also select a good daily driver for my new Laptop. I currently run Kali and Ubuntu on my main machines (gaming desktop and Lenovo IdeaPad), but I'm finding that Kali, although it's possible to daily and it's a really cool distribution, it isn't good for daily driving (manual update procedures must be followed with explicit attention to detail or core components could break, simple tasks in other distros are far more complicated to do and set up in Kali, and it lacks a proper software centre among other applications). I still want to keep Kali, since it comes packed with some excellent tools for system management, penetration testing, and I love the general hacker aesthetic of the system (especially with the inclusion of 'undercover mode', which hilariously turns your Kali desktop into a Windows 10 like desktop, complete with even the Microsoft trademarked logo in the taskbar!). Also, Kali is widely used for security in IT, so that will definitely come in handy when I decide to learn about offensive security, white-hat hacking, and penetration testing. I will likely keep my Lenovo around as a Kali machine to practice ethical hacking and as a spare Windows 10 machine (in a dual boot environment), to have ready for writing exams, video conferencing, and if I'm required to supply my own hardware, work purposes.

When I first booted up Zorin OS, I was pleased to be greeted with a comprehensive list that included a live environment as well as an installer with options for a standard installation, an installation with a "safe graphics driver," an option to install Zorin with the proprietary NVIDIA drivers (which is amazing and saves a lot of time if you have an NVIDIA GPU and just want it to work straight out of the box without installing and changing drivers), and an option to double-check the integrity of the installation media, so you know that you have a stable installation disk and won't end up installing a corrupted OS that could render your system (temporarily) inoperable. After booting into the Zorin installation for NVIDIA, I was greeted with a really nice animation of the "ZORIN" logo sliding into view, and pulsating a blue light in the background (similar to the old Windows 7 startup animation that I loved). The installation went well and was a standard installation that most Ubuntu users would already be accustomed to if they installed the OS themselves. Of course, encryption and Logical Volume Management are standard options right out of the box. The installation didn't take long at all, however, it only displayed a blue Zorin logo rather than the typical Ubuntu slideshow explaining different features of the Operating System; this would have been a nice addition, but is a very minor detail that can be overlooked.

When the OS finished installing, I was again greeted with the same animated splash screen and presented with a very aesthetically pleasing drive decryption password prompt. This prompt will not let you boot your system or access your files without first decrypting your drive, which is a very handy feature to have if you're a laptop user and want to make sure that nobody can access your files without permission (Windows has BitLocker and Mac OS has its own Disk Encryption as well. It's another recommended security practice for keeping your personal files secure, to prevent things like identity fraud or having your data compromised). The login screen stuck with a modern blue on black aesthetic and follows the same general theme seen in Ubuntu and many mainstream distributions.

Upon initial login, I was promptly greeted with a passive update window to fetch the latest updates from Zorin's default repositories. Unlike Windows, Zorin passively downloaded, installed, and applied these updates in the background and did not require a reboot to finish updating, nor did it try to schedule a time to reboot my computer. This is one thing I absolutely love about Linux over Windows because you can continue working uninterrupted while your system updates. There is no worse feeling than trying to start an online exam and finding out that your Windows wants to update and has scheduled a restart right before your exam starts, only to hold your computer hostage for anywhere from 20 minutes to several hours, leaving you unable to do anything or even shut down your PC without risk of data loss or total system corruption. While the latest updates installed, I headed over to the customization panel of Zorin to see what options I had. The core version allows you to change your general theme between a standard Windows 7/8/10-like desktop with icons to the left, time to the right, and a generic start menu. Additionally, they give you the option to choose a classic windows-like theme (similar to that used prior to Windows 7, with a smaller taskbar and full text labels), or a "touch" interface, which kind of feels like a modified Gnome standard interface with a full-screen launcher, icons centred in the taskbar, instead of positioned to the left (although, you can reposition them in the theme settings manually). I suppose this third interface does resemble the Windows 10 tablet mode interface. The paid Ultimate addition is supposed to add Mac OS and more Linux themes, though you can also add whatever desktop interface you want by manually installing packages (I've done several Linux distributions up to look like Mac OS clones before.) I set the desktop wallpaper to a rather attractive white/gray Zorin Wallpaper and I have to say I'm thoroughly impressed by the default wallpapers offered in this distribution! I set a staircase wallpaper for the lock screen and modified the theme to display "Adwaita" which gives the windows a polished aluminum texture. I also set the icons and shell theme to "Zorin 95," which I'm assuming is a reference to Windows 95. That made the taskbar and a few system menus darker than the usual light theme. Zorin also allows you to select light or dark themes with the option to schedule when you want automatic night/day modes to transition (to make your desktop darker at night and lighter during the daytime, for easier night viewing and better visibility during the day). Similar to Windows 10, Zorin gives you the option to select your accent colour for the system.

I opened up the terminal and modified its appearance to have bright green or white text on a translucent black background, which is my standard configuration for any Linux console, since the translucency allows you to view commands from a web browser through a maximized window, which can be really helpful and also visually appealing. This distribution ships with some incredible apps and games such as: an open-source Tetris clone called Quadrapassel (Tetris is one of my favourite brain-teaser games), a Solitaire game dubbed Klondike, a Minesweeper clone, dubbed Mines (although, my favourite minesweeper game is the 3D one seen in Windows Vista/7 with full animations and sounds), an open-source Mahjong, and Sudoku (another one of my favourite brain-teaser games). Default software in this operating system is likewise very good, Zorin OS Core comes preloaded with LibreOffice (modified to have a Microsoft Office Ribbon style appearance), GIMP (an open source Photoshop alternative), a comprehensive software centre (some distributions don't ship with these or have very limited functionality, it's nice to see that this one includes a lot of standard repositories to install from), Zorin Connect (an app to sync your mobile device's notifications, photos, SMS, files, and web links to your Zorin OS Computer, as well as an option to use your phone as a remote control, which can really come in handy for giving presentations, so you don't have to look for the remote clicker,) as well as a really nicely designed calculator with a proper programmer mode and a live binary display! Another really nice addition that I liked about this operating system is that (similar to Vista), the translucent taskbar turns white, black, or gray (depending on your system theme) and translucent again depending on whether a window is maximized or if a window collides with the edges of the taskbar.

Overall, I really love the experience, aesthetic, and standard packages that come with Zorin OS Core Version 15.3 and I would definitely say that it's made my short list for a potential daily driver when I get my next laptop (to go alongside Windows 10 in a dual boot configuration, of course.) I would strongly recommend this operating system to literally anyone that wants to switch to Linux from Windows, since the interface and applications are very close alternatives to what Windows has to offer, and the general aesthetic and feel of the operating system is very modern, very clean, and very slick. The operating system is lightning fast, excellent for productivity, and it handles updates extremely well and in a very hassle-free manner. I may decide to revisit the Education edition of this Operating System later on, but I'm still undecided on that, since there's a lot of other ground to cover in the Linux community and I want to cover other distributions before I start revisiting different flavors from ones that I've already covered. Unfortunately, I was unable to get Zorin Connect working. It could be on a different LAN due to the virtual network adapter or it could just be that this feature is still under development.

I hope you really enjoyed this article and as always, thanks for tuning in! Stay tuned for future posts if you enjoy this series, keep an eye on my News Feed on the Home Page for my latest posts!