Zorin OS 9 "Lite" Review: One of the best LXDE spins of 2014

Artyom Zorin has announced on 13th August 2014 the release of two new editions of the Ubuntu-based Zorin OS 9 distribution, the i386-only "Lite" and "Educational Lite" variants: "We are pleased to announce the release of Zorin OS 9 Lite and Educational Lite. These releases are the latest evolutions of the Zorin OS Lite series of operating systems, designed specifically for Linux newcomers using old or low-powered hardware. This release is based on Lubuntu 14.04 and uses the LXDE desktop environment to provide one of the fastest and most feature-packed interfaces for low-spec machines. This new release includes newly updated software as well as new software inclusions for the best lightweight desktop experience."

From Zorin OS 9 Lite

Ideally I like to review 64-bit spins as they support UEFI secure-boot 64-bit low or moderately powered laptops that are available in cheap and flooding the market these days. Win8 is still terrible and Linux provides a big relief to the users. I have one of these (with 1.8 Ghz Core i3 processor and 4 GB RAM) with touch support and Ubuntu 14.04 works quite great with it. However, there is no 64-bit spin for Zorin OS 9 lite and I downloaded the 750 MB 32-bit ISO for this review.

Unetbootin worked good with Zorin (Linux Mint Image Writer didn't) and I created a live USB with a 4 GB USB drive.

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Lubuntu 14.04 "Trusty Tahr" Review: All well except the Wifi bug!

The reason I don't review many LXDE distros these days is that I am waiting for the release of LXDE-Qt. I am expecting a highly functional and lightweight desktop - LXQt whose alpha release will be out anytime soon. Of course, the latest release of Lubuntu doesn't have LXQt but it is the first Lubuntu release with long term support of 3 years. Hence, naturally I was interested to try it out and write a decent review on this historic Lubuntu release.

In the release note, Mario Behling has announced the release of Lubuntu 14.04, a lightweight variant of Ubuntu that provides the minimalist LXDE desktop and a selection of light applications: "Julien Lavergne has released Lubuntu 14.04. Features: based on the lightweight LXDE desktop environment; PCManFM, a fast and lightweight files manager using GIO/GVFS; Openbox, a fast and extensible default window manager of LXDE; LightDM, a simple GTK+ greeter; Firefox, the famous web browser; based on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS. Improvements since Lubuntu 13.10: LTS Support (3 years); new PCManFM (version 1.2.0) with a lot of new features (folder settings, dual-pane view, menu editing); new LXSession default applications with a new user interface; an update of the artwork (new icons, theme update)."

From Lubuntu 14.04 http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in

I downloaded the 694 MB 64-bit Lubuntu 14.04 LTS ISO, used Linux Mint Image Writer to create a live USB and then installed it on my Asus K55VM with 2.3 Ghz Core i7 processor, 8 GB DDR3 RAM and 2 GB NVIDIA GeForce 630M graphic card. I know that it not the best machine to test Lubuntu but I don't have any other 64-bit machine, rest of my machines are 32-bit.

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