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.

Read more!

Zorin OS 9 Core Review: As good as Linux Mint 17!

Zorin OS has a lot of takers in the new Linux converts from Windows. Recently, Zorin OS released it's 9th version based on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS with 5 years of support. For users who are familiar with Zorin, the release notes states of some incremental improvements over it's predecessors, namely:

"We are excited to announce the release of Zorin OS 9 Core and Ultimate. The main focus for Zorin OS 9 has been on stability and the refinement of Zorin OS' wide array of incredible features. Firstly, Zorin OS 9 includes a myriad of updated software and bug fixes to ensure that your computer runs better than ever. New applications such as the Firefox web browser and Rhythmbox music player have also been included in this release. EFI boot support has been added, making it easier to get Zorin OS on newer computers (64-bit only). In addition, we have introduced a new Blue desktop theme to the Zorin Theme Changer in complement to the Light and Dark themes. As Zorin OS 9 is based on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS you can expect to receive continuous software updates until 2019."

From Zorin OS 9 http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.in

For this review, I download the 64-bit Zorin OS 9 Core ISO (1.4 GB in size), which is the free version of Zorin. It ships with Zorin's tweaked GNOME 3.10.4 desktop, resembling Windows 7 and Linux kernel 3.13.0. Files 3.10.4 is the default file manager.

I created a live USB using Unetbootin in Windows 8.1 on a 4 GB USB drive and did a live boot followed by installation on a 20 GB partition.

Read more!