Zorin OS 12.2 Released

Zorin Group recently announced the release of Zorin OS 12.2. It's Ubuntu based operating system for both, beginners and advanced users. This version brings innovations from the Open Source community together with a familiar user interface, requiring nearly no learning curve for PC users.

What is New in Zorin OS 12.2?

Zorin OS 12.2 comes with improvements to the desktop and the underlying infrastructure, bringing a more powerful, faster and secure computing experience. Let us look at some of the key things that have been improved in this latest release.

1. Desktop Performance and Usability Enhancements

The Zorin development team has made improvements to the Zorin desktop, resulting in speed and stability optimizations that brings a much improved experience to the user interaction. The default desktop layout now allows users to hover over window previews in the panel in order to get a full-size peek so users can easily find exactly what they want. This results in a more intuitive experience for newcomers to the Zorin Desktop.

2. Better Windows App Support with Wine 2.0

One of the best features about Zorin is the awesome support of Windows apps with Wine and this has also been improved. The newest version of the Wine compatibility layer for Windows apps version 2.0 has been built into Zorin OS 12.2. So your Windows apps will run faster and you will enjoy better reliability than before. You can now run Microsoft Office 2013 with this release of Zorin OS so folks who use Zorin in the business world will appreciate a lot.

3. View Disk Usage in Zorin OS Lite

With Zorin OS 12.2, the Lite versions can now check for detailed information on disk usage by files and folders with the Disk Usage Analyzer app available out of the box. If you are using Zorin of an old PC with only as much space, you can take advantage of the app to easily manage your storage, and thus making Zorin an awesome lightweight choice.

4. The Latest Software Out of the Box

​Zorin 12.2 also comes with the latest versions of the pre-installed apps and packages so you don’t have to use all your bandwidth in updating them. Even if there are updates to make, they are going to be quite minimal.

5. Improved Core Technologies and Hardware Compatibility

​The Linux kernel has also been updated to version 4.10 along with new hardware drivers. Also, security of Zorin OS has been improved out of the box in order to protect you in an online world from viruses, malware and ransom attacks. New AMD processors are also supported so you can use Zorin on all of your current and future PCs.

Download Zorin OS 12.2

​All editions of Zorin OS 12.2 – Core, Lite, Ultimate, Business, and Education – are available to download immediately.

Download

Upgrade from Zorin OS 12

​If you’ve already downloaded and installed Zorin OS 12, you can update your system to 12.2 by installing the latest updates from the Software Updater. 

​In order to upgrade to Wine 2.0 in Zorin OS 12, you can open the Terminal (by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T) and enter the following command:

sudo apt install wine-stable

Please note you may need to reinstall or reconfigure currently installed Windows apps after upgrading to the latest version of Wine.

In order to upgrade to the newer Linux kernel and graphics support stack in Zorin OS 12, you can open the Terminal (by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T) and enter the following command:

sudo apt install --install-recommends xserver-xorg-hwe-16.04

Conclusion

​The main thing I love about Zorin OS is the awesome support for windows apps via WINE and this has been improved in this release. The desktop is very familiar even to Windows converts and still simple regardless of which desktop environment you are coming from. With Zorin 12.2, you can enjoy a more polished experience. Thanks for reading and kindly share your thoughts and comments with us.