I have just ordered my FW16 and moving from a Mac. I am familiar with Linux and at the moment I am torn between ZorinOs 18 or “plain” Ubuntu 25.x. Zorin has the appeal that it has the theming and also LTS support. Would I run into any compatibility issues running Zorin18 (especially when it comes to driver updates) or should I just go with Ubuntu`
Hi @MagicDude4Eva and welcome to this forum,
Whilst I have run ZorinOS in the past although not on FW hardware… so can’t comment.
However, i currently run Linux Mint 22.2 on a FW16 which is also based on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (like ZorinOS) and I’m very happy. My FW performs well and is very stable, no driver issues.
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What version of the FW16 are you running?
At the moment I am torn between plain Ubuntu and customise, Zorin 18 pro because the theming options look like what I want to achieve and last option would be Fedora where my initial impression is that it gives me more flexibility with KDE.
Ryzen 9 7940HS with RX7700S dGPU and 32Gb RAM.
When i purchased mine i tried Ubuntu, Fedora and Linux Mint. Settled for Linux Mint because i found it to be the most reliable. Ubuntu and Fedora both crashed on me… Linux Mint didn’t.
I own a framework 16 with Ryzen AI 300 series no dGPU atm.
I installed zorin 18 pro on it and it works, but i found a slight of a problem. Having bluetooth on causes wifi problems. idk if this is just OS related and hopefully not hardware related, since it claims to come with AMD wifi 7 card and not som mediatek as before. Since some apparently got mediatek card instead that seems to drop out on wifi sorta.
I’m gona install windows 11 on a 1TB ssd and see what wifi card mine got.
I’ve just ditched Windows 11 and installed Zorin on my 16”. It would have been better if Zorin’s instructions had included disabling secure boot, but I eventually remembered seeing that somewhere. During the install the text was tiny and I it was easier to resort to a magnifying glass, but once the installation was finished, setting it to 200% fixed that. There was several screens of text as I concluded that looked like error messages, but it seems to be working. I was even able to assign /home to my larger SSD. It found my WiFi for Internet and once complete, bluetooth for my Logitech mouse.
However, the fingerprint reader isn’t working. While Zorin’s website refers to a thread here for fixing it, but it’s old (now closed), huge, and offers all sorts of suggestions, but nothing definitive. Does anyone know the simplest effective solution that’d work with the latest software versions? It’d be great if it could remember my fingerprint from Windows, but if necessary I could do without that. My audio expansion card isn’t working either: can anyone help with that?
Other than those 2 issues, it’s working well, but I do really miss the little windows Microsoft provided to show the progress of file copying that takes more than a couple of seconds. which is particularly obvious as I’m restoring all my files to /home from an external disk. Zorin’s file manager isn’t giving any feedback. Is there an alternative file manager that gives that feedback?
I was delighted to see that it had found my Brother printer over WiFi and was able to use it immediately, with settings! I’m also enjoying the software installation process.
Hi @Kenna_M, my understanding is the Framework Laptop 16 requires a Linux kernel version 6.15 or newer for optimal fingerprint reader support. What kernel version are you running.
And re Audio… do you have audio enabled for Linux in your Bios?
Thanks. I think the kernal is 6,17 . The following is from terminal:
kenna@Condor:~$ uname -a
Linux Condor 6.17.0-20-generic #20~24.04.1-Ubuntu SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Thu Mar 19 01:28:37 UTC 2 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
And yes, I did enable Linux audio in BIOS. The inboard speakers work fine, but headphones or external speakers plugged into the audio expansion card do nothing, with the sound still coming from the internal speakers.
That seems odd… Zorin 18 is based on Ubuntu 24.04.3 with Linux kernel 6.14. How is it that you are running Linux Kernel 6.17?
I’ve not idea. Or am I misreading the result of uname -a ?
More positively, I’ve sorted the sound issue. Unlike Windows where plugging a headphone will trigger a switch of the sound output to the expansion card, but In Zorin I just needed to switch to it. Not quite as quick as Windows, but not a problem.
uname -a is the correct command to show kernel version.
Not sure how you ended up using kernel 6.17 on a Zorin 18 install. This might be worth investigating further.
Hello,
This is what Zorin usually do. They started Zorin 18 on kernel 6.14, then later updated the Kernel to 6.17. This is to support newer hardware. My Zorin 18 installation is also on kernel 6.17.
uname -a
Linux tom-Laptop-13-AMD-Ryzen-7040Series 6.17.0-20-generic #20~24.04.1-Ubuntu SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Thu Mar 19 01:28:37 UTC 2 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
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Fair enough.
I more familiar with some of the other FW supported distros.
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And I can’t believe how dumb I am!
Reading the current Zorin help files, as opposed to their instructions for the 16” Framework, it’s listed under a general heading of fingerprint readers and is really simple. I only had to go to Users in Settings and enable Fingerprint login. I’m discovering that setup has more choices that have to be explicitly made, as opposed to Microsoft deciding everything for the user.
I’d still like to know if any of the alternative file managers provide a progress window for actions that take more than a few seconds. I guess I could work my way through trying them all, but it’d be nice if anyone knows.
Thanks!
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OK, I’ve solved the file manager issue I had. I installed Mint on a very old desktop that I was using until I got my 16” Framework and discovered that Mint’s file manager, Nemo, is what I’m after. The Zorin installer wouldn’t install it, but it installed easily from the terminal. I then had 2 apps labelled Files. Once I worked out which was which I unpinned the one Zorin uses and pinned Nemo, still called Files, to the dash. 
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Thanks for the update. I’m looking into getting a Laptop 16 and running Zorin 18 OS on it. Any benefit to Zorin 18 Pro? If it only gives you more “Desktop Layout” options, I don’t need it.
Also, I have 3D CAD and PLC Programming software that is Windows only. So I’m trying to decide between Dual Boot System (Zorin 18 OS and Windows 10/11) or Zorin 18 base with Windows Virtual Machine; OR, Windows base with Zorin 18 VM.
Any ideas/feedback on which will work better?
Thanks!
Hello,
Yes, Zorin Pro gives you more Desktop Layouts and cherry picked open source applications. More information here: Zorin OS Pro - Zorin OS
The idea is more about supporting the Zorin developers. Alternatively, you can use Zorin Core and make a donation to the developer here: About - Zorin
I hope this helps.
Thank you!!
Any opinions on a VM? Winboat, VirtualBox, qemu? Which one might work best for a Windows 10/11 VM with Zorin OS as the base?
Hello,
I have not used Windows in a long time so it’s hard for me to answer this one. I guess it depends what is your long term plan and also if you are planning to use resource hungry software on Windows. In that case dual boot might be best but I heard that latest Windows can cause issues with dual boot.
I think the best would be to ask on the Zorin forum https://forum.zorin.com/. There are a lot of Windows and ex-Windows users that could answer your question more accurately.
I hope this helps