Zorin
 

Folks, I'm happy to announce this post is being made from my new zorin pc. I had it in the spare room without an internet connection while I loaded it. When I first connected up last night it took about half an hour before I could get onto the internet. Any clues why that would be? It gave all the signs of being connected but gave errors if I tried to go to any web pages. I checked all the network settings (not that there's many to change). It said I was connected. Maybe there was some initialisations that were hogging all my band-width. The main thing is it's good now. :-)

Some more information might help.

Wireless or wired? What networking chipset(s)?

What is the output of cat /etc/network/interfaces and ifconfig -a.

In addition to the above, you indicate that you got error messages but neglected to post them. That might help someone to help you.

1) wireless
2) Intel DQ35JO MB
3) I don't know any commands yet
4) error message "unable to connect"

You now know 2 commands, courtesty of frankbell:

Posting their output would help someone to help you.

Thanks Yancek - here's the results :-) ( I hope this doesn't mean I have published my IP address so anyone can send me a rootkit or some other bugs :-( )

dude1234@dude1234:~$ cat /etc/network/interfaces
# interfaces(5) file used by ifup(8) and ifdown(8)
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
dude1234@dude1234:~$

dude1234@dude1234:~$ ifconfig -a
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:1c:c0:08:55:31
inet addr:10.1.1.2 Bcast:10.255.255.255 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: fe80::21c:c0ff:fe08:5531/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:41973 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:33062 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:47544056 (47.5 MB) TX bytes:4475213 (4.4 MB)
Interrupt:20 Memory:d0400000-d0420000

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:65536 Metric:1
RX packets:664 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:664 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:102097 (102.0 KB) TX bytes:102097 (102.0 KB)

dude1234@dude1234:~$

I suspect that, since you are connected now and the configuration files seem to be correct, figuring out why it was slow getting connected the first time is not going to be possible. It's very difficult to troubleshoot trouble that no longer exists.

You might find something useful in the log files, which are located in /var/log. Since I'm using Mint tonight (the Mint machine is positioned where I can keep an eye on the Phillies baseball game) and Mint is also based on Ubuntu, I'd suggest you start with /var/log/syslog. If it is present on your machine (it isn't on Mint--it's been renamed to /var/log/mintsystem.log), /var/log/messages is usually a good place to look.

I'd suggest using the less command to view the log files, as it enables you to navigate through them.

By the way, the linux.about.com site, which I linked to above, might be a good place to start introducing yourself to Linux--it's oriented towards new and intermediate Linux users. Going Linux is another excellent resource.

dude1234@dude1234:~$ /var/log/syslog
bash: /var/log/syslog: Permission denied

dude1234@dude1234:~$ /var/log/messages
bash: /var/log/messages: Permission denied

dude1234@dude1234:~$ less syslog
syslog: No such file or directory

???

You might need to run the commands as root. Either log into the root account with su, followed by ther root password when promted. Then enter:
or, being an Ubuntu system, it is probably necessary to use:
(Do not type the $ and # symbols. Those are displayed in the terminal and mean user and root, respectively.)

Dear Frankbell,
I found two links very useful.Thanks !

Whatever written below is not exately releted with the origanal thread.
If I have any problem with internet after initial successful installation.I assume that problem is with Service provider of internet and not with Linux OS.
After few hours or next day internet stars working.

Just a word of caution in case you are unaware: Zorin 8 is based on Ubuntu 13.10 whose support ends in a few weeks! Zorin did release version 9 RC (based off Ubuntu 14.04) a few weeks ago, so I would hope they can get that finalized before the end of the month. You really need to plan to update to 9 when it comes out for security reasons.

Also, since you are struggling a bit, you should consider posting on the Zorin's website forum. Considering they market themselves as a beginner distro that strives to "look" like windows, I would assume they would be friendly to newbies. Not at all suggesting you should not post here too, just throwing out another idea that might help you get off to a smoother start :)

Thanks jross. I was aware Zorin 8 was not a LT version. I'm not sure how to update though. Do I need to do burn a cd and do a clean install, or will it be an update I can get via the menu? How do I prevent my system from updating from the LT version to the next short term release?

It appears that Zorin, like Mint, does not support on-line version upgrades, but recommends backing up crucial data, wiping the hard drive, installing the new version, then importing your saved data.

http://zorin-os.com/upgradeguide.html