Greetings this is my 1st post and i'll take advantage of this same circunstance to ask for some patience to my 'ignoramus'status quo, once i've been previously alerted to the necessary endurance capacity a newbee must be endowed when facing the acutely hard handling of experts and gurus toward Windows dropouts such as i hereby confess to be.
Enough as preliminars... My query:
Please advise what's the best track to follow. As most Newbees,i imagine, i'm beginning with ZORIN OS (5.2) which i find very userfriendly and allows me to perform almost painlessly free from all the finnickyness and scripting line commands for ordinary, basic computing operations, as too many of other distros demand from users, newbees or not. Now, from time to time i'm invited to accept 'Updates', but after 3 0r 4 of these actions (apparently within normality"), i begin to be notifyed that the updates are only 'partially' possible because of some previous misterious error and or they're interrupted because i lack a PUBKEY C1234...somemore digits;today suddenly it announced it could NOT install ubuntu desktop and that i should procceed to make a new fresh install (!!! - Yes, sirs 'Windowswise'and all).
All these events could be attributed to some 'foreign' application i installed from the ubuntu software center (how to install a new application downloaded from elsewhere demands all the mumbo-jumbo line commanding esoteric wisdom i do not have...)...But the another fact is that i already re-installed the OS, under those causes, thrice newly freshes and, finnaly, i ask: should i give up ZORIN and migrate perhaps to PINGUY, or any other suitable distro OR should discard, disregard, dismiss as a rule, any proposed "Updates" -- since my system worked fine beforehand?
Or am i doomed to accept this joke that will make die-hard M$ adepts burst into teary laughs?!

Thanking in advance for any pertinent advises.
H

Hello, welcome to LQ.

I never heard about neither ZORIN nor PINGUY before I read your post, thus can't help you but with some general considerations.

ZORIN and PINGUY being both Ubuntu derivatives, you could suppose that any Ubuntu package be compatible with the ZORIN version you use.

Unfortunately, this is certainly not true.

When a package is shipped to provide some application, it needs other applications or libraries to be already installed to run, which are called the dependencies of the package.

Ubuntu and its derivatives' package management systems are supposed to automatically take care of these inpedimenta, that is to say record the dependencies needed for a given package you want to install and install it first.

But different versions of the same distributions and its derivatives ship different versions of the same application or library, so if you mix packages intended for different versions you could very well put yourself in trouble, say installing two apps which need the same app or library as a dependency but not with the same version.

In order not to fall into what some call a "dependencies hell" be careful to install only packages intended for your version of your distribution and officially supported by it.

If you follow that advise, you can safely accept updates proposed by your distribution's package management system.

Other than that, though I be myself a Slackware user I would advise you to use a "main" distribution like MINT instead of a "niche" one, if you want to stay in the Ubuntu universe.

1 members found this post helpful.

Hi

Welcome to linuxquestions.

It can be a mistake to "run away" from one distro to another because you are having problems with the first. You need to ask us correctly, giving full details and you need to learn. What will you do if you have difficulty with Pinguy? Move to something else?

The command line might look difficult but with only a few commands you can make a lot of progress quickly.

Tip: You do not need to type commands into the Terminal. Highlight the command written on the web page. Move your cursor anywhere in the Terminal and press your mouse wheel or mouse middle button. Automatic Copy and paste! No spelling mistakes! No Typos! No other errors!

I believe that Zorin is based on Ubuntu. The following command should work. Connect to the Internet. Open a Terminal and input: sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade.

People here can tell you how to install a key if you continue to have problems. But...

We need to know the full and exact error messages. Copy and paste here so we can have a look and hopefully help.

1 members found this post helpful.

Thanks DIDIER

Yours is certainly a sound and serious advise.
However i must highlight to your (and other possible helpers on this issue) attention, that i only installed a small
number of applications provided by the Ubuntu Software Center, as depicted in the Menu of ZORIN OS. The reason why
is also duly detailed in my post: i have not the technical knowledge --the 'apt-gets' and 'makes' confuse me--required
to download and install applications in a Linux distro from any other source. And i think it's a pity the absence of
a stand-alone installer -- once, for Pete sake, i do not understand how to use Synaptic Package Mngr (and the Help texts
are mostly not-very-helpfull) and i believe that many more newbees-candidates don't understand it either, but it seems that even distros that are, so they announce it with whistles and bells: developped as userfriendly distros directed to beginners, do not care to provide versions of misteriously cooked applications -- and it should be crystal clear that necessity (i guess its regarded as downgrading the noble art of Linux Advanced Users High-Rank Wizardy.
Thanks for your feedback anyway.
A bientôt,
H

Welcome to the forums!

Did you ask your question on the Zorin forum and/or search the Zorin website for "how to upgrade" documentation?

Since you are new to Linux I recommend you use one of the major distros, as the major distros will have the largest support communities and the best documentation: http://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=major

My first distribution was Ubuntu and I get lots of help here: http://ubuntuforums.org

Here is some advice on "partial upgrades" which may or may not be relevant to your current predicament: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/U%2B1/partial_upgrade

Finally some stylistic advice to get the best response and answer to your questions; lose the attitude and present your question as briefly and factually as possible. For example if you get a "mysterious error message" then simply copy and paste the error message instead of spending a paragraph rambling about why you think Linux shouldn't give mysterious error messages. Once you are a little more experienced the messages won't seem mysterious at all--they provide valuable information to troubleshoot the problem.

Henri,

I understand that you chose Zorin because it is (supposed to be) easier to use for Linux newcomers with a Windows background, and of course I respect your choice.
This notwithstanding, to get real benefit of Linux you will need to understand at least some basic concepts.

Unfortunately the documentation provided by Zorin on their website seems me to be too sparse.

So let me suggest you to get some more information directly from Ubuntu's website here.

Especially, you will find a bunch of useful information in the Ubuntu Desktop Guide for their most recent version including for instance how-to Install Additional Software.

User Documentation is certainly useful too.

Let me plead my age to generalize: the more you read, the more comfortable you will feel using Linux

Thanks to everyone that really cared to straightly respond my quest.

SNOWPINE:
I'm sure your criticizing of my style ('Le style c'est l'homme'-Bossuet --n'est-ce pas, Didier?),enbodyded another type of "hollier than thou" attitude which i will not accept from anyone. That's a sheer example of the Guru 'scolding' i was afraid to be casted with.

In the name of WHOM or of WHAT do you feel invested to be able to address this 'daddy knows best' advise to "LOOSE THE ATTITUDE"...???!!!...

I was trying to convey the real feelings of a newbee, a new convert-candidate when entering Linux
complexities -- i can see now that i was also offering an easy opportunity to an expert Sentinel, a Guardian of the Good Ethics and Manners and a "Better Communication Master" to stage his appearance.
Hèlas!
H

Everyone here is a volunteer who taking time out of their day to help you. Lighten up and maybe you will see that the links I provided were actually helpful and relevant.

Henri, "le style c'est l'homme" should be attributed to Buffon.

I am slightly embarrassed though, as the exact quote, which is is not "le style c'est l'homme" differ upon the source used.

What we know for sure is that the sentence was included in the "discours de réception à l'Académie française" de Georges-Louis Leclerc, comte de Buffon.

According to the text edited by l'abbé J. Pierre Librairie Ch. Poussielgue, Paris, 1896:
But according to the text published by l'Académie Française itself:
Ces remarques sont sans doute un peu hors sujet, merci de bien vouloir m'en excuser

Didier

C'etait une citation de contexte plus que de texte lui-même. Sur l´áuteur cité: c'est un lapsus memoriae - jétait convaincu qu'il s'agissait de Bossuet - Une gauchisme a moi. Excusez. I stand corrected about this detail issue. Et votre rappel c'etait tout a fait correcte and gentleman-like - No reason for embarrassement.
Merci bien.

Snowpine:
As for helping hints i did thank them even if coming from you -- das tut mich leiden!- Stimmt??!
Mon dernier mot: YOU LIGHTEN UP! And learn to allow freedom of expression to others. Specialy those you're not able to conceive a faint ghost idea about... Besides being a Linux self-confessed ignoramus, since the very beginning of thishere change of graces.
H

http://www.gnurou.org/writing/smartquestionsfr
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