For example, the GNOME 3 System Settings application is just called "System Settings", while GNOME 3 Contacts is just called "Contacts". Pear OS 3.0 "Panther" uses GNOME 3, so a lot of the applications have become unbranded, which is good.
#ZORIN OS CORE MAC OS#
Incidentally, changing the volume using the keyboard made the same sound as doing so would in Apple's Mac OS X, further enhancing the similarity. My laptop's keyboard shortcuts worked well too. Codecs seem to be included as well, as YouTube and Hulu worked fine. Plus, it's important to remember that Opera was the first browser with features like tabbed browsing, tabs on top, and a menubar condensed into a button. The default browser is Opera, which is an unusual choice for a Linux distribution, but I guess it makes sense in sticking with cross-platform applications.
#ZORIN OS CORE PDF#
Pear OS: PDF Files in Evince & "Pear OS PDF Viewer"
#ZORIN OS CORE MAC OS X#
Overall, the desktop looks very well put together, and it makes a pretty convincing Mac OS X lookalike. I'm not sure what the GTK+ theme is, but it fits in very well. The Metacity/Mutter window titlebar theme appears to be the Elementary theme. There is one thing to note: Slingshot actually came before Launchpad thanks to the good work of the Elementary OS developers, so it's not fair to say that Slingshot is a copy of Launchpad. This appears to be even more restrictive than what is present in Apple's Mac OS X. Also, the dock appears to be locked, as I can't customize it at all. All are represented by icons very similar to their counterparts in Apple's Mac OS X, though I'll discuss that a little more later.
#ZORIN OS CORE SOFTWARE#
The dock contains shortcuts to "Finder" (Nautilus), "Launchpad" (Slingshot), "Pear OS Appstore" (the Linux Mint Software Manager), Back In Time, Opera, "Pear OS Mail" (Sylpheed), Clementine, Shotwell, "Pear OS Control Center" (GNOME 3 System Settings), Contacts, and Trash. The fact that the Pear OS logo brings up a system menu rather than an application launching menu (as in, say, Pinguy OS) makes it much closer to the operation of Apple's Mac OS X, which is good in that sense. The panel contains, from left to right, a system menu (given by the Pear OS logo), a global menu, and a system tray. There is a panel on top and a dock on the bottom. The desktop is supposed to be built on GNOME 3, but it looks surprisingly like GNOME 2.
Follow the jump to see what each is like.Īfter the boot menu, I was greeted by a boot splash containing the Pear OS logo and a spinner on a gray background. I'm basically just going to discuss appearances, deeper aspects of the interface, and included applications, without doing my usual other testing. Please bear in mind that as both distributions are based on Ubuntu, and as I have found time and again that my laptop's hardware works just fine on Ubuntu and so do applications like Skype and Google Talk, this comparison is going to seem pretty shallow. I tested both using a multiboot live USB made with MultiSystem. It explicitly states that it aims to bring Linux to Microsoft Windows users, but its website is a bit more generic in that it simply states the advantages and features of Zorin OS without directly referencing Microsoft Windows too many times. Even the version name is "Panther", which is actually a past release of Apple's Mac OS X ( The list goes on, but it's clear what the developers are aiming at.īy contrast, Zorin OS is quite a bit more subtle about its goals. It shows box art that clearly apes that of Apple's Mac OS X. Its logo is a pear into which someone has taken a small bite. Its slogan is "Think Totally Different", which is an obvious rip off of Apple's slogan, "Think Different". Pear OS takes no shame in aping absolutely every part of Apple's Mac OS X. I'm comparing it to Zorin OS, which similarly tries to replicate the experience of Microsoft Windows, to see which one does its job better. It aims to replicate the experience of Apple's Mac OS X, and upon first appearances, it seems to do so pretty well. There's been a new distribution making small waves lately called Pear OS.