Linux on Aspire E15 (E5-576G-5762)

bundito

One of the reviews on Amazon said it’s not possible to boot Linux on this model. Can that possibly be correct? I don’t plan on dual-booting; I plan to reformat the drive and install KDE Neon (Ubuntu-based) as the sole operating system. 

It it appears there are (or have been) multiple models named E15. The one I’m looking at, on Amazon, is model #E5-576G-5762. It has an i5-8250 CPU, an NVIDIA GeForce MX150 GPU, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD. The Amazon (US) link is : https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075FLBJV7/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_MyzOAb99GQ7C7

Should I expect any trouble running Linux on this machine? Wireless drivers? WiFi drivers? 

It looks like a great little laptop. I’m hoping to place an order within days. I’d just like to have some solid background before pulling the trigger. 

Thanks. 

JackE

It should be fine. But I'd recommend keeping the hidden ACER recovery partition intact just in case. It's also convenient and ensures fairly painless installation to just pare down the Win10 system partition to a minimum and simply max out the freespace available for the Linux and swap installation. The grubx64.efi can then be the primary bootloader and you won't even know Win10 is still on the machine. Jack E/NJ

PS: A caveat. The only Ubuntu flavor that I've worked with so far that seems to load all the correct drivers pain free is the Mint distros.

JackE

>>> I’d expect the Ubuntu core to remain essentially the same>>>

Yep. But it's the stuff outside the core that can make an installation painless or painful. For example, everything worked right off the bat  with the Mint installation of the cinnamon package. It detected and installed all the drivers correctly. Networking was a cinch. All that remained was fine-tuning. I was impressed. Jack E/NJ

JackE

It should be fine. But I'd recommend keeping the hidden ACER recovery partition intact just in case. It's also convenient and ensures fairly painless installation to just pare down the Win10 system partition to a minimum and simply max out the freespace available for the Linux and swap installation. The grubx64.efi can then be the primary bootloader and you won't even know Win10 is still on the machine. Jack E/NJ

PS: A caveat. The only Ubuntu flavor that I've worked with so far that seems to load all the correct drivers pain free is the Mint distros.

bundito

JackE said:

PS: A caveat. The only Ubuntu flavor that I've worked with so far that seems to load all the correct drivers pain free is the Mint 

That’s odd. Regardless of the specific distribution, I’d expect the Ubuntu core to remain essentially the same. KDE Neon is Ubuntu 16.04 under the hood, which has got to be one of the most successful Linux editions ever made. I have high hopes. If a little drama takes place during setup, I’ll survive. I just didn’t want to hear something like “You’re out of your mind!”

Thanks. 

JackE

UBUNTU installations
( 0) Pre-shrink Windows partition to desired unallocated space for Linux installation.
( 1) Make bootable GPT/FAT32(default) stick from the Linux installation iso with Rufus. !!!Do not attempt to change UEFI bootstrapper from UEFI to legacy mode in order to use an MBR/FAT32 stick!!!
( 2) *This step is needed only if the Linux GPT/FAT32 installation bootstick is ignored* Set BIOS supervisor password(SECURITY), disable secure boot(BOOT)& enable F12 Windows boot mgr (MAIN). Save BIOS settings & exit.
( 3) Shutdown & insert bootable GPT/FAT32 Linux installation stick
( 4) Turn back on while immediately start tapping F12. Select Linux stick to run.
( 5) Preferrably select a default Linux install option
( 6) Follow on-screen instructions to install alongside Windows.
( 7) Let Linux automatically set & resize partitions for Linux & its swap. Adjust for more or less space only if absolutely necessary.
( 8) Shutdown & remove Linux stick.
( 9) Turn back on while tapping F2.
(10) Re-enable secure boot(BOOT) if disabled & select UEFI file as trusted(MAIN). Select HDD0, SSD0 or eMMC0, then <EFI>, then <ubuntu>, then grubx64.efi the UEFI file. Enter grubx64.efi in the space provided if selecting it doesn't automatically enter it. Save BIOS setting and exit.
(11) Boot into Windows. Then shutdown again.
(12) Turn back on while tapping F12.
(13) grubx64.efi can be primary bootloader by making it first in the UEFI boot order.

Jack E/NJ

JackE

>>> I’d expect the Ubuntu core to remain essentially the same>>>

Yep. But it's the stuff outside the core that can make an installation painless or painful. For example, everything worked right off the bat  with the Mint installation of the cinnamon package. It detected and installed all the drivers correctly. Networking was a cinch. All that remained was fine-tuning. I was impressed. Jack E/NJ

bundito

Any knowledge of running Ubuntu flavors on the Swift 3?

Acer Swift 3, 8th Gen Intel Core i5-8250U, 15.6" Full HD, 8GB DDR4, 256GB SSD, Windows 10 Home, SF315-51-518S https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0746NQYFF/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_qMAOAbPC28MBG

Another nice looking laptop... I’m on my phone, overseas, so my Google-fu is a little handicapped. 

JackE

Not sure about the 8th Gen SF3s but I'll point 3 other colleagues to your query who may want to chime in. Jack E/NJ

padgett

Most require a 2-3GB download but can run from a 16GB USB as a Live (without installation). May need to add the bootx64.efi/grubx64.efi file to the Bios store or erase the whole store (not recommended but easy to recover). What do you need to know ?

BTW there is a specific Acer forum thread for Linux, would probably be better there.

https://community.acer.com/en/categories/linux

bundito

I’ll head over there and ask. I’m mainly concerned about driver support for things like the trackpad and the WiFi chipsets. These seem to be the most problematic when trying to run Linux on a “Windows” machine.