Are there drivers for Linux (Ubuntu 20 or 22) for the old E1-531?

johnnyweebknife
johnnyweebknife Member Posts: 10

Tinkerer

Hello!

I'm planning to swap the old hard drive from my grandpa's old laptop, and since the processor is quite old, I think it would be more suitable to run Linux. My question is -- Do the drivers listed at this link work with Linux?

Thank you!

Answers

  • StevenGen
    StevenGen ACE Posts: 12,065 Trailblazer

    It all depends which E1-531 you have as there are two versions of this laptop with either an Legacy bios or a UEFI bios as is outlined by Acer bios updates. If you have MBR/Legacy bios then the Arch Linux version is your answer, all Linux versions have their own drivers so it shouldn't be a worry with drivers for your laptop and the only way to find out is to install the Linux OS.

  • johnnyweebknife
    johnnyweebknife Member Posts: 10

    Tinkerer

    The specs are Intel Celeron 1005M 1.90Ghz Dual-Core, SMBIOS Version 2.7. Is this the legacy bios one?

  • StevenGen
    StevenGen ACE Posts: 12,065 Trailblazer
    edited February 2023

    There is no SMBIOS Version 2.7 for this laptop, look at System Information under BaseBoard Vesion as that is where your bios is, and then you can go to the E1-531 Drivers & Manuals BIOS for the E1-531 and see if the bios versions as they are as follows:

    1. If its the 1.06 to 1.13 then its MBR/Legacy format
    2. If its bios version 2.04 to 2.21 then its the GUID (GPT) UEFI bios format

    Note: the two bios versions can't be mixed and/or updated with each other e.g. if your Aspire E5-531 has bios version 1.13 you can't upgrade the bios to version 2.21 UEFI.

    Also, upgrade the cpu from your Celeron 1005M to the higher Core i7-3610QM that I've got in my V3-571G laptop and to 2x 8GB DDR31600Mhz and to a 2.5"SSD as all these upgrades will make your laptop perform 200% quicker and better to the specs that you have with Win-10, btw Im running Win-10 Pro on the V3-571G.

    Just to give you more information, as I've experienced the same thing with these two different bios formats, I've still got an old 11 years old Aspire V3-571G that came in two different bios models (as when these laptops were released it was when GUID (GPT) bios were first introduced) and manufacturers like Acer and allot of other manufacturers had both bios chips of laptops released.

    I was lucky as when I bought my laptop it was an MBR/Legacy and eventually there was a hack guide reprogram to convert my MBR/Legacy bios chip with a Hex Editor to the GUID (GPT) UEFI r spec format and version 2.21 which coincidentally was the same version as your E5-531 (don't know if your Aspire E5-351 is the same, so don't try the bios hack bios reprograming, as it will either brick your laptop or it won't work) as to get your bios to GUID (GPT) its best if you get a tech to replace your MBR/Legacy bios chip with the newer GUID (GPT) bios chip flashed to version 2.21 which can be done and your laptop will work 100% with the GUID (GPT) UEFI bios if you want to go that far? Those are your options for this laptop.