Publications

Linux on Laptop Report

Installing Debian GNU/Linux 10 "Buster" on an Acer Aspire 7250

Introduction

Acer are a Tiwan based global supplier of PC computers. Their Aspire models are consumer laptops targetted at private citizens who want the latest specification and the lowest price. I obtained this sytem, in September 2019 running factory installed Microsoft Windows 7. Before installing Linux, the filesystem was shrunk use GParted.

General Hardware Specifications of 7250

Hardware Components Status under Linux Notes
AMD E-350 CPU 1.6 GHz Works No special procedure required during installation
17" 1336x768 TFT display (LED backlight) Works No special procedure required during installation
AMD Radeon 6310 Series Graphics Works No special procedure required during installation
8 GiB DDR3 RAM Works No special procedure required during installation
Toshiba MK6459GS 2.5" SATA Hard Drive Works No special procedure required during installation
Slimtype DVD A DS8A5SH Works No special procedure required during installation
Qualcomm Atheros AR8152 v2.0 Fast Ethernet Works Non-free Atheros driver required.
Bluetooth Untested Drivers loaded, system reports okay
Qualcomm Atheros AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) Works Non-free Atheros driver required.
2x USB 2.0 ports Works No special procedure required during installation
DE-15/D-sub 15 VGA out Works No special procedure required during installation
AMD Wrestler HDMI Audio Works No special procedure required during installation
Li battery Works No special procedure required during installation
Web Cam Works No special procedure required during installation
"7-in-1" Card Reader Works No special procedure required during installation

This laptop is operating under Kernel version 4.19.0-6 AMD64

Basic Installation of Debian GNU/Linux "Buster"

  • All my systems at home run Debian GNU/Linux, of which all but one run AMD64 versions. My servers and family systems run Debian stable.
  • Debian GNU/Linux is freely available from a world wide set of mirrors, for multiple system architectures and in a range of installation media. If you have decent network available at the time of install it's best to use the simple network install CD image and install all other packages on demand over the network. If you are installing without a network, then the DVD images are more complete and allow for a near complete install. All Debian images are designed so that you only need the first disk in the set, to perform the basic install. The disk images can be used to create bootable CD or DVD, bootable USB keys, PXE boot images or as in my case bootable hard disks.
  • The Acer can boot from HD, DVD, USB or network/PXE. I chose a standard Debian stable KDE DVD. Installation was standard, I then performed a routine upgrade to the most recent version of Debian stable. The install is a standard KDE desktop system, mostly with Debian defaults.
  • All hardware works perfectly with the vanilla Debian stable installation except the WiFi which requires a non-free kernel driver.

Setting up Additional Features for Debian

  • Suspend to disk works, using the default Debian install though I only used it to test it.
  • Touch pad and pointing stic works with default X.org configuration, and up/down scroll option.
  • Hardware "Fn" buttons of back-light, sound volume etc work and integrate with KDE5 "out of the box".

Unresolved Issues

None.

Hardware Reports