Renewed a great old ACER laptop =AMD64cpu NOT multi-core.
Attempted SolidStateDrive =OK as storage device,
but BIOS would not boot from it.
Installed original HardDrive.

Attempted two 64bit Q4os/Debian installs
=both failed to GRUB boot.
Many strange messages from Egypt & Mars !
Assumed that 'old' Athlon-64bit was the problem.

Installed 32bit Q4os =perfect =no problems & FAST !
However,
I need a install guide for WiFi.


---------------------------acer@q4os-desktop:~$ inxi -F
System:
Host: q4os-desktop Kernel: 6.1.0-13-686-pae arch: i686 bits: 32
Desktop: Trinity v: R14.1.1 Distro: Q4OS 5.4.1-n1
Machine:
Type: Laptop System: Acer product: Aspire 5515 v: V1.00
serial: <superuser required>
Mobo: Acer model: Nile serial: <superuser required> BIOS: Acer v: 1.00
date: 12/03/2008
Battery:
ID-1: BAT1 charge: 41.7 Wh (100.0%) condition: 41.7/57.7 Wh (72.2%)
CPU:
Info: single core model: AMD Athlon 2650e bits: 64 type: UP cache:
L2: 512 KiB
Speed (MHz): 1596 min/max: N/A core: 1: 1596
Graphics:
Device-1: AMD RS690M [Radeon Xpress 1200/1250/1270] driver: radeon v: kernel
Device-2: Suyin Acer/HP Integrated Webcam [CN0314] type: USB driver: uvcvideo
Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.7 driver: X: loaded: radeon
unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa dri: r300 gpu: radeon resolution: 1280x800~60Hz
API: OpenGL v: 2.1 Mesa 22.3.6 renderer: ATI RS690
Audio:
Device-1: AMD SBx00 Azalia driver: snd_hda_intel
API: ALSA v: k6.1.0-13-686-pae status: kernel-api
Server-1: PulseAudio v: 16.1 status: active
Network:
Device-1: Qualcomm Atheros AR242x / AR542x Wireless Network Adapter
driver: ath5k
IF: wlp2s0 state: down mac: 00:23:4e:5f:48:41
Device-2: Realtek RTL810xE PCI Express Fast Ethernet driver: r8169
IF: enp5s0 state: down mac: 00:1e:ec:d9:9c:96
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 149.05 GiB used: 2.27 GiB (1.5%)
ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Western Digital model: WD1600BEVT-22ZCT0 size: 149.05 GiB
Partition:
ID-1: / size: 144.71 GiB used: 2.27 GiB (1.6%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1
Swap:
ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 976 MiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) dev: /dev/sda5
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 45.0 C mobo: N/A Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Info:
Processes: 140 Uptime: 3m Memory: 2.71 GiB used: 543.1 MiB (19.6%)
Shell: Bash inxi: 3.3.26


------------- Appreciate any & all help =)

Was file check done 1st before install?

Saves headaches later.

Also. Here is the user manual.

https://www.q4os.org/dqa007.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qtNLtueTQU

You are ok as far as driver being loaded.

1 members found this post helpful.

As advised:
ISO checked: bee25c6842a9b9cf641b4747543573c6 q4os-5.4-i386-instcd.r1.iso (from my iMac download PC)
ISO checked: bee25c6842a9b9cf641b4747543573c6 q4os-5.4-i386-instcd.r1.iso (from the ACER laptop)
I also have ...r2.iso and a larger(800k) ....r2a.iso NOT tested.

Read-the-manual:
4. Wireless network setup
Q4OS fully supports wireless networking, includes fitted 'knetworkmanager' tool to manage wireless connections. If you are looking for more comfortable WiFi manager, we advise you to install more advanced 'Network Manager' from Software Centre. End.

Note: I have difficulty understanding how to install a 'more advanced & comfortable' anything without a network connection. Searched for 'knetworkmanager', does not exist.

YouTube: Watched the entire 19+ minutes. Did not see any configuration beyond sceen-resolution.

ACER laptop: clicking around the laptop, I found "create a network folder". (pertains to local-LAN-sharing).
Also found Q4os-settings with Network settings - same LAN-sharing info.
Nothing found pertaining to TCP/IP, or the network hardware.
It seems that something in the install script, has been skipped over (there were no error messages) ???
Maybe,,, I vaguely remember installing D.S.L. & TinyCore & TCP/IP & FireFox all from the commandline.
Then PUPPY came along, and that was the end of the commandline ;>}

That would be either using the FULL DVD set, or (recommended) the Ethernet (Wired) interface to get a network connection to enable downloading the extra WIFI bits.

Sanity check: The old laptop does not have a DVD drive. The lack of a network connection is the topic herein.
The hardware for 10BaseT + Wifi is in place, there is NO SOFTWARE to utilize the hardware.

As stated it does look like the drivers are loading correctly and the hardware is ready. Without any sort of network manager that automatically connects you will need to do it manually.

1. For using wifi you need wpa_supplicant which is hopefully installed. I refer you to the ArchWiki for configuring and connecting to your network. https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/wpa_supplicant

2. Once the laptop is connected to the network you can use the dhcp client dhclient to assign an IP address and configure your DNS and gateway. https://www.thegeekdiary.com/dhclien...in-unix-linux/

3. And hopefully you are now connected.

2 members found this post helpful.

I use a Acer Aspire ES15 as my daily couch potato laptop. Hard disk is slow, was gifted to me a number of years back for that reason - Window wasn't usable.

I boot a self built Linux kernel, tracking the latest 6.6.9 release, busybox userland .. along with ssh/ssl, framebuffer vnc and alsa/sndio. 16MB vmlinuz with initramfs built into the kernel along with all modules/firmware. Loads to around 50MB of ram used. Wifi net connects, and with that I telnet into BBS's, ssh into ssh servers for IRC/mutt, or, more usually, vnc into a local desktop i5/8GB/nvidia (hard wired ethernet) system within which I built a full VM (qemu/kvm) gui desktop system (chrome/Libreoffice ...etc.). The screen refresh rate is good enough to watch/listen to youtubes within chrome ...etc.

Nowadays even inexpensive small scale devices often are powerful enough to run full gui desktops and/or provide vnc VM's, you could even glue one to the laptop lid ... and use that as your 'main processor', just leave the nice sized display/keyboard/touchpad more as a 'terminal'. And where that session looks/feels much the same as the powerful server device that you connect to. Web pages download at ethernet speeds, video is rendered by nvidia etc.

If for instance I compile the kernel on my laptop you're looking at a 1.5 hour type wait. When instead I do that on the i5 (server) its more like a 5 minute process.

On the server I use Fatdog as the desktop system, and again within the qemu/kvm VM that vnc into (as that keeps sound/video separate, so another family member can be using that desktop system without any interference such as youtubes video sounds bleeding through). I also use Fatdog as the 'build' system for that minimal linux/busybox/vnc/ssh boot system.

I've come to very much like using a framebuffer instead of X on the laptop, as things bleed through. For instance if on Ctrl-alt-F2 I have a vnc session into a X/gui desktop that's running chrome playing a youtube, and I ctrl-alt-F3 into another tty, then the video continues to bleed through, becomes visible in that cli session ... a feature rather than a flaw.

Similarly when viewing the X session, any dynamics within the framebuffer cli session also bleed through, I have a clock and battery indicator for instance set in the top right of screen, that overlays onto the X gui taskbar that I've also positioned to the top of screen.

In effect you can turn a old lower powered device into a machine that has the look-feel of running at the latest powered devices, or the most powerful device that you can set up as a server.

When out/about I use my android phone as the server, into which I installed f-droid termux/X/ssh/vnc/otter browser, so I tether via usb that to my laptop, use the phones wifi/data for net connectivity and vnc into it for the otter web browser (that is similar to Opera browser). Additionally installing termux-api is nice as you can then even use the laptop to trigger the phones camera, or type in/send SMS's etc. If you also set up sshfs then file sharing between the phone/laptop is easy.

So in short, if it were me I wouldn't bother with trying to get browsers/office working on the laptop, rather just focus on getting ssh/vncviewer up/running, look to use it as nice keyboard/screen/touchpad device that with connectivity can look/feel similar to a modern/latest laptop device.

(Edited to add that the framebuffer clock and battery in the top right corner are much clearer in reality than the compressed images suggest. I did create them to be somewhat transparent i.e. alternate pixels coloured so you can 'see through' them when laid on top of other graphics/text, and the image compression of both png and jpg seem to lose the clarity. Also note how even though there's a X/gui desktop running chrome with two tabs open, one to youtube playing a video (that's been picture-in-pictured pulled out) the other to linuxquestions, that the system is only using 54MB ram )

Attached Thumbnails

   

If you hit a wall with trying to get wifi up and running, you may have better luck with tethering. The USB cable that came with my phone was a power only cable, I bought another one that supports both power and net connecting inexpensively, a few dollars (Pounds). I set the phone up for tethering and then on the laptop I run

udhcpc -qi usb0 &

and then ifconfig shows the usb port as having acquired a IP and the laptops then internet connected. More often I have the phone wifi connected to the household router for net connection (free), but when out and about I turn 'data' on, which then starts using the phones data allowance. With giffgaff 10 quid/month gives me 15GB/month data allowance https://www.giffgaff.com/sim-only-deals, along with free calls and SMS's on their pay as you go line.

Google Youtube for connecting using network manager. Seems like they work the same. You find your router number. You enter your wpa password. Then you are connected. Simple as that.

Good news:
I flipped thru my stack of 32bit-Linux CDs/DVDs hunting the ideal distro for the old ACER.

Guess what? LINUXQUESTIONS led me to Devuan + Debian 'bookworm'.
( Devuan excludes 'systemd', while 'bookworm' boots on nearly all CPUs.)
That combo led to Refracta, which offers a 'condensed' distro for my ancient ACER.

Downloaded to USBflash & booted the old laptop. <-its now called NEW laptop.

I can't explain system D, or condensed-bookworm, or how Refracta works,
but it boots from the USB, then you install from the running memory.
Seems odd, but you must tell it what NOT to install. Done in 30 minutes!
( I think a Debian install takes 30 hours

I'm on the NEW laptop with 29-flavors, like Falkon(browser), Atril(pdf), SMplayer(vid), KDEConnect(Btooth), plus a dozen other old favorites.
All with 3Gb RAM + 12GB HardDisk.

Thanks for your input The problem has been eliminated.

Recently, just yesterday... I installed altlinux; the 1.3 GB iso basic and clean installation ("Starterkits" > Mate > x86_64). Computer
Acer Aspire One > 2GB memory
The session starts and memory consumption is scarce 400MB, the Firefox runs on YouTube very light.
Previously I played it safe, installed Mageia and was going great but not so fast... my recommendation is to install Mageia on any computer, as it never fails.
https://en.altlinux.org/Starterkits#Installable_LiveCDs
http://nightly.altlinux.org/p10/rele...910-x86_64.iso
https://www.mageia.org/es/downloads/