How to install Peppermint to an Acer Aspire One
The machine I'm going to be using as an example in this tutorial is an
Acer Aspire One ZG5 with the A110 motherboard and an 8 GB fixed
Solid
State
Drive, (
SSD). The default memory size of this machine is 512 MiB. It is highly recommended that this is increased to the maximum of, 1.5 GB. Most other models of the
Acer Aspire One are variations of this model.
It is not possible to easily change the fixed
8 GB SSD on an
Acer Aspire One ZG5 A110. Unless you are very good with a soldering iron. However if the
SSD is used as the
/root partition with a fraction as
swap space and a 32 GB SD card as the
/home partition. It is possible to have a very capable little computer running
Peppermint. (The
/root partition is normally displayed as,
/. This is how it will be referred to for the remainder of this tutorial).
Items needed to Upgrade the Acer Aspire One's Memory to
1.5 GB
- A 1 GB 200p PC2-5300 CL5 DDR2-5300 SODIMM memory card or equivalent
- A set of Jeweller's screwdrivers, an old credit card or a hard guitar plectrum
- Patience and a pot of coffee or tea, (highly recommended)
Upgrading the memory on an
Acer Aspire One ZG5 is not straightforward. It requires you to take your machine apart. Don't worry it's not as difficult as it sounds. If your machine does not already have its memory upgraded to 1.5 GB. Please take the time to watch the following video tutorial, as it will make dismantling and reassembling your machine very much simpler:
As already mentioned, the tools required are a set of jeweller’s screwdriver and an old credit card or a hard guitar plectrum to help pry open the case. Once the memory is upgraded and the machine reassembled. The next task is to prepare your machine and install
Peppermint.
How to Install Peppermint to Your Acer Aspire One ZG5
Please note. If you have any critical data on the Acer's solid state drive. Now is the time to back it up. The installation of
Peppermint to this drive will erase all data on it. You have been warned!!
I'm assuming you already have the
Peppermint 32 bit ISO copied to your USB thumb drive or CD/DVD. You
must also have preferably a 32 GB High Density SD card or Micro SD card with adapter. Type 4 or Type 10 are both fine.
Insert the
32 GB SD card into the SD card slot that is located on the left hand side of your computer, towards the front. This card is going to be formatted to become your,
/home partition. It must remain in the computer at all times while the machine is running. Booting your
Acer Aspire One without it inserted, will cause your machine to fail to boot.
Insert the media with the
Peppermint ISO into your machine. Boot into the
BIOS of your machine. This is done by holding down the
F2 key immediately after you turn your machine on.
Once the
BIOS screen has opened, navigate to the
Boot tab by using the left ᐊ and right ᐅ arrow keys on your keyboard. Select the Boot device with the Peppermint ISO from the list and move it to the top by using the
F5 and
F6 keys on your keyboard. When you have done this, push the
F10 key. Select
[Yes] and hit
Enter. Your computer will now boot into the
Peppermint Live session. Select either,
Try Peppermint OS Live or,
Install Peppermint OS from the menu screen. If you have an ethernet cable, please plug it in or, setup your WiFi when asked. If you have chosen to, try the live session, double click on the desktop,
Install Peppermint icon.
When the
Install screen opens. Select your chosen language from the list on the left.
Click on
Continue.
When the next window opens, check that your machine is plugged in to the mains electricity and it meets at least the minimum operational requirements. Check/tick the,
Install this third party software box. Leave the,
Download updates while installing unchecked/not ticked. We will install this after
Peppermint is installed.
Click on
Continue.
When the next window opens, select -
Something Else.
Click on
Continue.
When the next window opens, from the list select your
Solid
State
Drive. This is will more than likely be labelled:
/dev/sda1.
Double left click on it.
A small window will open. Select
Change and in the small edit partition window, reduce the size of the partition to 6712 MB. The leftover space of 1355 MB will be used as swap space. You may want to use a smaller swap space. Adjust this accordingly. However, I find 1355 MB works well.
Click
Ok.
The leftover space will now appear in the list as,
free space. Highlight it and double left click on it. In the small window titled:
Create partition.
- Double check the: Size
- From: Type for the new partition:, select - Primary
- From: Location for new partition:, select - Beginning of this space
- From: Use as:, select - swap area
Click
Ok.
With
/dev/sda1 highlighted, double left click on it.
- From: Use as: dropdown/popup menu, select - Ext4 journaling file system
- Check/tick: Format the Partition
- From: Mount Point, select - /
Click
Ok.
Now find your
SD card from the list. It will be labelled something similar to this:
/dev/mmcblk1p1. Double left click on it.
- From: Use as: dropdown/popup menu, select - Ext4 journaling file system
- Check/tick: Format the Partition
- From: Mount Point select - /home
Click
Ok.
You will be presented with another window with information, click okay or continue.
From:
Device for boot loader installation, select -
/dev/sda ***********(8.1 GB) or similar. It is important that the line starts with
/dev/sda if your
/ was
/dev/sda1.
Click on,
Install Now.
You will now be presented with a summary of what is going to be done. If you are not satisfied, click on,
Go Back. If you are satisfied with this, click on,
Continue. Lets assume you are satisfied - click on,
Continue.
Peppermint will now install to your,
Acer Aspire One ZG5. While it is installing, you will be asked to provide the details about your:
Geographical location,
keyboard,
Full Name,
Username,
Computer Name, your new
User Password,
Disk Encryption, (optional) and how you want to
Login. This is all self explanatory. For ease, the only fields you need to fill in are for your name and password. For the others, the defaults are perfectly acceptable. After the installation process has finished. Reboot your machine into the
BIOS by holding down the
F2 key during the restart. Adjust the boot order so the
Solid State Drive is at the top of the boot order list. Remove the Live media from your machine and press
F10. Select
[Yes] and hit
Enter.
When your new
Peppermint installation first boots, there are few thing that need to be done. First lets help prolong the life of your
SSD by reducing the
swappiness value to something more appropriate for the
Acer Aspire One ZG5. Reducing the
swappiness value also makes your machine more responsive because more data will be kept in RAM rather than in the swap space. Open a terminal window with the following keystrokes,
Ctrl+Alt+t. To check the current value enter the following command.
Tip: Linux is case sensitive. To reduce the possibility of typographical errors please click the
Code: [Select] function below to highlight the contents. Click on the centre mouse button/wheel while the cursor is in the terminal window to paste the contents.
cat /proc/sys/vm/swappiness
Hit
Enter. The default value is 60. I run my
AAO with a value of 1 without an issue. Any value between 1 and 10 is acceptable. Enter the following command:
Note: For enhanced security, passwords are entered invisibly. There is
NO indication of any user input. You may enter an incorrect password
3 times before you have to repeat the action you are trying to execute.
sudo gedit /etc/sysctl.conf
Hit
Enter and enter your user password when asked. Hit
Enter again. Disregard the warning message. It is irrelevant. When the file opens, add the following lines to the bottom of it.
#Adjust Swappiness Value
vm.swappiness=1
Or whatever value you have decided on. Save the file and reboot your system. Check the swappiness value again by running the following command in a terminal window:
cat /proc/sys/vm/swappiness
Now we are going to enable the
non-free repository. This will allow you to download
Skype directly from the repository if you so wish. Navigate to:
menu > Preferences > Software & Updates. In the
Other Software check/tick the,
Canonical Partners box. Enter your user password when asked and click
Ok. Click on
close and
reload when asked.
Since the time when your installation ISO was originally created, the kernel and the installed software packages will have gone through several upgrades.
Peppermint, like other Linux distributions is a very dynamic and rapidly evolving operating system. Consequently, it needs to be kept as current as possible for optimal performance. Please open a terminal window with the following keystrokes:
Ctrl+Alt+t. Enter the following commands into the terminal window.
apt update && apt upgrade -y
Hit
Enter and enter your user password when asked, hit
Enter again. After that has completed, continue with:
Hit
Enter and enter your user password if asked.
After the upgrade has completed, reboot your machine because there may have been kernel upgrades.
We are now going to install,
lubuntu-restricted-extras. This is essential software which is not already included due to legal or copyright reasons. Open a terminal window with the following keystrokes,
Ctrl+Alt+t. Enter the following commands in sequence:
apt install lubuntu-restricted-extras -y
Enter your user password when asked and hit
Enter. You will be presented with a standard
End
User
License
Agreement, (EULA). You must accept this by clicking
Yes twice. This can be done by highlighting the
Yes button with the tab key and hitting either the
Spacebar or
Enter.
That's it. Congratulations, you've done it,
Peppermint is now ready to use on your
Acer Aspire One ZG5. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. Someone here will be delighted to help you out. I hope this tutorial has been helpful. I hope you have many years of use and enjoyment from your splendid little
Acer Aspire One ZG5 
.
