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What to install on Acer Aspire 1642ZWLMi

greeatzy
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Hello all,

 

Could you guys give a recommendation on what to install on this Acer. Originally it runs Win XP but given that Microsoft doesn't provide security updates for it I'm looking for other options.

I'm doing this for my grandmother so she can read news and newspapers.

I was thinking of installing linux based software myb? Idk...

Share me your thoughts on what can be done.

Kind Regards

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Posted

Linux is your only option really unless you want to pay for a Win10 license, and Win10 will run incredibly badly I'd have thought.

 

Prepare for this thread filling up with an argument about which distribution is best.

My personal recommendation would be Linux Mint XFCE edition (https://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=3930, scroll down to "download links"), for the following reasons:

  • It doesn't look too far from Windows. In fact it probably looks a little closer to Windows XP than Windows 10 does. So it's not a huge jump for your grandma to get used to.
  • XFCE is pretty lightweight on system resources
  • Comes with Firefox web browser pre installed (so do most distributions) so news reading shouldn't be an issue.
  • Linux Mint is a long term support distribution. This means that you don't have to perform upgrades to the next version on a regular basis.
  • I have used Mint for a long time - including on Acer machines, though that probably doesn't mean much - and found it to be reliable and stable.

 

I suggest you give it a go! It's free (and not tricky to install), so you have nothing to lose.

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pythonmegapixel

into tech, public transport and architecture // amateur programmer // youtuber // beginner photographer

Thanks for reading all this by the way!

By the way, my desktop is a docked laptop. Get over it, No seriously, I have an exterrnal monitor, keyboard, mouse, headset, ethernet and cooling fans all connected. Using it feels no different to a desktop, it works for several hours if the power goes out, and disconnecting just a few cables gives me something I can take on the go. There's enough power for all games I play and it even copes with basic (and some not-so-basic) video editing. Give it a go - you might just love it.

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Posted
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6 minutes ago, pythonmegapixel said:

Linux is your only option really unless you want to pay for a Win10 license, and Win10 will run incredibly badly I'd have thought.

 

Prepare for this thread filling up with an argument about which distribution is best.

My personal recommendation would be Linux Mint XFCE edition (https://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=3930, scroll down to "download links"), for the following reasons:

  • It doesn't look too far from Windows. In fact it probably looks a little closer to Windows XP than Windows 10 does. So it's not a huge jump for your grandma to get used to.
  • XFCE is pretty lightweight on system resources
  • Comes with Firefox web browser pre installed (so do most distributions) so news reading shouldn't be an issue.
  • Linux Mint is a long term support distribution. This means that you don't have to perform upgrades to the next version on a regular basis.
  • I have used Mint for a long time - including on Acer machines, though that probably doesn't mean much - and found it to be reliable and stable.

 

I suggest you give it a go! It's free (and not tricky to install), so you have nothing to lose.

So I download the .iso and make a bootable usb through rufus?

To be an expert is to know more about less.

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Posted
4 minutes ago, greeatzy said:

So I download the .iso and make a bootable usb through rufus?

Well any software which can make a bootable USB stick will do fine  - but yes, downloading the ISO and writing it to the USB with Rufus should do the job perfectly.

 

A word of warning: you might have some issues getting the Wi-fi drivers working. This is unfortunately a problem with the vast majority of Linux distros - not all wi-fi cards have Linux drivers unfortunately. But it's relatively cheap to buy a USB wifi adapter which does support Linux, if that is an issue you run into.

 

Oh, and I forgot to mention - if you want to, you can run it off the USB stick without ever installing it on your system, just to make sure everything's working as you expect.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

 

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

pythonmegapixel

into tech, public transport and architecture // amateur programmer // youtuber // beginner photographer

Thanks for reading all this by the way!

By the way, my desktop is a docked laptop. Get over it, No seriously, I have an exterrnal monitor, keyboard, mouse, headset, ethernet and cooling fans all connected. Using it feels no different to a desktop, it works for several hours if the power goes out, and disconnecting just a few cables gives me something I can take on the go. There's enough power for all games I play and it even copes with basic (and some not-so-basic) video editing. Give it a go - you might just love it.

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22 minutes ago, pythonmegapixel said:

Well any software which can make a bootable USB stick will do fine  - but yes, downloading the ISO and writing it to the USB with Rufus should do the job perfectly.

 

A word of warning: you might have some issues getting the Wi-fi drivers working. This is unfortunately a problem with the vast majority of Linux distros - not all wi-fi cards have Linux drivers unfortunately. But it's relatively cheap to buy a USB wifi adapter which does support Linux, if that is an issue you run into.

 

Oh, and I forgot to mention - if you want to, you can run it off the USB stick without ever installing it on your system, just to make sure everything's working as you expect.

So I created the bootable USB through rufus but the usb doesn't show up in the boot menu. what now ?

To be an expert is to know more about less.

  • 2014 Build --> FX 8350 4.7GHz {} ASRock Fatal1ty 990FX Killer {} Reference GTX 980 4GB {} 2x4GB 1866MHz HyperX {} Seagate 2TB 7200rpm {} 840 EVO 120GB {} XFX PRO850W {} Noctua NH D14 {} Fractal Define R4 White Windowed
  • 2018 Build --> Ryzen 7 2700X {} ASRock Fatal1ty X470 Gaming K4 {} Gigabyte RTX 2070 8GB {} 2x8GB HX Fury 3200MHz {} Toshiba P300 2TB {} Kingston 480GB A1000 {} Corsair RM750W {} Enermax LIQMAX II 240 {} Fractal Focus G
  • 2021 Build --> Ryzen 9 5900X {} ASUS ROG Strix X570-F GAMING {} ASUS GeForce RTX 3080Ti ROG STRIX OC {} Gigabyte AORUS RGB DDR4 32GB {} Kingston KC2500 M.2 2280 NVMe 2TB {} Seasonic FOCUS GX-1000 {} ASUS ROG Ryujin 240 AIO {} NYXT H710i
  • Laptop --> ASUS ROG STRIX G713RS {} Ryzen 9 6900HX {} 32GB DDR5 {} RTX 3080 {} 1TB NVMe {} Win 11 Home
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18 minutes ago, greeatzy said:

So I created the bootable USB through rufus but the usb doesn't show up in the boot menu. what now ?

I don't know.

 

Is the device you are installing on 64-bit or 32-bit?

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____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

pythonmegapixel

into tech, public transport and architecture // amateur programmer // youtuber // beginner photographer

Thanks for reading all this by the way!

By the way, my desktop is a docked laptop. Get over it, No seriously, I have an exterrnal monitor, keyboard, mouse, headset, ethernet and cooling fans all connected. Using it feels no different to a desktop, it works for several hours if the power goes out, and disconnecting just a few cables gives me something I can take on the go. There's enough power for all games I play and it even copes with basic (and some not-so-basic) video editing. Give it a go - you might just love it.

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Posted

Some older pc's can't boot from USB You have to boot from a CD. Best ro install XP, doubt she'll get into trouble reading news. Install an antivirus for peace of mind. XP will also be much easier for her to use.

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19 minutes ago, LWM723 said:

Some older pc's can't boot from USB You have to boot from a CD. Best ro install XP, doubt she'll get into trouble reading news. Install an antivirus for peace of mind. XP will also be much easier for her to use.

It has oem win xp license key I need to get a win dvd? Or burn it? 

To be an expert is to know more about less.

  • 2014 Build --> FX 8350 4.7GHz {} ASRock Fatal1ty 990FX Killer {} Reference GTX 980 4GB {} 2x4GB 1866MHz HyperX {} Seagate 2TB 7200rpm {} 840 EVO 120GB {} XFX PRO850W {} Noctua NH D14 {} Fractal Define R4 White Windowed
  • 2018 Build --> Ryzen 7 2700X {} ASRock Fatal1ty X470 Gaming K4 {} Gigabyte RTX 2070 8GB {} 2x8GB HX Fury 3200MHz {} Toshiba P300 2TB {} Kingston 480GB A1000 {} Corsair RM750W {} Enermax LIQMAX II 240 {} Fractal Focus G
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  • Laptop --> ASUS ROG STRIX G713RS {} Ryzen 9 6900HX {} 32GB DDR5 {} RTX 3080 {} 1TB NVMe {} Win 11 Home
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26 minutes ago, LWM723 said:

Some older pc's can't boot from USB You have to boot from a CD. Best ro install XP, doubt she'll get into trouble reading news. Install an antivirus for peace of mind. XP will also be much easier for her to use.

I would agree with you; problem is there is no major supported browser for WinXP. Chrome dropped support a long time ago; I don't think Mozilla still has it either. As for the pre-installed version of IE - good luck trying to get modern sites to render properly.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

 

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

pythonmegapixel

into tech, public transport and architecture // amateur programmer // youtuber // beginner photographer

Thanks for reading all this by the way!

By the way, my desktop is a docked laptop. Get over it, No seriously, I have an exterrnal monitor, keyboard, mouse, headset, ethernet and cooling fans all connected. Using it feels no different to a desktop, it works for several hours if the power goes out, and disconnecting just a few cables gives me something I can take on the go. There's enough power for all games I play and it even copes with basic (and some not-so-basic) video editing. Give it a go - you might just love it.

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Posted

Just burn Xp on CD. For a browser I think Palemoon will work and it's the same as FFox just faster.

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2 minutes ago, LWM723 said:

For a browser I think Palemoon will work and it's the same as FFox just faster.

Requires Windows 7 or later, same as Firefox, unfortunately.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

 

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

pythonmegapixel

into tech, public transport and architecture // amateur programmer // youtuber // beginner photographer

Thanks for reading all this by the way!

By the way, my desktop is a docked laptop. Get over it, No seriously, I have an exterrnal monitor, keyboard, mouse, headset, ethernet and cooling fans all connected. Using it feels no different to a desktop, it works for several hours if the power goes out, and disconnecting just a few cables gives me something I can take on the go. There's enough power for all games I play and it even copes with basic (and some not-so-basic) video editing. Give it a go - you might just love it.

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3 minutes ago, LWM723 said:

Or search for an older version of Firefox and download it.

Just now, LWM723 said:

Theres a;so Basilisk, another FF fork.

Basilisk also requires Win 7, as will, I would expect, virtually all forks of Firefox. Firefox doesn't support XP, and hardly anyone is going to want to spend the time to add that back in for an unsupported OS, if it's even possible to do so.

 

The last version of Firefox to support XP was Firefox 52, released in mid 2017. The current version is 85. Running a browser almost 35 major releases and over 3 years behind current is a huge security risk. If you still don't believe me, go to https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/security/known-vulnerabilities/firefox/#firefox52, scroll up, click some of the links, and see how many security vulnerabilities have been fixed since then.

 

Windows XP was a great OS, but it's now more than a decade old, and well and truly dead, at least for desktop use.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

 

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

pythonmegapixel

into tech, public transport and architecture // amateur programmer // youtuber // beginner photographer

Thanks for reading all this by the way!

By the way, my desktop is a docked laptop. Get over it, No seriously, I have an exterrnal monitor, keyboard, mouse, headset, ethernet and cooling fans all connected. Using it feels no different to a desktop, it works for several hours if the power goes out, and disconnecting just a few cables gives me something I can take on the go. There's enough power for all games I play and it even copes with basic (and some not-so-basic) video editing. Give it a go - you might just love it.

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Heres a link to older versions of Basilisk
:
http://basilisk-browser.org/download.shtml

http://archive.palemoon.org/basilisk/

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19 hours ago, pythonmegapixel said:

Basilisk also requires Win 7, as will, I would expect, virtually all forks of Firefox. Firefox doesn't support XP, and hardly anyone is going to want to spend the time to add that back in for an unsupported OS, if it's even possible to do so.

 

The last version of Firefox to support XP was Firefox 52, released in mid 2017. The current version is 85. Running a browser almost 35 major releases and over 3 years behind current is a huge security risk. If you still don't believe me, go to https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/security/known-vulnerabilities/firefox/#firefox52, scroll up, click some of the links, and see how many security vulnerabilities have been fixed since then.

 

Windows XP was a great OS, but it's now more than a decade old, and well and truly dead, at least for desktop use.

What does this mean? 

20201213_162228.jpg

To be an expert is to know more about less.

  • 2014 Build --> FX 8350 4.7GHz {} ASRock Fatal1ty 990FX Killer {} Reference GTX 980 4GB {} 2x4GB 1866MHz HyperX {} Seagate 2TB 7200rpm {} 840 EVO 120GB {} XFX PRO850W {} Noctua NH D14 {} Fractal Define R4 White Windowed
  • 2018 Build --> Ryzen 7 2700X {} ASRock Fatal1ty X470 Gaming K4 {} Gigabyte RTX 2070 8GB {} 2x8GB HX Fury 3200MHz {} Toshiba P300 2TB {} Kingston 480GB A1000 {} Corsair RM750W {} Enermax LIQMAX II 240 {} Fractal Focus G
  • 2021 Build --> Ryzen 9 5900X {} ASUS ROG Strix X570-F GAMING {} ASUS GeForce RTX 3080Ti ROG STRIX OC {} Gigabyte AORUS RGB DDR4 32GB {} Kingston KC2500 M.2 2280 NVMe 2TB {} Seasonic FOCUS GX-1000 {} ASUS ROG Ryujin 240 AIO {} NYXT H710i
  • Laptop --> ASUS ROG STRIX G713RS {} Ryzen 9 6900HX {} 32GB DDR5 {} RTX 3080 {} 1TB NVMe {} Win 11 Home
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39 minutes ago, greeatzy said:

What does this mean?

It means that whatever OS you've chosen to download and install is 64-bit, but the computer only has a 32-bit CPU.

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____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

pythonmegapixel

into tech, public transport and architecture // amateur programmer // youtuber // beginner photographer

Thanks for reading all this by the way!

By the way, my desktop is a docked laptop. Get over it, No seriously, I have an exterrnal monitor, keyboard, mouse, headset, ethernet and cooling fans all connected. Using it feels no different to a desktop, it works for several hours if the power goes out, and disconnecting just a few cables gives me something I can take on the go. There's enough power for all games I play and it even copes with basic (and some not-so-basic) video editing. Give it a go - you might just love it.

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Lubuntu or Ubuntu Mate

My Laptop: A MacBook Air 

My Desktop: Don’t have one 

My Phone: An Honor 8s (although I don’t recommend it)

My Favourite OS: Linux

My Console: A Regular PS4

My Tablet: A Huawei Mediapad m5 

Spoiler

 

 

 

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Posted

I just found out something that I wish I'd known about 10 years ago! - If you boot an Acer 1642 with a USB present, and go into the boot menu (F2), then select 'Hard Drive' which should have a '+' next to it, by hitting 'Enter/Return' the USB appears as a bootable option. Use F6 to move it to the top.

 

I then used Mint 19.3 (32 bit version) which boots fine. Note Mint v20 and above isn't available as 32 bit.

 

Runs 10x faster than Ubuntu, which I previously had on the machine.

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