Big news if you’re a Linux user on Acer hardware: the Taiwanese company has officially joined the LVFS!
“The what-vs?”
Y’know, the Linux Vendor Firmware Service!
It’s an awesome initiative spearheaded by open source developer Richard Hughes that enables well-known hardware companies — Dell! Lenovo! Wacom! Etc! — safely distribute firmware updates to Linux users, sans hassle.
“Oh yeah, that! And you say Acer has joined it?”
Yup! And as Acer is one of the biggest laptop sellers in the world their addition to the ranks of the LVFS is pretty big news (just like I said in my opening line, keep up!).
“So will MY Acer laptop running Linux get firmware updates?”
That depends.
Right now only firmware for the Aspire A315 laptop is up on the LFVS (and thus installable via fwupd) but Richard Hughes says additional models will “follow soon”.
That said, do set your expectations to modest. It’s unlikely that Acer is gonna expend effort to upload firmware updates for models they haven’t sold for years (though it’s not improbable).
Richard Hughes — who is on Twitter if you fancy sending him a 👏 to say thanks for his work on the LVFS over the years — also says “Acer has been testing the LVFS for some time” and, now that all of the requisite checks have been addressed, is starting to distribute its firmware through the service.
Which is really good news for Linux users and could mean certain models will have firmware on the LVFS without any major delays.
“Cool. Can I ask why this post has me asking questions instead of you, the “writer”, subtly instilling context through the use of situational prose?”
No.
Tl;dr: You can now install/update Acer Aspire A315 firmware on Linux via the LVFS and fwupd.