Wanted: Acer Aspire 5551 seeks distro

It took a while but last weekend I finally got a replacement for the long dead Thinkpad. This must be a common scenario. A predominantly Linux user goes out to get a new laptop and has no idea if some of the new hardware will work with his preferred choice of distros. Fortunately, I had already checked the point most likely to be problematic, the wireless chip. In a previous model it was Atheros. Unfortunately, I assumed this was the case for the entire line-up and found out to my dismay that the Aspire 5551 actually comes with a Broadcom chip. This meant trouble going by everything I'd read.
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