Installing Linux Mint 17.3 on Acer Aspire E5-573G
First steps
As usual, download the iso for Linux Mint 17.3 at their website. Burn it to a USB drive and install it on you PC
Fixing broken stuff
Once the system is installed, you will notice that some hardware does not work. In my case, the touchpad is not always enabled, and the WiFi card is not recognized. In this step, they will be fixed.
Upgrading the kernel
Upgrading the kernel to (at least) 4.4.2 will fix the touchpad and help to fix the WiFi in a later step.
First, download the deb packages:
wget kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.4.2-wily/linux-headers-4.4.2-040402_4.4.2-040402.201602171633_all.deb
wget kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.4.2-wily/linux-headers-4.4.2-040402-generic_4.4.2-040402.201602171633_amd64.deb
wget kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.4.2-wily/linux-image-4.4.2-040402-generic_4.4.2-040402.201602171633_amd64.deb
Then, install them:
sudo dpkg -i linux-headers-4.4.2*.deb linux-image-4.4.2*.deb
Finally, reboot:
sudo reboot
Installing additional Atheros firmware
In addition to the kernel upgrade, you will need to install additional Atheros firmware to make the WiFi work.
Modify the config files
echo "options ath10k_core skip_otp=y" | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/ath10k_core.conf
Download the firmware for the WiFi card
git clone https://github.com/kvalo/ath10k-firmware.git
Copy the firmware to appropriate locations.
sudo cp -r ath10k-firmware/QCA9377 /lib/firmware/ath10k/
sudo cp /lib/firmware/ath10k/QCA9377/hw1.0/firmware-5.bin_WLAN.TF.1.0-00267-1 /lib/firmware/ath10k/QCA9377/hw1.0/firmware-5.bin
Reboot your machine.