Missing firmware file when installing Debian Squeeze on my laptop

[Omer Zak]

On Mon, 2010-07-12 at 20:32 +0300, Oleg Goldshmidt wrote:
> Tzafrir Cohen <tzafrir at cohens.org.il> writes:
> 
> >> I know nothing about Ubuntu, 
> >
> > But Omer asked about Debian.
> 
> Hmm... I was still at work, so I couldn't be drunk... The only
> reasonable conclusion is that I should work less... Omer - apologies.

No offense was taken.  :-)

> I remember using those tg drivers in the past so I was surprised to
> hear of the need to load firmware from external media. I never had to
> do anything like that installing Linux, and I always thought it was a
> Windows "feature" (fond memories of, e.g., QLogic HBA firmware are
> quietly melting away to a melancholic tune). I find|grepped the kernel
> source to check my sanity and it was there...
> 
> So, it's a Debian thing then? They remove such stuff from the kernel -
> even though it is in the vanilla tree - because it is binary? Right?

Yes and no.
Starting from Squeeze, they are very strict about separating Free from
non-Free stuff when it comes to firmware loading.

> Can one install Debian on a computer with such a card if the firmware
> needs to be downloaded (i.e., there is no DoK with it and it is not on
> the instalation media) and there is no other computer to access the
> net with? Just curious.

>From my experience - NO.  Otherwise, I'd not have to deal with missing
firmware at all.

>From my understanding of Debian, you would need to have an installation
CD-ROM, which includes packages with the non-Free firmware.

                                                  --- Omer


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