Re: Non-free firmware [was: Debian install Question]

From	rhkramer@gmail.com
Newsgroups	linux.debian.user
Subject	Re: Non-free firmware [was: Debian install Question]
Date	2021-03-06 04:30 +0100
Message-ID	<BPvND-3TP-1@gated-at.bofh.it> (permalink)
References	<BM6sq-GS-1@gated-at.bofh.it> <BPosN-7Jb-5@gated-at.bofh.it> <BPueR-2Of-1@gated-at.bofh.it>
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On Friday, March 05, 2021 08:44:26 PM David Wright wrote:
> On Fri 05 Mar 2021 at 14:30:30 (-0500), rhkramer@gmail.com wrote:
> > On Friday, March 05, 2021 11:56:24 AM David Wright wrote:
> > > On Thu 04 Mar 2021 at 15:47:37 (-0500), rhkramer@gmail.com wrote:
> > <cutting the context ;-) >
> > 
> > > If a device is sold on a separate card, it's not necessarily
> > > enough to know the model number of the card. Many "identical"
> > > models are sold with various different chips, which will
> > > require different firmware. You might not know which chip you've
> > > got until you look at the board, or even read its codes from
> > > the dmesg output.
> > > 
> > > Being non-free, the firmware usually originates/d from some
> > > manufacturer or other. If the firmware fails to work with the
> > > device, there's not much that Debian can do about it. It might
> > > be something for some sub-sub-group of the linux kernel people,
> > > if the problem lies in how the driver and firmware interact.
> > > 
> > > So in your scheme, the "unofficial installers" that have to be
> > > "vetted" by someone to confirm they "indeed work on those
> > > hardware configurations" are actually hundreds of different
> > > combinations, each one comprising one particular firmware blob,
> > > 
> > > plus the same old official installer image:
> > >  iwlwifi-100-5.ucode   + official installer  ✓ Vetted  ✓ Passed
> > >  iwlwifi-105-6.ucode   + official installer  ✓ Vetted  ✓ Passed
> > >  iwlwifi-135-6.ucode   + official installer  ✓ Vetted  ✓ Passed
> > >  iwlwifi-1000-5.ucode  + official installer  ✓ Vetted  ✓ Passed
> > >  iwlwifi-2000-6.ucode  + official installer  ✓ Vetted  ✓ Passed
> > >  iwlwifi-2030-6.ucode  + official installer  ✓ Vetted  ✓ Passed
> > >  …  …  …  …  …
> > >  
> > >  ad infinitum …
> > 
> > It would be nice (imho), but may be difficult. ;-)
> 
> Imagine you are part of the team, and you've volunteered to shoulder
> the responsibility for firmware-iwlwifi_20190114-2_all.deb. In order
> to vet it, you have to track down, purchase and install 35 different
> types of wifi "cards", and over half a dozen more for bluetooth. With
> each, you need to run the first half dozen steps of the installer,
> presumably by preseed.
> 
> I wrote "cards" because you're not just juggling PCI cards here, but
> excavating tiny little boards out of the guts of various sorts of
> laptop. But you picked an easy option. Many of the ethernet hardware
> options are integrated with the mobo.
> 
> IMHO, "difficult" doesn't cover it. Nor expensive, nor tedious.

That's not how I would do it, and not what I'm trying to suggest.  If person A 
has hardware B and he tries installer C and it works, he reports (or even 
updates a web page  himself) the point that he successfully used installer C 
on hardware B.

Somebody else might do the same for hardware they have.

Thread

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          Re: Debian install Question Andrei POPESCU <andreimpopescu@gmail.com> - 2021-02-26 13:10 +0100
            Non-free firmware [was: Debian install Question] <tomas@tuxteam.de> - 2021-02-26 14:00 +0100
              Re: Non-free firmware [was: Debian install Question] Brian <ad44@cityscape.co.uk> - 2021-02-26 19:50 +0100
                Re: Non-free firmware [was: Debian install Question] <tomas@tuxteam.de> - 2021-02-26 21:20 +0100
                Re: Non-free firmware [was: Debian install Question] Brian <ad44@cityscape.co.uk> - 2021-02-26 22:10 +0100
                Re: Non-free firmware [was: Debian install Question] Dan Ritter <dsr@randomstring.org> - 2021-02-26 22:30 +0100
                Re: Non-free firmware [was: Debian install Question] Brian <ad44@cityscape.co.uk> - 2021-02-27 00:00 +0100
                Re: Non-free firmware [was: Debian install Question] <tomas@tuxteam.de> - 2021-02-27 09:30 +0100
                Re: Non-free firmware [was: Debian install Question] Celejar <celejar@gmail.com> - 2021-02-28 18:10 +0100
                Re: Non-free firmware [was: Debian install Question] Brian <ad44@cityscape.co.uk> - 2021-02-28 20:20 +0100
                Re: Non-free firmware [was: Debian install Question] Celejar <celejar@gmail.com> - 2021-02-28 20:30 +0100
                Re: Non-free firmware [was: Debian install Question] Brian <ad44@cityscape.co.uk> - 2021-02-28 21:30 +0100
                Re: Non-free firmware [was: Debian install Question] Andrei POPESCU <andreimpopescu@gmail.com> - 2021-03-01 10:40 +0100
                Re: Non-free firmware [was: Debian install Question] Celejar <celejar@gmail.com> - 2021-03-01 14:00 +0100
                Re: Non-free firmware [was: Debian install Question] Brian <ad44@cityscape.co.uk> - 2021-03-01 15:30 +0100
                Re: Non-free firmware [was: Debian install Question] Brian <ad44@cityscape.co.uk> - 2021-03-01 20:20 +0100
                Re: Non-free firmware [was: Debian install Question] rhkramer@gmail.com - 2021-03-01 14:20 +0100
                Re: Non-free firmware [was: Debian install Question] Brian <ad44@cityscape.co.uk> - 2021-03-02 21:00 +0100
                Re: Non-free firmware [was: Debian install Question] rhkramer@gmail.com - 2021-03-02 22:30 +0100
                Re: Non-free firmware [was: Debian install Question] Brian <ad44@cityscape.co.uk> - 2021-03-03 00:30 +0100
                Re: Non-free firmware [was: Debian install Question] David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> - 2021-03-03 04:10 +0100
                Re: Non-free firmware [was: Debian install Question] rhkramer@gmail.com - 2021-03-03 16:40 +0100
                Re: Non-free firmware [was: Debian install Question] Curt <curty@free.fr> - 2021-03-04 11:20 +0100
                Re: Non-free firmware [was: Debian install Question] David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> - 2021-03-04 18:50 +0100
                Re: Non-free firmware [was: Debian install Question] Brian <ad44@cityscape.co.uk> - 2021-03-04 21:50 +0100
                Re: Non-free firmware [was: Debian install Question] Steve McIntyre <steve@einval.com> - 2021-03-05 02:00 +0100
                Re: Non-free firmware [was: Debian install Question] rhkramer@gmail.com - 2021-03-04 21:50 +0100
                Re: Non-free firmware [was: Debian install Question] David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> - 2021-03-05 18:00 +0100
                Re: Non-free firmware [was: Debian install Question] rhkramer@gmail.com - 2021-03-05 20:40 +0100
                Re: Non-free firmware [was: Debian install Question] David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> - 2021-03-06 02:50 +0100
                Re: Non-free firmware [was: Debian install Question] rhkramer@gmail.com - 2021-03-06 04:30 +0100
                Re: Non-free firmware [was: Debian install Question] David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> - 2021-03-04 18:50 +0100
                Re: Non-free firmware [was: Debian install Question] Brian <ad44@cityscape.co.uk> - 2021-03-03 21:10 +0100
                Re: Non-free firmware [was: Debian install Question] rhkramer@gmail.com - 2021-03-03 16:30 +0100
                Re: Non-free firmware [was: Debian install Question] Brian <ad44@cityscape.co.uk> - 2021-03-03 21:20 +0100
                Re: Non-free firmware [was: Debian install Question] rhkramer@gmail.com - 2021-03-03 22:50 +0100
                Re: Non-free firmware [was: Debian install Question] Brian <ad44@cityscape.co.uk> - 2021-03-04 00:20 +0100
                Re: Non-free firmware [was: Debian install Question] rhkramer@gmail.com - 2021-03-04 04:30 +0100
                Re: Non-free firmware [was: Debian install Question] Celejar <celejar@gmail.com> - 2021-02-28 16:40 +0100
        Re: Debian install Question Henning Follmann <hfollmann@itcfollmann.com> - 2021-02-25 14:00 +0100
      Re: Debian install Question Anssi Saari <as@sci.fi> - 2021-02-25 17:40 +0100
        Re: Debian install Question Greg Wooledge <greg@wooledge.org> - 2021-02-25 17:50 +0100
        Re: Debian install Question Andrei POPESCU <andreimpopescu@gmail.com> - 2021-02-26 13:20 +0100
          Re: Debian install Question Anssi Saari <as@sci.fi> - 2021-02-26 17:50 +0100
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