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

From	David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk>
Newsgroups	linux.debian.user
Subject	Re: Non-free firmware [was: Debian install Question]
Date	2021-03-06 02:50 +0100
Message-ID	<BPueR-2Of-1@gated-at.bofh.it> (permalink)
References	<BM6sq-GS-1@gated-at.bofh.it> <BP34Z-2JV-3@gated-at.bofh.it> <BPlXX-65M-3@gated-at.bofh.it> <BPosN-7Jb-5@gated-at.bofh.it>
Organization	linux.* mail to news gateway

Show all headers | View raw

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.

Cheers,
David.

Thread

Debian install Question "M.R.P. zensky" <wintermute24x7@icloud.com> - 2021-02-24 18:50 +0100
  Re: Debian install Question IL Ka <kazakevichilya@gmail.com> - 2021-02-24 19:00 +0100
    Re: Debian install Question Henning Follmann <hfollmann@itcfollmann.com> - 2021-02-24 21:20 +0100
      Re: Debian install Question IL Ka <kazakevichilya@gmail.com> - 2021-02-24 23:40 +0100
        Re: Debian install Question Brian <ad44@cityscape.co.uk> - 2021-02-25 00:00 +0100
        Re: Debian install Question Dan Ritter <dsr@randomstring.org> - 2021-02-25 00:40 +0100
          Re: Debian install Question Weaver <weaver@riseup.net> - 2021-02-25 01:50 +0100
            Re: Debian install Question David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> - 2021-02-25 06:00 +0100
              Re: Debian install Question Weaver <weaver@riseup.net> - 2021-02-25 06:10 +0100
                Re: Debian install Question David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> - 2021-02-26 01:30 +0100
        Re: Debian install Question David Christensen <dpchrist@holgerdanske.com> - 2021-02-25 07:20 +0100
        Re: Debian install Question deloptes <deloptes@gmail.com> - 2021-02-25 08:30 +0100
          Re: Debian install Question "Thomas Schmitt" <scdbackup@gmx.net> - 2021-02-25 08:50 +0100
          Re: Debian install Question Gene Heskett <gheskett@shentel.net> - 2021-02-25 10:50 +0100
        Re: Debian install Question <tomas@tuxteam.de> - 2021-02-25 12:00 +0100
          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
  Re: Debian install Question David Christensen <dpchrist@holgerdanske.com> - 2021-02-24 19:20 +0100

csiph-web