[sf-lug] debian base system (initially without X11) install progress (or lack there of!) report

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Alex Kleider (akleider at sonic.net):

> I began over again and this time was able to get both wifi and
> ethernet working!
> During the install I was able to get the installer to get the
> required ...ucode files using the approach described here:
> https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/debian-26/how-to-provide-non-free-firmware-files-to-the-debian-jessie-installer-4175542680/

I'm glad that worked, _but_...

...that person's approach was insanely overcomplicated, and I think
he/she was more than a little confused.

In general, it is a questionable tactic to follow advice from
beginner-focussed Web forums such as linuxquestions.org or
ubuntuforums.org .  A great deal of the advice handed out there is
apallingly bad.

About that linuxquestions.org poster, the good and the bad:

1.  He figured out that the installer needed the firmware-iwlwifi
and firmware-realtek packages, and downloaded them.  Good.

2.  Based on (admittedly misleading) wording in the installer screens,
he guesstimated that he'd need to pull apart the .deb packages using
'dpkg-deb --extract'.  Bad.  It is neither necessary nor desirable in
this contents to part out the guts of the .deb files, and then beaver
away figuring out where to put them (his next step).  This action was
unclear on what the packages were _for_:  The packages were deliberately
packed with metadata instructions about where all the contents were to
be delivered to -- what directories and what filenames -- by standard
package tools.  Like simply doing 'dpkg -i' [debname]' in the directory
where the debs were.

3.  Having now created a problem for him/herself by taking apart the
debs, now (after tranporting the contents using a USB flash stick),
he had to figure out how to manually replicate the same results he could
have achieved muchh more easily by just doing 'dpkg -i' [debname]'.
(Not really bad, this item, but entirely regrettable.)


And, by the way, the user could have just used the unofficial Debian
ISOs that merge in non-free firmware debs.  _Or_, he could have, upon
encountering a missing firmware problem during initial try with the
Official Debian installer, he could have quit the installer, chased down
the non-free firmware .debs, and then added the .debs to the installer
media (assuming use of USB flash drive.  The latter tactic would ensure 
the .debs would be _right there_ on any subsequent use of the installer,
ready for installation in a virtual console using 'dpkg -i'.




> All went smoothly but after reboot, the system had neither ethernet
> or wifi connectivity.

I don't know exactly what this means, Alex, because unfortunately you're
making the very common mistake of stating your interpretation rather
than the raw symptoms.  And that makes it nearly impossible for people
to help you.

I can hazard a guess, though, that following the instructions of the
confused linuxquestions.org user maybe resulted in a system where needed
firmware BLOBs were present somewhere under /lib/firmware but the Linux
runtime system was for some reason unaware that it needed to refer to
them.

The /var/log/messages file should record at startup time any known
network interfaces getting initialised and any needed firmware BLOBs
getting loaded.  Does it?  '/sbin/ifconfig -a' should list the known
network interfaces irrespective of whether they've been assigned IP
addresses.  Does it list them?

As I said in How to Ask Questions the Smart Way, treat diagnosticians
like they're from Missouri, whose motto is 'Show me.'  Show the
diagnostician the raw data -- not just your interpretations.


Maybe you should have followed my advice and switched to the unofficial
Debian installer ISOs that merge in the non-free firmware packages.
Then, you wouldn't have had any of these problems in the first place,
and not be working hard at solving them.


> The deb file is from Ricks reference, the others come from the
> linuxquestions posting referenced above.

Yeah, the latter's a really bad idea.


> Regrettably not (details above.)

But you did _not_ follow my suggestion (that you quoted just above
'regrettably not' about fetching the .deb, copying it over to the Debian
system using a flash drive, and installing it using 'dpkg -i'.  You did
the linuxquestions.org user's peculiar drill, instead.


What's wrong with just not having the problem of missing non-free
firmware packages?  ;->