[Fsf-Debian] Non-free firmware question during install

[Paul van der Vlis]

Op 16-08-12 07:36, Paul Wise schreef:
> On Tue, Aug 7, 2012 at 6:45 PM, Paul van der Vlis wrote:
> 
>> Two examples of a free alternative firmware:
>>
>> http://esec-lab.sogeti.com/post/2010/11/21/Presentation-at-Hack.lu-:-Reversing-the-Broacom-NetExtreme-s-firmware
> 
> No code was ever released AFAICT, looking at the presentation I guess
> any reimplementation would have to mostly do the reverse-engineering
> from scratch.
> 
>> http://www.linux-magazine.com/Online/News/Free-Firmware-for-Broadcom-WiFi-Chips
> 
> Doesn't look like it is developed any more. In addition it only
> supports old hardware that doesn't fit into current laptops. I bought
> a miniPCI card supported by OpenFWWF but I didn't know that there are
> multiple miniPCI form factors so it is basically unusable unless I can
> find some sort of adaptor to put it into a desktop machine.
> 
> http://www.ing.unibs.it/~openfwwf/

For the Atheros AR9170 devices was a need for non-free firmware. But now
there is a new driver with free (GPL2) firmware [1].

The firmware is not packaged for Debian [2]. So if you want to use it
during installation, you need free firmware from a removable device.

With regards,
Paul van der Vlis.

[1] http://wiki.debian.org/carl9170
[2] http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=635840

-- 
Paul van der Vlis Linux systeembeheer, Groningen
http://www.vandervlis.nl