On Sun, 11 May 2014 14:53:06 +0800 (WST) Bret Busby <b...@busby.net> wrote:
> > I am therefore wondering whether, somewhere, packages exist (.deb > packages, that make installation relatively easy for those of us not > skilled "in the black arts"), for the hardware drivers that may be on > the firmware ISO's. Firmware is not the same as driver. Firmware is code that needs the be present in the hardware device itself. Sometimes this firmware is build to the device and sometimes the driver needs to load the firmware into the device each time. The driver on the other is part of the kernel. So, the fact that sound doesn't work can be because of a missing driver instead of missing firmware. If this is new hardware, there is a chance that the kernel in the stable release doesn't have a driver for your soundcard. You can try to upgrade your kernel to a more recent versions from backports (see backports.debian.org). If it still doesn't work, check $ lsusb | grep -i audio to get more details on what sound card is installed. Then you can do a targeted search for that card. > > I do not know whether the firmware ISO's allow a user to choose which > desktop environment is installed, You don't need the sound during the installation, so there is no need to use the firmware iso just for that. If it was your network card that wasn't working, it's another matter, as it's hard to do a netinstall without net :), which is why there is a netinstall iso with firmware. > and the procedure that I found, for > dealing with the .tar.bz files from the Realtek web site, seem too > complicated. > That's almost never needed. In Linux, the drivers are integrated in the kernel. You can never just install a binary driver from a separate site like you do on windows. If there is a separate driver, it will be a source patch which has to be recompiled specifically for the kernel you are running. So, in short, just try if a more recent kernel fixes it first. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: https://lists.debian.org/20140511105519.1f187...@orac.fil
