On Wed, Dec 07, 2016 at 11:11:29AM +0000, Steve Greig wrote: > When I installed debian I got a message saying my computer (emachines > laptop AMD Athlon X2 64bit) needed some non-free software. The names of the > software were given although I did not record the names. I decided to go > ahead without the non-free software as I would have needed it on a media > and I had no easy way of getting it then. Everything is working pretty well > and I am tempted to continue without the non-free software. However, I > wondered what it might be for. The fan seems to be on more than usual and > also I have to manually increase the screen brightness every time I turn > the computer on so I guess it could be something to do with that.
Hi. If the message was shown during the install, chances are that the non-free software it was talking about was some kind of firmware. Try looking at /var/log. Very often, when some piece of hardware "needs" firmware the kernel usually attempts to load it. Hope this helps.
