On Sun, May 6, 2018 at 4:51 PM, John <j...@codemist.co.uk> wrote: > I have been a user of debian for many years on a number of computers > as well as other GNU/Linux systems. Recently I discovered that my > i686 32bit machine was out of support and they were not supporting > 32bit machines any longer. After some bad experiences with Tumbleweed I > decided that I would install stretch so I could get experience of it > when I am forced to upgrade my firewall (running jessie with a whezzy > kernel). > > So today I d/loaded the net-install iso for debian 9.4 and wrote it to > a usb stick. Then tried to install on the target (Thinkpad x40). > Nice idea but it refused to use the wifi, so I proceeded via wired > ethernet hoping I could resolve the issue later. In the process I > think I determined the wifi problem was the need for firmware for the > Intel ipw2200 hardware. > > After rather a long time it said it was installed so I rebooted -- a > big mistake! I was hoping for a computer where I could write > programs, mainly with xterm, emacs (with elisp) and C. I had asked > for no gnome no kde no xfce... I usually run fvwm on X but I got a > screen with nothing obvious to do. I did get icons (spit!) offering > games and firefox but no xterm -- I was expecting to install emacs > myself as I use a very recent system -- but it was in effect not a > computer but some kind of toy. I do not play computer games and > thought I had said not to install any > > Since then I have failed to get wifi although I have got the firmware > -- but no instructions on how to install. Got aptitude installed and > discovered load of gnome stuff cluttering up the disk (which is > limited) and memory (ditto). > > How do I get a working computer? I can ssh in from elsewhere but that > is not what I need. And I need wifi. > > I have never had this problem in 35 years on unix and linux, and am > very disappointed. I suppose I can install things like csh and > possibly xdm, exim from source etc but without an xterm..... > > I also noticed eventually that the duff screen came from tty2 rather > that tty7 that I was expecting. > > Sorry for the rant but I really was expecting simplicity as before. > > ==John ffitch > > Since you have proprietary driver I believe you need to use the non-free installer.
Try: https://wiki.debian.org/WiFi since you already have the firmware. Also, since, forever, desktop environments tend to install a lot of stuff. HTH Forest
