Marc Haber <mh+debian-de...@zugschlus.de> writes: > My workaround is to plug in a network cable for installation. But > alas, I have up to now been able to avoid hardware without built-in > Ethernet. I guess that many USB Ethernet interfaces will work out of > the box without non-free, right?
Yes, even integrated LTE/5G modems could "work out of the box without non-free", if the GPLd userspace tools were included with the installer. This demonstrates how ridiculous the WiFi firmware restrictons are. All these USB devices work only because they come with firmware on a largish flash. In the LTE modem case, the firmware is a complete source-less Linux installation with big binary-only blobs for the radio/signal processors. This is obviously not more "free" than downloading a firmware blob for the processor in the WiFi module would be. I believe it's about time Debian gets rid of the double standard. Just admit that non-free firmware is required to run Debian on any modern system. Making it hard to install Debian over WiFi does not change anything. It just makes it hard to install Debian. Bjørn
