Yao Wei writes: > At then, we can let users download the missing drivers from the > generated webpage, like the following: > >> Additional packages for the network interface >> ====== >> >> As Debian is the universal operating system, we consider both users >> and free software important. However, the network device of the >> computer requires firmware that is not available in the installation >> media, because these are considered non-free according to our >> guideline. >> >> We encourage you to get devices that respects your freedom.
Should this message also be shown when non-free firmware is preinstalled in the system for educational purposes? Or do devices that have pre-installed non-free firmware respect the user's freedom? As long as the users doesn't look and doesn't hear about it, it's not there after all (two-wise-monkey-free / FSF-free?). The best example probably are TiVo devices which don't have user-upgradable firmware and thus should be called "freedom respecting" ;-) We could also recommend users to just install Debian in a VM which abstracts away the hardware, e.g., in a VM under Windows. This also respects user freedom in the same sense as above as Windows is usually preinstalled. (And AFAIU on modern systems Debian will usually run in some partition anyway and not have full hardware access, so it already runs in a "VM" of sorts.) >> Meanwhile, you can either try another device that's known good using >> only free software, or download the .deb package(s) linked below and >> put into the same place this file resides: >> >> --- >> >> firmware-iwlwifi >> - for: Network Controller: Intel Corporation Wireless 8265 / 8275 >> - https://packages.debian.org/bullseye/firmware-iwlwifi iwlwifi does work fine with just free software just like hard disks and similar? Ansgar
