People,
My thanks to all of you for the useful reactions
to my question. I will try to summarise what
was said.
1. The ethernet internet card (in my case a
chip set on the motherboard) requires
"firmware" and not software. [In fact when
I wrote "software" in my initial post, I was
looking for an English equivalent of the
Dutch "programatuur" or French "logiciel".]
Hence the misunderstanding, which I first
thought was a semantic storm in a linguistic
glass of water for not using a word like
"programming" instead. An informative
website which helped me see things in
perspective.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firmware>
2. Since the internet connection already works,
one may assume that some firmware already
exists in the ethernet interface to enable it to
function, albeit maybe without "optional
features" as one respondent put it. However
nobody has suggested that my computer
would suffer harm by not installing the extra
firmware. Maybe some lost speed but that's all.
3. From 1. and 2. I have concluded that the non-free
"programming" added to the interface hardware
is non-volatile (i.e. persistent); which raises the
question how does one de-install the non-free
firmware should that ever be necessary in the
future? [Or have I got it wrong again??]
4. Some people have indicated clear philosophical
objections to installing non-free firmware.
Again thanks to all of you for your advice.
M.A. Perry
--
Sent from my unwashed Linux box
