Yep I've also been having this problem for a while. But it turns out that the firmware files do exist:
http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/tree/rtl_nic I just downloaded them and copied them in place and it certainly quiets the errors if nothing else. But maybe someone should just add them to the firmware-realtek package. Pardon my ingorance but I do believe that these files are architecture, distro, and whatever-else agnostic. Best, Sean
