Whether you can use the "netinstall" CD depends on whether your device's network connection requires one of those non-free drivers. If it needs a driver that isn't on the CD (which is more likely, the smaller the install medium) to retrieve the drivers it needs...
Well, you get the picture. (If not, read "Catch 22" by Joseph Heller... In fact, read it anyway if you haven't already!) Enjoy! Rick On Mon, Jan 20, 2020, at 1:58 PM, Thomas Hilbert wrote: > Hey Rick > > Thanks for that response. What you describe below was my understanding > going into it, but then it didn't load the driver without my > intervention. Perhaps it is because I used the ~350mb netinstaller NOT > the full CD or DVD iso's...though I haven't seen that explicitly > documented anywhere. > > Thanks > > > Tom > > On 1/19/20 9:18 PM, Rick Thomas wrote: > > The "unofficial" firmware installer iso has a bunch of non-free/proprietary > > drivers/firmware for various adapters and devices that do not have > > open-source drivers, but that your machine may need to run correctly. > > > > For example, a laptop may have a wi-fi built-in from a manufacturer who is > > unwilling to release the source code for the wi-fi device's firmware. The > > "unofficial" installer CD has the necessary firmware in the form of a > > "binary blob" that can be installed to make the laptop's wi-fi work with > > Linux. > > > > Hope That Helps! > > Rick > > > > ----- Original message ----- > > From: Thomas Hilbert <uxi9...@gmail.com> > > To: Rick Thomas <rick.tho...@pobox.com> > > Subject: Re: AMD 10.2 netinstall > > Date: Sunday, January 19, 2020 5:50 PM > > > > Good to know about the expert option. So what does the Non-Free, > > firmware installer get you over the standard all open source installer? > > > > On 1/19/20 2:35 AM, Rick Thomas wrote: > >>> Since you have to install the firmware-linux-nonfree that means that > >>> it s not installed! From what I remember > >>> you need to select those packages at the end of the base image > >>> installation. > >> And you must do an "expert" install, in order to see that option. If you > >> do a "Standard" install, you won't get a chance. > >> > >> There's probably something you can put in the boot args that will force it > >> to install the firmware-linux-nonfree package, but I don't know what that > >> is. > >> > >> Rick > >> >
