[UFO Chicago] Debian Linux Is Trash

[Nate Riffe]

Jay,

I have experienced this same frustration with Debian on physical hardware.
The detent we find ourselves in is exactly the one you've described, in
which long ago Ethernet hardware became so comoditized that clean room open
source driver development could benefit from an economy of scale and
outcompete the manufacturers' proprietary drivers, whereas wifi hardware
has continually diversified on the cutting edge and open source drivers
only really exist for previous gen devices that happen to have sold well.
There are other areas in which the non-free bogeyman appears as well.

I would offer that Debian is a fine choice for virtual machines and
containers. On physical hardware, you can get the bulk of the benefit of
Debian's rigor from a derivative distribution like Ubuntu or Mint.

Best of luck,
Nate

On Mon, Apr 17, 2023 at 4:06 PM Jay F. Shachter <jay at m5.chicago.il.us>
wrote:

>
> Esteemed Colleagues,
>
> I am trying to install a few decent operating systems on a 32-bit
> machine, and there aren't many options.  Yesterday evening, at the UFO
> meeting, someone suggested Debian Linux.
>
> Debian Linux is so insanely fanatical about using only free software,
> that when I installed it, the installation procedure stated at one
> point that my computer had network devices that required non-free
> firmware, and that if I had removable media with the non-free firmware
> on them, I could insert or attach those media, before proceeding with
> the installation.  I did not, of course, have any bloody removable
> media with any bloody non-free firmware on them, and therefore I did
> not bloody insert any, and proceeded with the installation.  I now
> have a Debian system that thinks that I do not have a wireless
> Internet device.  It recognizes only the wired device, and the
> loopback device.  This is bloody ridiculous.  No other operating
> system that I have installed on this computer is incapable of
> recognizing my bloody wireless device.
>
> (I am a little annoyed, I don't know if you can tell.)
>
> How do I get my Debian system to recognize my wireless device?
> Preferable without having to re-install it?  As always, thank you in
> advance for any and all replies.
>
>                         Jay F. Shachter
>                         6424 North Whipple Street
>                         Chicago IL  60645-4111
>                                 (1-773)7613784   landline
>                                 (1-410)9964737   GoogleVoice
>                                 jay at m5.chicago.il.us
>                                 http://m5.chicago.il.us
>
>                         "Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur"
> _______________________________________________
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