Strange enough – there are a lot of CLOSED SOURCE firmware out there – be it realtek or be it intel Wifi-Adapters.
alternatively: use an adapter for which out of the box open source drivers are available
closed source firmware is AGAINST truth and dignity…
Per default Debian will NOT install non-free firmware which is because of privacy reasons.
Vendors kind of “not care” about OpenSource community trying to avoid such firmwares?
steps to get going, unless you do not want Wifi…
0. identify your system
https://www.debian.org/releases/ -> here are all Version-Numbers and “Codenames” for that Version.
# become root su - root cat /etc/debian_version; # identify your version of debian 8.6 = Jessie uname -a Linux 3.16.0-4-686-pae #1 SMP Debian 3.16.36-1+deb8u1 (2016-09-03) i686 GNU/Linux # 1. change sources.list to include non-free firmware vim /etc/apt/source.list; # edit sources list # at the end of the file put: deb http://ftp.uni-erlangen.de/debian/ jessie main contrib non-free deb-src http://ftp.uni-erlangen.de/debian/ jessie main contrib non-free :wq # write and quit # 2. identify your network / wifi adapter: apt-get install lshw; # install lspci -knn|grep -EiA2 net; 00:19.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Intel Corporation 82577LM Gigabit Network Connection [8086:10ea] (rev 06) Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:2153] Kernel driver in use: e1000e -- 03:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Intel Corporation Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 [8086:4238] (rev 35) Subsystem: Intel Corporation Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 3x3 AGN [8086:1111] 0d:00.0 SD Host controller [0805]: Ricoh Co Ltd MMC/SD Host Controller [1180:e822] (rev 01) lshw -class network; # show all network cards *-network description: Ethernet interface product: 82577LM Gigabit Network Connection vendor: Intel Corporation physical id: 19 bus info: pci@0000:00:19.0 logical name: eth0 version: 06 serial: f0:de:f1:33:82:ec size: 100Mbit/s capacity: 1Gbit/s width: 32 bits clock: 33MHz capabilities: pm msi bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt-fd autonegotiation configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=e1000e driverversion=2.3.2-k duplex=full firmware=0.12-1 ip=192.168.178.129 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes port=twisted pair speed=100Mbit/s resources: irq:45 memory:f2600000-f261ffff memory:f2625000-f2625fff ioport:1820(size=32) *-network UNCLAIMED description: Network controller product: Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 vendor: Intel Corporation physical id: 0 bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0 version: 35 width: 64 bits clock: 33MHz capabilities: pm msi pciexpress cap_list configuration: latency=0 resources: memory:f2000000-f2001fff
3. search for what firmware package would need to be installed: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=linux+debian+firmware+Intel+Corporation+Centrino+Ultimate-N+6300&t=ffab&ia=web
http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?t=59643
-> this kind of tells me, one needs to search for a package called “iwlwifi”
4. install the missing firmwrae
apt-cache search iwlwifi; # search for package firmware-iwlwifi - Binary firmware for Intel Wireless cards apt-get update && apt-get install firmware-iwlwifi; # install that package
if adapter is realtek:
apt-cache search realtek; # search for package flashrom - Identify, read, write, erase, and verify BIOS/ROM/flash chips nictools-pci - Diagnostic tools for many PCI Ethernet cards librtlsdr-dev - Software defined radio receiver for Realtek RTL2832U (development files) librtlsdr0 - Software defined radio receiver for Realtek RTL2832U (library) rtl-sdr - Software defined radio receiver for Realtek RTL2832U (tools) firmware-realtek - Binary firmware for Realtek wired and wireless network adapters apt-get update && apt-get install firmware-realtek; # install realtek firmware
5. install a network manager application (there is none installed per default under gnome2/MATE)
apt-get install network-manager-gnome; # for conveniently managing wifi connections from your MATE / Gnome2 Desktop # when done do reboot; # reboot system hardcore
should have a nice icon in the upper right corner:
HAVE PHUN!
alternatively:
use unofficial non-free iso – that allready has the drivers on it. (Richard Stallman 
IS VERY MUCH AGAINST ANYTHING THAT IS NON-FREE) For good reasons of privacy… because after all a backdoor in your network card firmware could really compromise your system in terms of security and privacy.
Unofficial non-free images including firmware packages:
recommendation: ALWAYS GO FOR THE MINIMAL and load packages during setup straight from the internet…
Parent Directory -MD5SUMS 2017-01-17 11:09 66
MD5SUMS.sign 2017-01-17 11:10 819
firmware-8.7.1-i386-netinst.iso 2017-01-16 11:09 335M
Here are some extra images, equivalent to the normal images we produce regularly except in that they also include non-free firmware to make things easier on some systems requiring proprietary but redistributable firmware. See http://wiki.debian.org/Firmware for more details.
There are two types of image here:
- “netinst” install CDs that also include firmware to make installation easier
- live images including firmware packages pre-installed
The current and current-live directories contain images that match up with the latest stable Debian release.
Name Last modified Size
Parent Directory -
8.7.1+nonfree/ 2017-01-17 11:11 -
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