Hi,

Steve Litt wrote:
> I hate the preceding hassle. Every Linux distro's install media should
> have all drivers available during installation. After installation, if
> the user wishes to remove all non-free from his computer, he can do so.
> Or, the installation process can come with an "include nonfree drivers
> and blobs" switch that defaults to "yes".
>
> Some people believe the worst sin is to have anything non-free on your
> system. That's their prerogative. But adopting a zero-tolerance for
> nonfree during install drives people away from free software in droves.
> The perfect is the enemy of the good.

I 100% agree. This firmware issue is a hassle, but especially with
laptops, often there is no big choice.
Ideology doesn't get you far. I agree with a toggle, a dialog box,
warning "try with non-free" ?


Of coruse, the ideal world doesn't need it, but I guess once you have a
piece of hwardware that needs that crap, what can you do? Most people
will "accept anyway, just to get it working" or accept another OS.
Sometimes you can find another card, but that is not always possible.
Rarely you can know exactly what is inside a Laptop on beforehand. In
the same model manufacturer can put in "equivalent cards", they just
need to match the spec, not the chipset.

Of course I prefer promoting hardware which is more open, but then...
once you have a system you want to use ii. I don't know what these
diehards do.. try 100 systems to get one working?

>
> I don't care what Debian does, I'd suggest that Devuan's default
> install include all the non-free drivers, firmware and blobs that
> Devuan has, and just have a way to shut it off for the more
> Stallmanesque among us.
>
> Riccardo, I love how you got around this problem. I never thought of
> installing from DVD and then grabbing Wifi after installation's
> complete. I'd never thought of that: I just used a different distro if
> install didn't work.

It is only possible if you have a second computer :) With just one, in
this condition you are "stuck"

Steve, I am relatively stubborn being in several Open Source project,
having a lot of different test hardware for the community and not being
a newbie.
I started with the idea that this would be a test, even if it one of my
best laptops.

But you are right, probably most people will just slap on SuSE or Ubuntu
and it would work.

It is some work, but giving this option would improve Devuan. Exactly as
Devuan would be appealing if it could maintain more  Xorg video drivers
which still exist but are "deprecated" by official Debian. Since Devuan
is lighter, it appeals vintage systems - this is how I started with it.

Riccardo