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Re: Firmware - what are we going to do about it?

On 4/21/22 11:09, Andrey Rahmatullin wrote:

On Thu, Apr 21, 2022 at 10:57:47AM +0300, Hakan Bayındır wrote:

As everybody knows, Debian is also releasing the said firmware as compressed
archives and these are visible in the download page [0], however usage and
documentation is neither clearly documented, nor easy for the beginners or
casual users.

(it's documented at https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/amd64/ch06s04
for a separate drive, there may be some documentation about putting the
files to the installation drive but at that point the user should just
burn the firmware ISO)


I know it's documented, but it's buried deep down.

It's linked in the same yellow block on the page you linked as the archive
itself.
I mean, I agree it's not good but most of places on debian.org that are
related to downloading are not good. At least
https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/unofficial/non-free/cd-including-firmware/
is now just two clicks away from the main page.
Again, I think two clicks is too deep. A newcomer doesn't have to know the difference between all the files there. We're having this discussion because I see that the current amount of friction is seen as detrimental, and I agree. 


In my ideal world (for newcomers), the link should produce the file
directly, not the directory, or they get the tool, insert a USB drive, and
viola.

They should just get the firmware ISO and burn it instead of fiddling with
all of that.
"The user shall do X" is not a very correct standpoint either. Even if we decide to add the firmware somehow into the "Official" ISOs, I still believe having a simple tool to do all of that is beneficial for new starters.
I'm using Debian since 3.0, and I still holding my view that for a newcomer, Debian is a bit too clunky. It's much smoother when spends some time with it (I can too install it in advanced/text mode with muscle memory, for example).
If we want to have more new users or entice people who're starting to use/try Linux, initial barrier should be lowered.
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