Re: Is it possible to conduct a Debian install over wifi (iwlwifi)?

[Andy Smith <andy@strugglers.net>]

Hello,

On Mon, Mar 07, 2016 at 03:39:26AM +0000, Andy Smith wrote:
> As per
> http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/unofficial/non-free/cd-including-firmware/
> I wrote an ISO of the current amd64 netinst including non-free
> firmware to a USB and booted from it.
> 
> At no point does it tell me that it requires additional firmware. It
> also does not load iwlwifi or any of the associated wifi modules.

An off-list response said they had more success with a daily
installer image.

I tried out:

    http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/unofficial/non-free/cd-including-firmware/stretch_di_alpha5/amd64/iso-cd/

and indeed this now correctly says it requires firmware. It finds and
configures the wlan device and is able to download things through
wifi.

Unfortunately this of course attempts to install stretch. That
wouldn't be so bad but this fails during "Select and install
software" with:

pkgsel: checking for (security) updates to the base system
in-target: Reading package lists...
in-target:
in-target: Building dependency tree...
in-target:
in-target: reading state information...
in-target: You might want to run 'apt-get -f install' to correct these.
in-target: The following packages have unmet dependencies:
in-target:  ifupdown : Breaks: systemd (< 228-3~) but 228-2+b1 is installed
in-target:  systemd : Depends: libsystemd0 (= 228-2+b1) but 229-2 is installed
in-target: E: Unmet dependencies. Try using -f.
in-target: dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of systemd:
in-target:  systemd depends on libsystemd0 (= 228-2+b1); however:
in-target:   Version of libsystemd0:amd64 on system is 229-2.
in-target:  ifupdown (0.8.10) breaks systemd (<< 228-3~) and is installed.
in-target:   Version of systemd to be configured is 228-2+b1.

I don't fancy unpicking problems like this on testing, so for now I
think I'll go back and see if there are any daily installer images
for jessie that work with regard to wifi firmware.

At least I know now that it is possible.

Cheers,
Andy