Re: Can't get started
On Thu 28 May 2020 at 21:54:11 (+0000), Matthew Campbell wrote:
> On May 28, 2020, 7:00 AM, David Wright wrote:
> > On Thu 28 May 2020 at 12:40:44 (+0000), Matthew Campbell wrote:
> >> On May 27, 2020, 7:50 PM, David Wright wrote:
> >> > On Thu 28 May 2020 at 00:15:50 (+0000), Matthew Campbell wrote:
> >> >> The netinst CD leaves a lot to be desired. I had to download a nonfree wifi firmware package with my tablet and install it just to get the Linux system on the laptop to recognize the wifi adapter. I still can't get the wifi to work which makes installation impossible. Many of the network related commands do not exist. I cannot just download a package without being able to connect the laptop to the Internet which is impossible if I can't get a wifi connection. I am using Debian 10.4 Buster on a laptop that uses an Intel Centrino Duo CPU. My wifi adapter is registering as wlp3s0. Each "package" to be installed requires the single use of a blank DVD to transfer the file to Linux. I have a very limited number of blank DVDs. It is up, but down, according to ip addr. It says no carrier. The wifi is on and available. The signal strength is sufficient. It is presently offering an open wifi access point. The ssid is correct. How do I fix this? I cannot connect a phone or any other device to the laptop to help "get it started," nor should I need to. The netinst CD should have everything a new user could need to get things working.
> >> >
> >> > If I understand your situation, which I might not, try putting this in
> >> > the /etc/network/interfaces file:
> >> >
> >> > allow-hotplug wlp3s0
> >> > iface wlp3s0 inet dhcp
> >> > wpa-ssid YOUR-WIFI-SSID
> >> > wpa-psk YOUR-WIFI-PASSWORD
> >> >
> >> > which may get the wifi working for you. (Reboot if necessary.)
> >> >
> >> Thank you for your polite response.
> >> The wifi access point is open so it does not use a password.
> >
> > Whenever I've met an open network, I've been on the road, and using a
> > client like wicd to connect. I can only assume that one leaves out
> > the password line, or sets it to an empty string.
> >
> >> I don't know if the netinst CD includes the wpasupplicant package.
> >
> > Yes. During installation on this machine, it was the 8th package
> > to be explicitly installed, according to apt's history.log.
> >
> > It would help to post whether your netinst was one that included
> > firmware (helps for laptops and suchlike) or not. Also, an outline
> > of how far you have progressed in the installation. From your OP,
> > I've presumed you've installed a system with the installer via
> > wireless, but can't get wifi connectivity since then.
> >
> >> ip addr is saying that Linux cannot detect a signal from the wifi router.
> >
> > I didn't know ip addr showed that, but I assume the router still
> > works after you finished a wireless installation.
> >
> >> I will consider trying DHCP instead of static to see if it makes a difference.
> >
> > I have no experience of setting up wifi statically—I don't see how
> > this would work with a portable device. For simplicity therefore,
> > I set up all my machines in the same manner, generally switching
> > from ifupdown (the default for non-DE systems) to wicd, my own
> > preference from years of use.
> >
> > Which connection method are you attempting to use yourself?
> >
> >> I can only hope the netinst CD has included any necessary packages to try DHCP.
> >
> > Yes, it's built into busybox for the actual installation, and then the
> > real package is installed in the main tranche.
> >
> > But, if I'm not out of date, there might not be a seamless transition
> > from wireless during installation to wireless post-installation for
> > non-DE installers. You may have to update /e/n/i yourself as I showed
> > earlier.
> >
> Thank you for your polite response. I downloaded the netinst CD disc image and wrote it on a disc and booted from that.
It's the name of the .iso image that tells us what was available for
the installer. You can see what firmware was needed and used with:
# less /var/log/installer/syslog
and searching for firmware. Note that the majority of matches will be
for errors, like:
check-missing-firmware: looking for firmware file iwlwifi-7260-17.ucode requested by iwlwifi
check-missing-firmware: /dev/.udev/firmware-missing does not exist, skipping
check-missing-firmware: /run/udev/firmware-missing does not exist, skipping
check-missing-firmware: missing firmware files (iwlwifi-7260-17.ucode) for iwlwifi
check-missing-firmware: installing firmware package /cdrom/firmware/firmware-iwlwifi_20190114-1_all.deb
(IIRC root, or sudo, is needed to read this log unless you're a
member of the adm group.)
> Windows can use the wifi adapter in the laptop, but Linux can't.
That's usual, because Windows will have any required firmware included.
> I did specify in my initial post that I also downloaded a firmware package and installed that.
There are many such packages. My cache, which serves five machines,
contains 7 nonfree firmware packages. The 386 installer with firmware
has 23.
I have since downloaded a much larger disc image, about 1.3 GB, but I have not yet had the time to explore it.
>
> The wifi is my own, in my own living room. Windows could not connect if I used WPA2.
Does that mean you are running Windows XP or older? Otherwise,
something is misconfigured. You should be running WPA2-PSK.
> Only two devices that can connect, that I'm aware of, are in signal range of the 5 GHz access point. Both are already allowed on the wifi.
No comment.
Cheers,
David.
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