Re: Is there such a thing as a Debian blend for a MacBook Air 1,1 and/or Mac boxes in general? ...
Le jeudi 22 octobre 2020 à 12:30:06 UTC+2, Albretch Mueller a écrit :
> > I suggest using firmware-b43-installer ...
>
> Once again, I am using dpkg and installing the deb packages locally
> because I am trying to troubleshoot, make a wireless card work.
>
> Why would a package used to make a wireless card come to live, have
> to connect to the Internet to do its things? Isn't it obvious that the
> wireless card is exactly what someone is trying to fix, no?
>
> There has to be a way to install the drivers of a wireless card
> without having to connect to the Internet.
Hello Albretch,
Nowadays a wireless card (and numerous other devices) generally needs a firmware (proprietary executable, closed-source) for the driver to be operational.
The open-source driver (without firmware) for your card is included in Debian as a Linux kernel module.
By default in Debian the firmwares are not included (open-source only).
Generally speaking, (I'm not knowledgeable on the subject) OEM/ODM seem to grant redistribution of their firmwares relatively easily but Broadcom apparently does not grant this right to Debian (or Fedora, or... if I recall correctly). So to get the firmware, someone has to download it from, I suppose, a Broadcom approved source.
So, Yes you have to connect to internet to get the firmware, for example, either by using an ethernet or USB wireless dongle on this Mac, or by using an other PC, copy the (firmware, not the package) archive on the Mac and use b43-fwcutter locally
Reply to: