On Wed, 2021-10-13 at 10:16 -0500, Richard Owlett wrote:
It appears to me that netinst.iso assumes that there are *exactly* two
choices for internet connectivity:
an ethernet device
*OR*
WiFi
However, I use a USB device [ an Alcatel Linkzone from T-Mobile ]
The installer is unable to see the internet.
I just downloaded the latest netinst [1] and booted that with my
ethernet cable disconnected and my phone connected to USB for 'USB
Tethering'. The installer first tries automatically configuring the
'eno1' interface (wired ethernet) then after failing moves on to 'usb0'
(my phone) which succeeds in configuring a network connection using
DHCP.
So it seems the installer will work fine with a USB wireless network
device if it presents itself as a CDC device to the kernel, supporting
the Remote NDIS protocol. It make work in other cases, that's just what
my phone does and what I tested.
[1] https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current/amd64/iso-cd/debian-11.1.0-amd64-netinst.iso