Re: Debian 9

[Greg Wooledge <greg@wooledge.org>]

On Sun, Oct 05, 2025 at 16:44:03 +0100, David wrote:
> I realise that Debian 9 is very old, but it's the version that should
> work with the application I'm trying to load. Newer versions don't
> work.
> 
> The issue I'm getting with Debian 9 is that the nic driver does not
> load.
> 
> The nic required is rt18168e-3
> 
> Can I load this separately?

The way I would approach this is to find the oldest Debian kernel
package which includes this driver, and see if if works with Debian 9
in your configuration.

Usually, there is a great deal of flexibility to use older or newer
kernels with a given Debian version.  You're not tied down to the
kernel that comes with your release.  It's just a matter of ensuring
that the kernel and userland aren't so wildly far apart that they
can't work together.