[plug] Questions about GING and Debian GNU/kFreeBSD

[Bret Busby]

On 14/05/2011, James Bromberger <james at rcpt.to> wrote:
> On 14/05/2011 12:26 PM, Bret Busby wrote:
>> With, from what I understand, the removal of hardware drivers from the
>> Debian 6 kernel ("you can install our operating system, but you have
>> find, get, and install all of the hardware drivers for your computer
>> system and peripherals, before you start to install our operating
>> system"), I am looking at alternatives to Debian itself.
>
> Not sure if you've tried this, but "apt-get install
> firmware-linux-nonfree" probably solves much (all?) of that -- 172
> drivers I count in there; it's in the "non-free" repository, so your
> apt.sources probably needs to be:
>
>     deb http://ftp.iinet.net.au/debian/debian/ stable main contrib non-free
>

One particular problem, with that, is that a computer on which I want
to install a Debian(-ish) system, apparently has a non-generic CD/DVD
drive. I tried installing Debian 5 on it, and the Debian 5 thing
indicated (from memory) that it did not like the optical drive, and
then went rabid, going into an infinite loop, requiring me to
physically pull the plug on the computer, as the power switch ceased
working.

So I thought, okay, I need a later version, to cope with newer
hardware, but, from what I understand, the Debian 6 iso's do not come
with necessary hardware drivers.

Catch-22; I cannot install the operating system, due to the lack of
drivers, but I need the operating system installed, to download the
appropriate drivers that are not present.

I have since installed Ubuntu 10.04LTS on that computer, but my
preference is not Ubuntu, due to things that it incorporates that I do
not like, like the complex UUID disk partition device identifiers,
rather than nice, simple, "/dev/hd<"a" | "b" | "c"><n>" (where n is a
number), identifiers, and, the use of the horrible sudo thing, rather
than the more dignified and more secure, "su - root".

-- 
Bret Busby
Armadale
West Australia
..............

"So once you do know what the question actually is,
 you'll know what the answer means."
- Deep Thought,
 Chapter 28 of Book 1 of
 "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:
 A Trilogy In Four Parts",
 written by Douglas Adams,
 published by Pan Books, 1992

....................................................