Debian GR on Firmware
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Debian Proposes Better Discovery of non-free Firmware Images
Debian Linux provides two major installer images based on the firmware type. The “free” images contain the “open-source” drivers and packages, whereas the “non-free” images are for proprietary firmware packages.
If you tried downloading the “non-free” version from the official website, you might have spent some time locating the installer images.
Because the “non-free” images are kind of “hidden” and buried under several directory structures in the official Debian download server.
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Debian Finally Starts a General Resolution to Consider a Non-Free Firmware Image
Debian is one of the most loved Linux distributions for its approach to stability and a balance between new features. But, it does not come with any non-free firmware. And, that is becoming an issue for users who want to use Debian on newer hardware. Most of the latest devices and configurations need non-free firmware to make things work, which includes Wi-Fi, graphics, and more. To address that, Steve McIntyre, a Debian developer and a former Debian project leader, has been actively discussing the issue for a while. At the DebConf 22 conference, Steve recently talked about fixing the firmware mess to highlight this better to users and developers, as spotted by Geeker’s Digest.
As an update to the discussion among the community: it looks like Debian has started a general resolution to let its stakeholders vote what to do with non-free firmware.