• Request to add firmware to installation images/nonfree repo

    From Koohyar Hasani@21:1/5 to All on Sat Jan 21 19:00:01 2023
    Hello all, apologies if this is not the correct place to post this.

    Trying to install Debian (i386 arch) on a touchscreen device (Dell Venue 8
    Pro) that needs an Atheros driver ( https://github.com/qca/ath6kl-firmware/tree/master/ath6k/AR6004/hw3.0)
    which is not available in the nonfree installation image or repo. Installer does not recognize media with the firmware files on it and continues to
    display a prompt asking for media with the firmware files.

    Have not filed a bug report yet (not sure whether that is the appropriate
    first step, and I may not be knowledgeable enough to properly answer
    follow-up questions). From what I've read, there is possibly a way to
    manually mount the media with firmware files during install but that
    requires a keyboard, and this device only has one port (and I do not have a
    USB hub or USB keyboard).

    Device boots into live image but WiFi is not recognized; live installer launches and begins installation but fails about halfway through (please forgive me, I did not document the error message). When using graphical installer (I've tried Debian Stable image and Debian Testing), installer prompts that the firmware file referred to above is missing, and asks user
    to insert media with firmware file on it. With media inserted, installer
    fails to recognize the file and displays the same prompt again (have tried
    this with MBR and GUID formatted media, files located in firmware folder,
    etc).

    Would like to request that this firmware be added to installation images
    and/or the appropriate repository.

    Please let me know if I can provide any further information.

    <div dir="ltr">Hello all, apologies if this is not the correct place to post this. <div><br></div><div>Trying to install Debian (i386 arch) on a touchscreen device (Dell Venue 8 Pro) that needs an Atheros driver (<a href="https://github.com/qca/ath6kl-
    firmware/tree/master/ath6k/AR6004/hw3.0">https://github.com/qca/ath6kl-firmware/tree/master/ath6k/AR6004/hw3.0</a>) which is not available in the nonfree installation image or repo. Installer does not recognize media with the firmware files on it and
    continues to display a prompt asking for media with the firmware files.<div><br></div><div>Have not filed a bug report yet (not sure whether that is the appropriate first step, and I may not be knowledgeable enough to properly answer follow-up questions).
    From what I&#39;ve read, there is possibly a way to manually mount the media with firmware files during install but that requires a keyboard, and this device only has one port (and I do not have a USB hub or USB keyboard).<div><br></div><div>Device 
    boots into live image but WiFi is not recognized; live installer launches and begins installation but fails about halfway through (please forgive me, I did not document the error message). When using graphical installer (I&#39;ve tried Debian Stable
    image and Debian Testing), installer prompts that the firmware file referred to above is missing, and asks user to insert media with firmware file on it. With media inserted, installer fails to recognize the file and displays the same prompt again (have
    tried this with MBR and GUID formatted media, files located in firmware folder, etc).</div><div><br></div><div>Would like to request that this firmware be added to installation images and/or the appropriate repository.<br></div><div><br></div><div>Please
    let me know if I can provide any further information.</div></div></div></div>

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  • From Paul Wise@21:1/5 to Koohyar Hasani on Sun Jan 22 14:50:01 2023
    On Sat, 2023-01-21 at 09:38 -0800, Koohyar Hasani wrote:

    install Debian (i386 arch) on a touchscreen device (Dell Venue 8 Pro)

    This device is likely 64-bit, so you should use amd64 instead.

    https://i.dell.com/sites/csdocuments/Shared-Content_data-Sheets_Documents/en/uk/CSG-EN-XX-ALL-Venue-8-Pro-5830-Spec-Sheet.pdf
    https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/78416/intel-atom-processor-z3740d-2m-cache-up-to-1-83-ghz.html

    needs an Atheros driver (https://github.com/qca/ath6kl-firmware/tree/master/ath6k/AR6004/hw3.0)

    This is firmware rather than a driver. I note that it is not present in
    the upstream linux-firmware git repository, see below for more info.

    https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/tree/ath6k/AR6004

    installer fails to recognize the file and displays the same prompt again

    I would suggest filing an installation report, but it is going to be
    hard for you to do that without a keyboard.

    https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/amd64/ch05s04.en.html#problem-report

    Probably the right workaround for you to get the install done would be
    to download the non-free installer image and repack it to include the
    relevant non-free firmware files in the right place. The wiki pages
    below are likely outdated but might be helpful anyway.

    https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/unofficial/non-free/cd-including-firmware/ https://wiki.debian.org/DebianInstaller/Modify https://wiki.debian.org/DebianInstaller/Modify/CD https://wiki.debian.org/RepackBootableISO

    Would like to request that this firmware be added to installation
    images and/or the appropriate repository.

    The process for adding firmware to Debian is to get it included in the
    upstream linux-firmware git repository and then request an update to
    the Debian firmware-nonfree source package.

    https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/tree/README
    https://www.debian.org/Bugs/Reporting

    Alternatively you could package ath6kl-firmware separately and search
    for a sponsor, but that is a lot of overhead to workaround the fact
    that the firmware should be contributed to the linux-firmware git repo,
    so that the firmware is available to Debian and also other distros.

    https://mentors.debian.net/intro-maintainers/

    --
    bye,
    pabs

    https://wiki.debian.org/PaulWise

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