I am totally new to Linux, so please be patient. I've installed Debian Squeeze on an HP Pavilion box (amd64) and the installation had a problem with giving me the NIC driver because it was NOT Free.

I downloaded the Linux driver for the NIC, placed it on a USB stick as suggested during the install but the installation could not find it. All the rest of the install when off fine. I am now stuck with a driver is a .FM format and no clue how to add it to the installation. From what I've read so far it looks like I have to "compile" the driver into the system. What does that mean? How do I find where I am supposed to do this?

I really am a newbe. Today being day ONE!

Please a quick description of what I am supposed to do and maybe a link to a tutorial or something. I am finally making the move to Linux because a feature I want to use a work appears only to be avaialable for Linux. So, it feels like day one in 1990 when I looked at a DOS screen and had no idea what I was looking at.

Thanks in advance for your advise.

It would help if you could tell us what make/model the NIC is. Have you got the specs for your HW, as I expect this is the built-in NIC on the motherboard.
Check this page https://www.linuxquestions.org/hcl/ => Network Cards.

Other alternatives include:

1. try a different distro eg I believe Mint has a lot of non-free stuff built-in

2. for the sake of a few dollars, buy more std NIC. This is what I did when I had the same issue installing Solaris on my home system; it didn't recognise the built-in NIC, so just checked for a compatible one & bought it. They are very cheap these days.

Chris,
Thanks for the reply and the advice. The card is a realtech 8192E. At least that's what the distro stated. I was able to find the driver on the manufacturer's web site. I downloaded it and found it was zipped 13 ways from Sunday. After getting the file out of the zipped file I am left with the following: rtl8105e-1.fw. rtl8168e-2.fw, rtl8168e-3.fw, rtl8168d-1.fw, rtl8168e-1.fw, and rtl8168d-2.fw. Now the one that the distribution was stating I have is the rtl8168e. I assume that fw extension refers to firmware?

That being said, I realize I could buy a more compatible card or use a different distro, however, the reason for using this distro is because the app I want to try most often refers to this distribution. Also, this is more an exercise in finding out what Linux is all about. So you see switching the OS or changing the NIC just avoids the learning experience.

So I pose the question again. How does one compile this driver into the installed OS? I assume this can be done from command line and to get there in a GUI is to use the root terminal?

Thanks again for your assistance and patience.
Peter

Model nums do not match:
does not match
or any of
I'd still recommend getting a 'good-to-go' NIC, so you can then research/troubleshoot direct on the same machine.
Multiple NICs are no problem for Linux.
I've always cheated, so I'll leave this to someone who knows ...

You may want to ask the Mods (via the Report button) to move this to the HW forum https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest.../?daysprune=60.
Not really a newbie qn.
Good luck.

Hi,

You will need the ".fw" files for the network card.
Just put them onto a flash drive and restart the install.
The installer will ask for the driver and start searching for it on the USB drives, when you found the firmware just install them.
Sometimes you need to install more than one drivers, so keep searching if it asks for it.

Unfortunately Debian has this non free firmware mess, which I don't particularly like at all.
When I started to read your post I thought it will be a Broadcom NIC but I never thought so this could happen with a Realtek NIC too.

Debian is a bit deep water if you are new to Linux, probably would be better to start with Ubuntu then move to Debian/RedHat etc... distros later on instead of moving back to anything else than Linux. If you know what I mean.

Laz

1 members found this post helpful.

Guys, Both of you have pointed me in the right direction. I did start the re install prior to reading Laz's post. Funny thing was Debian couldn't find the FW files on the USB stick. After rethinking this through I realized I was plugged into USB 3.0. So I moved to the stick to an older port on the back of the box. Voila, there it was.

As for using an eraser version of Linux, I appreciate the thought. However, this is the one that is suggested for the function I need to get up and running at work. Besides I have been in computers for 20 years ( don't ask why I haven't been in Linux before), so I should be able to deal with the idiosyncrasies of this distro. I am NOT afraid! Of course that may be because of my ignorance. LOL.

I'm glad it worked for you!