Set up wifi on debian jessie 8

Bobbyjhall33 · 06-09-2017, 10:32 AM

I just installed Serbian on my laptop I have wifi but can't get online. I have no desktop just a terminal.I'm using broadcom network controller and realtek Ethernet controller. Apt-get won't work either

wpeckham · 06-09-2017, 01:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bobbyjhall33

I just installed Serbian on my laptop I have wifi but can't get online. I have no desktop just a terminal.I'm using broadcom network controller and realtek Ethernet controller. Apt-get won't work either

When you say you "have wifi" does that mean you have a network link and have picked up a DHCP address for your laptop?
How exactly did you install that you did not get a desktop?

Do you WANT a desktop, or is this intentional?

Bobbyjhall33 · 06-09-2017, 03:01 PM

I meant debian jessie 8 and I downloaded the CD minimal but there's no desktop and now I can't even get on line with this laptop because I didn't dual boot it so now I only have debian on my laptop and can't go to any site to get my drivers I do want a desktop and I can't update because it gives me errors

Bobbyjhall33 · 06-09-2017, 03:01 PM

I have wifi connection here at my home

dejank · 06-09-2017, 03:20 PM

If it is driver problem and you need proprietary drivers, your best bet would be to download new iso, or that some of your friends do it if you can not. You can find some here: http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/un...ding-firmware/. Though, support for your wifi driver might be thing of newer kernel too, so on that page, you might want to choose some of the downloads under stretch_di_rc4/ . Stretch is already scheduled to become stable in a few days, so you should be more than fine with it. Also, next time, if you want graphical environment and you are not experienced user, your best bet would be to choose one before you finish installation. Until you do that, you could type:

Code:

lspci -v | grep -A5 net

in your console and post here output, so someone can check what is your wifi card and what driver it needs.

Bobbyjhall33 · 06-09-2017, 05:06 PM

I have a new iso and I already found out my drivers I need but I tried booting in to my new iso image it's on a dvd but when I boot into it it start the original image not my new one so how do I delete this debian so I can install my new one

Bobbyjhall33 · 06-09-2017, 05:13 PM

Could I download my drivers with my phone then connect it to my laptop and get them that way?

dejank · 06-09-2017, 05:29 PM

Quote:

I have a new iso and I already found out my drivers I need but I tried booting in to my new iso image it's on a dvd but when I boot into it it start the original image not my new one so how do I delete this debian so I can install my new one

Go to BIOS and set it to boot from dvd drive first. There is no need to delete old one, new install will take care of it. Drivers you will need during install too, if you plan to end up with working wifi after install. Debian installer can detect firmware drivers from USB stick, so it would be best to put those drivers on some USB. As for downloading it with phone and then transferring it to your laptop, perhaps. Depends on phone and bluetooth. But, if your laptop can read SD cards, perhaps you could do it that way. Never did it myself.

descendant_command · 06-09-2017, 05:58 PM

Probably positively identify your exact wifi chip and determine what you need before you start.
https://wiki.debian.org/WiFi

wpeckham · 06-09-2017, 06:13 PM

You are on the right track with a new ISO. That Minimal ISO is just that, minimal: it includes no desktop or extra packages.

Bobbyjhall33 · 06-09-2017, 07:26 PM

I still can't get it to boot my new image still booting the same

wpeckham · 06-09-2017, 07:35 PM

1. verify that you have a DVD reader there, not a CD reader.
2. Verify that you can boot that DVD in another machine, just to ensure that it is written properly.
3. If you have a spare USB device (thumb drive) and know someone that can load it for you, load it with Easy2Boot (E2B) and copy that linux ISO into the Linux folder on that thumb drive. That will make you a boot USB drive that can load it if you can boot from USB. (And you can copy additional ISO files to it, it supported a menu system that allows you to boot the image you select. I have drives with 30 images.)

AwesomeMachine · 06-10-2017, 02:56 AM

You probably need firmware for the wireless card. Could you try a wired connection just to get past this point?

Shadow_7 · 06-12-2017, 04:37 AM

You're most likely missing the firmware packages. You could download with your phone (or other desktop), place on the micro SD card (if you phone has that option) and pluck it out and use a card reader under linux. But that's a bit of a hassle.

$ ifconfig -a
or
$ ip link show

If it shows the interface (starts with w) for wifi, it's likely missing firmware. Or you're missing the wpasupplicant package. If just the wpa stuff you could still use the network with WEP, or open and no encryption. Otherwise you need to install various packages. And depending on the age of the hardware you might need bleeding edge drivers from github and the most recent firmware from kernel.org.

$ nmtui
(CLI for network-manager)

And various other routes to USE a working wifi device.