Debian to vote on its firmware path | Hacker News Reader

Debian to vote on its firmware path

lwn.net

20 pointspabs38 comments

I'm on Debian because Guix's attitude to firmware is worse.

If you don't trust the silicon, don't use it. If you do trust the silicon, may as well trust the firmware too, as functionality can move between the two.

So we have to support hardware that does not work well unless we update at least 3 times a day? What next? Only install with the TPM firmware present?

How about choosing quality hardware that works? Companies with policies friendliest to freedom?

This entire discussion just seems like a non-problem, during installation adding wifi firmware is 1 extra click, most graphic cards work for 2d without the firmware. Debian stable release is so delayed, how can you argue you want it to support the latest hardware? Why wouldn't the person just choose another distro with the latest bugfixes for it's dodgy hardware?

Months ago bought a 2021 onemix4, everything worked with Debian and Guix

> Today, a user with a new laptop from most vendors will struggle to use it at all with our firmware-free Debian installation media.

They really shouldn’t waste their limited, mostly community funded resources on this though. How many people use straight Debian on a laptop, and why?

The packages are older, it’s more stability oriented anyway.

I usually run debian on my laptops. I recently got a new one and have run the pre-installed pop OS until now. But after trying that out for a while, I've decided to move back to debian on it whenever I get the chance. I generally prefer debian because it's what I know. I also like the stability of the OS even for a laptop.

I can't tell you how common people like me are though.

Obviously this is in no way an indication, but I use it too, as well as my family members and the one friend who uses GNU too. Debian manages to feel simple and reliable, and I rarely have issues with it. That's wildly different on other systems/GNUs. Issues I had with certain machines just stopped occurring.

It's not perfect - subjectively and objectively there are things which could be improved, but I feel like the core values of Debian fulfill the needs of a common type of laptop user, me being one of them. I think that the organization is well equipped to not disappoint my trust.

> How many people use straight Debian on a laptop, and why?

I have run Debian on every PC and Laptop I have owned since c2000 and my wife's since c2005. Most recently a Lenovo P1 Gen 4. It is the best OS choice for me.

Yes I have to install with the non-free installer and had to install with wired Ethernet.

> The packages are older, it’s more stability oriented anyway.

Admittedly, I am running Debian Sid.

I run Debian off and on, and have been doing so for years. I generally start a new computer on Fedora because the hardware only works in newer kernels, and Fedora sends new ones all the time.

But after awhile, I gravitate back to Debian. I like the stability. I like the quiet in terms of updates, even with Debian's strong security model.

Debian is my home distro. I know it.

I might have said the same thing about Ubuntu, but I haven't run it in years. I'm glad it's there, but Debian's release cadence and the philosophy behind the Stable/Testing/Sid cascade is something that works for me.

I use it on my laptop because it is stable and because I want my desktop and laptop to have the same environment as much as possible. Lots of others do the same as well. More and more people are moving from desktops to laptops so supporting them is an important consideration, This issue was important enough that it was addressed as part of the "How is Debian Doing" post earlier this year.

How is adding the firmware for the common chips to the installation media 'wasting their limited, mostly community funded resources' ? The packages are already there in the non-free branch they just need to add it to the installation packages. Plus a lot of testing and sanity checks but it is not like they need to recode the entire system which is what you seem to be making it out to be.

The firmware packages are stable and work great. All this is doing is including them in the initial setup itself rather than asking folks to download and install manually.

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