Drivers to Debian installer

John Berden

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Nov 21, 2021, 10:40:05 AM11/21/21

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Hi all!

I have Acer Nitra 5 laptop with the following parameters:
Six-core Intel i5-11400H
System board chipset Intel Tiger Point HM570, Intel Tiger Lake-H
DIMM1: Samsung M471A1K43EB1-CWE
DIMM3: Samsung M471A1K43EB1-CWE
Integrated video Intel(R) UHD Graphics
Discrete video NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Laptop GPU

Can I embed Drivers for these devices to Debian installer?
Or at least how can I embed a WiFi driver?
I use Firmware-11.1.0-AMD64-DVD-1.Iso

Thanks in advance!

Andrew M.A. Cater

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Nov 21, 2021, 11:40:05 AM11/21/21

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Hi John,

Use the firmware .iso you have to install Debian. At the point at which
you need firmware, the installer should supply it.

If you have an Ethernet port and can used a wired interface to bootstrap
installation do so.

A complication is that this is a gaming laptop with two video displays.
If you wish to use both, then there are difficulties in doing so.

I would suggest booting from the isntaller and doing an expert install.

Stop without installing any desktop - so unselect a Debian desktop.

Complete the install as text only if you can.

Decide whether you want to use the proprietary Nvidia drivers or not.

Install the bumblebee utilities as appropriate

If using the Nvidia propriatary drivers, install the nvidia-driver utilities
as prompted.

Once that's done: reboot.

Only at that point install a desktop using tasksel as root/root equivalent.

Hope this helps, I don't particularly have a gaming laptop to install on.

All the very best, as ever,

Andy Cater

Brian

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Nov 21, 2021, 12:50:05 PM11/21/21

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On Sun 21 Nov 2021 at 16:30:06 +0000, Andrew M.A. Cater wrote:

> On Sun, Nov 21, 2021 at 05:38:56PM +0300, John Berden wrote:
> > Hi all!
> >
> > I have Acer Nitra 5 laptop with the following parameters:
> > Six-core Intel i5-11400H
> > System board chipset Intel Tiger Point HM570, Intel Tiger Lake-H
> > DIMM1: Samsung M471A1K43EB1-CWE
> > DIMM3: Samsung M471A1K43EB1-CWE
> > Integrated video Intel(R) UHD Graphics
> > Discrete video NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Laptop GPU
> >
> > Can I embed Drivers for these devices to Debian installer?

If you really mean drivers (and not firmware) I think the answer is
"no". At least not easily.

> > Or at least how can I embed a WiFi driver?
> > I use Firmware-11.1.0-AMD64-DVD-1.Iso
> >
> > Thanks in advance!
> >
>
> Hi John,
>
> Use the firmware .iso you have to install Debian. At the point at which
> you need firmware, the installer should supply it.

Firmware for network devices only, I believe.

> If you have an Ethernet port and can used a wired interface to bootstrap
> installation do so.

I took a quick look at the specs for this machine. It does not appear
to have an ethernet interface.

> A complication is that this is a gaming laptop with two video displays.
> If you wish to use both, then there are difficulties in doing so.
>
> I would suggest booting from the isntaller and doing an expert install.

I agee with that.

> Stop without installing any desktop - so unselect a Debian desktop.

Normally I would agree with this too, but the lack of ethernet is likely
to lead to an issue with connectivity after first boot. See

https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=694068

> Complete the install as text only if you can.
>
> Decide whether you want to use the proprietary Nvidia drivers or not.
>
> Install the bumblebee utilities as appropriate
>
> If using the Nvidia propriatary drivers, install the nvidia-driver utilities
> as prompted.
>
> Once that's done: reboot.
>
> Only at that point install a desktop using tasksel as root/root equivalent.
>
> Hope this helps, I don't particularly have a gaming laptop to install on.

--
Brian.

Andrew M.A. Cater

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Nov 21, 2021, 1:00:05 PM11/21/21

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No Ethernet means additional complications :)

WiFi firmware - the nonfree firmware-iwlwifi probably - will be installed
as part of the initial install - so you should have network connectivity
for that at least.

I'd install Network Manager and nmtui to set up a minimal wireless interface
thereafter. You can do that either by dropping to a shell in the initial
install or by using the rescue mode of the installer to chroot to the installed
system and go from there.

This is one of the reasons why I keep around a USB -> Ethernet adapter but
I recognise that I'm an oddity here.

Brian

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Nov 21, 2021, 1:10:06 PM11/21/21

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The particuler complication I mentioned only arises should a DE not be
installed. This has been recognised as a Debian hoop to jump through.

> WiFi firmware - the nonfree firmware-iwlwifi probably - will be installed
> as part of the initial install - so you should have network connectivity
> for that at least.

Assuming a wireless connection is established by the installer it will
remain available after first boot, irrespective of whether a DE is
installed or not.

> I'd install Network Manager and nmtui to set up a minimal wireless interface
> thereafter. You can do that either by dropping to a shell in the initial
> install or by using the rescue mode of the installer to chroot to the installed
> system and go from there.

Installing a DE will probably pull in network-manager.

> This is one of the reasons why I keep around a USB -> Ethernet adapter but
> I recognise that I'm an oddity here.

Not a bad idea. Should it be necessary, though?

--
Brian.

Andrew M.A. Cater

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Nov 21, 2021, 1:40:05 PM11/21/21

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In this _particular_ instance ideally no DE because of the problem of 2x
video interfaces

> > > > Complete the install as text only if you can.
> > > >
> > > > Decide whether you want to use the proprietary Nvidia drivers or not.
> > > >
> > > > Install the bumblebee utilities as appropriate
> > > >
> > > > If using the Nvidia propriatary drivers, install the nvidia-driver utilities
> > > > as prompted.
> > > >
> > > > Once that's done: reboot.
> > > >
> > > > Only at that point install a desktop using tasksel as root/root equivalent.
> > > >
> > > > Hope this helps, I don't particularly have a gaming laptop to install on.
> > >
> > > --
> > > Brian.
> > >
> >
> > No Ethernet means additional complications :)
>
> The particuler complication I mentioned only arises should a DE not be
> installed. This has been recognised as a Debian hoop to jump through.
>
> > WiFi firmware - the nonfree firmware-iwlwifi probably - will be installed
> > as part of the initial install - so you should have network connectivity
> > for that at least.
>
> Assuming a wireless connection is established by the installer it will
> remain available after first boot, irrespective of whether a DE is
> installed or not.
>
> > I'd install Network Manager and nmtui to set up a minimal wireless interface
> > thereafter. You can do that either by dropping to a shell in the initial
> > install or by using the rescue mode of the installer to chroot to the installed
> > system and go from there.
>
> Installing a DE will probably pull in network-manager.
>

See above: explicitly trying _not_ to install a DE until the video is
configured.

> > This is one of the reasons why I keep around a USB -> Ethernet adapter but
> > I recognise that I'm an oddity here.
>
> Not a bad idea. Should it be necessary, though?
>

No - but for this sort of thing - or where the onboard wifi interface
requires a driver to be built / downloaded - Broadcom and fwcutter, I'm
looking at you - then this is the only way to get it all to work.
[Have done this for Raspberry Pi boards without wifi and Ethernet in order to
get the wifi drivers for a USB dongle to compile]

All best,

Andy Cater

> --
> Brian.
>

Brian

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Nov 21, 2021, 1:50:05 PM11/21/21

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On Sun 21 Nov 2021 at 18:06:53 +0000, Brian wrote:

[...]

> Assuming a wireless connection is established by the installer it will
> remain available after first boot, irrespective of whether a DE is
> installed or not.

This completely contradicts what I said before. Substitute "ethernet"
for "wireless". Either that or ignore my contribtion to this thread :).

--
Brian.

David Wright

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Dec 13, 2021, 11:40:04 PM12/13/21

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On Sun 21 Nov 2021 at 17:53:57 (+0000), Andrew M.A. Cater wrote:
> On Sun, Nov 21, 2021 at 05:46:13PM +0000, Brian wrote:
> > On Sun 21 Nov 2021 at 16:30:06 +0000, Andrew M.A. Cater wrote:

[ … ]

> > > A complication is that this is a gaming laptop with two video displays.
> > > If you wish to use both, then there are difficulties in doing so.
> > >
> > > I would suggest booting from the isntaller and doing an expert install.
> >
> > I agee with that.
> >
> > > Stop without installing any desktop - so unselect a Debian desktop.
> >
> > Normally I would agree with this too, but the lack of ethernet is likely
> > to lead to an issue with connectivity after first boot. See
> >
> > https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=694068

Quoting this:

"If this bug is going to be kept ANOTHER Debian release,
can you at least warn people about it in the buster Installation Guide?"

I don't see anything about it in the bullseye one.

> No Ethernet means additional complications :)
>
> WiFi firmware - the nonfree firmware-iwlwifi probably - will be installed
> as part of the initial install - so you should have network connectivity
> for that at least.

… during the installation phase only, in case that's not clear.

> I'd install Network Manager and nmtui to set up a minimal wireless interface
> thereafter. You can do that either by dropping to a shell in the initial
> install or by using the rescue mode of the installer to chroot to the installed
> system and go from there.

I think it's far simpler than that, and I've added a comment to BTS
#694068 that might avoid its needing a trixie tag in the future.

> This is one of the reasons why I keep around a USB -> Ethernet adapter but
> I recognise that I'm an oddity here.

A student would have nowhere to plug it into at the university down
the road from here. They provide WiFi connectivity, and that's it.

Cheers,
David.

Brian

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Dec 15, 2021, 7:10:05 AM12/15/21

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A preseed directive may be used to avoid having only a lo interface in
/e/n/i:

d-i netcfg/target_network_config select ifupdown

>From the netcfg templates file:

Template: netcfg/target_network_config
Type: select
Choices-C: nm_config, ifupdown, loopback
Choices: Network Manager, ifupdown (/etc/network/interfaces), No network configuration
Description: for internal use; can be preseeded
Specifies what kind of network connection management tool should be
configured post-installation if multiple are available. Automatic
selection is used in this order when not specified: network-manager if
available (on Linux only), ethernet configuration through ifupdown on wired
installation and loopback configuration through ifupdown on wireless
installations.