2.2. 需要固件的设备

除了需要设备驱动程序,有些硬件还要在使用之前加载 固件(firmware)微码(microcode)。这对于网卡(特别是无线网卡)来说很常见,但有些 USB 设备甚至是硬盘控制器也需要加载固件。

With many graphics cards, basic functionality is available without additional firmware, but the use of advanced features requires an appropriate firmware file to be installed in the system.

有些老的设备需要固件才能工作,这些固件被厂商永久性地置于设备的 EEPROM/Flash 芯片中。现今新设备不再采用这种方式嵌入固件,因此固件必须在系统引导的时候从宿主系统上传到设备中。

In most cases firmware is non-free according to the criteria used by the Debian GNU/Linux project and thus cannot be included in the main distribution. If the device driver itself is included in the distribution and if Debian GNU/Linux legally can distribute the firmware, it will often be available as a separate package from the non-free-firmware section of the archive (prior to Debian GNU/Linux 12.0: from the non-free section).

However, this does not mean that such hardware cannot be used during installation. Starting with Debian GNU/Linux 12.0, following the 2022 General Resolution about non-free firmware, official installation images can include non-free firmware packages. By default, debian-installer will detect required firmware (based on kernel logs and modalias information), and install the relevant packages if they are found on an installation medium (e.g. on the netinst). The package manager gets automatically configured with the matching components so that those packages get security updates. This usually means that the non-free-firmware component gets enabled, in addition to main.

Users who wish to disable firmware lookup entirely can do so by setting the firmware=never boot parameter. It's an alias for the longer hw-detect/firmware-lookup=never form.

Unless firmware lookup is disabled entirely, debian-installer still supports loading firmware files or packages containing firmware from a removable medium, such as a USB stick. See 第 6.4 节 “加载缺失的固件” for detailed information on how to load firmware files or packages during the installation. Note that debian-installer is less likely to prompt for firmware files now that non-free firmware packages can be included on installation images.

假如 debian-installer 提示需要固件文件而您又没有该固件,或者不想装非自由的固件到系统上,您可以试着跳过固件加载。有些情况下驱动程序只是在特定情况下提示需要额外的固件,而这个设备在很多系统上可以不使用它就能工作(这通常出现在使用 tg3 驱动的网卡上)。