From 5330abfe2785291648dca87312e1cd860300c09a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Frans Pop Date: Fri, 3 Oct 2008 19:11:55 +0000 Subject: Update of untranslated documents --- en/hardware/hardware-supported.xml | 31 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 31 insertions(+) (limited to 'en/hardware/hardware-supported.xml') diff --git a/en/hardware/hardware-supported.xml b/en/hardware/hardware-supported.xml index 027c6bb79..3be2ee004 100644 --- a/en/hardware/hardware-supported.xml +++ b/en/hardware/hardware-supported.xml @@ -401,3 +401,34 @@ system. &supported-peripherals.xml; + + + Devices Requiring Firmware + + +Besides the availability of a device driver some hardware also requires +so-called firmware or microcode +to be loaded into the device before it can become operational. This is most +common for network interface cards (especially wireless NICs), but for example +some USB devices and even some hard disk controllers also require firmware. + + + +In most cases firmware is non-free according to the criteria used by the +&debian; project and thus cannot be included in the main distribution +or in the installation system. If the device driver itself is included in +the distribution and if &debian; legally can distribute the firmware, +it will often be available as a separate package from the non-free section +of the archive. + + + +However, this does not mean that such hardware cannot be used during an +installation. Starting with &debian; 5.0 the &d-i; supports loading +firmware files or packages containing firmware from a removable medium, +such as a floppy disk or USB stick. +See for detailed information on how to +load firmware files or packages during the installation. + + + -- cgit v1.2.3