Wi-Fi and Hybrid graphics
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Hi all,
At the beginning I would like to say that I am new in Linux and Trisquel.
I have two problems with Trisquel at the moment.
First, wireless network card in my notebook doesn't seem to work at all. I've read that Intel wireless network cards doesn't work with Trisquel, because of GNU license. Unfortunately I have: "Intel Corporation Centrino Wireless-N 135 (rev c4)" (form "lspci" command). So, is there any way to force this card to work with Trisquel? I don't really want to buy any additional Wi-Fi adapter, but if it is necessary, which would be good to work with Trisquel? I am thinking about some USB nano cards.
Second, I have two graphic cards in my notebook: Intel (with CPU) that works, and Nvidia Geforce GT 640M that I don't know how to enable. Is Trisquel support hybrid graphics? If yes, how can I enable my Nvidia card?
Thanks for any help.
PS Sorry for my English, I am not native speaker and I am still learning.
The wireless card not working has nothing to do with a "GNU license". It's much more simple than that: there simply isn't any libre software that can be used with these devices. In fact, a lot of wireless devices have this problem. The only solution is to buy a new one. Think Penguin is a good place to get new hardware (all hardware they sell is compatible with libre software):
There's also Tehnoetic if you want the small USB adapter:
https://tehnoetic.com/tehnoetic-wireless-adapter-gnu-linux-libre-tet-n150
Regarding the hybrid graphics, have you checked your BIOS setup for a switch? (Apparently older models had one.) Besides that there is http://bumblebee-project.org/ (GPL)
> Linux
GNU/Linux, GNU+Linux, or GNU. Linux is a kernel for UNIX-likes.
> So, is there any way to force this card to work with Trisquel?
This appears to be caused by a lack of compatible firmware in Trisquel, because
Trisquel only provides free firmware while the GNU+Linux compatible firmware
that Intel releases is probably redistributable, but non-free. Fear not! You
could try installing the non-free drivers by downloading them from the non-free
Debian repository and them installing them with dpkg manually. For a somewhat
more comprehensive solution, try installing Debian instead.
> Nvidia Geforce GT 640M that I don't know how to enable.
Again, a firmware issue. Nvidia is notorious for not cooperating with the free
software community. I doubt even Debian can solve this problem, however.
> PS Sorry for my English, I am not a native speaker
Trust me, your written English is far better than some native speakers here.
Inviting Cybios to give up on his/her freedoms is not an acceptable solution and is against our community guidelines:
Please do not distribute, recommend, or support non-free software here.
http://trisquel.info/en/wiki/trisquel-community-guidelines
Sorry. I believe that installing a single piece of non-free firmware is a
lesser evil than wasting raw materials by getting rid of hardware. Ecological
devastation is (for me, at least) a greater issue than that of software freedom.
why not just sell the GPU and buy one that works with free firmware?
That seems fair enough.
In retrospect, I have to apologise about that post. I always have a tendency to
jump to recommending Debian. It was my first distro (running on a laptop with
non-free wifi) and still holds a special place in my heart. My general course
of action is to first recommend Trisquel, and (if non-free firmware is
required) recommend Debian, which is the next best thing.
"In retrospect, I have to apologise about that post. I always have a tendency to
jump to recommending Debian."
there’s nothing wrong with recommending Debian
i run Debian on several of my servers
Debian is free software aslong as you make sure not to enable the contrib non-free repo's
Debian has a special place in my heart too! (as dose Trisquel and Lemon juice!)
"(if non-free firmware is
required) recommend Debian"
in most cases you can replace the hardware that requires non-free firmware with hardware that dose not
i think you should recommend this first
but obviously running Debian with non-free firmware is way better than running M$ windows
so if that person is unwilling to give up there gpu or sound card etc then it may be best to recommend Debian with non-free firmware
Thanks for replies!
@onpon4
Well, that adapters are very expensive considering that there is hardware with non-free firmware that costs like 5-7 USD (with taxes included). Thanks anyway. I will keep in mind that such things exist.
@lembas
I've just checked and there isn't such options. Actually I have only access to SATA Mode, USB Configuration and Boot. Very poor BIOS. Thanks for the link to this project. I will check this later.
@moxalt
> GNU/Linux, GNU+Linux, or GNU. Linux is a kernel for UNIX-likes.
By saying Linux I was thinking about all systems with Linux kernel, not only GNU/Linux. At this moment my main system is Windows, but I'm trying to change this. I don't like Microsoft policy (like almost everybody I think).
> You could try installing the non-free drivers by downloading them from the non-free Debian repository and them installing them with dpkg manually.
Well, sadly, but probably I will try this. I was wondering if there is such possibility.
> I doubt even Debian can solve this problem, however.
I have Nvidia GTX 760 on my desktop PC, and it works fine on Kubuntu with opensource (I think so) drivers. However, I haven't on my PC Intel Graphic Card. So, maybe is there a way to force using only Nvidia card, and disable Intel's one?
> Trust me, your written English is far better than some native speakers here.
Thanks, I try as best I can.
@EDIT
I've found this Wi-FI USB Adapter:
http://www.allnet.de/en/allnet-brand/produkte/wlan/wlan-adapter/p/-d226fe4f7a/
Will it works under some free drivers? They say that it supports Linux, but no information about software license.
I have Nvidia GTX 760 on my desktop PC, and it works fine on Kubuntu with opensource (I think so) drivers.
The driver may be free software but not the firmware. You can try to install the latest Linux-libre kernel from jxself's repository: https://trisquel.info/en/wiki/update-linux-libre-kernel
If the card still does not work, you can almost certainly conclude that proprietary software in Kubuntu's kernel makes it work (and harms your freedoms).
Will it works under some free drivers?
The relevant information is the chipset, which is almost never indicated (unless you buy second-hand to a seller that shows the output of 'lsusb'). To the best of my knowledge, only ThinkPenguin and Tehnoetic guarantee that the hardware they sell works with Linux-libre (hence with 100% free GNU/Linux distributions such as Trisquel). If you randomly buy a Wifi card, just expect it to not work.
> all systems with Linux kernel
There are only two major systems that use Linux as the kernel: GNU/Linux (what people usually call "Linux"), and Android. These systems are not very similar. You probably don't want Android on a normal PC.
> They say that it supports Linux
Unfortunately this statement is useless since the Linux kernel contains binary blobs. Free distros like Trisquel are based on Linux-libre which is Linux minus the non-free parts.
I am a translator!
sell your lappy and with the moneyz buy one with an intel gpu older than skylake.
:)
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