Install issues with Lenny 5.0.5

[mvantuyl]

Hi all,

I am ordinarily a Slackware user, but have used various releases of Debian for some time now (since Woody). The last one I worked with was Sarge, and it was a pleasure. I recently decided to upgrade to Lenny and downloaded the first of 5 DVDs. During installation on my laptop, the wireless adapter wasn't detected. This had not been a problem with Sarge.

Next, I downloaded the net install disk and ran from it, but had the same result. I know that generating my own kernel with the correct wireless extensions might well solve the problem, but the sources don't appear to be included on DVD 1.

Downloading and installing Sid fixed the problem, but I'm not especially thrilled with the idea of running an unstable distro.

My question is this: do you think downloading the other 4 DVDs will likely solve the problem, or would I be better off just downloading the sources and generating my own kernel?

Thanks!

[jheaton5]

Most wireless drivers and firmware is non-free and not supplied with the debian kernel. You should install with an ethernet connection and then locate and install the driver for your wireless card. When you have installed, and booted into debian, open a terminal, get a root prompt and type

# lspci -v

That should show you your wireless card. It will also show you if you have a driver installed. Post the results of that command here and then we can find the firmware you need.

[craigevil]

You can use the kmuto installer.
Backported d-i images - Backported d-i images

That way you are running stable. Unstable isn't unstable like it sounds, it just tends to have frequent updates.

The packages apt-listbugs and apt-listchanges will help ensure you do not run into any major problems.

Debian was installed on my system back in Feb 2004, running unstable all this time and never had any major problems.