Subject: Re: bug#35915: Please provide an installer with non-free drivers

From: Meiyo Peng <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 27 May 2019 15:09:44 +0800

Hi juh,

juh writes:

> I am very much in favour of Open Hardware and Free Software, and I
> appreciate every effort to foster free software. That in advance.
>
> Guix is not just another Linux distribution, but something new that
> supports transactional upgrades and roll-backs, unprivileged package
> management and declarative system configuration. This is really
> exciting. If Guix were just another distro focusing on free software,
> there would be no need for a nonfree installer iso. But in case of Guix
> I think it is missing.
>
> Please consider that using hardware that is supported by free drivers is
> a privilege. Many people cannot afford a computer with supported
> hardware, others are not able to look for the right components, and
> compare long lists of supported hardware with the specs from computer
> shops, and last but not least many people just got a computer from
> others – as a gift maybe. They all have to stick with their hardware and
> they should not be excluded from the exciting Guix approach.
>
> I think that many of them would give Guix a try if it was installable in
> a way like debian is installable with their firmware driver iso:
> https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/unofficial/non-free/cd-including-firmware/
>
>
> I see that it is possible to make a custom kernel for Guix:
> For eg. https://gist.github.com/TeMPOraL/306bbb7c627ab0d32fa84af831963563
>
> It would be really nice to have at least an unofficial installer with
> nonfree drivers. If there is a nonfree installer iso please make a note
> on the webpage.

Just a friendly reminder.  Although many computers contain non-free
hardware, most of them can run the official Guix installer without a
problem.

Most of the time, an unrecognized network card is the only road blocker.
If so, the easiest trick is to connect an Android phone to your computer
via USB cable and enable "USB tethering" in Settings ("Network &
internet" -> "Hotspot & tethering" -> "USB tethering").  Then your phone
will work like a network card and you can proceed the installation
process as usual.  After that, you can customize your system however you
want.  For example, use a customized kernel.  (You are free to do that,
but we won't help you.)

--
Meiyo Peng
https://www.pengmeiyu.com/