After 25 months of development, the makers of the granddaddy of the Linux OSes released an upgrade that updates many of the software packages and plays general catch-up with modern Linux trends. However, Debian Linux 10 Buster is a boring upgrade. It does little to draw attention to its merits. For serious Linux users, though, boring can be endearing. It reinforces Debian’s reliability and ultimate stability. Debian by design is more conservative in upgrading application packages and venturing into new technologies.
Debian Linux on the Raspberry PI is rock solid. I use the PI for OpenVPN and backup servers. Very good OS
The Broadcom wireless driver is in Debian Buster. It has been in Debian since ages. It just is not in the Debian Buster's main repository because it is not free software. All you need to do is to activate the Debian Buster's contrib and non-free repositories in the /etc/apt/sources.list
Then you can install the Broadcom wireless driver and firmware:
People really should understand that Debian has main, contrib and non-free repositories. contrib and non-free repositories are not activated by default but those repositories have always been available in Debian. All you need to do is to activate those repositories in the /etc/apt/sources.list
Change every Debian repository line containing string "main"so that the line contains "main contrib non-free". Save the sources.list file and close the text editor. After that you must update the package database by running the command:
apt update
After that you can install Broadcom wireless driver and firmware packages:
You may need to reboot. After that your Broadcom wireless card should work
Now that you have activated contrib and non-free repositories you most likely want to install other non-free firmware too:
apt install firmware-linux
That metapackage will install both free and non-free firmware packages.
Here is the description of Debian repositories:
- main contains only free software
- contrib contains free software that depends on some non-free software
- non-free contains non free software
I would recommend the "Unofficial non-free images including firmware packages" ISO to be sure of the best hardware support out of the box.
https://cdimage.debian.org/images/unofficial/non-free/images-including-firmware/
Debian Linux 10 ‘Buster’ Places Stability Ahead of Excitement
Posted by: Jack M. Germain July 12, 2019 05:00 AMAfter 25 months of development, the makers of the granddaddy of the Linux OSes released an upgrade that updates many of the software packages and plays general catch-up with modern Linux trends. However, Debian Linux 10 Buster is a boring upgrade. It does little to draw attention to its merits. For serious Linux users, though, boring can be endearing. It reinforces Debian’s reliability and ultimate stability. Debian by design is more conservative in upgrading application packages and venturing into new technologies.
Then you can install the Broadcom wireless driver and firmware:
People really should understand that Debian has main, contrib and non-free repositories. contrib and non-free repositories are not activated by default but those repositories have always been available in Debian. All you need to do is to activate those repositories in the /etc/apt/sources.list
Change every Debian repository line containing string "main"so that the line contains "main contrib non-free". Save the sources.list file and close the text editor. After that you must update the package database by running the command:
apt update
After that you can install Broadcom wireless driver and firmware packages:
apt install firmware b43-installer
apt install broadcom-sta-dkms
You may need to reboot. After that your Broadcom wireless card should work
Now that you have activated contrib and non-free repositories you most likely want to install other non-free firmware too:
apt install firmware-linux
That metapackage will install both free and non-free firmware packages.
Here is the description of Debian repositories:
- main contains only free software
- contrib contains free software that depends on some non-free software
- non-free contains non free software
This should always work no matter if you have a older or newer Broadcom wireless card that needs a non-free driver and firmware:
apt install firmware-b43-installer
apt install firmware-b43legacy-installer
apt install broadcom-sta-dkms
Note that you need to first activate the Debian Buster's contrib and non-free repositories as I explained in my earlier message.
https://cdimage.debian.org/images/unofficial/non-free/images-including-firmware/