How To Install firmware-linux-free on Debian 10

Learn how to install firmware-linux-free on Debian 10 with this tutorial. firmware-linux-free is Binary firmware for various drivers in the Linux kernel

Introduction

In this tutorial we learn how to install firmware-linux-free on Debian 10.

What is firmware-linux-free

firmware-linux-free is:

This package contains firmware which was previously included in the Linux kernel and which is compliant with the Debian Free Software Guidelines.

Most firmware previously included in the Linux kernel is non-free and has been moved to the firmware-linux-nonfree package.

Contents:

  • AV7110 DVB card firmware (av7110/bootcode.bin)
  • Atheros AR9170 free firmware for use with carl9170 (carl9170-1.fw)
  • 3Com Megahertz 3CCFEM556 CIS fix (cis/3CCFEM556.cis)
  • 3Com Megahertz 3CXEM556 CIS fix (cis/3CXEM556.cis)
  • Advantech COMpad-32/85 CIS fix (cis/COMpad2.cis)
  • Advantech COMpad-32/85B-4 CIS fix (cis/COMpad4.cis)
  • NSC DP83903 PCMCIA Ethernet card CIS fix (cis/DP83903.cis)
  • Allied Telesis LA-PCM CIS fix (cis/LA-PCM.cis)
  • MultiTech PCMCIA 56K DataFax CIS fix (cis/MT5634ZLX.cis)
  • NDC PCMCIA Ethernet card CIS fix (cis/NE2K.cis)
  • EN2218-LAN/MODEM CIS fix (cis/PCMLM28.cis)
  • PreMax PE-200 CIS fix (cis/PE-200.cis)
  • LanPro EP-4000A CIS fix (cis/PE520.cis)
  • RS-COM 2P CIS fix (cis/RS-COM-2P.cis)
  • Sierra Aircard 555 CIS fix (cis/SW_555_SER.cis)
  • Sierra Wireless AC710/AC750 CIS fix (cis/SW_7xx_SER.cis)
  • Sierra Wireless AC850/AC860 CIS fix (cis/SW_8xx_SER.cis)
  • Tamarack PCMCIA Ethernet card CIS fix (cis/tamarack.cis)
  • Atari Falcon DSP56001 firmware (dsp56k/bootstrap.bin)
  • Intel C600 SAS/SATA controller default parameters, version 1.3 (isci/isci_firmware.bin)
  • Keyspan USA-19 firmware (keyspan_pda/keyspan_pda.fw)
  • Xircom PGSDB9/Entrega PortGear firmware (keyspan_pda/xircom_pgs.fw)
  • USB-DUX firmware (usbdux_firmware.bin)
  • USB-DUXfast firmware (usbduxfast_firmware.bin)
  • USB-DUXsigma firmware (usbduxsigma_firmware.bin)

There are three methods to install firmware-linux-free on Debian 10. We can use apt-get, apt and aptitude. In the following sections we will describe each method. You can choose one of them.

Install firmware-linux-free Using apt-get

Update apt database with apt-get using the following command.

sudo apt-get update

After updating apt database, We can install firmware-linux-free using apt-get by running the following command:

sudo apt-get -y install firmware-linux-free

Install firmware-linux-free Using apt

Update apt database with apt using the following command.

sudo apt update

After updating apt database, We can install firmware-linux-free using apt by running the following command:

sudo apt -y install firmware-linux-free

Install firmware-linux-free Using aptitude

If you want to follow this method, you might need to install aptitude first since aptitude is usually not installed by default on Debian. Update apt database with aptitude using the following command.

sudo aptitude update

After updating apt database, We can install firmware-linux-free using aptitude by running the following command:

sudo aptitude -y install firmware-linux-free

How To Uninstall firmware-linux-free on Debian 10

To uninstall only the firmware-linux-free package we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get remove firmware-linux-free

Uninstall firmware-linux-free And Its Dependencies

To uninstall firmware-linux-free and its dependencies that are no longer needed by Debian 10, we can use the command below:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove firmware-linux-free

Remove firmware-linux-free Configurations and Data

To remove firmware-linux-free configuration and data from Debian 10 we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y purge firmware-linux-free

Remove firmware-linux-free configuration, data, and all of its dependencies

We can use the following command to remove firmware-linux-free configurations, data and all of its dependencies, we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove --purge firmware-linux-free

Dependencies

firmware-linux-free have the following dependencies:

References

Summary

In this tutorial we learn how to install firmware-linux-free package on Debian 10 using different package management tools: apt, apt-get and aptitude.