[ltp] No wireless after Debian install

[Basil L. Contovounesios]

[ Apologies for sending this twice, Cynthia - I accidentally sent from
  the wrong account the first time. ]

Cynthia Eliason <cyne at cmk4u.com> writes:

>   I've just installed Debian on my Thinkpad T520 and it seems to be
>   good except that it doesn't see any wireless networks.  I've got it
>   connected to an ethernet cable so it does have internet access. I
>   used Synaptic to upgrade everything that was upgradeable. I've
>   re-started. Under "Network Configuration" the only option shown is
>   still Ethernet.  
>    I had been running Mint on it and wireless was working.  I only
>    installed Debian to try something different, am not
>    generally comfortable with using the command line unless someone can
>    tell me exactly what to type.  If there is no easy way to get Debian
>    to see the wireless hardware, I'll ditch Debian rather than fight
>    with it. There are plenty of other options or I can go back to
>    Mint. But before I do that I thought I'd see if anyone here has some
>    simple solution for this problem. 

My guess is you're missing the non-free Intel Wi-Fi firmware found in
the package firmware-iwlwifi.  (Debian does not include
non-free-as-in-freedom packages by default.)

To install this package, you must first permit Debian to find and
install non-free packages.  I think you can achieve this with Synaptic
by going to Settings > Repositories, selecting the main or default
repository (it's usually something like debian.org/debian/), and adding
"non-free" (without the quotes) to the "Section(s):" line at the bottom
of the window.  That line should now read "main non-free" or something
like that.  Then click OK.  (Apologies if these instructions are
inaccurate - I don't use Synaptic.)

Once that's done, you should be able to click Reload and then install
the firmware-iwlwifi package.  If not, perhaps you added the "non-free"
text to the wrong repository.

HTH,

-- 
Basil