[ltp] No wireless after Debian install

[Cynthia Eliason]

 I did get the terminal to talk to me:  I said lsmod | grep wifi  and
 terminal responded iwlwifi 249856 1 iwldvm
                    cfg 80211 3 iwldvm, iwlwifi, mac80211

  I think this means the install worked, but I still don't know why it
  isn't doing what I want it to do.  

Cynthia Eliason

On Tue, 1 Dec 2020 20:57:13 -0500
Cynthia Eliason <cyne at cmk4u.com> wrote:

>   Thank you! I found and installed the non-free firmware package but
> it doesn't seem to have changed anything.  I re-started the computer
> but it is still only offering me the Ethernet connection.  
> 
>    Looking for information I opened the dreaded terminal and typed
>    lspci and it said "command not found."  Tried "iwconfig" and
>    "command not found."  I'm used to these commands returning
>    something, even though I don't always understand what I'm seeing.
>      Does Debian use a whole different lingo? Or am I missing
>      something?  
>   
> 
> On Wed, 02 Dec 2020 01:26:37 +0000
> "Basil L. Contovounesios" <basil.conto at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> > [ 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,
> >   
>