MGA3 and non-free orphans
Posted: Jun 11th, '13, 16:40So far I've installed 32-bit MGA3 from the DVD on two desktop computers, and both went smoothly. I did a test install on each first to check against my hardware, and there were no real problems. But one thing annoyed me.
I have a wireless card in one computer that uses the Broadcom BCM4318 chip. The installer advised me that I had a device that needed the non-free packages, and advised me to activate them, which I did. After the install, I immediately installed the b43-openfwwf package to get my wifi working. This was all I installed, and as soon as I left the gui, I was told that the kernel-firmware-nonfree package was now orphaned, and I might want to remove it. OK, maybe, but I don't really know that yet, so I left it there. I rebooted, established a connection, set up my repositories, and went after updates, as well as a few of the packages I wanted that weren't part of the install, then more as I got things settled the way I wanted. That went fine, but every time I left the gui, I was told about that orphaned package. Same thing over several sessions, until I finally removed it, and its dependent packages.
Was all that nagging really necessary?
Funny thing is, when I installed on the computer without a wireless card, I wasn't advised to activate the non-free packages, but I did anyway. It was nice to get the proprietary nVidia driver for my GeForce 6200 AGP card installed by the installer, but those same firmware packages were installed too, even though I don't see any files I recognize as being anything I needed for that computer. And I haven't been nagged about them being orphans, either, so I haven't removed them.
I'm confused. Why the difference?
I have a wireless card in one computer that uses the Broadcom BCM4318 chip. The installer advised me that I had a device that needed the non-free packages, and advised me to activate them, which I did. After the install, I immediately installed the b43-openfwwf package to get my wifi working. This was all I installed, and as soon as I left the gui, I was told that the kernel-firmware-nonfree package was now orphaned, and I might want to remove it. OK, maybe, but I don't really know that yet, so I left it there. I rebooted, established a connection, set up my repositories, and went after updates, as well as a few of the packages I wanted that weren't part of the install, then more as I got things settled the way I wanted. That went fine, but every time I left the gui, I was told about that orphaned package. Same thing over several sessions, until I finally removed it, and its dependent packages.
Was all that nagging really necessary?
Funny thing is, when I installed on the computer without a wireless card, I wasn't advised to activate the non-free packages, but I did anyway. It was nice to get the proprietary nVidia driver for my GeForce 6200 AGP card installed by the installer, but those same firmware packages were installed too, even though I don't see any files I recognize as being anything I needed for that computer. And I haven't been nagged about them being orphans, either, so I haven't removed them.
I'm confused. Why the difference?
