TL;DR: put the firmware iwlwifi-5000-5.ucode into /lib/firmware/ folder and reboot.
The Problem
Recently I got Trisquel 11.0.1 installed on my Lenovo ThinkPad X200 laptop. However, the wireless network card doesn’t function. Trisquel uses the Linux-libre, which removes non-free software contained in Linux. So probably the wireless firmware is also removed.
This is a second hand laptop, and I’m not sure what wireless card it has. Use lspci to find this out.
shankangke@ThinkPad-X200:~$ lspci ... 03:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 5100 AGN [Shiloh] Network Connection ...
Intel 5100 AGN wireless card relies on non-free firmware. Trisquel doesn’t contain this firmware. That’s why the wireless doesn’t function.
The Solution
There are people who have encountered the same problem. But the most common recommendation from the Trisquel community is to use other Wi-Fi cards that don’t rely on non-free firmware. Hardly had I found a solution without the need of another wireless adapter.
After some searching, I found out all I need is to place iwlwifi-5000-5.ucode into /lib/firmware/ folder and reboot.
The iwlwifi-5000-5.ucode can be obtained from the Linux firmware repository or you can also download it directly from this direct link. After downloading, please check the integrity of the file. Make sure the SHA256SUM of the file you downloaded matches this result.
shankangke@ThinkPad-X200:~$ sha256sum iwlwifi-5000-5.ucode da259ae4b436f4d166aad2139f23694c2737e25288095140a1809d60fe676247 iwlwifi-5000-5.ucode
You will need root privilege to be able to place this file into /lib/firmware/ folder.
shankangke@ThinkPad-X200:~$ sudo mv iwlwifi-5000-5.ucode /lib/firmware/
After that, reboot the system and check if the wireless is working. Don’t forget to turn the physical switch on if your device has one.
Why install this non-free blob?
Installing a non-free software on the Trisquel/Linux-libre system seems to violate the philosophy of Trisquel/Linux-libre project. But give it a second thought, I am the user. I choose Trisquel because it respects my freedom. The essential freedom is to run the program as I wish. Now I want to run this non-free software to get my wireless card working. It’s my freedom to use this non-free firmware. So it doesn’t conflict for me as the user.