I have recently started to learn Linux, and Debian is the most likeable to me. I installed it on a notebook, and found that some firmware is missing (which is in line with what I read in the Installation Guide). I have the following questions:
After the installation how can I print a list of all missing firmware, so that I can see how severe the problem is and which files I will need?
I found that I can download firmware from https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/unofficial/non-free/firmware/stretch/current/. However, I still have the DVD attached to my notebook. Does it have any advantages if I use this manufacturer's DVD compared to downloading from cdimage.debian.org?
Regarding the manufacturer's DVD, I found that the drivers take a lot of space (more GBs). How can I decide which directories and files are important for Linux (I would like to store them on an installer USB Stick)?
I found one more link: https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/unofficial/non-free/cd-including-firmware/9.1.0+nonfree/amd64/iso-dvd/firmware-9.1.0-amd64-DVD-1.iso. Is it safe to assume that this is the same as the OfficialDVD1 + NonFreeFirmware? Is it a full package if I combine this one with OfficialDVD2 and OfficialDVD3?
grep 'Firmware.*requested' /var/log/kern.log
orjournalctl -k | grep 'Firmware.*requested'
. That will only give you the filenames, you then need to find out which package(s) have those files and install them. Mostly there will be an obvious relationship between either the device name (or the name of the kernel driver it uses - btw, the linux kernel doesn't care about brand names, it uses generic drivers for known hardware types. chipsets, not brands) and the package name, and/or the firmware filename and the package name.