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[Solved] Installing Debian without an internet connection?

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Krookroo
Posts: 11
Joined: 2012-04-14 16:39

[Solved] Installing Debian without an internet connection?

#1 Post by Krookroo »

Hello all
I'm fairly new to linux, even though I did spend a few weeks on a mainstream linux mint distribution, but willing to switch to Debian for the sake of a more stable and customizable os. Here's my problem:
My laptop (Acer aspire 7745G) is currently under a linux mint 12 / windows 7 dual boot, and I did just install Debian squeeze (latest stable) so that grub sees all three, this works well. I went with no graphical desktop environment on the Debian install because I would like to go to a pure Debian/LXDE (64bits) system, and installing it nicely instead of installing Debian / gnome, removing gnome and putting LXDE. (this is all for the context explanation).
My internet connection is a wireless connection to a public network (THIS does cause me problems)

So here I am: I have a terminal on Debian. I did not find how to install the drivers for my wireless card (Broadcom stuff) without an internet connection. So it seems to me that I can't get the drivers to get my internet connection to work without internet, that's rather disturbing... I tried to google for a .deb thing to install manually (which I though I could download from linux mint, then install from Debian), but did not get any success.
Of course apt-get fails.

My main problem here is that I don't really know where to look for, because as I said I'm fairly new to linux, I don't have much knowledge about how it works, and therefore I'm afraid that even if I get the drivers I might have problems installing them, or even worse, convincing myself the problems comes from here whereas it is somewhere else...

Thank you in advance.
Last edited by Krookroo on 2012-04-15 15:26, edited 1 time in total.

mar
Posts: 54
Joined: 2012-04-10 17:30

Re: [Help] Installing Debian without an internet connection?

#2 Post by mar »

hi first of all are you sure that debian haven't installed your wireess driver?
second if you havent connected your debian to the internet while the installation you must change some in your /etc/apt/sources.list:
(this repos is just example "it" is the one i use coz im in italy , you can change it)

###### Debian Main Repos
deb http://ftp.it.debian.org/debian/ squeeze main contrib
deb-src http://ftp.it.debian.org/debian/ squeeze main contrib

###### Debian Update Repos
deb http://security.debian.org/ squeeze/updates main contrib
deb http://ftp.it.debian.org/debian/ squeeze-proposed-updates main contrib
deb-src http://security.debian.org/ squeeze/updates main contrib
deb-src http://ftp.it.debian.org/debian/ squeeze-proposed-updates main contrib

by the way if you used cd for the installation you just have to:
su
apt-get install lxde

Krookroo
Posts: 11
Joined: 2012-04-14 16:39

Re: [Help] Installing Debian without an internet connection?

#3 Post by Krookroo »

First, thank you for your quick reply!

For the moment, changing the /etc/apt/sources.list isn't really my priority (I suppose) since my Debian can't access the internet, because for the moment the package manager won't be able to use the sources.list am I right?
I think I tried the
su
$ apt-get install lxde
but the install cd was not in the pc at that moment, I'll try again and let you know. I'll also try to figure out how I can check whether the drivers were automatically installed or not. Need to reboot though (of course, I'm on the internet through my linux mint)

thank you anyway, I'll try to fix this by myself, but I'm afraid I'll have to come back here soon...

mar
Posts: 54
Joined: 2012-04-10 17:30

Re: [Help] Installing Debian without an internet connection?

#4 Post by mar »

your welcome. try:

lspci

or for wireless usb:

lsusb

and look for your wireless, if it's there it means debian have installed the proper driver.

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debil
Posts: 1336
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Location: Mazes of Menace, surrounded by brown puddings

Re: [Help] Installing Debian without an internet connection?

#5 Post by debil »

You can download the driver from here if it's missing, transfer via USB stick or such and dpkg -i it in your Debian install.
Q: Why is the Eunux kernel so bloated?
A: It was made in the image of its founder.

Krookroo
Posts: 11
Joined: 2012-04-14 16:39

Re: [Help] Installing Debian without an internet connection?

#6 Post by Krookroo »

Once again, many thanks for your reactivity

Okay, I re-tried the
su
apt-get install lxde
it fails because it is unable to locate the package. I got the "8 DVDs full install" from the Debian homesite. Unfortunately the DVD-2 failed to load to read packages from during the installation, I think that's the reason why debian can't find it, am I right? If so I'll then restart from the beginning, formating the Debian partitions and reinstalling all the stuff cleanly.
I burned the DVDs with k3b (freshly installed package) using the "burn image" feature, and default settings (they all were "successes" according to k3b), do you have any idea why the DVD didn't work?

I also tried the lspci thing. It displays too much lines on the screen and I couldn't find how to get a little bit up to read the first displayed lines. All I see is that my i7 processor is seen a lot of times. I couldn't find a guide on the web explaining how to read a little "above the screen", do you know if this is even possible (i suppose it is)?

Edit: crosspost
thank you debil, I'll prepare for this at the same time.

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debil
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Re: [Help] Installing Debian without an internet connection?

#7 Post by debil »

Krookroo wrote:I also tried the lspci thing. It displays too much lines on the screen and I couldn't find how to get a little bit up to read the first displayed lines. All I see is that my i7 processor is seen a lot of times. I couldn't find a guide on the web explaining how to read a little "above the screen", do you know if this is even possible (i suppose it is)?
Try pressing Shift-PageUp afterwards. If that doesn't work, you can pipe the lspci output to more (base install should include this). In practice:

Code: Select all

$ lspci | more
Q: Why is the Eunux kernel so bloated?
A: It was made in the image of its founder.

Krookroo
Posts: 11
Joined: 2012-04-14 16:39

Re: [Help] Installing Debian without an internet connection?

#8 Post by Krookroo »

Okay thank you. So you were right the drivers are effectively already installed since I see my wireless card.

I tried to wvdial which didn't work.
as for the packages, I also tried
su
aptitude install lxde

which doesn't work. he finds the package, sets up to 0% and does nothing writing [working]. I guess he tries to download the package.
I think I'll try to burn a regular CD install and try things more simply, I'll come back here to tell if it works, thank you anyway!

mar
Posts: 54
Joined: 2012-04-10 17:30

Re: [Help] Installing Debian without an internet connection?

#9 Post by mar »

first are you sure that your connected to the net?
second have you updated the source repo first if not try:

apt-get update

then do the again:

apt-get install lxde

but i'll tell you this the lxde in debian is a bit different with that in linux mint:

Krookroo
Posts: 11
Joined: 2012-04-14 16:39

Re: [Help] Installing Debian without an internet connection?

#10 Post by Krookroo »

I am not. My main problem is setting up a connection to the internet, givent the fact that I generally acces the net through a public network (wireless), and all the tutorials I have found on the net explained either how to setup a wired connection, or a wireless directly to your modem/router (which I don't have since I get through a public network).

I tried the apt-get stuff and all because it was told to me that the packages could be located on the installing cds.

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debil
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Re: [Help] Installing Debian without an internet connection?

#11 Post by debil »

Krookroo wrote:I tried the apt-get stuff and all because it was told to me that the packages could be located on the installing cds.
That's what apt-cdrom is for. But check out the man page anyway.
Q: Why is the Eunux kernel so bloated?
A: It was made in the image of its founder.

mar
Posts: 54
Joined: 2012-04-10 17:30

Re: [Help] Installing Debian without an internet connection?

#12 Post by mar »

debil wrote:
Krookroo wrote:I tried the apt-get stuff and all because it was told to me that the packages could be located on the installing cds.
That's what apt-cdrom is for. But check out the man page anyway.
just like what debil said...

Krookroo
Posts: 11
Joined: 2012-04-14 16:39

Re: [Help] Installing Debian without an internet connection?

#13 Post by Krookroo »

at first, I wasn't able to get the informations from the
man apt

Thanks to you, I managed to add the cds packages to the apt-get list. just to feed the search function of the forum:

su
apt-cdrom add
#do this for every package-containing DVD you have, I had 8 of them
apt-get install lxde

and it worked. From there I am able to get any package from the stable squeeze, so I should be able to handle myself, since my wireless card is seen by the system I think I now just need a network manager up and everything will be nice.

Thank you all guys, for your answers and your patience :)

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