Installing Packages Manually

[nexocentric]

My network card doesn't have any UNIX drivers, but it does have windows drivers, so I'm trying to install ndiswrapper.

It seems like the default installation of Ubuntu server doesn't have python installed, so I can't dpkg niswrapper in.

Is there any resource to help me learn how to hunt down and install the things I need when I don't have an internet connection? If you can use apt-get it's awesome, but when you can't it seems like all information on the internet says "use apt-get".

Any resources and or help that can teach me to be more independent in times like this would be appreciated.

Thanks for your time.

[mzs_47]

Hi you can use the following methods described-

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/InstallingSoftware#Installing_packages_without_an_Internet_connection

Off topic-
It is time we started looking for an alternative like .pbi files in PC-BSD, makes life easy for those without Internet connection!

Regards,
mzs

[nexocentric]

mzs,

Thanks for your reply.

I'm having no luck with Keryx. All I have is two computers with windows 7 and a unix computer that can't access the internet.

I'm trying to get Keryx "portable" configured for Windows, but... once again... I'm having dependency problems, so it won't even start in Windows.

I also have a Mac, but from the looks of it getting Keryx running on a Mac is more of a pain than Windows.

I'm working out what I can here and thanks a lot for the link. Maybe I should give the ubuntu live CD a try?

nex

[petzoldt01]

Im pretty sure ubuntu server has python installed (v2.5 maybe). Are you trying to say dpkg doesn't work? AFAIK something is very wrong if this is true.

I wouldn't exactly mix differnt versions of ubuntu (i dont think server has a livecd), you might get wierd dependency mismatch that will be a pain to track+fix.

A cd is your solution, but you will need dpkg functional at a minimum (maybe you were trying to say that dpkg didn't work because ndiswrapper dependencies couldn't be resolved?)

I know you can mirror repositories onto a cd (you would do this on your internet computer), and then stick in the cd (make sure cd is in you /etc/sources.list). Then use apt-get (which doesnt have to have internet) to install ndiswrapper (and hopefully ndiswrapper with dependency will be pulled from cd automagically).

Off hand i do not know exactly how to get a repo mirrored on cd, but I am quite sure there is help on the subject as many people have been in your shoes.

[petzoldt01]

Secondly, are you sure you really need Ubu Server?

Its quite reasonable to build up a server using regular ubuntu. If you can't come up with specific reasons for ubu server, you probably don't need it, and you will have much better chance of hardware/software support with standard installs. Server edition does do a few things different, but it is by no means a 'must' if you want a server.

If you like the idea of a "minimal" approach, go get Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Alternate CD. This has an option for minimal 'command-line only' install. Removes all the Gnome/Xserver stuff, but will still leave you access to the standard repos (which will likely improve your ndiswrapper experience, and im thinking ndiswrapper is already on the cd).

[nexocentric]

petzoldt01,

Thanks for the information. I'm going to check to see if anything that you suggested can help me out.

I'm not exactly a unix newbie. If my network adapter worked then I would be able to change lots of settings and do what I wanted with no problems... It's just a strange situation when your LIFELINE is cut... you know

I did lspci and found out the name of my network adapter. It looks like there's a mod available for me to add to my system, but I have to be able to use MAKE to compile and run it... the MAKE command isn't on my system by default.

As for the reason that I went with ubuntu server... I had a great server and it blew up (over heated...), so I bought an intel Atom dual core for 2 reasons
1) It shouldn't have the overheating problem I had because it doesn't need to be cooled as much as a XEON....
2) It was cheap...

Anyway, to keep performance up I decided that I wanted to have server on my computer. It saves space and lots of other things. Plus I don't like having things that I don't need on my computer.

Sorry for the long post.

My network card is a JMicron JMC250. I can find the driver online, but I can't "MAKE" it because the make command isn't on the computer that doesn't have network access....

All I need to do is solve the NO NETWORK access problem and then I'm golden. There are lots of help files out there for lots of other problems, but as soon as you don't have network access NO ONE tells you how to do anything to fix the problem.

Thanks for your input, I'll see what I can do from here.

If you have any other suggestions it'd be greatly appreciated.

nex

[nexocentric]

petzold01,

I took your advice and installed the desktop version of ubuntu. I had no problems with my network card. Thanks.

Now I need to decide if I really need GNOME or not. I don't think so. I always just SSH into my server...

Thanks for your help.

nex