Be me

...

If you try using apt-get install and it fails it prints out a list of the exact URLs it failed to fetch. You can download those with any browser on another computer, transfer them with a usb stick, and install them with dpkg -i.

...

Terminal is your friend, you can do something like:
apt-get download && apt-cache depends -i | awk '/Depends:/ {print $2}' | xargs apt-get download

on the subject. kubuntu or mint kde anons? i already have kubuntu but i might just switch

Just go with a retard distro like ubuntu. Always go for the retard option since when there's a retard option all others mean doing something someone else already did for you.

Download the module for your network card from the internet
oh wait

Kubuntu. Mint does some really bad things with packaging, like renaming packages for no good reason and using Ubuntu updates without testing them.

attempted actual ubuntu and got similar results

gonna call it a night, i'll see if i can scavenge the old wifi card from my old dead pc and put it in this one and see if that works sometime tomorrow.
see you fuckers.

get a derivative ubuntu itself is pretty shit tbqh fam
on your issue you'll need googlefu and multiple "works for me" posts from 2003

You seem very dense.

You need an internet connection to install Linux, OP. It's not a suggestion.

Either stop being a pussy and just get a bit of CAT5 or CAT6 ethernet cable and jack eth0 directly into your router, or

Go to newegg or ebay or wherever you get hardware and buy an ALFA AWUS036H wifi adapter. It doesn't need any firmware to work.

And stop using Ubuntu :P

I had this problem when I was a n00b too. Debooan wants those FSF brownine points, so by default they don't give you any proprietary packages. This is a problem for most laptop users, because most laptop NICs require proprietary firmware.

From another computer, you've got to go into the debian packages site, and find a package called iwlwifi. Download it, put it onto a flash drive, and transfer it to the Debian laptop. Install the package with dpkg. Reboot, and you should have networking.

Feels good.

Might be true if the OEM was wiping your ass for you. If you are very lucky, your vendor has a product driver page with all the tedious downloads you'll have to get everything up to scratch. Linux has all its driver build in apart from one or two, eg. Wifi firmware.

You can *definitely* run into a problem with a fresh Windows install where the fucking Wifi doesn't work, or your screen is 640x480, or worse.

Haha, faggot!

The Debian team puts out several installer DVDs with every package known to man including your firmware. Try using those.

It doesn't. You're just tarded.

I ran into this myself months ago. Every Linux forum is the same thing.
I don't know how people that retarded can live. You'd think they'd forget to breathe or something.

Anyway, other posters have already covered all the options:
Good luck, OP!

source? I work at one of those dial a geek places and installed literally thousands of them and havent had a problem

lol

Download the .deb for the firmware on another computer to a usb and
sudo dpkg -i
to install it.

Ubuntu literally goes into a fail loop if it can't connect to a package source on install. Arch can't do shit without setting the fucking clock on install.

Tell me, where are these magical distros that don't require an internet connection to install?

Mint. Kubuntu butchers KDE with a lot of untested patches and provides a decidedly non-vanilla experience. It tends to be buggy and unreliable as a result.

Why are you trying to teach OP in the ways of faggotry? Isn't it an iron chan rule that OP is superior in his massiveness by default?

Ever heard about pendrives? I'm assuming the computer you used to access those Linux forums has a USB port?

NO U

We're talking about one of those magical distros right now. Debian has 3 install DVDs, 2 DVDs of updates, and a set of unofficial images with the non-free firmwares included (what OP probably wants). Instead of downloading the FULL OFFLINE install images you two geniuses get the minimal/live/netinstall iso and then complain about how it didn't include the package you needed.
Why did you try installing Arch, a rolling release distro, on a computer that doesn't have an internet connection and isn't able to fetch the latest updates?

THE WONDERFUL WORLDS OF LIBRARIES AND COFFEESHOPS

I had a similar problem way back when I was first trying Non-Windows systems and switching to UNIX. This is what I ended up doing (note this may have changed and I may be remembering wrong)

On the USB ISO I made a new folder called Drivers. I then went off the debian website and got all the .debs for my wireless card, and the various protocols it uses. Made sure to get all the dependencies too (which I had to retry a couple times to do).

Since the Net Install didn't have a GUI and for some reason my USB drivers weren't included in the base kernel (yet it did take free drivers...) and I could not mount anything of it this is how it ended up.

During the install, I would go all the way up to the step that's about to install the base system. Then I press the esc key to bring up the installer menu. Then I went to the option to enter a shell (csh, IIRC) then I copied the dev folder to /target/home/user (I think that's it. Explore the directories with the ls comamnd. I forget)

After the install I CD'd to the directory and just ran su -c dpkg -i *.deb and it installed them.

Afterwards, I used nmtui to configure the network and used apt to install my DE and all that. It was pretty fucking annoying to figure out but overall it worked.

Or you could just ask the manager of your dorm to install Ethernet cables to the central router, which is what I eventually did. I just ended up paying him a small $10. Of course, I had to buy all my own supplies.

I can't believe it took this long for someone to say the proper simple answer, jesus christ Holla Forums is full of retards.

Heh, I had no clue you could do that during the install. TBH never had problem installing any distro.

Stop giving money to Qualcomm/Broadcom

this is the key
somehow