GOT UBUNTU RUNNING, BUT TROUBLE GETTING ON INTERNET

[Sam - Sam the retired man]

Total Linux newbie. I downloaded UBUNTU 14.04 (64 bit) and LinuxLive USB Creator. I used the LinuxLive to put the UBUNTU on a 32 Gig stick. I have two PCs, one with XP and the other with Win 7. I put the stick in the Win 7 PC and restarted. Worked fine. My intention is to run from the USB stick until I get it all sorted out and decide which PC to install it on permanently. Now I wanted to connect to the Internet with my Netgear WNA3100 Wireless USB Adapter. I found a number of references on various forums none of which worked for me. The first started with direction to do “lsusb” and this worked as in the forum exchange. The second direction was to do “sudo apt-get install ndisgtk ndiswrapper-dkms dkms linux-headers-generic build-essential.” I did this although I don’t understand it. The response was that reading the package lists and state information was “DONE” and that it built a dependency tree. But, I got “E: Unable to locate package…” for ndisgtk and ndiswrapper-dkms. Long story not so long, I did further forum research that seemed to center on getting these packages. But, I think they were oriented toward obtaining them from a CDROM source while my data is on a USB stick. I also managed to get, what I believe is the correct driver for the WNA3100 and put it on PLACES - DOWNLOAD but don’t know how to get it where ever it needs to be.

 

[JasKinasis]

From a quick search for those packages in the package lists at packages.ubuntu.com, they are both in the universe repository. So, if the package manager is complaining that it cannot find the packages, it is most likely the case that you do not have the Universe repository enabled. So that would be the first thing to check!

To save myself some time, here is a tutorial that will show you how to enable the appropriate repositories in the Ubuntu GUI. It also contains links to a method of enabling the additional repositories on the command line, if that is your preference (which will most likely tell you to edit /etc/apt/sources.txt and uncomment the universe and multiverse repositories, which are usually commented out by default!)

EDIT: After you have enabled the new repositories, you should run the command:

sudo apt-get update

That will update the package lists to include the packages listed in the additional repositories you enabled. Then you can run the 'sudo apt-get install' command (as listed in your original post) to download and install the packages you are after!

 

[arochester]

There are three types of install on a USB stick
Ordinary=like a LiveCD
Persistent=can save some stuff
Full install=like on a Hard Drive, can save all stuff ( as long as there is space).

You have the first, like a LiveCD. It can only pull stuff from Repository when it is connected to the Internet. You could connect the computer to your router by cable ---BUT , like a LiveCD, when the computer is switched off it will lose/forget everything new.

There are some WUSB , wifi USBs, that just work, out-of-the-box without any installing.

Alternatively you could save what you want to keep and then install/dual boot to a machine ---possibly the XP one?

 

[JasKinasis]

Good points!
I hadn't taken that into consideration! DUH! :/

If you currently have no wifi connection, you will have no way of getting the updates. So you would need to plug into your router via an ethernet cable in order to get the updates you require to get the wireless working.

And if you have a standard live USB install with no persistence, you'd have to go through those steps each time you restarted the PC and booted to the live USB environment.

So if you are using the USB stick to boot and you want to be able to save changes to the system you will need a USB install with some kind of persistence.

See arochesters post above re: Persistent and Full-install

I've done full installs on USB in the past with no real problems. The only performance bottleneck when using USB (both live with persistence and with a full install) is that the write speeds are much lower than they would be via a proper installation on an ide hard-drive. But it should still perform pretty well!

 

[Sam - Sam the retired man]

Thanks for the response. When do you guys sleep? First, I went to the tutorial site you indicated. However, I had already gone to the Software Tab earlier. The first time I accessed it only 2 of the first four check boxes were marked (I think it was 1 and 3) so I checked the unmarked ones (but not source code) and hit close. However, no dialog box appeared with the three options – CLOSE / RELOAD / REVERT (as described in the tutorial) to choose from so I cannot add any repositories. Also, when I originally downloaded 14.04 to this PC and then loaded it to my USB stick I specified persistance and ask to set up the maximum allowable space (I think it was 4 GIG). I guess that's the full install. When I put the stick into the PC and restarted it, 14.04 loaded up just fine. But at no time in the entire process was I asked to create or enter any password – including an Administrative one.

Let me emphasize that once I load the 10.04 on the PC, that PC cannot access to the internet until I can get the WNA3100 Wireless Adapter to work. I still wonder if the fact that I’m loading from the USB stick rather than a CD/DVD is related to the problem.

 

[edward_haigh]

Another way is to download the drivers you require on too a seperate computer and put them on a USB stick, then install them once the OS is installed?

 

[Videodrome]

If he has a Persistent USB, maybe he could run it live on any other computer that has a Wired Connection. Then run his original commands.

Also, he should first do sudo apt-get update.