Howto install network drivers in Linux when you do not have an Internet connection

[titorick]

Now this howto will work in Ubuntu and flavors like Mint... but you may use the idea about other distroes too... Of course there are other means you can do this, but this one is easiest for new Linux users...

CASE: Let's say you have a Laptop and a wifi card or an usb modem that is not supported out of the box by your Ubuntu... And you do not have any other means to connect to the Internet with your Linux box (no LAN cable, no WIFI hotspot and other WIFI adapter ect). In this case we are using the ZTE AC682 modem as an example.

PREREQUISITES: You need at least one PC/Laptop etc that is connected to the Internet... For example borrow one from your friend... To ease the whole process... you may copy/paste all the output from the commands below to a text file, transfer that text file using an USB stick to the PC that has a Net connection.

TERMS: PC 1 = your no Net connection Linux box, PC 2 = your net connected other computer. You will work in terminal for all these commands

STEPS:

1. PC 1(in terminal): jockey-text -l
2. The output will say something like: kmod:wl - Broadcom STA wireless driver (Proprietary, Disable, Not in use) (auto-install). Search in your package manager for the strings listed in the output, in order to find the necessary package. In this case we find that the needed driver is: bcmwl-kernel-source
3. PC 1(in terminal): sudo apt-get install bcmwl-kernel-source . Click the "Return" key when asked 'Do you want to continue [Y/n]?'
4. You will get a lot of errors like: Err http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ natty-updates/restricted bcmwl-kernel-source amd64 5.100.82.38+bdcom-0ubuntu3.2 Could not resolve 'archive.ubuntu.com' Failed to fetch http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/po...source_5.100.82.38+bdcom-0ubuntu3.2_amd64.deb Could not resolve 'archive.ubuntu.com'.... Copy all the urls stated in the "Failed to fetch http://..." lines.
5. PC 2: Create a folder on your PC 2 named for example "Linux drivers".
6. Download all those copied urls on your PC 2 in the folder "Linux drivers"
7. Transfer this folder to your Linux box PC 1
8. PC 1: Enter the folder "Linux drivers" in your terminal
9. PC 1: sudo dpkg -i *.deb
10. PC 1: Open your jockey-gtk and activate the necessary driver
11. Reboot