Arch Linux

xu564856686

Member

Registered: 2016-07-15

Posts: 42

[SOLVED] Pacman messed up by Comcast Xfinity

So, I'm installing Arch to an old PC for fun. But Comcast has seriously messed up pacman by redirecting the internet connection to their webpage for registering new devices. (This happened on the previous computer I installed Arch to, luckily I had a web browser installed by then.) What happened, is that I got a huge string of errors for pacman db files being in "unrecognized archive format" after running pacman -Syu. I found out it was Comcast after I looked at one of the db files and it was overwritten by the HTML for the Comcast page.

I went to Comcast's Xfinity page from another computer but it seems like they force you to sign in on the new device to use it. I can't do much because I have no working X server installation or web browser yet. I want to try putting a command line web browser on a flash drive and then running it.

Is there anything else I should try before going to Comcast?

Last edited by xu564856686 (2016-08-23 16:31:13)

x33a

Forum Fellow

Registered: 2009-08-15

Posts: 4,587

Re: [SOLVED] Pacman messed up by Comcast Xfinity

Doesn't the Arch iso come with elinks or w3m? Alternatively, you can give a full blown live distro a try, if you have access to one.

ronw

Member

Registered: 2013-07-02

Posts: 57

Re: [SOLVED] Pacman messed up by Comcast Xfinity

It sounds like you are connecting to an Xfinity hotspot instead of the wifi connection offered by your modem/router. The latter does not require logging in to your Xfinity account via a web page, unless Comcast service is significantly different in your area.

xu564856686

Member

Registered: 2016-07-15

Posts: 42

Re: [SOLVED] Pacman messed up by Comcast Xfinity

No, this is connecting to the router since it uses the wpa key on the router itself. I'll try the Arch iso method.

eschwartz

Fellow

Registered: 2014-08-08

Posts: 4,097

Re: [SOLVED] Pacman messed up by Comcast Xfinity

Depending on how the Xfinity webpage works, you may be able to use curl to submit the necessary information. That's what I did at Starbucks.

(I hate stupid splash pages, they mess up redirect all your open tabs.)

---

Managing AUR repos The Right Way -- aurpublish (now a standalone tool)

xu564856686

Member

Registered: 2016-07-15

Posts: 42

Re: [SOLVED] Pacman messed up by Comcast Xfinity

I was able to sign in to Xfinity using elinks on the Arch iso. Thanks.