Arch Linux

gizzardgulpe

Member

Registered: 2008-10-10

Posts: 2

Networking through laptop USB port?

I recently came across an old laptop that I thought I'd use for learning the in's and out's of using linux, plus using it for some minor office work and writing.

I got the boot CD, ran through the beginner's tutorial, realizing halfway through that this laptop does not have a broadband ethernet port. It has a dialup port and two USB ports. This obviously causes problems because I don't have dialup internet, so I can't use pacman or access the internet in any way to get the necessary updates for things like X window system and the xorg file itself. I thought I could somehow get the necessary packages on my desktop, burn them to CD and install them manually that way, but I have yet to figure out how that would work.

So anyway, I thought the other night, why can't I use the USB ports for internet access? I know it will be slow, but my modem has a USB port on it and an installation CD for the Windows drivers. I figure there has to be a way to make Arch transfer data through there, but I unfortunately have only a little experience with Ubuntu and not quite enough knowledge about Internet Protocol to figure it out on my own.

So, any ideas?

Edit: I suppose the modem model would be helpful. SB5101 Surfboard Cable Modem by Motorola.

Last edited by gizzardgulpe (2008-10-10 06:18:42)

gizzardgulpe

Member

Registered: 2008-10-10

Posts: 2

Re: Networking through laptop USB port?

or should I just buy this?

konni

Member

From: berlin

Registered: 2008-09-25

Posts: 99

Re: Networking through laptop USB port?

I thought I could somehow get the necessary packages on my desktop, burn them to CD and install them manually that way, but I have yet to figure out how that would work

you could just download all packages you need with pacman -Sw NAME on an other arch-pc, put them on usb-stick and install them via pacman -U ...
they will be downloaded to /var/cache/pacman/pkg/

moljac024

Member

From: Serbia

Registered: 2008-01-29

Posts: 2,676

Re: Networking through laptop USB port?

But providing an ethernet interface to the laptop seems like a better idea

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The day Microsoft makes a product that doesn't suck, is the day they make a vacuum cleaner.
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But if they tell you that I've lost my mind, maybe it's not gone just a little hard to find...

konni

Member

From: berlin

Registered: 2008-09-25

Posts: 99

Re: Networking through laptop USB port?

sure, but this is at least a temporary way to install something...