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I'm running Debian Jessie 8.2 from a live boot, from a USB stick. It works; I can boot and use it normally, but I can't connect to WiFi.

I've read that I probably need non-free drivers, (but right now i just want it to work, and it doesn't matter if the drivers are non-free). I've been using this tutorial, which I've been following pretty well.

My network controller is Broadcom Corporation bcm4313 802.11bgm wireless network adapter.

The first weird thing was that the sources.list file that was mentioned didn't have the line exactly as in the article -- the difference was that it said http instead of ftp.us -- all the rest of that line was the same. Would the fact that I'm in Argentina be a reason for this? I saved the changes, and then as said in the article, ran apt-get update in the terminal.

Question: Why is there a # before the instruction in the tutorial?

The terminal responded with output saying failed to fetch and could not resolve.

Also, how do I copy text from Debian?

By the way, to understand this process better, we aren't trying to download things, right? Because that's my problem: Debian has no Internet connection.

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  • I don't know. I'm new to linux, i've always used windows 7 or xp. If i boot normally, i mean with windows, i have a wifi connection.
    – Santropedro
    Commented Dec 2, 2015 at 13:50
  • What means to be hardwired to ethernet and how to know? Should i google that?
    – Santropedro
    Commented Dec 2, 2015 at 13:51
  • Sorry I deleted my previous comment and included it in my answer. You will need to be able to connect to the Internet via an Ethernet cable (or any other way you can possibly connect other than your currently-useless WiFi).
    – rubynorails
    Commented Dec 2, 2015 at 16:19

2 Answers 2

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You will need a hardwired Ethernet connection to run most apt-get commands (in your case), because yes, apt-get update is trying to download an updated package listing from a remote repository over the Internet.

Installing drivers in Linux can be tricky if you are new to this, but you have all of the basic info -- you know the network card that you need the drivers for.

From that point, it's a simple matter of following your tutorial or Googling a bit more after you have established an Internet connection via Ethernet.

If you have no Ethernet port, then you will need to download the drivers elsewhere and copy them to a USB stick and then copy them to your Debian filesystem and install them from there.

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  • Ok. Im surprised, but this makes sense after thinking it. I wonder if i can connect right away usb sticks to debian. So if i don't have ethernwt port i'm pretty much forced to change tutorial? That tutorial only works for ethernet right?
    – Santropedro
    Commented Dec 2, 2015 at 14:00
  • I'll be honest, I'm at work right now and have not even viewed the tutorial. I will follow up on this later tonight. If you don't need to connect via WiFi and Ethernet will actually work for you, then forget installing the wireless driver if you don't intend to use this on WiFi.
    – rubynorails
    Commented Dec 2, 2015 at 16:21
  • It's alright! I do need the wifi.
    – Santropedro
    Commented Dec 2, 2015 at 17:41
  • Ok, so after reviewing the tutorial, it appears to be correct, but to revise your comment to be more specific, it only works when already connected to the Internet. You would need to modify the part where they are searching for their specific WiFi adapter, when yours is obviously a different make and model. In a nutshell, follow the tutorial loosely, but make sure you can ping google.com before doing so.
    – rubynorails
    Commented Dec 4, 2015 at 15:58
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What ended working: One way is to install Debian instead of running Live. During the install it will ask for files to be handled by a usb stick. Download those files somewhere else, copy them into and usb stick in the home directory, the usb stick preferentially formatted in FAT mode (probably other modes also work) and when you plug the usb stick into your computer, and press yes and continue, the installer will detect those files and work with them. It stabilished the Wifi connection in my case. I don't know how to do it for the "Live" version thought.

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