I have been trying to solve this for three days, cause I chose this distro to replace my Win 7, so here goes.
I have two USB Wi-Fi sticks(both working in Windows), one is Archer T2U and second is some ASUS one.
The problem is, neither one is detected by the live USB install, because I don’t even have any option to connect to Wi-Fi there.
What can I do to solve this? I need the connection for installation because I want KDE Plasma without hassle and immediately, and also Wi-Fi for when I actually have the system of course. How do I enable them?
How should I advance in this? I am a total Linux noob, tried just a few basic ones years ago.
It is possible the drivers for these WiFi dongles are not included in the kernel, and will need to be installed separately through Pacman or the AUR. This will have to be managed after the installation is complete.
If you do not have a wired connection you can use to get through the installation, another option would be tethering to a hotspot hosted on your phone. If that is also not possible, the offline installation may be the way to go.
So there is no way to install these drivers if I get them on my external HDD or second USB stick while in Live installation?
How will I be able to install KDE Plasma then? I read that replacing a whole environment is complex.(I think)
It’s not that big deal, the new XFCE I kinda do like actually.
So either way, if I will do offline XFCE installation, I will be able to install the drivers from files I download elsewhere for sure then? I thought the installation needs internet to also download display drivers and such. But I can do that after I suppose.
I wanted to do tethering but I can’t find the USB B cable, I have just an old charger. I will borrow a phone from a family member though then, best way I think.
I don’t think it will work to try to install the driver inside the live environment, but I am not certain. I have successfully installed a small package inside a live environment before, but a lot of package-related stuff does not work normally.
That’s a good point, even if you do the offline install you will still be up against the task of somehow installing the drivers you need for the WiFi dongle without internet access…
I would use lsusb command in a terminal with the Live USB, you also have to check the exact reference of the devices, there is Archer T2U, TU2 Plus and TU2 Nano.
You can download the packages from another computer, put them on some USB storage and install them manually, the problem is being sure you found the right drivers and have all the dependencies needed.
edit: you could also use your smartphone as an access point
The live usb is not even recognizing when I connect the phone so I can’t share the wifi from it(it does in Windows)
The USB wifi shows as connected to the computer in inxi but just as some generic device so it’s not working, I tried compiling the files but it gave some “error 2” or it didn’t work and the instructions in the pdfs are just for linux mint and ubuntu and not for live USB so…
I think I’ve had enough, I don’t have time or energy to solve more problems even if I solved this, I will stay with Windows 7 for now and will try something else in future.
They are usually like ten bucks or so and should work just fine with the drivers built into the kernel, so you can take a wired connection and get through installation and setup without any elaborate hacking around.
