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Ask HN: How would you download a browser without a browser?
Theoretically, let's say you have a brand new laptop that is fully functional but has no built-in browser. (You also don't have a phone or any other separate device.) How would you download a web browser without being able to see the web?
- thanksforfish 6y agoDebian based OS is easy: apt install firefox Other Linux OS, consult your package manager of choice. Mac should have curl or wget that you can use (plus safari, but we'll ignore that). Windows has Invoke-WebRequest in Powershell that you can use (plus IE/Edge, but we'll ignore). You can do a Google search with those command line tools to find the firefox install page and download the installer. What prompted this question? Real problem?
- cocktailpeanuts 6y agoBittorrent or FTP
- thanksforfish 6y agoGetting BitTorrent installed seems like it would be a challenge. FTP seems possible as most OSes preinstall it, but what FTP server has a browser installer and how would you find it?
- gulato 6y agoWait for the AOL cd to come in the mail?
- sloaken 6y agoNow you are showing your age.
- Rzor 6y agowget, curl.
- mtmail 6y agoMacOS: install https://brew.sh/ https://brew.sh/ , then 'brew cask install firefox' Linux, e.g. 'sudo apt install snapd', then 'sudo snap install firefox' (https://snapcraft.io/install/firefox/ubuntu https://snapcraft.io/install/firefox/ubuntu)
- Kaze404 6y agoWhy not get Firefox from apt?
- raceconditioner 6y agoIf you're stuck on windows maybe you could try this: curl -o fi.exe -L -C - "https://download.mozilla.org/?product=firefox-stub&os=win64&lang=en-US" https://download.mozilla.org/?product=firefox-stub&os=win64&... && ./fi.exe
- icedchai 6y agoIn the 90's, the answer was FTP.
- WheelsAtLarge 6y agoYou download lynx, text based browser, via ftp and download Firefox with lynx.
- wprapido 6y agowget / curl or your OS package manager
- DeathArrow 6y agoIn Windows you can use FTP in Explorer. Or, if you want to do it from the command line, type in Powershell: >Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $url -OutFile $output On *nix you might have curl or wget installed. On Android and iOS use their respective app stores.
- luizfzs 6y agoMost of the curl/powershell answers assume you know the URL to download it from, which might not be correct since they are usually long and not easy to memorize. However, considering the scenario on the question, I would assume that browser vendors would create very easy-to-remember URLs so you could get their browser without having to memorize 100-character-long URL e.g. mozilla.org/firefox.[exe,bin,sh,deb]
- abdullahkhalids 6y agoTinyurl or similar can be used to create a small url.
- zzo38computer 6y agoI agree, that the browser vendors should do this for this purpose. Perhaps also add a file "downloads.txt" which explains them so that you will know which file to download (even if the file you want to download isn't a web browser).
- rasz 6y ago>new laptop that is fully functional but has no built-in browser doesnt exist, either its fully functional and has a browser, or its missing operating system.
- runjake 6y agoHomebrew, Chocolatey, apt, or curl.
- wuhaa 6y agoKeep a liveboot USB handy with OS that has a browser. Boot with it. Save a few installers for common browsers on a USB/SDC/local NAS etc. If your on *nix, wget/curl/ftp/scp/sftp the files from a known location. You can do the same in Windows in powershell or CMD
- jamieweb 6y agoSome devices that claim not to have a browser do actually have a browser, as it is used solely for Wi-Fi captive portals. I seem to remember that the Nintendo Switch has one of these 'hidden' browsers.
- abjKT26nO8 6y agosudo apt install firefox