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Ask HN: How would you download a browser without a browser?

16 points by swidi ↗ HN
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?

21 comments

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cocktailpeanuts
Bittorrent or FTP
thanksforfish
Getting 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
Wait for the AOL cd to come in the mail?
sloaken
Now you are showing your age.
thanksforfish
Debian 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?

icedchai
In the 90's, the answer was FTP.
WheelsAtLarge
You download lynx, text based browser, via ftp and download Firefox with lynx.
wprapido
wget / curl or your OS package manager
DeathArrow
In 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
Most 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]

zzo38computer
I 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
>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
Homebrew, Chocolatey, apt, or curl.
wuhaa
Keep 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
Some 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.