Is it possible to force install a .deb package?

In ubuntu 9.10 I don't have internet access because my USB modem does not work in it. So to get packages I install Ubuntu in a Virtual machine in Windows and I use AptonCD to bring the packages to the real Ubuntu install. But AptonCD won't install the packages itself for whatever reason so I tried manually installing each package individually. The thing is that some packages depend on themselves to be installed.
Is there a way to force install these packages in the terminal or something?

 

You can use --force-depends to dpkg but you should be sure you need to do this, it might break things in which case you need to use it again to remove. If these are updates for critical packages you may not want to take this risk unless you have .debs for the current versions you have installed. For the USB modem to work it may just need a kernel module.

 

The only culprit I can think of off the top of my head right now is Open Office. So I don't think that is too critical

so what would the command be? "--force-depends *file name*"
or something like that?

 

Yeah, dpkg --force-depends -i filename.deb to install and dpkg --force-depends -r packagename to remove.

 

You may be better off just compiling what you need from source. That way you're sure to have the dependencies. Also, 10.04 may have a fix for your internet issues. Do you really not need internet other than the occasional package install?

 

Was the OP asking about a GSM or CDMA comms device in the Ubuntu forums? It looks like the thread was answered although maybe the OP hasn't been back...?

[ubuntu] How can I get a Verizon UMW190 to work in 9.10? - Ubuntu Forums

 

Oh wow. That thread got bigger since I last checked. (which was a long time ago) but I'm not trying to make this thread about that and was just stating why I don't have internet in ubuntu.

Thanks for the answers though. They helped!