usb wifi dongle

how do i run from disk

It is probable that you Wifi adapter requires some non-free driver and/or firmware. If it is what is on the disk, then you do not want to install it (unless you do not value your freedoms)! You can try to install the latest Linux-libre kernel and see if the adapter magically works: https://trisquel.info/en/wiki/update-linux-libre-kernel

which stack should i install

this is what the disk says can it be used

Ralink Tech Inc.
* 5F., No.36, Taiyuan St., Jhubei City,
* Hsinchu County 302,
* Taiwan, R.O.C.
*
* (c) Copyright 2002-2010, Ralink Technology, Inc.
*
* This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify *
* it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by *
* the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or *
* (at your option) any later version. *
* *
* This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, *
* but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of *
* MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the *
* GNU General Public License for more details. *
* *
* You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License *
* along with this program; if not, write to the *
* Free Software Foundation, Inc., *
* 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. *
*

hmm

Normally I'd say it has to be using a Realtek RTL8187B, RTL8187L, RTL8187, AR9170, AR9271, or soon, the AR7010+AR9280.

However I forgot about the Ralink G era USB chipsets RT2500USB/RT2571 being free software friendly. Keep in mind I haven't confirmed this as fact recently and my memory could be foggy- I also can't recall anybody here having had an adapter with one and having mentioned it working with a 100% free distro- but I did just take a quick look and there is no firmware and its driver portion is under a free software license (and there were more firmware-less devices back then). It's also in the 2.6.24+ kernel so should work already if its this adapter uses this particular chipset(s) (note: short of the device ID for the specific adapter being absent in the code).

I don't believe I've ever had the pleasure of using a dongle with the chipset (actually, I take that back, but it was back in 2005 or maybe 2006 and I believe the only USB wifi adapter at that time I encountered that was actually free software friendly). Other issue is it wasn't a 100% free distro back then... so I can't be 100% confident, but what I recall is it was one of the few that worked and one of the few that had a native driver and I believe was/and is a free driver.

On a side note I was actually working at one of the major companies producing one of the leading distributions of the day :), but fortunately just as an intern, as they were very lost on the importance of the freedom bit (I did later turn down two job offers from them). If I had it to do over again I'd have invested my time and energy at a different organization. Good move on my part overall, but a bit of a mistake.. as to where I should have been looking.