Вообще очень многие вещи в Убунте предполагают, что интернет есть, установка десктопного окружения (серверам гуи как бы не нужен) относится к их числу... Вот, например, список пакетов (вероятно не полный), которые надо скачать для ubuntu-desktop
alacarte, alsa-base, alsa-utils, anacron, bc, ca-certificates, checkbox-gtk, cups, cups-bsd, cups-client, dc, desktop-file-utils, doc-base, eog, evince, file-roller, foomatic-db, foomatic-db-engine, foomatic-filters, gcalctool, gconf-editor, gdebi, gdm, gedit, genisoimage, ghostscript-x, gnome-about, gnome-applets, gnome-control-center, gnome-icon-theme, gnome-media, gnome-menus, gnome-nettool, gnome-panel, gnome-power-manager, gnome-session, gnome-session-canberra, gnome-system-monitor, gnome-system-tools, gnome-terminal, gnome-themes-selected, gnome-themes-ubuntu, gnome-utils, gstreamer0.10-alsa, gstreamer0.10-plugins-base-apps, gstreamer0.10-pulseaudio, gtk2-engines, gtk2-engines-pixbuf, gucharmap, indicator-applet-session, inputattach, language-selector, launchpad-integration, lftp, libgd2-xpm, libgl1-mesa-glx, libgnome2-perl, libpam-ck-connector, libsasl2-modules, libsdl1.2debian, libsdl1.2debian-pulseaudio, libxp6, metacity, nautilus, nautilus-sendto, notify-osd, openprinting-ppds, pnm2ppa, pulseaudio, pulseaudio-esound-compat, rarian-compat, screen, screensaver-default-images, seahorse, smbclient, software-center, software-properties-gtk, ssh-askpass-gnome, synaptic, system-config-printer-gnome, ttf-dejavu-core, ttf-freefont, ubuntu-artwork, ubuntu-sounds, unzip, update-manager, update-notifier, wireless-tools, wpasupplicant, x-ttcidfont-conf, xdg-user-dirs, xdg-user-dirs-gtk, xkb-data, xorg, xscreensaver-data, xscreensaver-gl, xterm, yelp, zenity, zip