Linux without Internet?

[catnappist]

My old computer sort of likes it Feisty Fawn, but Linux seems to be fairly useless without Internet at home. The Internet at the public library (Windows) is all I have. Is it possible to get files I need that don't come on the Linux disk by going on the Internet, i.e. linuxdownloadstuff.com, etc...?

[oz]

Is it possible to get files I need that don't come on the Linux disk by going on the Internet, i.e. linuxdownloadstuff.com, etc...?

Welcome to the forums!

Yes, it's possible, but you'll need to download and store the software that you want plus all related dependencies. Quite often, even the dependencies will have other dependencies, so success without the internet is not an easy task for many distributions.

[coopstah13]

If you don't have internet access, I would recommend vanilla debian. They have many CD's/DVD's with all the software on them that you could download and burn. Then you can use these to install all the software that would normally be available in the repository.

[minthaka]

If you don't have internet I wouldn't recommend you any Debian based Linux at all. You'll face the hell of packages with it. It is better to use an RPM based distro, like Mandriva. You can download all the packages you need, or mirror a repository and then after that you can use all the packages without any headache. I know many people would swear on Debian's package manager, but I the one who disagrees with that. Grab all the RPMs put them into a single folder. Add that folder to the list of repositories and the fun can start. Try to do the same with the other one...

[coopstah13]

I believe it is RPM hell

But I digress, this is why I suggested vanilla debian. All software is available on CD's and DVD's, once you have the copies you can install ALL software easily. Having to figure out dependencies manually is tedious and difficult, which is why I recommended against what you are suggesting.

[minthaka]

I believe it is RPM hell

But I digress, this is why I suggested vanilla debian. All software is available on CD's and DVD's, once you have the copies you can install ALL software easily. Having to figure out dependencies manually is tedious and difficult, which is why I recommended against what you are suggesting.

It happened only once to me, that I've installed Debian Lenny. I had ALL the 5 DVDs, and I went on with the install. My hands got fever, since I had to change DVD's countless times.

[coopstah13]

Well if you have the disk space you could just copy dvd contents as well and have apt use them too. But I think if you don't have internet access that beggar's can't be choosers .

[waterhead]

Whatever distro you decide to use, I suggest always using the DVD installation version. They usually contain all of the programs that you will likely need.

Don't ever connect to the internet and install/upgrade anything. You may then find that the DVD versions will be too old, and you will be stuck with using the internet to install programs.

[D-cat]

1st, it's dependency hell, and it happens on RPM and DEB distributions alike. So far, one of the things that impressed me with Vector (slackware) is that most of the package files came with the dependencies bundled, so this was less of a problem (though I was less impressed with the actual software selection available).

2nd, Waterhead is right. If you're going to install a heavier distro based on either of the major package types, get the DVD versions. This will save you half the headache. You can also try to get repository mirror DVD's if you want a large software selection available offline (I used to do this with Packman).

[daark.child]

Just use a distro that comes on a DVD e.g. the full Debian, openSUSE or Mandriva releases. The DVD versions contain more packages than the single cd or live versions which means you don't usually have to go online if you need to install packages because the DVDs themselves are treated as a software repository.