Format of .deb files

["Moore, Paul" <Paul.Moore@uk.origin-it.com>]

I am trying to get to grips with Debian, and I'd like to browse through
the documentation. The problem I have is that my Debian PC is at one
home, whereas the PC where I have the most chance to read documentation,
print things out, follow up references, etc, is at work. My current work
PC is Windows only [:-(] but it does have a CD drive and I have the
Debian CDs.

My question is, basically, can I extract files from .deb format packages
on a Windows box? Presumably, .deb files are internally some form of
tar/cpio archive - can I get at the tar so that I can unpack it (I have
Windows gzip, tar, etc utilities).

If not, is there any other way I can browse the documentation (/usr/doc,
/usr/man, /usr/info) for debian while not actually at a PC with debian
running? Is it available on the web?

Thanks in advance for any help...

Paul Moore.