How to install and upgrade packages offline due to dial-up connection?
Hello!
I hope this is the proper forum to ask about apt stuff since I was not
able to find an apt forum/mailing list.
I no longer have broadband connection nor can get broadband at home for
my Internet usage. I am forced to use dial-up with EarthLink that only
goes at 3 KB/sec due to poor Verizon's phone systems. Back in Autumn of
2004, I installed Debian v3.1 with its Sarge installer. Net installation
was so fun and easy over cable modem connection. Not any more on dial-up.
:(
I noticed apt-get update takes forever to download (30+ minutes). Just
for kicks, I saw many MB to download for apt-get upgrade. It was about
255 MB would be 25+ hours nonstop (woah). EarthLink doesn't let me stay
online more than 24 hours straight per connection session. Also, my
connection isn't that stable. I am trying to find ways to optimize this
to make my installation and updates efficient.
I do have broadband access, CD burners, and USB Flash drives/sticks (256-
512 MB) at work. Is there a way to get all these Debian packages and
upgrades quickly? I do not and cannot run Debian at work due to heavy
firewall restrictions (apt-get update and upgrade doesn't work well in
VMware v4.5.x tests).
Bascially, I would like to take the list of packages that I need to
download and their locations, download them at work to burn to a CD-RW
and/or USB Flash drives/sticks (haven't tested to see if Flash
drives/sticks work on that Debian box). I see *.dep files are download-
able from http://www.debian.org/distrib/packages (unstable, stable,
etc.). I do NOT want have to download each file one by one. I think
there was about a hundred packages in apt-get upgrade list when I
checked last night. Gah! :(
It looks like Debian wasn't really designed for dial-up modems and I do
not really want to get another distribution. Please note that this is a
desktop workstation, not a notebook/laptop so portability is not an
option.
Thank you in advance for any suggestions. :)
--
"An anthill increases by accumulation. / Medicine is consumed by distribution. / That which is
feared lessens by association. / This is the thing to understand." --Siddha Nagarjuna
/\___/\
/ /\ /\ \ Phillip (Ant) @ http://antfarm.ma.cx and
| |o o| | Ant's Quality Foraged Links: http://aqfl.net
\ _ / E-mail: philpi@earthlink.net or ant@zimage.com
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