Building a new linux box that will never connect to the net, so all I am looking for is a modern Linux distro where I can use a separate Windows box to download the packages and dependencies as and when I want to install new stuff and update packages

I most recently used ubuntu and keryix, but that combo is longer supported. No particular love for ubuntu, it's okay if it does the job.


What requirements do I have for the distro other that remote packagemanagement? Well.... None actually!...
Long time Linux user, non stop since Slackware 4. Primarily run my own windows managers and general environment on-top of a distro. I do this so I can have a minimal system, but so I can also make use of the packagemanager when I want to install new stuff. I always build my own kernels etc, but sometimes, when I want to use a lardy app, I just want it to work

In an ideal world, I'd run a linux BIOS on the box too, but that will probably not happen, due to a lack of decent motherboard support.


So... Any distro with: an up-to-date kernel, one that is maintained reasonably well with programs, preferably lightweight (optional), where I can use an old windows XP box (or something similar) to actually download packages and dependencies without stress.

.

Any ideas

Try linux from scratch, it's as lightweight as you want it to be as you only install what you want, no package maintainers telling you what dependencies you MUST have,mand you can choose your own package manager or none at all.

Debian has apt-offline - https://packages.debian.org/wheezy/apt-offline

Might be in ubuntu as well.

2 members found this post helpful.

Slackware has a couple of package management systems that can be configured to use local repositories.
But then you can do the same thing with a Satellite server using Cent, RH or SL (probably oracle too), so that isn't really as cool as it sounds.

I have used Linux from scratch before. It is not what I am looking for. Unless it now has a package manager that can work out dependencies and download via windows like Ubuntu Keryx used to? I don't want to worry about sourcing and installing my own packages. Been there, done that, it drives me mad! That's the problem I seek to hide from. I really don't mind if the distro is huge and lardy, since I replace the window manager and run my own init anyway.

Here is a typical workflow from Keryx: I need to install some package so... the package manager works out all the dependencies in one shot, it then produces an list of what I need, so I can put it on a USB stick, take the stick into work, use a corresponding Windows client on the windows box to just get the .deb files (or whatever) downloaded onto the stick, take the stick home, install the .deb files, package runs!

Quietly looking up apt-offline...

Is Slackware still considered alive? It seemed a bit dead when I looked in two years ago?

Satellite servers sounds like using a proxy server to intercept HTTP requests solution. Quietly looking up the words you used...

Thanks!

Sounds familiar...
Maybe buntu decided it needed a cool new name that bears no relation to what it does.

Alive! Thriving! Vibrant! The ABSOLUTE BEST, most reliable and best maintained distro! Most used forum here on LQ (which is official Slackware forum)!

Why would anyone ask such a question?!

Actually, from what you describe as "remote package management" I would say Slackware with native pkgtools would be the easiest to admin, although you might want to build third party packages using SBo scripts (very robust and easy).

And welcome to LQ by the way!

It's got a push component involving jabberd,
14.1 was released in November of 2013 and has been updated consistently since then (as recently as last night when they updated of some ssl packages.)
Slackware isn't similar to dead in any way I can discern

Going off my own topic here, but I suddenly remember getting grumpy when Slackware dropped Eterm from the iso around about Slackware 7.2! Up until then I was Slackware all the way!

It's looking like apt-offline is the way to go, so I need to do some more research. Thank you very much for pointing me to all these possibilities.

Yes, Slackware is still alive, it's still here and it's not going anywhere. Look at Slackware official site to see official announcements or sign up to one of officials Slackware mailing lists to see what's going on. I got a last e-mail from this list on Jan 10 this year so this is a sign of Slackware not being dead any time soon. Also checkout LQ Slackware forum where the development discussion takes place. Keep in mind that Slackware doesn't care about numbers and it's not under the pressure to release a new version every two months but rather cares about stability. See Slackware current branch to check out what changes are introduced to the most bleeding edge Slackware version and are likely to appear in next stable version.

Ouch, you could get in trouble for saying that around here (only kidding).
Slackware is very nice and, while I currently find Debian easier to install and maintain with my current usage, I really enjoy installing and using it as it is very logical and straightforward and makes no assumptions about that you what you want to do as some other distributions <cough>Ubuntu<cough> do.

What do you mean "could" ?

Now calm down boys, and put that rope away! He's a stranger in these parts!

It's fine. I am have some difficulty, but I am _somehow_ resisting the temptation to troll!

I have certainly learned that linuxquestions.org is the right place to go for intelligent answers these days.