Hi everyone!
i'm new to linux i want to know so manythings, like "is linux worth using without internet connection?
without it how can i upgrade my OS ?

Yes. By ordering CDs and following the instructions on them.

Hi, welcome to LQ!


What are your thoughts on Windows in the same regard?


Cheers,
Tink

Hi and welcome to LQ.

Yes, why not. It is not the same experience without the internet, but you can still grab one of the distros that come on a DVD from a newspaper/order one. Linux Mint would be a good choice as it is supposed to come with the majority of the media codecs. Additionally, magazines provide DVDs with a lot of useful software. This should satisfy your basic linux needs.

This is not a linux-specific problem. In any operating system you either upgrade it via the internet or grab a CD/DVD with a new version.

btw, It would also be useful if you told us why you'd like to use linux? What are you going to do with it? Just use as a desktop? Learn some programing? etc.

thanks alot guys i asked this question because i have another pc on my Shop where i didnt have internet connection that's why i asked. anyway, as you say i have to buy or download the entire distro right?

What do you mean by entire Distro? Just Download and burn the ISO Or buy a live Install DVD or CD, OSDisc.com and On-Disk.com are good sites to check. To add software they have Repository DVD's Give Linux Mint a try it has Java,Flash MP3,DVD etc; The so called Non Free drivers, You can also download some programs as Deb Files and install them,Just one more Thing you might need a Net Hook-up To get some Hardware working and The current UpDates After you get a working system No need for Internet, Windows 7 and Vista you must call in to MS or parts will not work and you get nag pop-ups.

I would suggest choosing your distro wisely. Some distros provide a complete collection of the software in the repos as disk images. CentOS and Debian both do this. It'll take a long time to download - Debian is big, taking five DVDs or a whopping 31 CDs. You could think about buying CDs and if you do download I'd suggest a torrent. Once you've downloaded and burnt the disks, your internetless computer then has access to all the software in the Debian repos, over twenty thousand packages. Mind you you still might not have non-free media codecs (like to play back mp3s).

You also might want to get yourself an offline copy of Wikipedia. There are various ways to do this. The whole thing is big but not ridiculous - with compression and perhaps omission of images it should fit on the average desktop PC's hard drive.

Bearing in mind everyday needs of newbie linux desktop users, for all 5 Debian DVDs, it's still going to be almost useless.

It's flash/mp3/dvd* that they need, not GBs of -devel libraries, LOL

Why would one need flash without an Internet connection? But yeah, you'll still need the codecs of debatable legality.

That's a bloody good question, LOL

There is a local repository on basically every Live CD that you can add to the package manager to upgrade any Linux distro.

If your PC has a graphics card, you may need a non-open-source driver. That means avoiding distros that keep their non-open-source stuff in a separate repository (like Debian) or don't supply it at all (like Fedora).

If you want to use it to play videos or music files (as opposed to ordinary music CDs), you will need codecs. That means avoiding American distros (where the codecs have to be purchased), or distros from firms with American business connections (e.g. Ubuntu).

If either of these applies, get something like Mint (Irish, so you know its good) or Sabayon (Italian).