Downloading and installing .deb files

Steve W · 05-09-2008, 07:43 AM

I have not yet upgraded to broadband - I only have dial-up. Is it possible for a friend (who uses Windows but has broadband) to download .deb packages for me, save them to a flash drive, and for me to install them from the flash drive, without me having to download them on my PC using dial-up?

I only ask because sometimes a Linux magazine will put the latest version of OpenOffice, or similiar, on a cover DVD as a compressed file and say that users can install it by using dpkg.

Is it normally possible for Ubuntu/Linux software to be downloaded on a Windows PC as .deb files, then installed on a Linux PC separately, in this way?

I did have a Google around for information on this, but no luck so far. I did also try to locate .deb files on their own using Google, but again no luck.

Steve

vadkutya · 05-09-2008, 08:06 AM

no it is no problem. all you need is the .deb file. where you get it from does not matter...

Stéphane Ascoët · 05-09-2008, 08:34 AM

I'm almost sure that apt-get has an option to export the list of packages needed on your computer to get what you need. Then, put a Debian-based live-CD on your friend's computer and give this list to apt-get, with the option asking it to save the packages somewhere instead of installing them.

Steve W · 05-09-2008, 09:07 AM

Ha - no. The tolerance of Linux to my friend will not extend to having me running it on her PC. Even a live session. It's going to have to be downloading the .deb files straight from the web from inside Windows. And I wouldn't need to export a list of packages - this would be just individual applications I would locate the .deb files for.

Still, it's good to know I can install stuff without having to download it directly into Ubuntu on my machine. Thanks.

Rustylinux · 05-09-2008, 09:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve W

Ha - no. The tolerance of Linux to my friend will not extend to having me running it on her PC. Even a live session. It's going to have to be downloading the .deb files straight from the web from inside Windows. And I wouldn't need to export a list of packages - this would be just individual applications I would locate the .deb files for.

Still, it's good to know I can install stuff without having to download it directly into Ubuntu on my machine. Thanks.

Thats not a friend!, friends don't let friends use Windows :P

Steve W · 05-09-2008, 09:35 AM

People will only convert to Linux if they want to convert. There is only so much "convincing" you can do, and I prefer the soft-sell approach.

As Morpheus said in The Matrix: "You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it."