I'm hoping to dump Windows and move to either PCLinuxOS or Ubuntu soon. But I need to know: Can you download and install Linux program updates, OS updates and whole programs without an active net connection on the Linux computer? And then install them to the Linux computer with a simple double click? Are there installer files, in other words?

Or do you have to do all this with a live net connection to the Linux computer? I surf in cybercafes and don't have active net connection on my home computer. My usual procedure to update Windows programs or install new ones is to download files to my flash drive in the cybercafe and then copy them to my home computer and double click the installer file.

I'm not talking about the Live CD, of course, I mean that when I want to update a program I've installed from the CD...or the OS itself...do I need the live net connection? Thanks for any help.

I can't think of a single program that requires an internet connection to install. Granted, if you have your CD filled with packages you would like to install, but you end up needing a dependency that you don't have, you might be out of luck for whatever requires said missing package until you get it.

99.952% programs/scripts are run locally, however they got there; via the internet is just the most common.

Thanks Poetics, but I think I didn't make my question clear enough. I know I can install programs from the CD. But if I want to update to a newer PCLOS or to a newer Gimp or Open Office or whatever, does my computer running Linux have to directly connect to the internet in order to update these programs? Or can I download an "updater" file and then run it later on my computer that is not connected to the net.

I live in a country where there are no fast internet connections and I surf in cybercafes, then bring stuff home to my home computer (a laptop) and transfer files to it. I would like to be able to download update files in the cybercafe, save them to my flash drive, then take them home and install them on my home computer that has no net connection. Can you do this with Linux distros? Or would I have to drag my laptop to the cybercafe and connect it to their network in order to update? (I don't like to do that, I like to leave it at home)