Ubuntu 9.10 is too old. You need 10.04LTS or 11.04 ... VLC comes in the repos, borrow an internet connection... many internet cafes will let you do this; yes, even with desktop computers.
You can get debs off the
VLC project site.
... arrgh: it says "use synaptic"! OK you can browse to the repository url, and download the deb files from there. There is a full
linux package here.