USB boot drive as local package repository/archive???

[elludium_q-36]

I have set up Kubuntu 10.04.3 on an external hard drive that I boot on computers attached to the internet.

I have a computer at home that I'd like to upgrade from 8.04 to 10.04 but keep updated by copying from the USB drive.

I set Synaptic Package Manager to "leave all downloaded packages in the cache". So I'm wondering if I can make the local USB HDD a repo and have packages install and update, satisfying all dependencies.

Thanks for any helpful input. 8)

[OneLine]

Re: USB boot drive as local package repository/archive

HOWTO find Kubuntu's manual / reference / guide / documentation / help : http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3104843.0

Ubuntu Community Documents: https://help.ubuntu.com/community
--> Personal / Local repository: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Repositories/Personal

Kubuntu Forums - Making Local Repository: http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3087550.0

[elludium_q-36]

Re: USB boot drive as local package repository/archive

Imagine going to a library and asking help finding a particular book but the librarian says, "If we have it, it's on a shelf".

[dibl]

Re: USB boot drive as local package repository/archive

Rog131 went to a LOT of effort to write that guidance (last link that OneLine gave you) -- it seems to address your request exactly.

[Snowhog]

Re: USB boot drive as local package repository/archive

...but the librarian says, "If we have it, it's on a shelf".

First, the 'librarian' didn't say "If we have it,", he cited the specific references (so, we do have it). Second, the 'librarian' didn't say "it's on a shelf", he pointed you directly to where they are.

We ask all members to "Search before asking". The references OneLine provided you with could have been found if you had searched.

[oshunluvr]

Re: USB boot drive as local package repository/archive

Imagine if everyone who went to the library asked the librarian to re-write every requested book by hand...

[elludium_q-36]

Re: USB boot drive as local package repository/archive

Touché! http://thefreedictionary.com/touche

Try to understand what it's like to only be able to get to an internet connected computer ONCE A WEEK for only an hour. How is this possible? Generally I only get into the public library once a week and the time limit is an hour. Furthermore they are ALL Windows machines.

I sometimes boot from my own USB Hard Drive but they can see if a computer is logged into their system and I'd hate to be booted out. Even so, I see people with STACKS of login cards and they stay for hours, watching youtube, music videos, and playing flash games while staying glued to the latest update of their social network sites.

I've no local friends to visit and get online. If I did, they'd probably have a Windows box, so I'd have to cart my desktop there. I found ONE WiFi network and it's locked. Even if I could afford to buy long range WiFi gear, I would need a tower to clear the tree line for Line Of Sight or Near Line Of Sight.

Forget a tower, my rural building owner even refuses to bury a phone line or Cable T.V./internet connection and I haven't had reliable signal in any wireless internet I've tried [Verizon, Virgin Mobile, Sprint...] Occasionally I get iDEN signal on an old Boost Mobile phone but it never reaches the theoretical 14.4K speed, aside from the odd spike on Kppp's graph.

About Kppp, IF the phone has signal it might login, 'till I get a message about KPPP or pppd dying due to modem hangup or a loopback on the serial line (it IS a USB connection). I used to have to reboot every time KPPP died, losing all I had open in any browser. Any time the phone gets too hot or cold outside, it powers down, killing KPPP. Fetching Synaptic Package Manager and it's dependencies took hours. Once I downloaded a Kubuntu version upgrade of about a Gig and it took about a WEEK and it happened to get good signal with few hangups. Generally though, KPPP's graph is flat-lined.

That being said, many forums are filled with "helpful" or obnoxious trolls. Perhaps I've been jaded.

From: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=jaded

jaded

The end result of having a steady flow of negative experiences, disappointment, and unfulfillment fed into a person where they get to the point where their anger circuits just sort of burn out and they accept disillusionment.

It's not that I'm too ignorant, lazy or unwilling to search, it's that I'm generally UNABLE to do so.

I do know that the on-board help files could be supplemented and I had already looked at help.ubuntu.com regarding personal repositories. Either I didn't understand the way things were written by an ESL (English as a Second Language) person or it didn't work in my particular instance. It seemed I was being told to go and read the help files but apparently I overlooked this: http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3087550.0 , which looks promising. I've saved the page to disk and will read it at home. Thanks to OneLine and all.

Unfortunately I would have to adapt to another problem. While I intended to add packages to my portable 10.04 normally and then use /media/sdb1/var/cache/apt/archives/ as a repository for my locally installed internal HDD, that may not happen now. My system refuses to run 10.04.3, even when installed locally on an internal Hard Disk Drive with a Primary partition (seems logical partitions can be problematic). http://www.kubuntuforums.net/forums/...5207#msg285207

While I MAY be able to diagnose the bios/hardware problem, I'll probably have to revert to 8.04 on my portable drive as 8.04 doesn't speak ext4. That's the case, unless there's some sort of "Rube Goldberg" method of getting my portable HDD's 10.04 to automatically download needed 8.04 packages to it's /windows partition and make that a repo in my desktop's 8.04. Of course it would all be much simpler with with something like Keryx. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rube_Goldberg_machine

About Keryx: http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/index.php?topic=3119620

Thank you. Please don't deem me grateful, though a tad bit jaded.

Case in point, while trying to lookup a definition for "jaded" I got redirected or clickjacked from here: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jaded to here: http://cdn.optmd.com/V2/62428/114223...ctionary/jaded , which is an ad for Netflix... Yeah, sure. Why not? I'll just buy the streaming package while I have slow, or really no internet at home.

Thanks again.
"Elludium_Q-36"

[SteveRiley]

Re: USB boot drive as local package repository/archive

So...why not move? Sounds like the Internet is an important element of your life but you're stuck someplace where the calendar still shows 1882. Real cities have plenty of bandwidth to spare