begging for help

[Peter Hoffmann]

Peter Damoc wrote:
> I know there are a lot of issues that need to be addressed by the Ubuntu 
> developers, I know that there are more important things  to work on but 
> still I have a problem and if I express it maybe some kind soul with a 
> little bit more knowledge and a little bit more free time than me could 
> help me.
> 
> The situation is like this:
> I have installed Warty on my brother's PC but I might have been a little 
> too foolhardy to leave him without Windows.
> He is 8 and at that age games are a little more important than GNU.
> Now what can I do? I want to install games on his machine BUT that 
> machine does not have an internet connection.
> I know that there are Games orientated distros out there but I still 
> want to use Ubuntu.
> There are a lot of nice games that are in the Ubuntu universe 
> repositories but without an internet connection how can I access them? 
> download packages and hope the requirements are met?
> A simpler solution, at least in my view, would be some kind of "bonus 
> pack".
> In theory I could download this "bonus pack" and burn it on a CD or put 
> it on my USB thumb and subsequently install it on my brother's PC.
> 
> someone with enough knowledge could create a script that would take in 
> account what packages are available on the Warty CD and what other 
> packages need to be included in the "bonus pack" so that it could be 
> installed. If this script is done right maybe it could create "bonus 
> packs" for Hoary, Grumpy, Perky, etc.
> 
> One more thing... my bro's PC does not have a 3D capable card as it is 
> an old computer so maybe that could be taken into account when creating 
> these "bonus packs".
> 
> I don't mind RTFM... so if someone with more knowledge and less time 
> could help me create those "bonus packs" I would be more than happy, 
> just point me to the relevant parts that I need to read! I have some 
> python knowledge... who knows, maybe I might have enough knowledge to 
> pull this of... with some help of course :)
> 
> Thanks in advance for any kind of input on this matter.
> 

Hello Peter,

maybe apt-zip (from universe) can help you. It does not generate a 
bonus-cd, but it helps to fetch the wanted programms from a comupter 
with better internet connectivity:

ph at star:~ $ apt-cache show apt-zip
...
Description: Update a non-networked computer using apt and removable media
  These scripts simplify the process of using dselect and apt on a
  non-networked Debian box, using removable media like ZIP floppies.
  One generates a `fetch' script (supporting backends such as wget and
  lftp, in a modular, extensible way) to be run on a host with better
  connectivity, check space constraints of your removable media, and
  then install the package on your Debian box.



-- 
Peter Hoffmann <ph at peter-hoffmann.com>