Apt-get on standalone system

[CptKrf]

This is probably more of a Debian question than Knoppix, but here goes.

Just installed Knoppix on an AMD64 a few days ago. Runs great.

Am converting from RH-9 to Knoppix, mainly because of whacko problems with RH libraries and functions when I try to download and compiile even something simple. I am totally tired of RPMs that need dependencies that need dependencies that need.... and so on. Apt-get reads good, at least.

I am on the wrong end of a 26k barbed wire and tin can phone line so apt-getting on the 'Net is totally impractical. However, I am told that you can download debs on another machine then install from CD. At the moment I am just trying to learn to install from the 7 cds that came with the Debian distro.

All of the books and tutorials automatically assume that you have a good internet connection and say almost nothing about apt-getting with only CDs.

I guess my main question is - how do you point apt-get to the cd roms? I have done an apt-cdrom add and it worked. The index is in /etc/apt/. But when I try to install even a very small program, it automatically tries to connect to the FTP servers and of course, fails. I can't find anything in the manuals, or the Kpackage manager that allow me to tell it to assume a CD source install. It must be there - I just don't see it.

If I have overlooked a very simple man page or tutorial, go ahead and yell and I will gladly track it down. I have a feeling that I am seeing the trees but not the forest and I am making this too hard.

Thanks all
CptKrf

[Dave_Bechtel]

--Howdy, Cap. I feel yer pain. I went from DSL (165KB/sec) back to 56K dialup (3.0KB - 4.5KB/sec) and man, it is teh sux0r.

--But bro, your best bet might be to start ' apt-get update ' late at night, say around 9pm, and check to see if it finished around 10 or 10:15pm. Then let ' apt-get upgrade ' run overnight, and check it about 6-8am. From there you can keep an eye on it, if it asks questions. Make sure you have an idle-seconds timeout setup on the modem, so it hangs up after idling for a while.

--I'm just being realistic here. CD-based debian is by definition out-of-date, and there are regular security updates and bugfixes. You can get around much of the download pain by only doing upgrades once a week, and backing up the day before in case Something goes wrong. This is pretty much the way I've settled into doing things.

--BTW - For dialup, life for me is at least a little easier due to keeping my Squid server. If you're interested in what this can do for speeding up your dialup connection, (and DSL as well) lemme know.

http://www.squid-cache.org/

This is probably more of a Debian question than Knoppix, but here goes.

Just installed Knoppix on an AMD64 a few days ago. Runs great.

Am converting from RH-9 to Knoppix, mainly because of whacko problems with RH libraries and functions when I try to download and compiile even something simple. I am totally tired of RPMs that need dependencies that need dependencies that need.... and so on. Apt-get reads good, at least.

I am on the wrong end of a 26k barbed wire and tin can phone line so apt-getting on the 'Net is totally impractical. However, I am told that you can download debs on another machine then install from CD. At the moment I am just trying to learn to install from the 7 cds that came with the Debian distro.

All of the books and tutorials automatically assume that you have a good internet connection and say almost nothing about apt-getting with only CDs.

I guess my main question is - how do you point apt-get to the cd roms? I have done an apt-cdrom add and it worked. The index is in /etc/apt/. But when I try to install even a very small program, it automatically tries to connect to the FTP servers and of course, fails. I can't find anything in the manuals, or the Kpackage manager that allow me to tell it to assume a CD source install. It must be there - I just don't see it.

If I have overlooked a very simple man page or tutorial, go ahead and yell and I will gladly track it down. I have a feeling that I am seeing the trees but not the forest and I am making this too hard.

Thanks all
CptKrf

[oldgeezer]

In Europe, start around 5am before the Americans wake up!
OG.

[ykhov]

I'm no expert on this since I just started using debian (knoppix hd install) last week.

It might be due to the fact that your 7 debian cds are the "stable" release and some of the stuff on knoppix 3.3 is the "testing" release.

Try commenting out all links to ftp site in your /etc/apt/apt.conf file and change your all instances of "testing" to "stable".