Install Kubuntu on an System without Internet connection

[meinhaven]

hey all,

I want to install Kubuntu on a machine, which doesn't have a Internet connection (and no other system with internet in reach). So I need an Install dvd, which contains the tools and programms i need to install on the machine. The system isn't needed for any wild stuff, just the normal desktop stuff; maybe once in a while it will be used for viewing a movie.

Is the Kubunt install dvd suitable for this kind of of usage?

thanks in advance

[Feathers McGraw]

Welcome

Is it possible to install Kubuntu without an internet connection? Yes.

You mentioned watching a movie... this is where you may have issues. Will this system be able to play DVDs out of the box? Probably not, in my experience.

Usually you need a couple of extras like the package libdvdcss2, because most commercial DVDs are encrypted (see here for the Ubuntu help page for DVDs).

libdvdcss2 may or may not be legal in your area (see here) so it's not installed by default.

Normally, you would just connect to the Ubuntu repos and install it over the internet, but that doesn't sound like an option for you.

Similarly, certain video files require codecs that you would normally install from the repos and may not be included in the installation DVD (I'd have to check).

You still have a couple of options though. You clearly have an internet connection somewhere, as you have posted on the forum. You may be able to download those few extra packages onto a USB stick from the computer with internet access, and then install them on your machine later. Or are you using a mobile to connect to the internet? If this is the case we'll work out a way.

Feathers

[Feathers McGraw]

Some more info about libdvdcss2: as the Ubuntu man page says, it's included in the package libdvdread4, which is a universe package. Here's an explanation of the different sections in the repos:

The repository components are:

Main - Officially supported software.

Restricted - Supported software that is not available under a completely free license.

Universe - Community maintained software, i.e. not officially supported software.

Multiverse - Software that is not free.

Ubuntu installation CDs contain software in the Main and Restricted sections (i.e. libdvdread4 is not included in the installation CD).

If you want to check which section a package is in, go here: http://packages.ubuntu.com/

An example search result for the package libdvdread4 in *buntu 13.04:

http://packages.ubuntu.com/search?ke...ng&section=all

Hope that helps,

Feathers

[oshunluvr]

If you have a portable hard drive or large enough thumb drive you could mirror all the entire repos and install from that what is needed.

[Feathers McGraw]

If you have a portable hard drive or large enough thumb drive you could mirror all the entire repos and install from that what is needed.

Interesting, I found an old thread on UbuntuForums (from 2008) about this, which says the entire repo is about 50GB for each release, wonder if the size has increased much since then.

apt-mirror sounds like a useful tool:
http://apt-mirror.github.io/

Feathers

[meinhaven]

old thread ... says the entire repo is about 50GB for each release, wonder if the size has increased much since then.

apt-mirror sounds like a useful tool:
http://apt-mirror.github.io/

Thank you for you're answers! For a short moment i thought that it would be possible to use apt-mirror for my problem. but than I realised that you need a server to run this. When I searched for other prossibilities to use apt offline, i found https://wiki.debian.org/AptMedium. But i don't understand how i could brindd apt mirror and apt mdeium together.

Btw in this (german) tutorial they say, that the whole ubuntu repo for each plattform is about 60 gb. http://wiki.ubuntuusers.de/apt-mirror

[meinhaven]

old thread ... says the entire repo is about 50GB for each release, wonder if the size has increased much since then.

apt-mirror sounds like a useful tool:
http://apt-mirror.github.io/

Thank you for you're answers! For a short moment i thought that it would be possible to use apt-mirror for my problem. but than I realised that you need a server to run this. When I searched for other prossibilities to use apt offline, i found https://wiki.debian.org/AptMedium. But i don't understand how i could bring apt mirror and apt medium together.

Btw in this (german) tutorial they say, that the whole ubuntu repo for each plattform is about 60 gb. http://wiki.ubuntuusers.de/apt-mirror

[67GTA]

You might consider something like the Linux Mint DVD version, or PCLinuxOS because they come with the restricted extras out of the box.

[Feathers McGraw]

You might consider something like the Linux Mint DVD version, or PCLinuxOS because they come with the restricted extras out of the box.

Good call, Linux Mint KDE is pretty similar to Kubuntu on the UI side of things.

[vinnywright]

you could do somthing like,,,,,,,,,,, install the system you are going to install on the computer that dose not have net, in a spare partition or external drive .

install the extra stuff you need ......copy the .deb packages out of /var/cache/apt/archives/ to a USB or some thing ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,go install the system on the box in question ,,,,,,,after it's installed and your booted into it, copy all the .deb's on the USB to a folder in the new /home/whoever , open a terminal in this folder and run

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

the /var/cache/apt/archives/ is where all the packages you install are kept untill you run

sudo apt-get clean

so do not run that untill you copy them out

VINNY

EDIT:O and their is this as well http://www.linux.com/learn/tutorials...buntu-with-uck