Is it possible to Download Ubuntu updates via a windows computer?? Actually I have a dial-up connection and I am using Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Alpha 3) and I want to upgrade to Beta 2. It takes ages to download that amount of data, but a friend of mine has a broadband connection. So can I use his computer to download updates for my distribution ??
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possible duplicate of How can I install software offline? – Lekensteyn Apr 17 '11 at 10:31
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The program does not have to work on Windows, you can use an Ubuntu LiveCD. – Lekensteyn Apr 17 '11 at 10:32
3 Answers
For keeping your Ubuntu up-to-date, you need to look at its current package versions and identify the ones that need to be updated -- then, get that list of packages to be downloaded for the update.
Once you have the list of packages (and their version numbers) for the download, the actual download can be done from any place which has an Internet link and can do simple downloads.
Take the Synaptic example, You can do the regular 'reload', 'mark all update' sequence and then instead of 'applying' the updates -- which will cause the download to start, you could 'Generate Package Download Script'.
This is a simple shell script which will 'get' the individual 'deb' files required for your update. This can be run from a 'Cygwin' terminal or with some tweaks from any other download manager too (just look at the download script once and you'll know).
This Ubuntu page on Synaptic Package Download Script will give you the juice on Downloading in Windows.

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Keryx is a free and open source tool for easily managing packages on offline Debian based computers including support for Ubuntu and Linux Mint. It provides an easy graphical interface to help install and upgrade software.

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Maybe if you can install Cygwin on the Windows PC you could chroot into your Ubuntu machine and run the update tools from there.

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This wont work. Cygwin will not allow you to get into your linux system to run the update program, its not built to do that. – Thomas Ward Apr 17 '11 at 14:13
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