Installing softwares in Ubuntu without an Internet connection

I am a new Linux user, for only about 3/4 months I am using Ubuntu. I think the biggest problem a new Ubuntu user faces is the problem of installing softwares (especially if s/he has no or a very slow internet connection). Ubuntu comes with a very good suite of necessary softwares, but it is obvious that we will need to install some others according to our personal needs.

I have a very slow Internet connection at my home with limited bandwidths to use. But I know some places where I can have good download speed and can download even big files and bring them home with a flash drive and install them in my home computer (this is exactly what I do for using windows). I googled a lot for installing R on Ubuntu without an Internet connection (that means in an offline machine), but it seemed that I am the only R user in the whole world who does not have a good Internet connection!

At last after a lot of trial and error and frustration I found a software named “Keryx” with which I could do exactly what I was trying; and now I am very eager to share my experience; here is the procedure for installing softwares on Ubuntu without an Internet connection (with the help of Keryx).

Step 1: Download “Keryx” from http://keryxproject.org and extract it in your pen drive.

Step 2: Open your Ubuntu machine, go keryx/linux in your pen drive and double click on “keryx” icon. A window like the main image of the article will appear. Give a name for your project, let’s it is “mine”. It is better to create different projects for different softwares, but a single project won’t work bad. Now click on “New Project”. Keryx will offer you to download the latest package list, click on No (we are now on an offline machine). For ease of understanding I have added the following screen shot-

Now keryx will take record about your system (all the softwares installed in Ubuntu and their versions).

Step 3: Bring your pen drive to some where you may have a good download speed (It might be your University lab, cyber cafe or your friend’s home). Go keryx/win32 in your pen drive (If your current computer runs on Linux go keryx/linux), and double click on “keryx” icon. A window like before will appear and offer you to download the latest package list, click on Yes. If the download speed is good it won’t take long.

Step 4: After downloading the list you will be able to see all the available softwares in Ubuntu software center. You may search for particular software in the search field. For example if you want to install R, write “r-base” in the search field, you will find the “r-base” package, if you want to install additional packages just write R, scroll a little down and you will find a lot of add on packages of R. Now, right click on the software you want to download, click on “download”, a window will appear showing all the dependencies for your desired software and will ask for your confirmation to download all these packages. Click Yes. See the screen shot below (it was taken when I was attempting to download R's gregmisc package). In this way download all the required softwares.

Step 5: Bring your pen drive home. Open your Ubuntu machine, go keryx/projects/mine in your flash drive and copy the folder named “packages” to your home folder. Alternatively you can navigate to the directory. For this open the terminal and write-

cd /media/tanvir/keryx/projects/mine/packages

Write the name of your pen drive instead of tanvir.

If you have not changed your working directory and copied the folder in your home directory, open the terminal and write –

cd packages

Now write-

sudo dpkg -i –force-depends *.deb

You will be asked for your password. Write it but it wont be visible (not even the stars). Now hit enter(see the screen shot)-

The installation should begin and after only a few minutes (the time depends on the number of softwares you have downloaded and their size) you will get a computer equipped with all your required softwares.

You can also install the downloaded softwares from keryx’s drop down menu, simply click on “Project” of keryx menu then click on “Install Packages”, a new window will appear and you can select the softwares you want to install, after selecting just click on “Continue”. But I don’t prefer it because I have faced some problems in this procedure.

Step 6: After installation procedure is finished don’t forget to update keryx about your system, so that next time keryx will avoid downloading any dependencies that have already been installed. For this click on “Project” of keryx drop down menu and click on “Update Status”, you will be asked for confirmation click on Yes, wait for a while, keryx will update itself about the system.

You can also update your Ubuntu operating system using Keryx. For this just click on “Get Updates” on Keryx menu. Keryx will download all available updates for your already installed softwares, which you can install following the same procedure.

Sharing softwares with friends is also possible now; just give your friend the packages folder (s/he must have the same Ubuntu version as yours). S/he has to copy the folder to his/her home folder and the commands are the same.

Hope these will work fine.
Enjoy open source.