Alan Pope wrote: > On Mon, Jun 04, 2007 at 08:49:08AM +0000, liam jackson wrote: >> Hi >> I have asked several people this question, but do not get any replies, >> I have just installed ubuntu onto my pc at home, but as I am not on line i >> have to use a library pc for any downloading at present, (i on the sick and >> cannot afford it at present). i want to install a different media player, >> but just can't seem to do it, >> 1st, do i have to be online to load programes? > > Further to this.. > > I have often thought that someone should provide a service where you can > "rent a repo" on a USB hard disk. You would pay a company a deposit for the > disk and then subscription, and for that money you get sent a USB disk > containing the entire Ubuntu repository for the release you are on (or the > next one up you want to upgrade to). At any time you could send it back and > get it updated and returned (24/48 hour turnaround would be appropriate). > > This would work well also for people on dialup or people in outlying areas. > It would also be good for people with many machines which need updating - > such as a school - but limited bandwidth. > > For the technically minded this could be easily implemented with the use of > apt-mirror to mirror the repo(s), and rsync to update the USB hard disks. > The entire repo for one release is about 30GiB at the moment, which easily > fits on a cheap small USB hard disk (retail currently around 35GBP. Using > laptop sized ones there is no need for a power supply (although if a machine > has issues with power the user can supply one themselves), and the postage > would be relatively cheap. > > The main issues I see with this are:- > > 1) Licensing - would it be 100% legal to redistribute the entire (main, > restricted, multiverse, universe) repository? > 2) Cost - it would need to be less than the cost of capped broadband - > although for those people with no opportunity to get broadband this might > not be a problem :) > 3) Drive failure - disks being sent back and forth in the post might lead to > a shorter lifespan? > 4) Trust: Would a customer trust that the disk really does contain the repo > and not some nasty spyware etc. > > Maybe a system with different levels. > > Bronze: You get one repo on the disk and can send the disk back once a > month. > Silver: You get two repos (e.g. Feisty and Gutsy) and can send the disk back > twice a month. > Gold: You get three repos (e.g. Dapper, Feisty and Gutsy) and can send the > disk back four times a month. > Platinum: You get all the repos for all versions of Ubuntu released so far > (Warty through Gutsy) and can send the disk back as many times as you like. > > All disks would also contain the ISO images which match the version of > Ubuntu being mirrored, and would clearly contain all packages for > Ubuntu/Kubuntu/Xubuntu, server etc. > > Of course for platinum I realise that some versions are no longer supported, > but if people have machines that have been installed from Warty and want to > upgrade rather than re-install this provides an option to them. > > It should be possible to upgrade/downgrade at (for example) three times a > year between bronze/silver/gold/platinum. > > Yet another hare-brained popey idea.
I like it Al! Let's do it. JV? > > Comments welcome :) > > Cheers, > Al. > > > -- Simple effective migration to Open Source based computing Jim Kissel Open Source Migrations Limited w: http://www.osml.eu e: [EMAIL PROTECTED] p: +44(0) 8703 301044 m: +44(0) 7976 411 679 -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.kubuntu.org/UKTeam/
