[ubuntu-uk] repo in a box

[Jim Kissel]

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
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