On Mon 08 Oct 2018 at 06:35:19 (-0500), Richard Owlett wrote: > On 10/07/2018 08:25 PM, David Wright wrote: > > On Sun 07 Oct 2018 at 09:01:43 (-0500), Richard Owlett wrote: > > > On 10/07/2018 08:45 AM, Dan Purgert wrote: > > > > Richard Owlett wrote: > > > > > [...] > > > > > Is it possible to use the cached data on another machine? > > > > > What should I be reading? > > > > > TIA > > > > > > > > I think so, but it may be more manual than you'd otherwise do. > > > > > > NOT a problem. > > > I've lots of time. Data cap is the constraint. My routine since > > > Squeeze had been install from complete DVD sets - was on 56k dial-up > > > at the time and the habit stuck. > > > > > > > > > > > Perhaps you should look into apt-cache-ng (IIRC) or squid to facilitate > > > > automatic caching. > > > > > > That would handle future problems. I'll read up on them to see if it > > > gives hints for current situation. > > > > To use apt-cache-ng, you need a running system accessible over the > > network that you're installing through. > > > > I was under the impression that your networking consisted of > > point-to-point links via machines' USB ports. > > That effort is on hold [almost abandoned]. It's goal was primarily > educational not something for routine use.
Fair enough. You still don't say whether you're running a conventional LAN nowadays. > > Can you simultaneously > > connect the machine being installed to both the internet and the > > system running apt-cache-ng (and using http:)? > > I haven't yet read the documentation for apt-cache-ng and don't know > if it would match my mental image. You might think of a triangle with router and two computers at the vertices. Each device needs an internet connection to the others simultaneously during installation for apt-cache-ng to work. (Typically the two computers will communicate through the router rather than directly, but you don't have to think about that because routers just know how to do it.) > I was assuming that that all the > packages that I downloaded/upgraded were still in a cache which could > be transferred to the target machine via a flash drive. The machines > are adjacent. Yes, that's the simpler method that I outlined in my first post. That's the one that mentions /target, which is a fact that needs to be discovered and isn't well documented, hence my post. (Most people installing Debian will never need to be made aware of the existence of /target.) > My current priority is verifying my Buster system is > properly setup. That may well be, but the sooner you deploy some method of reusing packages, the more you avoid exceeding your cap. That's why the simplest method may be the best to start with. I'd been using it (originally with Iomega Zip and Jaz drives) a decade before I had any sort of Internet service at home, and before apt-cache-ng was released (3 months later). Cheers, David.
