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Why is there no easy way to install offline? Others have asked and gotten a round-about way to accomplish it from other users. However, the people responsible for ROS should be the ones addressing this gap in openness. Some projects are standalone and specifically isolated so that a controlled software environment can be created. An internet connection compromises that goal.
There is no easy offline install because up to this point, nobody has needed it enough to do it themselves. Thus is the nature of open source projects. That said, there actually is an offline install method designed for the turtlebots using a ISO that enables installing an entire ROS system from a flash drive. A google search for turtlebot iso will turn this up. You can also download debs for later installation with aptitude download.
ROS is not yet at the universal adoption phase, which unfortunately means that we do not yet have ROS CDs available in every KMart checkout aisle (much like the infamous AOL CDs we all once used to build cheap robots). This does have the upside of meaning that ROS is quite far away from being bought by Time Warner, and likely run into the ground.
Hello!
Since ROS is distributed primarily in repositories (ie users get it through aptitude), I believe the intention is that you would use traditional repository tools to install offline.
If you have installed ROS on a Ubuntu machine (and likely any *nix machine) then the .deb file for that repository is stored at /var/cache/apt/archives and you could use that .deb file to install on another machine offline.
Does this address your situation? If not, please let me know which part won't work for you.
-Tim
Asked: 2014-01-14 08:46:50 -0500
Seen: 572 times
Last updated: Jan 14 '14
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