xeniac: Yeah, i share your concerns about this kind of "community" and as a Linux user for more then 10 Years i'm very sorry that this will hold you back to try something different.
But i can't figure it out why Linux should be harder to use "offline" then MacOS X, or Windows XP and upwards.
I know, most Linux distributions come with one CD for the basic installation and download everything from the internet afterwards.
Windows also comes only with the basic operating system and the internet explorer on the DVD. Afterwards they urge you to download the Live-Package to get an E-Mail App, you have to download an PDF Viewer, and so on. (On most PCs this stuff came preinstalled by the manufacturer)
AFAIK MacOS comes with much more useful applications out of the box, but urges you to sign in with an AppleID to purchase and download more software.
At least Debian offers full CD/DVD Image-sets, so you can install Apps and Games without an internet connection.
So in my opinion Linux is here as much offline friendly as their competition.
Last but not least it's more online friendly then Windows. Every Linux distribution has an package manager that handles software updates in
one place. Compare this to "Windows Update" + Firefox Updater + Adobe Updater + Oracle/Sun Java Updater + many other update services for many other software (Steam, gog galaxy, AMD Driver)
The only thing that comes to my mind, why you would need more online access in linux then on an Mac, or under windows is knowledge and help. Even the user-friendly Ubuntu will need some tinkering and advanced knowledge. So as a newcomer you will need access to a user-forum to meet the mentioned community you are afraid of.
I should've been more specific but thanks for your input. The things I needed Linux to do required me to not only learn terminal but also be able to write a bash script for terminal in order to make it do what I wanted it to do.
What I wanted to be able to do was simple download programs. (That's download not install) and take them with me. There's a few ways to do this, but all of them require an understanding of both Terminal, Aptitude Package Manager and the Linux file structure for it to work.
I’ll show you what I mean.
In LINUX
Method 1. From a live usb install all updates and programs you want, then copy all of the .debs from /var/cache/apt/archives and install them with dpkg -*.deb (do this twice to make sure they go in properly.)
Method 2.
For offline updates
From terminal use “sudo apt-get update” then use either “sudo apt-get –download-only upgrade” or “sudo apt-get –download-only dist-upgrade”
Then sudo move the .debs into a folder and use dpkg to install them.
For programs use either aptitude search “program” or apt-cache search “program” to find what you need and then use sudo apt-get -d install “program”
Create a folder for the program and then sudo move all .debs from /var/cache/apt/archives into said folder and use dpkg to install it.
In WINDOWS
Double click .exe DONE
Online friendly, sure offline friendly, not so much.
This is why I don’t like using Linux and when I try to explain this to other Linux users I usually get an attitude.
Also keep in mind how difficult this is for a first time user. A first time user won’t even know what a package manager even is let alone things like debs, archives, apt-get, dpkg. All jargon to them.