Tried the opie image again.
Copied all the packages (well most) to my CF card, when I found one that worked, including the Package files etc.
Added lines to ipkg.conf of the type
src src_name /directory/of/packages
tried to update package lists.
Would not work, tried to wget the files.
Tried to local install with:
ipkg install -d root packagename.ipk
Told me it could not find the package.
What am I doing wrong. The simpad does not have a net connection. I just want to play scummvm on it.