Fedora core 3 and apt-get

[Matthew Page]

Here is the short version of what's up.  I have a work computer with a
fast internet connection running FC3.  I have a home computer with a
POKEY-slow internet connection running FC2.  I thought that it would
be great if I could copy the /var/cache/apt directory and the /etc/apt
directory to my home computer, I could run apt-get dist-upgrade and
Voila! my home computer would be upgraded to FC3.  Well...  it ALMOST
worked...  Problem is, when I run apt-get dist-upgrade, it says that
there are no update, no changes what-so-ever that it can make.

So, my question is this...  Is there a way to get apt to 'forget' what
it thinks is installed on the system and check the versions of
everything again?  That way, I can install all of the new stuff.     
Is there a better way to do what I'm looking to do?

Thanks for the time!

 - Matt

ps - I know that this is slightly off topic since it's something of an
apt question rather than a pure Fedora question.  I hope you will help
out anyway...