keep up-to-date

hi Guys,

i am not sure aobut alice is what i am looking for, but hopefully yes :)

my problem is the following:
i have a linux host i386 7.2, and basically all my pkgs are out-of-date. cannot build latest stuff. no apache2, etc. so first of all i would like to somehow upgrade it. it's difficult due to the box i so far away from me and has access only via ssh. so i cannot boot in or start up gui apps. can i do it somehow?

after i'd like to keep up-to-date (at least security updates) like apt-get in debian or winxppro does. is this for alice? 

thanks for any ideas

best,
Zol