What's the deal with having and O/S & software on a USB drive? I'm thinking about it for usage at work since we have to run the same computers in 2-3 schools at once and porting a student's work from one to the other is a pain. Plus I like the idea of turning up for a gig with a memory stick and just using someone else's PC for music or visuals, but knowing all the resources are with me...
Well, there are lots of issues here. First of all, it's only Linux that really works off a USB stick. You can get a bastardised version of Windows called BartPE that I've heard will boot off USB, but this is generally for a Rescue CD or similar. I've no idea how well it would work for your use.
If all the machines are the same, that's easier. Otherwise you have to do what I'm just doing now, which is turning the installed version of linux into one that mimics a LiveCD version and detects hardware on bootup. (The reason I don't just use a LiveCD version is that I will want to do all sorts with it, and the whole point of going for a particular version of the OS is so that instructions and tips that people give out on the net will still be applicable to me)..
When I've got it working it should be a fairly simple step to put full instructions somewhere. I think it's not actually going to be that complicated. Let me know if I can help further; I'd be quite interested in getting involved :)
Cheers fir that - yes, it's XP, but al 12 machines are identical. At present we have one image that we drop on the machine when we begin at any school, and back up the students' work (which we've configured all the software to default save into the same place) at the end of the week.
It's an issue for us, since we do 2 schools in 6 weeks, alternating schools, which has caused some problems...
My techie and i foresaw this idea, though, where each student would have their own 'environment' on a USB stick, so they'd do their work on any physical computer they liked, ie, if we have 10 students, but only 6 in at any time, we need only set up 6 workstations and it doesn't matter which ones as they bring the work with them.
This would also mean if they had to do processor-intensive tasks (eg rendering video), we could havbe one super-fact quad-core PC they could move to just for this task then return to their workstations.
nice TV :) Good choice of the 42 rather than the 37. I bought a 38 Panasonic plasma a couple of years ago, it's looking a little small now :( Still, you makes your choices, etc...
About the voyager usb key - they are verrry sexy; the 8gb is enough for a nice OS (I use backtrack: take from that what you will...) and the rest is handy for drivers, service packs and StuffYouDontWantOthersToSee. bought one for TheBoss and he's putting XP and office on it, even then, at 8gb, there is room to play.
Two things to watch out for, the USB connector is held to the rest of the device on the solder alone - the rubber outer provides very little protection; be careful it bends and snaps quite easily. Also, the rubber lid becomes quite loose when warm - I've lost two of them already!
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Love the tag oopsies :D
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What's the deal with having and O/S & software on a USB drive? I'm thinking about it for usage at work since we have to run the same computers in 2-3 schools at once and porting a student's work from one to the other is a pain. Plus I like the idea of turning up for a gig with a memory stick and just using someone else's PC for music or visuals, but knowing all the resources are with me...
Sorry, thinking out loud here. :D
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If all the machines are the same, that's easier. Otherwise you have to do what I'm just doing now, which is turning the installed version of linux into one that mimics a LiveCD version and detects hardware on bootup. (The reason I don't just use a LiveCD version is that I will want to do all sorts with it, and the whole point of going for a particular version of the OS is so that instructions and tips that people give out on the net will still be applicable to me)..
When I've got it working it should be a fairly simple step to put full instructions somewhere. I think it's not actually going to be that complicated. Let me know if I can help further; I'd be quite interested in getting involved :)
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It's an issue for us, since we do 2 schools in 6 weeks, alternating schools, which has caused some problems...
My techie and i foresaw this idea, though, where each student would have their own 'environment' on a USB stick, so they'd do their work on any physical computer they liked, ie, if we have 10 students, but only 6 in at any time, we need only set up 6 workstations and it doesn't matter which ones as they bring the work with them.
This would also mean if they had to do processor-intensive tasks (eg rendering video), we could havbe one super-fact quad-core PC they could move to just for this task then return to their workstations.
Does that make any sense?
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'course, if you're worried about them losing the device with all their work on you'll need to arrange for some sort of backup too.
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Projector's still there. This was supposed to be a day-to-day telly. Ah well ;)
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But ooooooooooh SHINY
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Good choice of the 42 rather than the 37. I bought a 38 Panasonic plasma a couple of years ago, it's looking a little small now :( Still, you makes your choices, etc...
About the voyager usb key - they are verrry sexy; the 8gb is enough for a nice OS (I use backtrack: take from that what you will...) and the rest is handy for drivers, service packs and StuffYouDontWantOthersToSee. bought one for TheBoss and he's putting XP and office on it, even then, at 8gb, there is room to play.
Two things to watch out for, the USB connector is held to the rest of the device on the solder alone - the rubber outer provides very little protection; be careful it bends and snaps quite easily. Also, the rubber lid becomes quite loose when warm - I've lost two of them already!
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