gnhlug-discuss Digest, Vol 92, Issue 7

Thu May 22 14:53:35 EDT 2014

It seems it is possible to install a portable virtual box on a USB drive.
That along with your favorite virtual distro would let your kids do what
they want - run linux - on their school computers.  You probably would be
best off configuring your virtualbox network to use NAT.

    http://www.maketecheasier.com/install-virtualbox-in-usb/

I have not done this myself, but might give it a go.    I have installed
knoppix on a usb drive and it works quite well.  But this would require
reboots and would not make printing etc so easy.    Knoppix will also run
within a virtual machine.

Another option would be to install virtual box or vmware player for windows
on the school machines of they can get that done.

David

On Thu, May 22, 2014 at 1:31 PM, <gnhlug-discuss-request at mail.gnhlug.org>wrote:

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> Today's Topics:
>
>    1. how dumb is this idea? (David Rysdam)
>    2. Re: how dumb is this idea? (David Hardy)
>    3. Re: how dumb is this idea? (David Rysdam)
>    4. Re: how dumb is this idea? (Brian St. Pierre)
>    5. Re: how dumb is this idea? (Patrick Flaherty)
>    6. Re: how dumb is this idea? (David Rysdam)
>    7. Re: how dumb is this idea? (David Rysdam)
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: David Rysdam <david at rysdam.org>
> To: gnhlug-discuss at mail.gnhlug.org
> Cc:
> Date: Thu, 22 May 2014 12:59:15 -0400
> Subject: how dumb is this idea?
> My kids and I are 100% Linux at home. (My wife has a Mac, which none of
> us touch unless we absolutely have to.) At school, it is unfortunately
> obvious the kids use Windows. Also, starting in middle school, the
> school expects every kid to carry a USB drive back and forth so they can
> work on projects.
>
> I've had some problems providing support for this, to put it mildly. For
> something like a paper, the solution is obvious: write in plain text and
> dump into Word at the last minute. (The solution is obvious, but no
> child of mine has listened to me yet. That's something I don't think
> GNHLUG can help me with.) But for something like PowerPoint, the
> solution isn't so obvious. They have to be able to edit it in both
> places, during in-class work periods and as homework.
>
> I don't know what the school expects people to do if they can't afford
> Office at home.
>
> However, I just had an idea. You can get 128GB USB drives on ebay for
> ~$20 now. Why not install an emulator-based (as opposed to bootable)
> "live CD" image on there that they can then mount the rest of the USB
> drive with and edit their work in Linux *even at school*?
>
> They probably won't be able to get on the network with it, which is fine
> since the host Windows OS could handle that.
>
> Transferring documents (for printing, say) may be a problem, although I
> assume the live CD images somehow manage it. Oh wait, to reap the
> benefit you'd have to print *from Linux* which probably won't work even
> if you had the right printer driver set up. Well, print at home, I
> guess.
>
> I don't think security would be a problem unless there's now some way to
> prevent someone from starting an app off their USB drive.
>
> The only real issue I can think of horsepower: Does the school hardware
> have the oomph to support this hack? I'll have to ask my kids what the
> school has.
>
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: David Hardy <belovedbold357 at gmail.com>
> To: David Rysdam <david at rysdam.org>
> Cc: GNHLUG <gnhlug-discuss at mail.gnhlug.org>
> Date: Thu, 22 May 2014 13:13:01 -0400
> Subject: Re: how dumb is this idea?
> What comes to mind immediately, and this may not be workable for you in
> that situation;  why not a Tails USB stick with persistence enabled?
>  Internet would then also good.  But will the schools even allow any of
> this at all?
>
>
> On Thu, May 22, 2014 at 12:59 PM, David Rysdam <david at rysdam.org> wrote:
>
>> My kids and I are 100% Linux at home. (My wife has a Mac, which none of
>> us touch unless we absolutely have to.) At school, it is unfortunately
>> obvious the kids use Windows. Also, starting in middle school, the
>> school expects every kid to carry a USB drive back and forth so they can
>> work on projects.
>>
>> I've had some problems providing support for this, to put it mildly. For
>> something like a paper, the solution is obvious: write in plain text and
>> dump into Word at the last minute. (The solution is obvious, but no
>> child of mine has listened to me yet. That's something I don't think
>> GNHLUG can help me with.) But for something like PowerPoint, the
>> solution isn't so obvious. They have to be able to edit it in both
>> places, during in-class work periods and as homework.
>>
>> I don't know what the school expects people to do if they can't afford
>> Office at home.
>>
>> However, I just had an idea. You can get 128GB USB drives on ebay for
>> ~$20 now. Why not install an emulator-based (as opposed to bootable)
>> "live CD" image on there that they can then mount the rest of the USB
>> drive with and edit their work in Linux *even at school*?
>>
>> They probably won't be able to get on the network with it, which is fine
>> since the host Windows OS could handle that.
>>
>> Transferring documents (for printing, say) may be a problem, although I
>> assume the live CD images somehow manage it. Oh wait, to reap the
>> benefit you'd have to print *from Linux* which probably won't work even
>> if you had the right printer driver set up. Well, print at home, I
>> guess.
>>
>> I don't think security would be a problem unless there's now some way to
>> prevent someone from starting an app off their USB drive.
>>
>> The only real issue I can think of horsepower: Does the school hardware
>> have the oomph to support this hack? I'll have to ask my kids what the
>> school has.
>> _______________________________________________
>> gnhlug-discuss mailing list
>> gnhlug-discuss at mail.gnhlug.org
>> http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Sent from whatever machine I might be on right now.
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: David Rysdam <david at rysdam.org>
> To: Derek Atkins <derek at ihtfp.com>
> Cc: , gnhlug-discuss at mail.gnhlug.org
> Date: Thu, 22 May 2014 13:13:41 -0400
> Subject: Re: how dumb is this idea?
> Derek Atkins <derek at ihtfp.com> writes:
> > a) Linux supports FATfs, so just use the USB drives as-is..  They usually
> > come formatted in FAT.  This will work cross-platform.
> >
> > b) Why don't you use Open/LibreOffice at home?  That can export to Word,
> > Excel, or PowerPoint as necessary.
>
> Yes, this is the current situation I'm describing as a nightmare. Have
> you actually tried to use both LibreOffice and PowerPoint, back and
> forth, to edit the same document?
>
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: "Brian St. Pierre" <brian at bstpierre.org>
> To: David Rysdam <david at rysdam.org>
> Cc: GNHLUG mailing list <gnhlug-discuss at mail.gnhlug.org>
> Date: Thu, 22 May 2014 13:15:14 -0400
> Subject: Re: how dumb is this idea?
> On Thu, May 22, 2014 at 12:59 PM, David Rysdam <david at rysdam.org> wrote:
> > However, I just had an idea. You can get 128GB USB drives on ebay for
> > ~$20 now. Why not install an emulator-based (as opposed to bootable)
> > "live CD" image on there that they can then mount the rest of the USB
> > drive with and edit their work in Linux *even at school*?
>
> To me, it seems like a lot of effort when there are perhaps easier
> solutions -- maybe you've already considered these and they don't work
> for some reason or other?
>
> * if school provides network access during in-class work sessions,
> edit in google docs at both locations
> * if school's admin policies let you run an emulator executable off
> the USB, then you could put a windows version of Libreoffice on that
> USB drive and run LO in both places
> * you mention printing as a problem -- just generate pdf and print
> from windows at school?
>
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Patrick Flaherty <pflaherty at wsi.com>
> To: David Rysdam <david at rysdam.org>
> Cc: GNHLUG <gnhlug-discuss at mail.gnhlug.org>
> Date: Thu, 22 May 2014 13:16:45 -0400
> Subject: Re: how dumb is this idea?
> Have you played with portable apps (http://portableapps.com/)? Libre
> office works on windows and linux. Past that, maybe something hosted (like
> google docs, but maybe a bit more Free).
>
>
> On Thu, May 22, 2014 at 12:59 PM, David Rysdam <david at rysdam.org> wrote:
>
>> My kids and I are 100% Linux at home. (My wife has a Mac, which none of
>> us touch unless we absolutely have to.) At school, it is unfortunately
>> obvious the kids use Windows. Also, starting in middle school, the
>> school expects every kid to carry a USB drive back and forth so they can
>> work on projects.
>>
>> I've had some problems providing support for this, to put it mildly. For
>> something like a paper, the solution is obvious: write in plain text and
>> dump into Word at the last minute. (The solution is obvious, but no
>> child of mine has listened to me yet. That's something I don't think
>> GNHLUG can help me with.) But for something like PowerPoint, the
>> solution isn't so obvious. They have to be able to edit it in both
>> places, during in-class work periods and as homework.
>>
>> I don't know what the school expects people to do if they can't afford
>> Office at home.
>>
>> However, I just had an idea. You can get 128GB USB drives on ebay for
>> ~$20 now. Why not install an emulator-based (as opposed to bootable)
>> "live CD" image on there that they can then mount the rest of the USB
>> drive with and edit their work in Linux *even at school*?
>>
>> They probably won't be able to get on the network with it, which is fine
>> since the host Windows OS could handle that.
>>
>> Transferring documents (for printing, say) may be a problem, although I
>> assume the live CD images somehow manage it. Oh wait, to reap the
>> benefit you'd have to print *from Linux* which probably won't work even
>> if you had the right printer driver set up. Well, print at home, I
>> guess.
>>
>> I don't think security would be a problem unless there's now some way to
>> prevent someone from starting an app off their USB drive.
>>
>> The only real issue I can think of horsepower: Does the school hardware
>> have the oomph to support this hack? I'll have to ask my kids what the
>> school has.
>> _______________________________________________
>> gnhlug-discuss mailing list
>> gnhlug-discuss at mail.gnhlug.org
>> http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
>>
>
>
>
> --
> * Patrick **Flaherty  *|
> * w:* 978 983 6597      *e:* patrick.flaherty at weather.com
>
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: David Rysdam <david at rysdam.org>
> To: David Hardy <belovedbold357 at gmail.com>
> Cc: , GNHLUG <gnhlug-discuss at mail.gnhlug.org>
> Date: Thu, 22 May 2014 13:17:47 -0400
> Subject: Re: how dumb is this idea?
> David Hardy <belovedbold357 at gmail.com> writes:
> > What comes to mind immediately, and this may not be workable for you in
> > that situation;  why not a Tails USB stick with persistence enabled?
>
> You started off in English and then trailed off. The last word I
> understood was "a"...
>
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: David Rysdam <david at rysdam.org>
> To: Patrick Flaherty <pflaherty at wsi.com>
> Cc: , GNHLUG <gnhlug-discuss at mail.gnhlug.org>
> Date: Thu, 22 May 2014 13:31:45 -0400
> Subject: Re: how dumb is this idea?
> Patrick Flaherty <pflaherty at wsi.com> writes:
> > Have you played with portable apps (http://portableapps.com/)? Libre
> office
> > works on windows and linux. Past that, maybe something hosted (like
> google
> > docs, but maybe a bit more Free).
>
> This looks interesting, but I'm having trouble turning the "helpful",
> dumbed-down descriptions into something I can actually understand. Oh, I
> see Linux is supported "via Wine" so I guess they do a Windows-only
> installation that you can use on any other Windows computers.
>
> That's probably not quite what I want, since I think they'd want their
> local Linux version and their school Windows version of LO to be the
> same for various reasons. That said, it might be the easiest way to
> figure out how to get a Windows installation of LO onto a USB drive with
> everything in the right dirs and everything.
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> gnhlug-discuss mailing list digest
> gnhlug-discuss at mail.gnhlug.org
> http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
>
>
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