[nmglug] Custom Boot Disk for School Lab

[Nick Frost]

On Aug 23, 2011, at 7:15 PM, Jeffrey Miller wrote:

> This seems like the classic RTFM question but...  (-:
> 
> So our tech dept in our district has removed all our triple boot builds (Mac OSX, Vista & Edubuntu) on our Mac Minis and installed Windoze7 only.  I am working with Tux Typing and want to be able to have an edited word list for my students.  The problem is is that the tech dept doesn't fully use the roaming profile so in Windoze7 each user stores some of their stuff, like favorites, Firefox settings and Tux Typing edited word lists, in their own local folder.  So each user needs to have the edited word list files stored in their own unique folder on each machine.  So my scheme is to build a linux boot cd with a few Edubuntu games on it with their custom files already installed and configured.  Student will just boot from the disk, like in my old Apple IIe daze. No need to save anything, unlike in the old FrEdWriter daze.  And we don't want to modify the existing Mac Mini or the hard drive.  <:
> 
> So I am thinking I could build a box with Ubuntu and add a few of the educational software packages.  Configure the software as I see fit, including custom word lists.  Then clone it with Clonezilla to CD.  Never done it before.  So I am wondering what I might need to pay attention to as I am building a boot CD without the capabilities of installing linux on the existing hard drive.  All the computers are Mac Minis but it would be cool if it would work on any intel.

Why not do this with USB flash drives, which would allow writes and saving student's data?  You could get 25 512MB drives for $3.99 apiece and put a mini linux distro on them and any tools you wanted (Tux Typing);

http://quickturnflash.com/512MB-Full-Color-Swivel-Drive.html

(assuming there are < 25 students and they can pay $4 apiece?)

If the Mini's are running Windows 7 it is reasonably safe to assume they are early or mid model Core Duo's or Core 2 Duo's.

You could install DSL (Damn Small Linux) to a USB stick, edit the master by installing any packages you wanted (Tux Typing);

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/all-in-one-usb-dsl/

and then clone the install,e.g.

dd if=/dev/<usb-stick-device-node-here>	of=dsl-tux-typing.img

then it should be simply to boot from one of them and write out one or more copies to the blank flash drives.
> 
> I had thought about editing the boot cd that one can download as an iso file.  But I never done that either.

You can edit ISO's with ISO Master (Windows or Linux);

http://www.softpedia.com/reviews/linux/ISO-Master-Review-50543.shtml

I've used it to make bootable Windows CD's with Ghostwalk and/or DOS 6.22 CD's with various tools...but it's been while. As I recall of the tools I tried for editing ISO's ISO Master was the most effective.

Another option (if $100) in USB drives is cost prohibitive, would be to establish one of the mini's as a file server, use the bootable CD's and save data on the file server.  If that does not work you might be able to save student data online with something like DropBox via web page to upload the relevant files.

In terms of what to pay attention to I'd just be sure that whatever distro you use does not mount the Mac Mini hard drive RW when booting.  If it does you can possibly edit the automounter files and/or ensure the distro doesn't use NTFS (kernel or a module tweaking).  Or you could write a script to unmount the drive immediately which would be pretty simple;

/sbin/fdisk -l |grep NTFS |awk '{print "/sbin/umount",$1}' > name-of-script.sh ; chmod 755 name-of-script.sh ; ./name-of-script.sh

-Nick

---------------------------------------
Nicholas S. Frost
7 Avenida Vista Grande #325
Santa Fe, NM  87508
nickf at frostitute.com
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