[Edu-sig] Bootable Python CDs?

[Paul D. Fernhout]

I previously wrote:
> Then you would have a custom Python which would be useful for wandering 
> faculty (assuming the admins let you reboot the machine, and it was 
> configured to allowing booting from removable media).

I just noticed this:
    http://wiki.python.org/moin/PythonCd
"Welcome to your Python CD! This is a bootable CD based on [Debian 
GNU/Linux and KNOPPIX. The special thing about it is that it has lots of 
Python stuff!"

Anyone used it?

I'm curious: is it even practical to expect to walk into most modern 
educational computer lab in a typical school and expect to be able to 
reboot all the computers to run from your own Python CD? Do people's 
school computer labs typically allow a boot from removable media?

I know it was quite possible to boot your own stuff when I ran an 
educational computer lab (or rather, impossible to stop. with those 
motherboards) but that was a long time ago (back in the days of 5-1/4 and 
Token Ring). I don't know what typical admin policies would be now. But 
todays' motherboards seem much more likely to have an option for picking 
the boot medium on reboot (but also more options to disable media booting 
which you would need to get into the BIOS settings to change).

--Paul Fernhout