[Edu-sig] Bootable Python CDs?

[Laura Creighton]

In a message of Wed, 26 Apr 2006 19:05:20 EDT, "Paul D. Fernhout" writes:
>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 didn't even know about it.  Thanks.

>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?

Around here all student machines get completely wiped every month
(sometimes every week) without fail.  Otherwise they are packed
with viruses, porn, and other junk.  So bring-your-own distribution
is the way to go.  The only tricky thing is making sure that the
students -- who want to save their own work on a CD -- actually
do this properly.

<snip>

>--Paul Fernhout

Laura