[IAEP] "SoaS For Dummies?"

[Caryl Bigenho]

Hi Bert, Tom, and All,

In case you are all wondering why I want to make this so easy, remember that while I am sort of a "closet techie" and could learn to do all these fancy work-arounds, I also have many years experience working with  and training other educators who are very shy about using computers. 

For most of them it has to be very simple and work almost as a "plug-'n-play." Even the boot-helper disk is a stretch, but I think it is doable with some very clear step-by-step instructions. It needs to be easy, and hopefully fun, with a high probability of success.

Bert wrote:

The iso file is a "CD image". ISO is short for "ISO 9660", a.k.a. "CDFS (Compact Disc File System)". It is a file system designed for CDs, which is read-only.

So, I could save money and just use an image on a cd, but unfortunately the live CD will not boot on a MacBook. It needs a boot helper cd to run the usb stick version and there is only one optical drive on the machine. 

Probably about 50% of the teachers will have Macs.

And, Tom suggested using Virtual Box:

I really didn't want to use the Virtual Box again. I did that with an early version of Strawberry.  I think the Virtual Box would be a deal breaker for a lot of teachers, whereas a usb version with the boot helper cd should be quite acceptable and easy to use. That is why I was hoping to get a usb version that could be used on both PCs and Macs.

After all the advice I got from you folks, I ordered a refurbished eeePC 900 with Windows XP today.  It will arrive Monday.  I chose to get one with Windows XP because the Fedora Live USB Creator seems to be the easiest route to success... sort of "SoaS for Dummies!"

So... according to the instructions at <http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/SoaS_Blueberry_Instructions> you download the blueberry image while in the LiveUSB Creator.  Rather than downloading all over again, can I just plug in one of my usb sticks with SoaS (created on the Mac) and use it?  Or could I download it to the eeePC once and use it there?  What would be the easiest, most fool-proof way to do this? 

I do plan to purchase an optical drive as well, so I could put the image on cd. I could probably pick one up tomorrow or Sunday at Fry's so I would have it when the eeePC arrives Monday.

 If the CD/DVD will work for accessing the files in the LiveUSB Creator process, I could make a mini-version of Tom's Soas Creation Kit with just a few files and hand it out at InfoTech.  I would probably just include the blueberry iso file, the boot-helper file, and maybe some instructions in a text file. What else would be good to include on this "SoaS For Dummies" disk? Remember KISS.

Thanks for helping get this ready for the "Big Time!"
Caryl
 		 	   		  
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