RB on a USB stick?

Are there any plans for a 'Portable' version of RB that could be run from a USB flash memory stick?

I ask because I'm considering using RB as a teaching tool to school students (aged 14 to 18), and envisage students running their own copy of RB (free version) from their own USB sticks, thus being able to transfer work between school and home.

Having their own copy would enable them to keep their files seperate from each other.

Or is there a way of using existing versions?

I've already read a previous thread by Jerry that refers to changing the drive letter in the prefs.xml file (eg from c: to e:) but this didn't work for me, also the free version of RB does not have a prefs.xml file (not that I could find anyway).

If this is a go-er, would make all my dreams come true! (well, nearly!)

Thanks,
Daren Craddock (UK)

Daren,

I'm currently doing that very thing.
I simply installed RB to my USB drive rather than my "C" drive.
By doing so, all the paths are correct by default.

Depending on your programs, you may notice slight delays accessing the USB drive vs. accessing a regular hard drive but overall, it works great.

Again, don't select the default "C:\" drive for installation but rather, whatever drive letter your USB drive is.

John "Psycho" Siejkowski

The prefs.xml file is only created, if you change a preference.

If there is no prefs.xml file, RB uses the defaults, which are relative to the RBP.EXE, so you can just copy the RBP installation folder to the USB drive.

And I'm pretty sure there are utilities that will automatically run an application on a USB memory stick when it is inserted.

So it'll be interesting to see if there are such solutions for Windows, Mac and Linux too.

-Carl

;D
Many many thanks Psycho (and also to Stefan and Carl),

I tried that and it works. Brilliantly simple - why didn't I think of this in the first place?!

This is where I thought I was going wrong: during installation you're asked to select a drive location to install RB (default: c:\rbfree for free Windows edition), I selected drive e: (my USB stick) but didn't add the folder rbfree (i.e. I used e: instead of e:\rbfree).

But this wasn't the prolem. The trick is to make sure that you copy and paste the shortcut that starts RB. Do this and it works great.

This has really made my day, I'll be introducing my students to RB after Christmas. Yippee!
;D

AutoRun.INI is blocked, when located on an USB Stick.
The USB Stick modems of mobile phone companies do register them selfs as CD-Rom drives to overcome this problem.