By Manny Fernandez

January 30, 2020

Live Ubuntu USB with Persistence

My son started a coding club in his middle school.  He teaches coding.  Specifically Python.  The issue is that his school does not allow the students to install any software on the school laptops.  I decided to create a Ubuntu Live USB with all the Python modules they need as well as an IDE which works better than the Terminal on Ubuntu.

The idea is to give the students the ability to put the USB drive into their home computer or even the school computer, mount the persistence partition on the Windows or Mac OS and have the ability to copy files in our out of the USB.  This would essentially be a mobile development environment they could keep with them at all times.

I am sure there may be distros out there that already support persistence but I chose to create my own Ubuntu version.  Actually, I had my son make it and I documented it.

Screenshot from 2020-01-30 22-20-28.png

First you will need to add the unsupported packages from this untrusted PPA by adding:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mkusb/ppa

The above command adds a repository into the /etc/apt/sources.list  

Screenshot from 2020-01-30 22-22-23

Now run the sudo apt update

Screenshot from 2020-01-30 22-26-15.png

Now you should be able to launch the mkusb application.  Choose Yes

Screenshot from 2020-01-30 22-27-03.png

You will need to enter the su password and hit OK

Screenshot from 2020-01-30 22-28-53.png

Choose the I for Install (make a boot device)

Screenshot from 2020-01-30 22-36-34.png

You will need to point to the directory where you have the ISO for Ubuntu.

Screenshot from 2020-01-30 22-38-21.png

Choose the upefi option and hit ok

Screenshot from 2020-01-30 22-38-51.png

Next you will need to tell mkusb what percentage of the USB Flash-drive you want to use for persistence.

Screenshot from 2020-01-30 22-39-26.png

You can now click Go

Screenshot from 2020-01-30 22-48-19.png

You should now be able to pull the USB flash-drive out.

He then installed :

  • TKinter
  • Turtle
  • Panda 3D

Hope this helps.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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