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Possible to install Basic Stamp IDE on a Flash Drive? — Parallax Forums

Possible to install Basic Stamp IDE on a Flash Drive?

ctdahlectdahle Posts: 29
edited 2012-04-23 15:23 in BASIC Stamp
I am wondering if there is a way to install the Basic Stamp IDE on a flash drive.

I have purchased a couple of BOE-BOTS for some of my students to use, but it is not possible for me to install the Basic Stamp IDE on the computer lab computers that they are able to use. I am wondering if there would be a way to install the IDE on a flash drive so that they could run it directly from the flash drive without installing it on the lab computers?

Then they could work on their WAM and Robotics with the BOE-BOT projects anywhere they had access to a computer, such as the public library, their home computers, or the computers at the community center.

Comments

  • Mike GreenMike Green Posts: 23,101
    edited 2012-03-29 20:46
    It's not possible to install the Basic Stamp IDE on a flash drive. You could install the IDE on one computer and copy the application directory to a flash drive. I believe the IDE itself (stampw.exe) will run off a flash drive. This will only work if your computers have real serial ports and the BoeBots have serial ports (not the USB BOE based BoeBot). The problem is that the USB driver has to be installed on each lab computer if you're using USB BOEs. The default Windows USB driver won't work for programming a Stamp.
  • davejamesdavejames Posts: 4,047
    edited 2012-03-29 20:46
    ctdahle - I just tried it.

    I copied the Stampw.exe file to my flash drive and ran it from there. Seems to work. Wrote up a teeny program, saved it to the flash drive, exited the Stamp IDE, restarted the IDE from the f-drive and was able to load the program on the f-drive.

    Again, seems to work.

    I'm sure other Forum members will chime in if I'm in error.


    ***Update - I see Mr. Green has weighed-in with a big negatory. I guess that means I misunderstood your request. If you're just looking to "code off-line", I don't see a problem.
  • Mike GreenMike Green Posts: 23,101
    edited 2012-03-29 20:56
    To reiterate ... As davejames noted, the IDE will run from a flash drive. The students could enter their programs, edit them, and save them to the flash drive. If they have the WAM and Robotics texts on the flash drive, they could review those. What they can't do is download their programs to a BoeBot and try them unless they have a Serial Board of Education on their BoeBot and an available real serial port on the computer they're using. In order to download their programs to a BoeBot with a USB Board of Education, they would have to be able to install the necessary USB drivers on the computer they're using (or have them already installed).
  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    edited 2012-03-29 20:57
    davejames wrote:
    I see Mr. Green has weighed-in with a big negatory.
    I think what he meant is that, neglecting the USB issue, it will run okay from a flash drive; you just can't use the installer to put it there.

    -Phil
  • Martin_HMartin_H Posts: 4,051
    edited 2012-03-30 06:11
    Holy smoke, this means I can copy it to my cloud drive and run it from there. I'm so used to Windows programs having registry dependencies that running them without installing them first is usually a waste of time.
  • ctdahlectdahle Posts: 29
    edited 2012-04-23 15:23
    Thank you all for the input. We at least have it set up so the kids can work on their programs and save them to flash drives. Would have been nice if they could have used the flash drive based programs to reprogram the basic stamps as well, but...oh well.

    Cheers

    CTD
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