How can I have students install from a USB stick?

I will start my Alice 3 lab next week with about 30 CS1 students, and I am worried about installing.

I can save the installer file off Kenai and give that to students.

But the rest of the installation fetches a huge amount of files over the internet, and that will absolutely kill our poor little wireless network in the lab.

Is there some way of preloading those files? Or can I do the install on Windows, Mac, and Linux, and just copy the installed directories on a USB stick?

Thanks,

Cay

Just in case someone else needs to do this...yes, it is possible to copy an entire Alice install directory from one computer to another, provided they have the same OS and the directories have the exact same path. I tested Windows -> Windows, Mac -> Mac, Linux -> Linux, and it all worked out.

There is one issue with Netbeans. When you run an Alice project the first time, it cannot find Alice, and you have to point it to the right directory.

Not a big deal, and better than that incredibly long install over the internet.

The whole thing ought to be published as a portable apps package http://portableapps.com/

[jediaction]

ITs not much of installing "i think". I remember when i got it, there was no installing, its just like Alice 2.2, you just put it on the USB then just take it off on any computer and just extract, or if im wrong, just put the instalation program on the USB and it should work from my expierience