Running Ubuntu Linux on USB drive is an option for doesn't want to install Ubuntu on a machine. (In my case, I had Logger Pro working under Debian, then I updated to a new version of Debian and Logger broke. I had trouble getting the latest version of Logger Pro to work with the latest version of Debian.)
To do this I did the following:
1) Put Ubuntu 12.04 on a USB drive - https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LiveUsbPendrivePersistent . To put Ubuntu on a USB drive, you have to install a CDROM image onto it. There are several ways to do it - from Linux, from a Mac, or from Windows. I did it with unetbootin from Debian, as well as usb-creator-gtk from Ubuntu. Make sure that you set up your image with some space for persistent storage. This allows you store any changes that you make in one session for use in the next session. In this case that will include installing Logger Pro.
2) Once you have Ubuntu on a USB drive, set you Bios to boot from USB and boot from the drive.
3) While booting Ubuntu, choose to try it on the USB drive.
4) Once Ubuntu has booted all the way, set up a network connection -either wired or wireless using the system settings.
5) Edit /etc/apt/sources.list to comment out te CDROM lines, and add lines for the universe repostories. My file ended up like:
# /etc/apt/sources.list
#deb cdrom:[Ubuntu 12.04.2 LTS _Precise Pangolin_ - Release amd64 (20130213)]/ dists/precise/main/binary-i386/
#deb cdrom:[Ubuntu 12.04.2 LTS _Precise Pangolin_ - Release amd64 (20130213)]/ dists/precise/restricted/binary-i386/
#deb cdrom:[Ubuntu 12.04.2 LTS _Precise Pangolin_ - Release amd64 (20130213)]/ precise main restricted
#deb cdrom:[Ubuntu 12.04.2 LTS _Precise Pangolin_ - Release amd64 (20130213)]/ dists/precise/main/binary-i386/
#deb cdrom:[Ubuntu 12.04.2 LTS _Precise Pangolin_ - Release amd64 (20130213)]/ dists/precise/restricted/binary-i386/
#deb cdrom:[Ubuntu 12.04.2 LTS _Precise Pangolin_ - Release amd64 (20130213)]/ precise main restricted
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise main restricted universe
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-security main restricted universe
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates main restricted universe
6) Update the package listings:
sudo apt-get update
7) Download vstdrivers and vstloggerpro.
8) Install vstdrivers and vstloggerpro:
sudo dpkg -i vstdrivers_1.5_amd64.deb vstloggerpro_3.8.4.5_amd64.deb
9) If dpkg complains about any missing dependencies, let apt-get straighten it out:
sudo apt-get install -f
10) After that Logger Pro should be ready to run. Start it from the command or from the menus.
There is another approach: create a live Ubuntu 12.04 USB with Logger Pro installed on it too, then run most any computer from the live USB without any installations. I was able to run from an eeepc netbook that normally runs Windows XP, from a cheap AMD computer that normally runs Ubuntu 13.04, and from a cheap computer without any hard drive.
Here's what I did: 1) Install Ubuntu 12.04.2 LTS 32-bit onto a hard drive from a CD burned from the ISO image, wiping everything else on the drive. 2) Install vstdrivers_1.5_i386.deb and loggerpro_3.8.4.5_i386.deb through the Software Center after unpacking them from the tarball. Logger Pro seemed happy, including the desktop icon, and seemed stable when collecting data. 3) Make an ISO using remastersys_3.0.4-2_all.deb also installed through the Software Center. 4) Make a live USB using Startup Disk Creator provided with Ubuntu. There was plenty of room on a 4 GB thumb drive. After booting off this USB, Logger Pro runs fine and does not crash when the data run out of time, at least with initial testing using the Go!Motion.
Also, the experiment can be saved and opened in Logger Pro Linux Beta 2 that is installed on a different system running Ubuntu 13.04, where it always crashes when collecting data. So far I don't have crashes in Ubuntu 13.04 when manipulating the previously saved experiment, but I will continue testing. I did not yet test to see if the experiment done with Ubuntu 12.04 USB could be saved to Ubuntu One instead of a thumb drive, but I don't see why not.
I used Remastersys because it is easy (if hard to find), but Ubuntu Customization Kit, UNetbootin, or Customizer might also work to create a special live USB containing both Ubuntu 12.04 and Logger Pro (and any other special software such as Tracker, etc). In fact, for my test I removed Firefox and installed Chromium so that it will only run from Terminal. I did not yet remove games, LibreOffice, or other things that might not be used in the lab. It might be interesting to try a very small Linux, such as easypeasy, to see if better performance is possible while keeping the 12.04 core.
So there you have it: Logger Pro Linux on a bootable USB thumb drive.