I'm trying to install a portable app onto my USB drive such that it is compatible with both Ubuntu and Windows (specifically, a program called eToys). Support is already built into the app for both operating systems - there's etoys.sh for Ubuntu and etoys.exe for Windows. I decided to install onto a FAT drive since that can be read from both systems. This works fine for Windows, but for some reason I cannot execute etoys.sh on Ubuntu.

The problem is not with the file - when the whole folder is copied to the local hard drive, the app works great in Ubuntu. But when I try to execute it from the USB, it opens the file in a text editor.

I then tried running it from a terminal, but I got the message "Permission denied."

I've had the same problem with other executables as well.

Is there an easy way to execute things from a USB stick?

Thanks!

-- Derek