OLPC

Ok, so you know about the XO-1.5 and you've been told about the XO-1.5 HS which is an X0 but with a different keyboard. I finally ran across two pictures of one and here they are:

OLPC XO-1.5 HS

You have to look closely but yes, that is an OLPC. The darker color, antennas down, and hard plastic keyboard really make for a different look, eh? I have no idea why the desktop background on display is from Fedora 7. I believe the idea for offering a model for older kids with a different keyboard came from seeing some altered OLPC units that modders had done. I wish I had some bigger pictures so I could see the keyboard better. It looks very similar to my Acer keyboard except for the function keys.

I saw an announcement the other day about a development OS release (os16) for the OLPC XO-1 laptop that basically brings it into parity with the release on the XO-1.5. I downloaded it, got a developer key, unlocked an OLPC, and figured out how to install it. Once you become familiar with the process, it is actually easy and straight forward. I even played with the FORTH-based firmware for the first time.

The main new features in the OS16 devel release are:

1. Based on Fedora 11 (was 9)
2. 2.6.31 Kernel (was 2.6.27)
3. Includes "Switch to GNOME" option
4. Additional productivity Apps
5. Updated Sugar release

Of course the hardware in the XO-1 has not changed but the new software still runs quit well in 256MB of RAM with no SWAP.

A few quick bits of news from the OLPC world.

X0-1.5 - If you didn't know already, the XO-1.5 models are out. In fact I currently have one in my possession but I'm only borrowing it and will be giving it back soon. What's new? Well from the outside you can't tell anything is different because the outside has not changed at all. The insides are completely different with a new motherboard, new CPU, new video chipset, everything. With the new motherboard comes greatly expanded storage for both the firmware and permanent storage. One big change in the software is that now it includes the GNOME desktop and an easy mechanism in the settings to switch back and forth between SUGAR and GNOME.

X0-HS -The X0-HS is the X0-1.5 with a different keyboard for bigger hands. The new keyboard is hard plastic rather than a rubbery membrane. I haven't seen any pictures of the X0-HS yet but as I understand it existing X0-1.5 units can easily be retro-fitted with the HS keyboard. I believe it is also supposed to include a different set of default installed activities... ones that would appeal to an older crowd.

Watching TV? - This video speaks for itself but you can find the activity site here. I assume the content is delivered over the network:

Upcoming X0-3 - Just in case you were wonder what future hardware the OLPC folks were working on, check out this youtube video.

Win One, Give One?

When I got home from work last night, my 17 year old son (Bryan) demanded I watch something on TV he had found. Wielding the TiVo remote he played for me a commercial aired during SpongeBob SquarePants. In the commercial I kid got a package in the mail that contained two OLPCs one of which the kid picks up and walks out of his house with, journeying until he is in a village in Africa where he gives a village kid the OLPC. At the very end it is revealed that it is a contest being run by General Mills with chances to win provided with some of their products. They appear to have a website for the contest.

According to the official rules, they are giving away 230 OPLCs valued at $42,550. They put a value on them of $185 but I'd assume that with the Give One part of the deal that actually translates into 460 OLPCs valued at $85,100 plus whatever shipping would be. Given the fact that they are airing television commercials, it seems that the figure spent on promotion would be many times that of what is being given away... but I guess that is how such promotions go.

I have yet to find a digital copy of the commercial online so I made a cheesy cam version off of my SD TV. I also made an ogv version.

Sugar on a Stick Blueberry

A new version of SoaS was released early last month but I found a video interview with Walter Bender talking about it that I thought I would share.

Friday, 27AUG10 - Installed the developer key on all of the BSSP laptops. Disabled security on them. Installed the following science activities:

1. Bridge
2. ConstellationsFlashCards
3. Model
4. StarChart
5. StopWatchActivity

I returned the laptops to Micki a little after noon.

Thursday, 26AUG10 - At the BozemanLUG meeting we upgraded 10 of the Big Sky Science Partnership's laptops (9 XO-1 laptops and 1 XO-1.5) to the latest release which is os852. I still need to add a few activities to them before I return them back to Micki at BSSP. I presented fairly detailed instructions on the process of installing both a signed OS and an unsigned OS, the process of requesting and retrieving a developer key, and how to unlock the machines. There were 8 people at the meeting and each person was able to upgrade a laptop.

Versions after update:

XO-1
Build: 852
Sugar: 0.84.16
Firmware: Q2E45
Wireless Firmware: 5.110.22.p23

X0-1.5 os852
Build: 852
Sugar: 0.84.16
Firmware: Q3A48
Wireless Firmware: 9.70.7.p0

After all of the laptops were upgraded we spent some time playing with both Sugar and GNOME as well as comparing the hardware differences between the XO-1 and the XO-1.5

It seems the most common way to install activities is to get each OLPC connected to the Internet, browse the Activities page on the laptop.org website, and click on the ones you want to install. An activity package is an .xo file which is really just a .zip file. I was hoping just to download all of the activity .xo files and install them on each laptop from the command line but I ran into a snag. I believe one can just take a .xo file and extract it to the Activities directory in the OLPC user's home directory but there appears to be some sort of activity registry that needs to be updated whenever an Activity is added or removed and I'm not sure how to do that yet.

The OLPCs seem to hate the wireless offered by MSU-Bozeman so it is a pain to get each OLPC on the Internet. The way I'm doing it is to use a USB-to-wired-ethernet adaptor and do one machine at a time. It works fine but it is a little time consuming.

Friday, 06AUG10 - Talked to Caryl Bigenho on the phone about returning the X0-1.5 she loaned me. Caryl suggested I apply for some X0-1.5 units for the MontanaLinux.org Lending Library.

I'm going on vacation to Memphis,TN starting tomorrow and will be taking an X0-1 with me to show to GOLUM (Group of Linux Users Memphis) as well as the CS SysAdmin at University of Memphis.

I've also been communicating with my buddy Joe Mirando and got him to upgrade the X0-1 he is borrowing to the os304 release.

Monday, 19JUL2010 - Scott Wahl brought the laptop he had out on loan (LOANER-FIVE) for me to upgrade to os301. I got it upgraded on Saturday... and he should pick it up today.

Saturday, 17JUL10 - Mailed a laptop to a friend of mine named Joe Mirando in Plainville, CT. Joe is a hobby technical writer and long time Atari / Computer Enthusiast... and I thought it would be a good idea for him to have an OLPC hands on for a couple of weeks. He promised to write about it for the weekly A-ONE publication he does a column for... and I plan to cross-post it on MontanaLinux.org. It beat having an unused OLPC sitting on my shelf.

Wednesday, 08JUL10 - Updated one of the OLPC units to the OS16 devel release. For more info, see this blog post on the subject. I hope to get the other laptops in the lab updated ASAP.

I emailed Doug Williams and Scott Wahl telling them about the software upgrade to ask if they'd like me to upgrade the XO-1 units they have borrowed.

Tuesday, 29JUN10 - Just got an email from Adam Holt from the OLPC project on the contributor mailing list saying that he had just shipped 10 OLPC XO-1.0 laptops as well as 1 OLPC XO-1.5 laptop for the Big Sky Science Partnership pilot project. He said they would probably arrive on Friday. Will post when they have arrived.

Once they arrive I’ll need to refresh my memory on how to check software versions, make sure everything is up-to-date... as well as learn how to install additional Activities. I have to admit I’m a bit rusty but I’ll get it figured out.

Tuesday, 29JUN10 - Learned that Caryl met with Elisabeth from the Big Sky Science Partnership and gave her a demo of SUGAR and several SUGAR activities that relate to science. Got an email from Micki asking me to create a blogging account for the project so that the BSSP folks may blog on their OLPC related activities. The site is: bigskysciencepartnership.wordpress.com. So far there aren't any blog postings there but I shared the account info with Micki so hopefully in the next few days one or more blog entries will appear. I believe this was the last detail needed to get the laptops shipped to from the OLPC contributor program.

Wednesday, 23JUN10 - Continue to work on OLPC project with the Big Sky Science Partnership. Hope to get the 10 OLPC laptops that have been approved within the next week to two weeks. Am setting up a demo / presentation with Caryl Bigenho for the BSSP staff to be held at the end of June / Beginning of July. Hope to have a firm date soon.

Thursday, 03JUN10 - Had lunch with Caryl Bigenho and her husband. She loaned me an OLPC X0-1.5 for two weeks so I could learn about it.

Monday, 22MAR10 - Just found out today that the Education Dept. at MSU-Bozeman (Elisabeth Swanson) submitted a proposal to the OLPC Contributors program to get 10 OLPC XO-1.0 laptops for use in a pilot program... AND GOT ACCEPTED.

Friday, 26FEB10 - Later in the day I got a phone call from Elisabeth Swanson who is a faculty member in the Dept. of Education at MSU-Bozeman asking how to buy 10 OLPCs for a pilot project on the Crow Reservation. I emailed Caryl Bigenho to see if she had a clue who to talk to see if that would be possible. She said that the pilot project could have the potential to grow to 32 elementary schools on two reservations. Wow, I hope this works out!

Friday, 26FEB10 - Did a presentation / discussion with the several members of the MSU-Bozeman Education Dept. over lunch. They seemed interested in the OLPC and possibly getting a pilot project together with a Crow Agency school. We'll see how that pans out over the coming months.

Thursday, 11FEB10 - Got an email from Betsy Palmer, who is in the Education Dept. at MSU-Bozeman, about scheduling a presentation she and I would do together for her department in an effort to see who might be interested in getting involved. Will report back when a date is set. Right now it looks like Feb. 26th.

Thursday, 28JAN10 - Loaned out OLPC #2 to Douglas Williams who is a Graduate Masters in Computer Science at MSU-Bozeman. A few days later, also loaned Doug OPLC #1 so he could have two of them to try out some of the networking and collaboration features provided by the Sugar environment and the activities.

Wednesday, 27JAN10 - Loaned out OLPC #5 to Scott Wahl who is a Graduate Doctoral student in Computer Science at MSU-Bozeman.

Friday, 15JAN10 - Not a whole lot going on. I was told by the Education Department at MSU-B last semester that they were in the middle of an accreditation review and wouldn't be available to talk about OLPC stuff until this semester... which just started back this week. I hope there will be some additional action soon.

Monday, 02NOV09 - I did a seminar presentation for the CS Department at MSU-Bozeman on the OLPC Project and showed off three of the OLPCs.

Thursday, 29OCT09 - It just so happened that my wife Shelly was going to Billings for a doctor appointment so I had her take 5 of the OLPCs with her and drop them off with Andrew at RMC... so now Billings has 5 laptops to lend out.

Tuesday, 13OCT09 - Two boxes (5 OLPCs each) arrived via FedEx. I've only had time to open one OLPC and it appeared to be in new condition. I'm not sure if all of them are in the same condition or not. The software on it was quite outdated so I checked out the OLPC wiki and got both the firmware updated as well as the activities. I got it connected to my local wifi. Seems to be working well. Will have time to open the rest when I get back from vacation. I'll probably not update them all in order to save the learning experience for the other LUG members who will be responsible for some of them.

Sunday, 04OCT09 - The project proposal has gotten approved by the OLPC folks... and we should shortly receive 10 semi-refurbished XO Laptops for lending out in the state of Montana. In the coming week, the Montana LUG leaders will be discussing how to best distribute the laptops among the LUGs and come up with a plan for outreach to the community in the promotion of the OLPC project over the next 36 months with the end goal of getting one or more pilot projects started for rural Montana grade schools.

As the situation unfolds this page will be updated and expanded to provide a running report on the success of the project. Stay tuned.

The Past - Learning about the OLPC Project

On June 25th, 2009 OLPC community member Caryl Bigenho gave a presentation about the OLPC project to the BozemanLUG. There were approximately 20 people in attendance (which is pretty good during summer in Montana). The presentation was video taped and made available online as were a number of pictures from the event and Caryl's slidestack.

Caryl then lent out 5 OLPC units to BozemanLUG members for approximately 1 month. At the end of that month, the OLPCs were shipped to the BillingsLUG and a LUG member gave a presentation to the BillingsLUG group. BillingsLUG members would have liked to be able to borrow the OLPC units but they needed to be returned to Caryl.

The Present - Applying to become an OLPC Lending Lab

Upon further discussion with Caryl and the leaders of the various LUGs in Montana about how we could get involved in the OLPC effort, it was determined that we would like to start an OLPC Lending Lab project to spread the word about the OLPC in Montana and to grow interest in and facilitate the creation of one or more OLPC pilot projects at rural schools in the state.

As a result we have applied to become an OLPC Lending Lab.

The Future

LUG members would volunteer their time to maintain the OLPC Lending Lab, keep the machines updated, loan them out to interested education institutions, and give presentations about the OLPC project and Sugar on a Stick.

MontanaLinux.org is the primary website / online community that coordinates activities among Montana area Linux user groups. Members also attend and present at various regional Linux conferences (Linuxfest Northwest and the Utah Open Source Conference for example) so it seemed natural that MontanaLinux.org could lead the way in coordination of any OLPC Lending Lab Project.

BozemanLUG member Scott Dowdle works as the computer system administrator fo the Computer Science Department at MSU-Bozeman. BillingsLUG member Andrew Niemantsverdriet works as a computer systems administrator for Rocky Mountain College in Billings. Scott is a frequent presenter at the Unix Users Group on the MSU-B campus. It is hoped that the work connections of these two members could be leveraged and spread to the education departments at their respective institutions.

MontanaLUG leaders would make the OLPC Lending Library an agenda item for their monthly LUG meetings and discuss the progress of the project every three months.

Just some news bytes I've run across recently.

Fedora 12 Alpha includes flavor of Moblin 2
Moblin is a "usage experience" originally designed by Intel for devices designed around their Atom CPU mostly available in Netbooks and other embedded devices. The Fedora Project is basically integrating the Moblin 2 userspace stuff into Fedora so it is a selectable desktop from the graphical login's Session menu. Fedora will probably create an official "mini" spin but that remains to be seen. For more info see: fedora mini alpha testing

New Fedora 11 release for OLPC X0-1 models
You might have already known that the OLPC project is working on an XO-1.5 unit with vastly faster hardware and more storage space and that they were going to change the software so that the OLPC user could switch between the Sugar Desktop and the Gnome Desktop if desired. Fedora/OLPC developer Steven Parrish has released an update for OLPC X0-1 laptops based on Fedora 11 which includes the Gnome Desktop stuff as well. For more info see: Announcing a new release of F11 for the XO-1 and F11 for XO-1

Now here's a video about what Moblin 2 is for anyone interested:

Since so many adults who are "computer literate" seem to have problems getting started with the Sugar environment, I decided to make a brief introduction screencast. I boot up the Sugar On a Stick "Strawberry" LiveCD in a KVM virtual machine and show the basics of using Sugar as well as a few activities.

If you want to download the full quality Ogg Theora video, just right-click and "Save Link As...":
http://blip.tv/file/get/Dowdle-sugeronastickintro289.ogv

Here is the video I recorded at the June 25th, 2009 BozemanLUG meeting.

Presenter: Caryl Bigenho

If you want the higher quality Ogg Theora video, just right-click and "Save Link As..." this link:
http://blip.tv/file/get/Dowdle-olpcroadshow438.ogv

You can find the pictures I took here.

[Update:] Added a PDF of Caryl's presentation as a file attachment.
Also attached the 2009 OPLC Project updated PDF.

If you didn't read the article, David put out a video.

Just in case you don't watch 60 Minutes every week like I do, here is a low quality version of the segment than ran last Sunday on the One Laptop Per Child Project. This is posted with the fair usage rights in mind.

If you'd like to purchase a high quality version of this segment on DVD, feel free to visit CBS' page for their segment... and of course, watch 60 Minutes every week!