RIT honors seminar, developing for the OLPC XO/27 March 2009

See RIT honors seminar, developing for the OLPC XO/Reference Activities/Games for the quick evaluations. (Evaluators, please tune up the Eric's brief notes.)

(Sorry, the transcript buffer filled and overflowed, so we lost the first 7 minutes or so from this copy.)

Karlie Robinson is the guest speaker and she was introducing open source development concepts to the seminar.

Picking up on an how open source development propagates...

irc.freenode.net #fedora-olpc: (edited for clarity)
10:09	FGrose	Open source allows user appropriation of tools
10:09	FGrose	How does open source development work?...
10:09	FGrose	Most important is communication!!!
10:10	FGrose	Hundreds of people are potential collaborators, from anywhere around the world
10:11	FGrose	For this seminar there are 3 primary communication channels: #fedora-olpc, #sugar on freenode.net,
10:12	FGrose	and FouthGradeMath@lists.sugarlabs.org
10:12	FGrose	

(http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/fourthgrademath)

10:14	FGrose	It is left to the students to discover software version control mechanisms
10:14	FGrose	Do your homework by reading the mailing list and wikis
10:15	FGrose	Writing is important--leave a trail of your efforts, so others can follow or avoid the deadends you've discovered
0:16	FGrose	page publication is easy on the wiki. Use your user_page
10:16	FGrose	Open source development is designed to be a rapid succession of failures (with the good parts surviving)
10:17	FGrose	Fix and break...fix & break...
10:17	FGrose	keep up momemtum, don't look for immediate perfection
10:18	FGrose	others will jump in and help when they see fixes to problems
10:19	wwdillingham	does the olpc have an irc client?
10:19	FGrose	Use search tools! they are your friend
10:1910:19	AnthonyLubr-809d	@wwdillingham Yes it does. Its on the wiki.
10:20	FGrose	 wwdillingham  there is one on olpc, XOirc, and Sugar, IRC 5
10:20		*** AnthonyLubr-809d is now known as [RIT]
10:21		*** [RIT] is now known as RIT_Echo
10:21	FGrose	Pidgin and other irc clients are being discussed
10:22	FGrose	Karlie is open for questions...
10:22	FGrose	what if we did a co-jam?
10:23	FGrose	Tomeu is getting lauded to the group
10:24	FGrose	There is a 24-hour development cycle in open source as communities in each longitude arise, go to work, and retire.
10:25	FGrose	The OLPC software platform is now based in Fedora community efforts
10:26	FGrose	We are 7 weeks into the Math4 project now.  The ramp up has been rapid with RIT coming on board.
10:26	FGrose	git.sugarlabs.org is the repository to use
10:28	FGrose	#sugar is busy day in and day out with development discussions
10:29	FGrose	Collaboration among people from all possible fields and skill types is useful
10:32	FGrose	Some students may be focused at networking or collaboration models
10:33	Kennedy_RIT	Hello
10:33	Neablis	Hello
10:33	Kennedy_RIT	hows you?

10:33	FGrose	

http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/User:Gdk/4th_Grade_Maths

10:34	FGrose	Karlie is going home, but will jump onto irc in a few minutes when she gets there.
10:35	Kennedy_RIT	GReat
10:37	FGrose	Each student is getting a random reference to a game or activity.  They are asked to investigate and report on what they find. in the next 5 - 10 minutes
10:39	FGrose	On line offerings: Social Calc.  could we build partial spread sheets in it for students to work on math Curriculum projects together?
10:40	FGrose	2.) E paath: One example of text adventure stuff.  Is it just a reader or a platform for building too?  How well does it run?
10:41	FGrose	3.)Guideo Von Robot: Look at it to see if it makes sense to build math related activities for students to try to program within Guido
10:41	Kennedy_RIT	My name is Kennedy, i will be report my analyst of Cobble
10:42	FGrose	Kennedy_RIT: Please post a link when you have one.

10:43	wwdillingham	ok so I received "kuku" 

http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Kuku#Summary

 which immediately is clearly a math program (similar to number munchers; 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_Munchers

), from what i infer it poses a math problem "4 - 7 =" and populates a grid with possible solution. The point of the game is to navigate your charachter to the corerct point in the
10:43	wwdillingham	grid and eat as many correct answers as possible.
10:43		*** KarlieRobinson joined #fedora-olpc n=karlie@webpath.net 

10:44	Kennedy_RIT	i found cobble on 

http://wiki.laptop.org/go/COBBLE

10:44	wwdillingham	This is pretty similar to the multiplication minute problem i presented at the user group last night... as time challenge. This would obviously be ideal if it was a race amongst the members of a class
10:46	Epsilon1	is it possible to add exceptions for "invalid security certificate" errors in browse on the XO? I'm attemtping to download Dr. Geo through the sugar labs wiki, and both install links lead to an invalid cert. page. The add exception button seems to do nothing, whereas other firefox distros actually go through with adding the exception
10:46	jrg6437_RIT	The program I was given to research is Frotz. This appears to be a type of platform that can be used to display and play games. It's used mainly for old Infocom games. They were simple text based games. This maybe okay for our needs, but I'm not sure if we'll be able to incorporate graphics. Frotz overview: http://frotz.sourceforge.net/ .

10:48	jrg6437_RIT	It appears Frotz is an adaptation of an early Virtual Machine called a Z-Machine, 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z-machine

. Specifically this was also developed to run Infocom games.
10:48	wwdillingham	were any of these games math based jrg6437_RIT
10:48	wwdillingham	?
10:49	Kennedy_RIT	** im having trouble installing the game i am reviewing... lol... need help...

10:51	RIT_Echo	I recieved "Science Collections". There are a bunch of books on the wiki 

http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Books

 but I'm not surewhat exactly he wants here, since there are math books too.
10:51		*** wwdillingham is now known as WesDillingham
10:51		*** WesDillingham is now known as WesDillingham_RI
10:52		*** daveb joined #fedora-olpc i=daveb@you.dontlike.us 
10:52		*** jsanger joined #fedora-olpc n=GDDAdmin@cl1-08.it.rit.edu 
10:52		*** WesDillingham_RI is now known as WesD_RIT
10:53	WesD_RIT	im indecisive..
10:54	jrg6437_RIT	@wwdillingham / WesDillingham / WesDillingham_RI / WesD_RIT....shew that's quite a few names. There don't appear to be any math games developed currently for Frotz.
10:54	WesD_RIT	funny
10:54	jrg6437_RIT	The games are more text based adventure games.
10:54		*** RIT_Echo is now known as Echo_RIT
10:55	WesD_RIT	i dont think fourth graders will be so interested in dungeon and dragons kind of deals, they def need some visual stimulation
10:55	bbl5660	ping Echo_RIT
10:55	bbl5660	Echo_RIT ping

10:55	jrg6437_RIT	You see still frame picture a click it and are given an explanation of what to do next or information on what you just did. Here's an iPhone adaptation with images: 

http://code.google.com/p/iphonefrotz/

10:55		*** mchua joined #fedora-olpc n=mchua@pool-71-184-185-189.bstnma.east.verizon.net 
10:55	WesD_RIT	i think "/ping"
10:55	bbl5660	:-/ I'm a noob
10:55	bbl5660	ah
10:55		mchua waves - hey, KarlieRobinson.
10:56	KarlieRobinson	Hey Mel
10:56	Kennedy_RIT	how do i change my name????
10:56	Kennedy_RIT	name kennedy
10:56	mchua	KarlieRobinson: is your presentation today?
10:56	bbl5660	Echo_RIT /ping
10:56	Kennedy_RIT	#ERROR!
10:56	jrg6437_RIT	The nice thing about Frotz is they've made it extremely portable. There's a windows version, unix version, palm os version...etc.
10:56	bbl5660	I fail...
10:56	mchua	Kennedy_RIT: /name kennedy
10:56	Kennedy_RIT	Kennedy_RIT ping
10:56	Kennedy_RIT	lol
10:56	mchua	Kennedy_RIT: you need the /
10:56	KarlieRobinson	mchua:I did Ithaca College Ed Tech Yesterday and I just got back from RIT
10:56	bbl5660	so? <user><space>/ping ?
10:56	mchua	welcome to IRC, to all y'all who are new to it!
10:57	Kennedy_RIT	#ERROR!
10:57	KarlieRobinson	EdTech=OLPC what if? and RIT=FOSS dev
10:57	bbl5660	I am VERY new to this!
10:57	Kennedy_RIT	im new to IRC also
10:57	Kennedy_RIT	ME TOO!! *HIGH FIVE*
10:57	mchua	bbl5660: if you just write a message with someone's name, they'll see it highlighted (like this one)
10:57	KarlieRobinson	bbl5660: the most important part is that their name shows up in the convo
10:57	Kennedy_RIT	wait
10:57	mchua	KarlieRobinson: awesome. how'd it go?
10:57	bbl5660	Thank you guys for helping out the rookie
10:57	KarlieRobinson	Ping, pong and the like aren't as critical
10:57	jFinney_RIT	Infoslicer is a tool to assist instructors in creating offline browser packages that can be distributed to students. The activity can package text and images. Once the package is complete, it is saved as a .xol file and saved into the journal.
10:57	Kennedy_RIT	you have to write their name also?
10:57	KarlieRobinson	Standing room only at EdTech
10:57		*** jsanger is now known as Jsanger_RIT
10:58	KarlieRobinson	I just threw the RIT guys to the wolves so time will tell
10:58		*** breen is now known as BReen_RIT
10:58	mchua	Kennedy_RIT: yeah - see how I'm putting your nick in this message, so it probably shows up as bold or red or something?
10:59	mchua	Jsanger_RIT: BReen_RIT Echo_RIT etc - usually folks have names without the "RIT" (or their school or company) unless they want to be permanently identified with that institution, for the record
10:59	mchua	Jsanger_RIT: BReen_RIT Echo_RIT (so jsanger, breen, and echo would be totally cool)
10:59	BReen_RIT	noted, thanks
10:59		*** BReen_RIT is now known as breen
10:59	mchua	but it's your nick, so it's totally your call.

11:00	FGrose	Here is our test Justin.tv channel: 

http://www.justin.tv/fgrose

11:00	Kennedy_RIT	i see mchua
11:00	Kennedy_RIT	OOHH
11:00	Kennedy_RIT	what if the name is really long
11:00	Echo_RIT	Yeah, I usually put the RIT tag on my handle in game, like my Steam handle, so I'm used to it.
11:00	mchua	Kennedy_RIT: tab autocomplete - most irc clients have it
11:00	mchua	Kennedy_RIT: try typing the letter k, then hit tab
11:00	FGrose	Some one have a webcam & mic?
11:00	mchua	Kennedy_RIT: see what happens
11:00	Kennedy_RIT	Kennedy_RIT:
11:00		*** jrg6437_RIT is now known as Jeremiah_Green
11:01	Kennedy_RIT	awesoome!
11:01	mchua	Kennedy_RIT: see, less typing :)
11:01	Kennedy_RIT	mchua:
11:01	Kennedy_RIT	#ERROR!
11:01	Kennedy_RIT	this is awesome
11:01	KarlieRobinson	You guys thought we spoke in person - this is in person
11:02	Kennedy_RIT	great, what color is my hair
11:02	mchua	Kennedy_RIT: excellent. and if there's more than one person that starts with a letter, you can either type more letters (type 'ke' or 'ka' before tab to choose between kennedy and karlie) or hit tab multiple times.
11:02	mchua	Kennedy_RIT: well, your nick is purple, in my irc client. ;)
11:02	mchua	Who else is new here?
11:03	mchua	everyone's in the math4 class? (what are you calling it?)
11:03	Kennedy_RIT	i am
11:03	mchua	KarlieRobinson: it's *awesome* to see so many new people on IRC - you totally rock.
11:03	Echo_RIT	I don't know, it has some oddly long name.
11:04		*** jFinney_RIT is now known as jFinney
11:06	eldrac	I'm new here and in the class :)
11:07	WesD_RIT	you guys think we could post to the delicious (if not done already) all of these games we looked up
11:07	breen	seconded
11:07	mchua	WesD_RIT: totally.
11:07	mchua	eldrac: welcome!
11:08	Kennedy_RIT	WesD_RIT: i am actually having trouble adding to delicious
11:08		*** KarlieRobinson1 joined #fedora-olpc n=karlie@webpath.net 
11:08	mchua	if you folks are thinking of making sugar activities, the #sugar channel is another good place to hang out (watch at first, ask questions if you have any, the usual)
11:08	mchua	KarlieRobinson: did you get my pm earlier or should i resend to your new nick?
11:09	mchua	KarlieRobinson1: did you get my pm earlier or should i resend to your new nick?
11:09	Kennedy_RIT	mchua: you seem very active here, who might you be?
11:09	KarlieRobinson1	mchua: Having bandwidth issues this am
11:09	KarlieRobinson1	PM to the new
11:09	KarlieRobinson1	Sorry
11:09	WesD_RIT	what is your delicious issue Kennedy_RIT ?
11:10		*** Neablis left #fedora-olpc n=GDDAdmin@cl1-10.it.rit.edu 
11:10	WesD_RIT	just to make sure to properly post to the math4olpc delicious, when you post an url you tag it with "for:maths4olpc
11:10	WesD_RIT	"
11:12	Kennedy_RIT	ic
11:12	Kennedy_RIT	i will try that out
11:14	WesD_RIT	is it an error that the delcious is maths4olpc and not math4olpc?

11:15	Kennedy_RIT	WesD_RIT: i entered this for:maths4olpc 

http://wiki.laptop.org/go/COBBLE

11:15	Kennedy_RIT	but its not really working?
11:15	mchua	Kennedy_RIT: I'm usually not active on this channel, actually. I'm from the OLPC/Sugar projects, usually active in #olpc and #sugar.
11:15	breen	WesD_RIT: we can pretend that it's math[ematic]s4olpc :)
11:16	Kennedy_RIT	lol
11:16	mchua	Kennedy_RIT: among other things, I help college groups form olpc and sugar labs chapters and get started on projects, so I was psyched to see things start up at RIT.
11:16		*** bbl5660 is now known as bbl5660_RIT
11:17	Kennedy_RIT	mchua: great! thank you for being helpful! because i really need help
11:17	Kennedy_RIT	mchua: very new to me
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11:20	KarlieRobinson1	Sorry guys, but I need to run.  Time to pick up my little one at pre-school
11:20		*** bbl5660_RIT joined #fedora-olpc i=81151c02@gateway/web/ajax/mibbit.com/x-1e62de10a4254132  (Mibbit)
11:20	WesD_RIT	so i hear MIT has disgarded JAVA and replaced it with python for their intro programming courses. Sure wish RIT had done that
11:20		*** KarlieRobinson quit (Read error: 110 (Connection timed out)) n=karlie@webpath.net 
11:21	cjb	they replaced Scheme, not Java :)
11:21	cjb	MIT
11:21	Kennedy_RIT	#ERROR!
11:21	Kennedy_RIT	RIT>MIT
11:21	cjb	MIT's always taught a weird first language like that.. they want everyone to be at the same point when they start, I think.
11:22	WesD_RIT	I think they also only have pass/fail first year, where was that my freshmen year sheesh
11:23	Kennedy_RIT	lol
11:23	Echo_RIT	I hear they're considering adding Python and C to the base level programming courses for IT, but thats just a rumor.
11:24		*** KarlieRobinson1 left #fedora-olpc n=karlie@webpath.net 
11:25	breen	Echo_RIT: for IT, really? strange, considering the number of people in the dept. who want nothing to do with coding
11:25	Kennedy_RIT	how do i find the ip for my ox
11:25	FGrose	Firewall seems to block Justin.tv  The Connection check passes, but "Attempting to connect to server..." persists on the status bar.
11:25	ke4qqq	don't let mchua fool you, she has or has had her hand in just about everything related to OLPC
11:25	Echo_RIT	breen: Yeah, well we have three levels of Java as is, so why not?
11:25	WesD_RIT	in the terminal "ifconfig"
11:25	mchua	ke4qqq: with job titles that totally don't reflect that at all. ;)
11:25	ke4qqq	does fare more than just help college groups and sugar labs chapters
11:26	ke4qqq	indeed!
11:26	ke4qqq	s/fare/far/
11:26	breen	Echo_RIT: were i leery of programming, i'd certainly prefer Java over C
11:27	breen	Echo_RIT: pointers would make design kids angry :F
11:28	Echo_RIT	breen: lol, Java is such a fat language though.
11:28	Jeremiah_Green	Echo_RIT / breen : I didn't hear about that for the IT dept., but I thought the CS dept. had already started with it.
11:28	Echo_RIT	Jeremiah_Green: Maybe, I just heard it a while ago, an I'm in IT, so I wouldn't know for sure.
11:29	breen	Jeremiah_Green: that wouldn't surprise me, as i believe there are some CS courses that push all sorts of additional languages
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11:29	qalthos	what?  Switching away from Java?
11:29		qalthos is not following this conversation well
11:29	breen	qalthos: that's the rumor
11:30	qalthos	not that I've seen
11:30	Echo_RIT	Jeremiah_Green / breen : CS in general pushes all sorts of languages.
11:30	qalthos	not as much as you seem to think, I think
11:30	breen	Echo_RIT: of course -- theory over practice
11:32	Echo_RIT	I do want to pick up more Python, but i have a feeling this class will do that for me :)
11:32	FGrose	Eric is putting up some poster paper to have provisional teams gather at the "napkin"
11:32	Kennedy_RIT	*brb*
11:33	WesD_RIT	poor trees
11:33	Echo_RIT	Yeah, ditto. So many sheets of paper...
11:33	Jeremiah_Green	Echo_RIT : I started in Comp. Eng. and we did all java back then, but I heard that last year they either did or were thinking of changing the intro languages to C. Not sure if it ever happened. I'm in IT now as well
11:33	Kennedy_RIT	*writing on the floor... napkins*
11:33	Echo_RIT	Jeremiah_Green: Yeah, I just got into IT this year. I was Biotechnology last year...
11:37	Kennedy_RIT	*we got interrupted by a schoool tour
11:37	Echo_RIT	grr
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11:53	Kennedy_RIT	peace out guys
11:53		mchua is much amused by reading along with this
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