Business
Hopefully this will become the repository for G1G1 donors to be able to quickly and easily modify their XO laptops to become business friendly machines. If you have updated information, PLEASE click on the "edit" tab above and add your helpful tips!
Basically, you can install a completely new operating system on the XO in about an hour, and it is well worth the effort! The result is an XO that will function very similarly to a regular Business Laptop.
With a 2GB SD card or larger, you can download and install Ubuntu4Business on your XO from here: http://wdsuperhero.com/xo-laptop/
There are dozens of variants to choose from, however the most established and best documented is called Teapot's Ubuntu 8.10 which is a version of Ubuntu Linux. The Ubuntu4Business above is simply Teapot's Ubuntu, with a number of the common programs and tweaks already implemented for the new user. However to read an extensive forum on Teapot's Ubuntu, look here: http://www.olpcnews.com/forum/index.php?topic=4053.0
and to read summaries of tweaks to Teapot's Ubuntu, and to find dozens of other operating system variants, including ones that boot off of the internal NAND (solid hard drive), or a tiny 16 MB USB memory stick, look here: http://www.olpcnews.com/forum/index.php?board=68.0
Old info: Here is a great script to turn a G1G1 laptop into more of a business machine: http://olpcnews.com/forum/index.php?topic=2418.msg19950#msg19950 I don't think this "Adult Script" has been tested recently. So much of it may not work on Build 767 or newer.
Do note that a script cannot be easily created on a PC. The script file should be made on a Linux machine, otherwise it won't work as a script. In addition, the "permissions" of the script file may need to be changed. For example, before running a Linux made script file named: "smile", it first needs to have its permissions changed by typing, "chmod +x smile" then it can be executed by typing "./smile" ENTER.
If you haven't seen Installing XFCE that is a good place to start.
Additionally, Cathy's Notes is very useful.
There are also hundreds of Linux programs and games that can be installed and used from within the "Terminal" environment.
Examples include:
Excel spreadsheet program "gnumeric", enter "Terminal", then type "su" enter. Then type:
yum install gnumeric
after hitting ENTER, it should install gnumeric after several seconds.
To Run, simply re-enter (if necessary) "Terminal" Activity, and type "gnumeric" and voila, you have access to a full featured, open source spreadsheet program.
Word Processing can be done with Abiword:
yum install abiword
Feature-rich web-browsers check out: Opera or try:
yum install opera
However the latest Firefox web browser Activity worked better for me than the Opera browser.
PDF Viewers:
yum install xpda
There are several very helpful forums available, where many common problems are discussed and solutions presented:
OLPC Laptop hosted forum
OLPC News Forum
Other Linux forums, good for finding programs/applications:
Ubuntu Forums