Installing XSCE on an XO1

Overview

The XO-1 is a relatively older, and slower machine. It is not capable of supporting as many classroom client XO's as the later machines. But it is often freely available, and might be able to service a small class of 10-15 student machines (testing is still needed to find the upper limit).

As you can see from the hardware chart, the XO-1 has 256MB of RAM, and has 1GB of flash disk memory (about 700MB are required for the basic XO operating system, before any additional XSCE code is added). And the XSCE code itself take about 1.3GB. So the install process for XSCE, if it is going to work at all, needs a lot of help.

The first part of the install process disables the Graphical User Interface (GUI) because it takes RAM away from the install process (there is only 256MB available).

Also, the install will refuse to proceed if there is no SD card present in the optional slot at the lower right corner of the screen. This SD card should be fast, (class 10 is currently available), and at least 4 GB. Larger SD cards will be able to store student backups, and content, activities, and other services to the student's XO's. The 2013 typical prices of SD cards are:

Size	Dollars
4GB	$7
8GB	$8
16GB	$13
32GB	$23
64GB	$42

So there's really no point in using anything less than 8GB.

Later in the install process, the USB ethernet dongle, and wifi access point will need to be inserted in the USB ports (they can be installed before the process is begun).

XO Laptop Hardware Comparison chart

XO	Processor/Speed	Memory	Hard Disk	Idle Power	Install Time	Details Link
1.0	Geode/433MHz	256MB	1GB	7W	100Minutes	XO-1
1.5	Via/400-1000MHz	1000MB	4GB	5W	70Min	XO-1.5
1.75	ARM/800mHz	512MB	4-8GB*	2W	60Min	XO-1.75
4	dual core ARM/1000mHz	1-2GB*	4-8GB*	2W	40min	XO-4

• optional memory and flash disk--usually the lower of the values