Stable Upgrade
This page has a more up-to-date location:
This page is about updating the system software on your XO laptop to a "stable" release. It arrived running a stable release, and perhaps other stable releases have been made. A stable release is distinguished from other software "builds" by being signed with a crypto key that ony OLPC has, marking it as a suitable software release for ordinary people using the laptop. (As opposed to more adventurous people, who might want to run builds in development, or even improved software not written by OLPC. Anyone is free to do so; this capability is required by the GNU General Public License that governs much of the software. And by OLPC on free/open source software, the company policy on freedom for the users of its software. See #Advanced upgrades below.)
The latest stable build is:
- 13.2.11 || 2020-01-29.
(the Releases page lists other releases that have been made and are planned.)
To see what version of the system software your laptop is running, follow How to check the OS and firmware versions. If you have an earlier build, you can upgrade to this build using the olpc-update command if you have Internet access. Read the release notes for the build first.
This page also describes another approach using a USB flash drive.
To upgrade using a USB flash drive(will overwrite all saved data)
Copy any files you would like to keep onto another data storage device (USB flash drive, another laptop, etc...)
First you need to create a USB flash drive with the latest stable build:
- Make sure that your USB flash drive is formatted as FAT or FAT32, and only contains 1 partition. Most ordinary USB flash drives are set up this way, except "U3" flash drives which won't work. U3 can be removed with this software: http://www.u3.com/uninstall
- Go to the jffs2 download page for stable build, http://download.laptop.org/xo-1/os/official/
- Download two files to your local computer: fs.zip (about 200k), and osXXX.img (about 300M); where XXX is the build number.
- These files will be found in /build_number/jffs2
- Put these two files on the USB flash drive at the root directory. Remove any other files on the USB flash drive.
Next, upgrade your laptop:
- Ensure you have both a power adapter and a battery plugged into the laptop (verify that the power adaptor is plugged into the wall outlet ;-) .
- Insert the USB flash drive into the laptop while it is powered off.
- Hold down all four gamekeys on the right then push the power button.
- Release the gamekeys when directed.
A map of blocks of the internal NAND Flash memory will be displayed. First the memory blocks of the internal memory will be erased (your USB flash drive might indicate activity, but don't worry) and then will be overwritten with the content of the USB flash drive. This process takes a few minutes. Finally a message appears stating that the latop will reboot in 10 seconds. It does so. The first boot takes a bit longer than subsequent ones.
Advanced upgrades
To upgrade to a non-stable release, you must have a developer key.