View source for User:Kevgor/Two-Step Reflash to Signed 11.3.0 Build 883 Image using Ntugigroup USB stick

These instructions are used to re-flash an Ntugi group XO to current deployment defaults, using an Ntugi group provided signed build with custom software from a USB thumb drive:

This two-step refresh and install process takes around 30 minutes from start to finish on an XO 1.0; and about an 40 minutes on an XO 1.5 due to more custom software being installed onto the XO 1.5.

The XO 1.0, XO 1.5 and XO 1.75 machines, although similar in look and feel, are of very different architectures with very different capabilities.  The Ntugi build sticks are made unique for each model of machine.  Besides certain software being incompatible, the supplemental script is also optimizing the machines for its specifics.  '''In other words, you must use an XO 1.0 build stick on an XO 1.0, an XO 1.5 stick on a 1.5, and an XO 1.75 stick on a 1.75.'''   They should not be interchanged. 

The first step involves replacing the entire operating system, and the default Sugar Activities, with the master copy, which has been saved onto the labelled USB Refresh stick. Any work previously saved on the XO internal storage since delivery, or any new programs or activities installed on internal storage since delivery, will be erased. All Sugar journal entries from the main storage will also be erased. At the end of this install, the machine internal memory will be exactly as the original image on the USB drive. If this is the same USB drive that was used for the initial deployment, this could alternately be termed: Return to Defaults. Be advised that during in this first step of the process, no changes are made to any external SD cards or other USB flash drives. So, if there is any content you wish to save before the reflash, please ensure it exists either on the SD card, or on a user's USB thumb drive before proceeding. If in doubt, contact the appropriate technical resource to ensure that no valuable information will be lost.

To begin, ensure the XO is turned off.  Plug the charger into the wall, and the other end into the XO. Ensure that XO is fully charged by observing that the green battery light is on. If an XO is completely discharged, it can take a few hours for the yellow light to turn green. Being fully charged and having line power may not be mandatory in all re-flash circumstances, it is the best practice.

Put the Refresh USB stick in the right hand vertical XO USB port.

Press the power button, then quickly hold down all 4 game keys on the front right side beside the display - the ones right above the power button.

Release the game keys when prompted on the screen. If this prompt does not appear, and the machine just continues to boot, then after the system comes up and is running, then power it off elegantly (using the shutdown command. Start again: perhaps being faster on hitting, or more accurate at simultaneously holding down, all 4 game keys.

The screen will now show a grid of black rectangles, followed by a partial grid of yellow rectangles, signifying memory erasure. On an XO 1, It will then slowly fill the yellow rectangles with green and blue rectangles as the operating system is loaded from the USB stick into memory. You will also see the red light from the USB stick flashing during this process, indicating activity. On an XO 1.5, there will be alternating green and white fill rectangles.

When it has finished installing the base image, the Linux Operating system and the two operating desktop environments, Sugar and Gnome are both available on the machine. On first boot, the XO will begin to start the Sugar environment. You will be asked to Name the machine. Please use a unique name.

After naming the machine, you will be prompted to change the colour of the machine icon. You may elect to just hit return here, if having accurately matched coloured icons is not required in your deployment.

Once this phase is complete, you will be at the Sugar Activity Home View screen. After the Linux Operating System and base activities have been loaded, there are still some customized programs and activities to be loaded.  This is done by running a script in the Terminal activity. To prepare, right click on the central XO icon, click on My Settings, click on "Power", and un-check any Power-saving options. Click the right check mark to exit Power settings panel, and click the right-top check mark again to exit "My Settings"

At the top right of the screen there are two small icons. The square with 4 lines across it on the right corresponds to the ‘List View’ of Sugar Activities.  Beside that is the circle which corresponds to selecting the 'Favourites' wheel view of teh activity icons.   Place the pointer on the square, and hit the left-click button. You will now have changed from the Favourite Home View to the List View of activities. You need to slide down the list using the bar on the right until you see the Terminal activity. Click the ‘star’ icon beside the Terminal activity. Return to the 'Favourite' wheel view, bu hitting the appropriate icon in the top right. Select the Terminal activity icon from the Wheel, the icon resembles a Square with a ">" in the top left corner.  This will now start the Terminal activity.

Besides the regular activity menus and status bars at the top of the screen, you should now see a series of various languages saying “Hello”, and then a command prompt beginning with “[olpc” The cursor is a black rectangle beside the prompt. It is very important to type the following at the prompts *exactly* as they appear below. Failure to do so will cause the machine refresh to be incomplete. In the worst case, you may have to return to the beginning of this document and begin the entire process anew. Enter:

 su -

(There is a space between the “su” and the “-“)

You should see pretty much the same prompt, except it will now start with “[bash” and end with “#”

Enter:

 bash /media/PATRIOT/installrpms.sh

Hit return, and again, the USB stick will flash, signifying activity. For those of you familiar with tab-complete method of command entry, that works here too. You will see various status messages appear; for example:

“New Activities”

followed by many rolling lines of text, and then ending with

“Please reboot”

At this prompt, enter:

 reboot

The system will restart and take you back to the Favorites view of Sugar. You will most likely wish to look at the ‘List View’ of the activities again, and click the star beside any which you would also like to see on the favourites wheel view, that have not aappeared. You will then also need to re-attach to your network, since your previous network settings will have been removed by this refresh. 

Please be reminded that the Network Neighbourhood View key is the 3rd key from the left on the top row of the keyboard, looking like a circle with eight dots in it. To return to the home activity view, one can then use the Home key, which is also on the top row of the keyboard.  It is a circle with a single dot in it. 

If you are connected to a network, perhaps check the browse activity at this time to ensure you have internet connectivity. At this point, you can then switch to the Gnome desktop, through the My Settings panel in Sugar, attach to the desired Network in Gnome, then return to Sugar. This procedure ensures that future boots will automatically attach to the last connected network.

This completes a full refresh of the XO.