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<div style="font-size:90%; float:right;">
=Laptop News 2007-09-22=
__TOC__
1. David Cavallo has formed a learning team that will work with countries to develop their own learning teams. The goal is to help each country develop a deeper understanding and richer practice in using laptops for learning. We will hold workshops at OLPC each month, work in countries, and collaborate internationally. The first workshops in countries will be in Ethiopia, Ghana, Rwanda and Nigeria during October.
</div>


To contribute a story or news idea, see the '''[[OLPC:Newsroom|OLPC newsroom]]'''.
2. Schedule: We still have not gotten to a full code freeze as there are too many open critical bugs. If you have blocking or high-priority bugs open for Trial-3, please help us by analyzing the work load, making a suggestion for a work-around or how to document the issue, and setting the bug to “untriaged” so that the triage team will review it. Please check with Jim Gettys or Kim Quirk before checking in any code changes.


For coverage of recent OLPC updates, see our [[twitter]] feed and [http://blog.laptop.org OLPC blog].
3. Test: Alex Latham updated the test configuration notes in the wiki to address network-access configuration scenarios: two laptops under a tree; laptop connected to an access point; and laptop connected to a school server mesh. There are also some additional configuration notes and test plans for localization (See [[Test_issues]]). Alex Khitrick and Yani Galanis have both “joined” the test team this week to help with executing test cases, debugging, and writing up bugs.


This page historically hosted announcements and news about OLPC, along with the Sugar Labs [http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Sugar_Labs/Current_Events '''current events'''] page.
4. Hardware: The hardware team (which includes people from Quanta and AMD) spent this week trying to track down some of the remaining problems with suspend/resume. We have reached a point where many laptops are running for hundreds of thousands of cycles without crashing, but occasional crashes still occur (and some laptops are more susceptible than others.) No other laptop comes close; but neither do they have our ambition to suspending between each page read (or maybe even suspending between keystrokes), with potentially thousands of page views/day.


== Upcoming pieces ==
The low noise margin of the +3.3V line that powers most inter-chip communication (and the WLAN) on the laptop was the big surprise. An even bigger surprise was that the margin was critically dependent on battery voltage! When the battery was low, our 3.3V supply was dropping to below 3.15V, due to insufficiently turning on the transistor used to switch +3.3V off during suspend.
; Claudia
: Learning Chat piece: 278 words, ready now. [[File:Learning Chat.docx]]
: Making Learning Visible: Claudia's (& Walter) original is 25 pages. Submitted to a journal. w/o OLPC Background it is down to 12-15 pages w/ screenshots.
: This can become a 4-part series.
; Antonio: Homo docens: 500+ words, Antonio approved my edits. [[File:Homo docens JLedits.docx]]
: Further work: we can definitely ask him to contribute on a quarterly basis but I've found that I have to be very specific as to what I am asking to do and he has to be comfortable that it is consistent with his academic work.
: Ask for a new piece on the epidemiology of learning
; Rodrigo:
: [[Ometepe]] - A beautiful piece with wonderful images. RAH posted a personal and lengthy version (1500+ words) that he shared with his private distribution list. I made an edited version (1200 words) that could be shared publicly. Must check with RAH on this. [[File:Ometepe articulo por Rodrigo Arboleda.pdf]] [[File:Ometepe by Rodrigo Arboleda (3).pdf]]
: I had hoped that we could do a video series with Rodrigo but the budget hasn't been approved. Giulia - can we get an answer on this?
; Rwanda:
: Rwanda case studies
: Ceri Whatley - summary of importance of headmasters - confirm subset to reuse
: Social mapping project - 1- or 2-part piece - check w/ Julia
: Grandmother project - 2- or 3-part piece - check w/ Julia (and is there more to that awesome series?)
; Other Africa
: So. Africa case studies
; Peru and Uruguay:
: ''Oscar B's piece on the IADB study?''
: You said that Uruguay and Peru produce a ton of content on a continuous basis. I'm struggling a bit with how we can easily get the content and translate it into English. Giulia - could Olga help? I don't want to burden her with more work. Maybe we do this every 2-3 months.
; Other LatAm:
: Colombia: Sandra's quarterly? newsletter and website could feed into this. Plus english translations.
: Nicaragua: Regular update, beyond Ometepe?
: Paraguay: Contact [[ParaguayEduca]]
: Mexico: Ask Mariana @ OLPCMexico
; OLPC Australia: Great text and videos.
; OLPC Europe: Quarterly update from them?
; OLPC Oceania: Quarterly updates from Mike Hutak
; OLPC Jamaica: Quarterly update from Sameer, good videos.
; North America
: Miami - David! and a story from Chester
: Canada - Jennifer Martino, Q


== News archives ==
John Watlington and Quanta have a proposed solution which is being tested. We hope that improving this will close out the “unable to resume via power button or wireless” bug completely (See http://dev.laptop.org/ticket/1835)—it was actually two distinct problems, one of which was fixed last week—and we have reason to hope that it might be at least partially responsible for the “USB wireless suspend/resume failure at setup phase” bugs (See http://dev.laptop.org/ticket/1752 and 2621).


'''[http://lists.laptop.org/pipermail/community-news/ Weekly OLPC News postings]''' to the community-news mailing list give updates on recent work. Weekly summaries were also posted on-wiki during [[OLPC:News/2008|2008]]. Weekly postings to the list were put on hold at the start of 2009, and started again in 2010.
Note: anyone working on a suspend/resume problem should keep their machine plugged into line power until it has been properly modified.


Archives: [[OLPC:News/Archive 1|2005-2006]]
Chris Ball ran overnight tests on many of the proposed hardware changes. The wireless resume bugs are now occurring rarely enough to have taken a backseat to other kernel bugs related to resume (See http://dev.laptop.org/ticket/3477 and 3479).
| [[OLPC:News/Archive 2|2007]]
| [[OLPC:News/Archive 3|2008]]
| [[OLPC:News/Archive 4|2009-10]]


=== Translations ===
5. Firmware: Mitch Bradley released Q2C27, the firmware released planned for Trial-3. It includes secure boot capability (but can also boot in a non-secure fashion). It has been tested on B1, B2-1, pre-B3, B3, and B4 systems. Do not use it on pre-B1 boards—it will brick them because of changes to the embedded controller (EC) microcode. Also note that it does not work on A-Test boards as support for A-Test has been eliminated from the EC microcode.
Sporadic translations of news archives from 2008 and earlier can be found here:
: [[OLPC:News/lang-de|German]] | [[OLPC:News/lang-es|Spanish]] | [[OLPC:News/lang-ja|Japanese]] | [[OLPC:News/lang-ko|Korean]]


== [[OLPC:Videos|OLPC videos]] ==
6. EC code: Richard Smith re-factored the way the EC does its startup procedure so that an automatic restart now happens after a reflash. This involved re-working the way the IO maps (B2,B3,B4,C1) were detected. Alas, the rework seems to have broken the power button; when Richard gets that issue sorted out, we should be able to to fully automatic firmware updates.
For a history of videos about OLPC and the XO, see [http://olpc.tv olpc.tv] and [[OLPC:Videos]].


== Sugar news ==
7. X Window System: Bernie Innocenti has been working mostly on visual bugs this week. The “iGoogle” bug was hard to find and easy to fix. The “green icons” bug was easy to find and hard to fix. Bernie has also pushed the Ethiopian and Urdu fonts in the builds.
Walter continues to post summaries of Sugar development '''[http://walterbender.org/?cat=3 on his blog]'''.


== Press ==
8. Security and updates: Scott Ananian and Michael Stone worked closely together to implement the “live updates” feature (See http://dev.laptop.org/ticket/2517). This feature, available since Build 595, allows the laptop user to run the command “olpc-update NNN” to update to Build NNN. Scott worked with Michael Stone to get an initial in-system network upgrade in place. After completing live updates, they discovered certain inefficiencies in our implementation of manifest verification. Michael profiled the software and, with Scott and Ivan Krstić's help, developed an enhancement that halves the time required to verify a manifest. Scott improved the speed of the in-place upgrade by 10× by rewriting contents verification.
For an archive of OLPC media coverage, see the [[OLPC:Press/2005-2008|2005-2008 press archives]].


== Past announcements ==
Scott worked with Mitch Bradley on shaking out the secure-boot process. Among other things, they tweaked the developer and activation lease
Developed through 2011 by the Racepoint Group, OLPC's ''pro bono'' PR firm.
formats based on suggestions from Michael Stone and SJ Klein. Scott also worked on creating a pure-Linux reimplementation of the
auto-reinstallation process, eliminating the two reboots into OFW and making it more compatible with the secure-boot process.


* 2008-08-06 : [[Media:OLPC-Asia.doc|One Laptop per Child expands its presence in Asia]] with project leads in India and China
9. Kernel: Andres Salomon spent the week testing open bugs; he helped folks who were working on the i2c timeout issues, prepared patches for upstream, reviewed lots of patches, and did a cleanup of the olpc-2.6 git repository. The git cleanup means a clone takes only 15 minutes, down from 90 minutes.
* 2008-05-20 : [[Media:XO-2-preview.doc|One Laptop per Child frames the next generation of the revolutionary XO laptop]], with a lighter dual-touchscreen design.
* 2008-05-15 : [[Media:XP-on-XO.doc|Microsoft Windows XP is now available on the XO laptop]]
* 2008-05-03 : [[Media:Kane-appointment.doc|One Laptop per Child appoints Charles Kane as President and Chief Operating Officer]]
* 2008-01-07 : [[Media:G1G1-results.doc|One Laptop per Child Giving Campaign Raises $35 Million]] in 2007
* 2007-12-12 : [http://www.smartbrief.com/news/aaaa/industryPR-detail.jsp?id=2FDAB6BE-AE3B-482F-A7B0-6570C75397E4 ''The Kite Runner'' Inspires Gift Through One Laptop]
* 2007-12-05 : [[Media:Peru-OLPC.doc|Peru launches OLPC with 40,000 laptops]], starting with one-classroom schools across the country.
* 2007-12-04 : [[Media:Birmingham-OLPC.doc|Birmingham, Alabama commits to One Laptop per Child]], with a pilot of 15,000 laptops across the city.
* 2007-11-24 : [http://www.50x15.com/en-us/sol_results_xo.aspx The Holiday Season Starts with Giving One Laptop]
* 2007-10-29 : [[Media:Uruguay-launch.doc|OLPC wins a bid to provide 100,000 laptops to children in Uruguay]], to be overseen by the Uruguayan CEIBAL project
* 2007-10-22 : [http://www.businesswire.com/news/google/20071022005302/en One Laptop per Child creates the world's "greenest" laptop computer]
* 2007-06-11 : [[Media:Mass-production.doc|Mass Production of XO's begins!]] at Quanta's Chinese facilities.
* 2007-01-03 : [http://www.businesswire.com/news/google/20070103005194/en OLPC Announces First-of-Its-Kind User Interface for XO Laptop Computer]


10. Licensing content: Jon Phillips has been leading an effort to integrate Creative Commons licenses into the Journal. Screen shots of his mock ups are in the trac system (See http://dev.laptop.org/ticket/3529).


11. Sound samples: Dr. Richard Boulanger continues to gather together collections of sound samples recorded specifically for OLPC by the team at Open Path Music. The most recent additions are are vocal sounds: animal noises, grunts, groans, growls, etc., plus some singing. These samples are being incorporated into activities such as TamTam.


[[Category:OLPC]]
12. Library: Mako Hill helped rewrite the Javascript bits of the library to use Python templates using the Jinja templating system (See http://jinja.pocoo.org/). This is a more robust implementation if Javascript is turned off. The templates will be reused once we turn on a web server in the builds and change from a model of “update bundle-list on download” to a dynamic view that checks the filesystem.

The default browser page will point to the local content repository and have links to browse the web. Currently, there is are links to:
* google.com, which will auto-redirect to the proper language for the country;
* the school server;
* wiki.laptop.org/go/Home (initially English by default) from which the activity and content bundle download pages will be more prominently linked;
* wiki.clusty.com, to search Wikipedia (initially English by default)
Additional suggestions are welcome.

13. Biology activities: David Stang of ZipcodeZoo is working with Lauren Klein to provide a kid-friendly interface to his database of bug information for bug blitzes. Charles Smith at the EOWilson foundation is working on basic ideas and background information for classes running blitzes. Misha Herscu, a teenager who has already published his first book on herpetology in Massachusetts, is helping organize the work with zipcodezoo. Misha also helped connect the Thai group that was doing their own bug-finding activity with an unusual bug zoo in northern Thailand, who may be able to help them extend the work they have done. and perhaps take some of the first online photos of certain species (See http://www.malaeng.com/).

14. Schuyler Erle, working on mapping and radio projects for UNICEF, has gotten a radio program to work on the XO, which can make the XO an audio receiver and broadcaster.

15. OLPC Philippines http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_Philippines has created a website, this will be a common place to put in notes soon. A project management site in zoho.com is under request for free account on open-source development. Rowen Remis Iral and Timothy Paul Martinez are receiving emails on how to get in touch with the government. List of some contact details are provided to OLPCPH.

=More News=
Laptop News [http://laptop.media.mit.edu/laptopnews.nsf is archived] at [http://laptop.media.mit.edu/laptopnews.nsf/latest/news Laptop News].
Also on [http://lists.laptop.org/pipermail/community-news/ community-news].

You can subscribe to the OLPC community-news mailing list by visiting the [http://mailman.laptop.org/mailman/listinfo/community-news laptop.org mailman site].

Press requests: please send email to press@racepointgroup.com

=[[Milestones]]=
Latest milestones:
{{:Milestones}} <!-- Translators, you can either include the english version or the translated version -- it does NOT work with redirects -->
All milestones can be found [[Milestones|here]].


{{anchor|PRESS}}
=[[PRESS|Press]]=
{{:Press}}
More articles can be found [[Press|here]].

=[[Video of the OLPC | Video]]=
Miscellaneous videos of the laptop can be found [[Video of the OLPC|here]].

* A collection of several videos can found at [http://www.olpc.tv OLPC.TV]
* IBM Podcast, Walter Bender on One Laptop per Child [http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/podcast/dwi/cm-int042407.html]
* Ivan Krstić delivers a [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4285568518538296189 technical presentation of OLPC] at the Google TechTalk series
*60 Minutes, What if Every Child had a Laptop [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/20/60minutes/main2830058.shtml]
*CNN, Should Intel Fear $100 Laptop? [http://money.cnn.com/services/video/]
*Red Hat Magazine: Inside One Laptop per Child, [http://www.redhatmagazine.com/2007/07/25/inside-one-laptop-per-child-episode-04/ Episode Four]
*Red Hat Magazine: Inside One Laptop per Child, [http://www.redhatmagazine.com/2007/06/08/inside-one-laptop-per-child-episode-03/ Episode Three]
*Red Hat Magazine: Inside One Laptop per Child, [http://www.redhatmagazine.com/2007/04/25/inside-one-laptop-per-child-episode-02/ Episode Two]
*Red Hat Magazine: Inside One Laptop per Child, [http://www.redhatmagazine.com/2007/03/23/inside-one-laptop-per-child-episode-one/ Episode One]
* OLPC [http://www.sf.tv/var/videoplayer.php?videourl=http%3A%2F%2Freal.xobix.ch%2Framgen%2Fsfdrs%2F10vor10%2F2007%2F10vor10_26012007.rm%3Fstart%3D0%3A05%3A20.498%26amp%3Bend%3D0%3A09%3A50.738 Video from Switzerland], 26.01.2007
*Interview with Nicholas Negroponte [http://www.acm.org/pubs/cie/jan2006/clips/nicholas_negroponte.mov on the &100 Laptop]
*Presentation by Jim Gettys at [http://www.techpresentations.com/2007/03/07/one-laptop-per-child/ FOSDEM 2007]
*GLOBO- BRASIL: Crianças testam computador portátil/ [http://video.globo.com/Videos/Player/Noticias/0,,GIM607884-7823-CRIANCAS+TESTAM+COMPUTADOR+PORTATIL,00.html Students test the laptop]
*Mark Foster delivers presentation to [http://stanford-online.stanford.edu/courses/ee380/061004-ee380-300.asx Stanford University]
* Technology Review [http://www.technologyreview.com/video/laptop Mini-Documentary]
* A Brief [http://www.radiofarda.com/Article/2007/01/04/f2_Interview-laptop.html Demo]

Latest revision as of 23:06, 5 August 2013

The contents of this page are considered outdated and some of the information may be stale. Please use information here with caution, or update it.
  This page is monitored by the OLPC team.

To contribute a story or news idea, see the OLPC newsroom.

For coverage of recent OLPC updates, see our twitter feed and OLPC blog.

This page historically hosted announcements and news about OLPC, along with the Sugar Labs current events page.

Upcoming pieces

Claudia
Learning Chat piece: 278 words, ready now. File:Learning Chat.docx
Making Learning Visible: Claudia's (& Walter) original is 25 pages. Submitted to a journal. w/o OLPC Background it is down to 12-15 pages w/ screenshots.
This can become a 4-part series.
Antonio
Homo docens: 500+ words, Antonio approved my edits. File:Homo docens JLedits.docx
Further work: we can definitely ask him to contribute on a quarterly basis but I've found that I have to be very specific as to what I am asking to do and he has to be comfortable that it is consistent with his academic work.
Ask for a new piece on the epidemiology of learning
Rodrigo
Ometepe - A beautiful piece with wonderful images. RAH posted a personal and lengthy version (1500+ words) that he shared with his private distribution list. I made an edited version (1200 words) that could be shared publicly. Must check with RAH on this. File:Ometepe articulo por Rodrigo Arboleda.pdf File:Ometepe by Rodrigo Arboleda (3).pdf
I had hoped that we could do a video series with Rodrigo but the budget hasn't been approved. Giulia - can we get an answer on this?
Rwanda
Rwanda case studies
Ceri Whatley - summary of importance of headmasters - confirm subset to reuse
Social mapping project - 1- or 2-part piece - check w/ Julia
Grandmother project - 2- or 3-part piece - check w/ Julia (and is there more to that awesome series?)
Other Africa
So. Africa case studies
Peru and Uruguay
Oscar B's piece on the IADB study?
You said that Uruguay and Peru produce a ton of content on a continuous basis. I'm struggling a bit with how we can easily get the content and translate it into English. Giulia - could Olga help? I don't want to burden her with more work. Maybe we do this every 2-3 months.
Other LatAm
Colombia: Sandra's quarterly? newsletter and website could feed into this. Plus english translations.
Nicaragua: Regular update, beyond Ometepe?
Paraguay: Contact ParaguayEduca
Mexico: Ask Mariana @ OLPCMexico
OLPC Australia
Great text and videos.
OLPC Europe
Quarterly update from them?
OLPC Oceania
Quarterly updates from Mike Hutak
OLPC Jamaica
Quarterly update from Sameer, good videos.
North America
Miami - David! and a story from Chester
Canada - Jennifer Martino, Q

News archives

Weekly OLPC News postings to the community-news mailing list give updates on recent work. Weekly summaries were also posted on-wiki during 2008. Weekly postings to the list were put on hold at the start of 2009, and started again in 2010.

Archives: 2005-2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009-10

Translations

Sporadic translations of news archives from 2008 and earlier can be found here:

German | Spanish | Japanese | Korean

OLPC videos

For a history of videos about OLPC and the XO, see olpc.tv and OLPC:Videos.

Sugar news

Walter continues to post summaries of Sugar development on his blog.

Press

For an archive of OLPC media coverage, see the 2005-2008 press archives.

Past announcements

Developed through 2011 by the Racepoint Group, OLPC's pro bono PR firm.

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