Release notes/10.1.2

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Purpose

An update to software release 10.1.1 for XO-1.5 laptops that is also available for XO-1 laptops. It is the first release to bring the Fedora 11 base operating environment, Sugar 0.84, and the GNOME desktop to XO-1 laptops.

Installation

XO-1.5

How to install signed build os852 of release 10.1.2 on XO-1.5.

The build is installed to the internal microSD device. You will need a USB drive of at least 1 GB capacity, but only for the duration of the installation.

ALL USER DATA WILL BE ERASED FROM THE LAPTOP!

• Prepare the USB drive:
  • Download os852.zd,
  • Save the file to the top directory of the USB drive,
  • Download os852.zsp.fs.zip,
  • Save the file to the top directory of the same USB drive,
  • Rename the file to fs.zip, (removing the os852.zsp part of the name),
  • Check the USB drive contains at least the two files fs.zip and os852.zd.

• Prepare the laptop:
  • Make a copy of any data you wish to keep,
  • Check the battery is inserted and locked,
  • Check that the power cord is in place and the battery indicator is green,
  • Turn off the laptop, unless it is already off,
  • Insert the USB drive into any USB port on the laptop,

• Start installing:
  • Hold down all four game keys (see this in pictures),
  • Turn on the laptop,
  • Wait for the message Release the game keys to continue,
  • Release the game keys.

Installation progress will be displayed. Green colour will fill grey blocks. It will take about ten minutes. Once finished, the laptop will reboot automatically. Remove the USB drive during or after the reboot. The USB drive can be used on other laptops.

If you see a message Boot failed then either:

• the USB drive has not been properly prepared, or;
• the firmware is out of date and should be updated (see Firmware).

XO-1

How to install signed build os852 of release 10.1.2 on XO-1.

The build is installed to the internal NAND flash device. You will need a USB drive of at least 1 GB capacity, but only for the duration of the installation.

ALL USER DATA WILL BE ERASED FROM THE LAPTOP!

• Prepare the USB drive:
  • Download os852.img,
  • Save the file to the top directory of the USB drive,
  • Download os852.img.fs.zip,
  • Save the file to the top directory of the same USB drive,
  • Rename the file to fs.zip, (removing the os852.img part of the name),
  • Check the USB drive contains at least the two files fs.zip and os852.img.

• Prepare the laptop:
  • Make a copy of any data you wish to keep,
  • Check the battery is inserted and locked,
  • Check that the power cord is in place and the battery indicator is green,
  • Turn off the laptop, unless it is already off,
  • Insert the USB drive into any USB port on the laptop,

• Start installing:
  • Hold down all four game keys (see this in pictures),
  • Turn on the laptop,
  • Wait for the message Release the game keys to continue,
  • Release the game keys.

Installation progress will be displayed. Green colour will fill yellow blocks. It will take about five minutes. Once finished, the laptop will reboot automatically. Remove the USB drive during or after the reboot. The USB drive can be used on other laptops.

If you see a message Boot failed then either:

• the USB drive has not been properly prepared, or;
• the firmware is out of date and should be updated (see Firmware).

Update

You may wish to update from a previous version of the operating system. This method preserves most user data, Sugar journal and installed Sugar activities, but does not preserve certain operating system customisations such as additional packages.

(Update is distinct from install. If you have followed the install procedures above, then you need not follow this section.)

Compatibility

A few previous versions do not support this method. Here are the known working update combinations:

• release 8.2.1 (build os802.img and gg-802-1.img) to release 10.1.2 on XO-1,
• release 10.1.0 to release 10.1.2 on XO-1.5,
• release 10.1.1 to release 10.1.2 on XO-1.5.

We have tested online update from 8.2.1 (<trac>10278</trac>). It requires roughly 470MB of free space, 350MB of downloads, and five hours on a high latency connection.

We have tested offline update from 8.2.1. It requires roughly 470MB of free space, 914MB of downloads, and roughly 50 minutes on a laptop with no journal entries.

Following update of the operating system, Software update of activities may require as much as 220MB again depending on what is selected. For release 8.2.1 (build gg-802-1.img) to release 10.1.2 on XO-1, there is not enough free space with the default list of activities, you must delete some first, or remove the previous operating system version before running Software update. See <trac>10278</trac>.

(Because of the time and download cost, it may be more appropriate to install afresh, which is roughly 700MB of downloads and no more than about twenty minutes of installation.)

Known Problems

After an operating system update there are a few known problems:

• all known wireless access points are forgotten, and you must choose an access point again,
• the Browse activity will not start, and must be updated with the Software update icon in My Settings before it will work again,
• the "Journal is full" message is likely to appear if not enough space has been made prior to update, and you may need to remove journal entries, activities, or the previous operating system version to bring the system back to normal operation.

Preparation

To prepare for an operating system update:

• remove as much saved content as you no longer need,
• remove any large activities you no longer need, and;
• use Software update to ensure the Terminal activity is the latest available version.

Follow the instructions in one of the subsections below, according to which method and laptop model you are using.

Simple Online Update

• establish an internet connection from the laptop (if you plan to do online update),
• start the laptop normally,
• start the Terminal Activity, and depending on the laptop model type:

XO-1.5

sudo olpc-update 10.1.2_xo1.5-852

XO-1

sudo olpc-update 10.1.2_xo1-852

See Simple Online Update for more detail about the method.

Simple Offline Update

• download a .usb and .toc file,
  • for XO-1.5
    • os852.usb,
    • os852.toc,
  • for XO-1
    • os852.usb,
    • os852.toc,
• put them on a USB drive,
• boot the laptop normally,
• plug the USB drive into the laptop,
• start the Terminal Activity, and type:

sudo olpc-update --usb

See Simple Offline Update for more detail about the method.

New features

For new features relative to 8.2.1, please see the New features sections of 10.1.0 and 10.1.1. New features relative to 10.1.1 are:

• support for XO-1.5 HS (High School) laptop.

No other new features were added.

Known Problems

Sugar

Record activity video recording may pause

When recording a video of a very complex natural scene, such as moving vegetation, the recording may pause. If this happens, reducing camera movement may allow the laptop to catch up. The pause is visible on playback.

On XO-1.5, switch to Low quality and try again. XO-1 only has Low quality.

On XO-1.5, the class of SD card ordered by the deployment will have some bearing on the video recording performance. Lower class cards such as Class 2 are more likely to experience pauses during recording. Higher class cards such as Class 6 are less likely to experience pauses.

In the previous release 8.2.1, the pause was spread throughout the recording, lowering the effective frame rate. In this release the frame rate is kept as fast as possible until the pause is unavoidable.

Distance activity may be unreliable

When measuring distance greater than about a meter, the activity may begin to report 14m regardless of the distance. This is being tracked by developers in <trac>10122</trac>.

Some Language Support Removed

Your language preference may not be available in the Sugar -> My Settings -> Language control panel icon.

Compared to the previous 8.2.1 release for XO-1, this release removes several languages that are not required by the current mass deployments of XO-1.5, in order to conserve disk space on the smallest configuration that can be ordered. The languages Italian, Greek, Thai, Japanese, German, Telugu, and Turkish were among those removed. 150Mb was conserved. This was tracked in <trac>9982</trac>.

These languages can be added back by small deployments that require them, by regenerating the build.

Under the tree is not automatic when mixing laptop models

In the absence of a wireless access point, a group of mixed XO-1 and XO-1.5 laptops will not automatically begin to collaborate over wireless. A workaround is to create a new wireless network from one of the laptops (frame key, right-click on wireless icon), and then join it from the other laptops. Development is continuing toward a fix, and it is nearly solved, see <trac>9845</trac>.

Restoring wireless connection takes too long

It can take between 30 and 35 seconds before wireless access points are detected or the wireless connection is restored after:

• opening the lid, or resuming from suspend, <trac>9854</trac>
• manually turning the radio back on, <trac>10272</trac>

GNOME

Repeating file browser window

A new file browser window may appear as the system wakes if a USB or SD card is inserted, <trac>10306</trac>.

Fedora

CUPS Documentation

If CUPS is to be installed, the documentation used by the web browser won't be available. To fix this, remove the _excludedocs macro from /etc/rpm/macros.imgcreate before installing CUPS. <trac>10283</trac>.

XO-1.5

XO-1.5 External SD cards may not boot

Some types of SD card may not boot when placed in the external slot of an XO-1.5. This is due to an electrical design error, which is being fixed for XO-1.75.

Solution: upgrade to firmware q3a62 or later, which includes a fix that does not require electrical design change.

See (<trac>10512</trac>) for technical detail.

XO-1.5 Will not turn on if rotate key held down

The laptop will not turn on if the rotate key is held down while the power button is pressed. Once this occurs, the laptop will not turn on at all.

This was caused by a firmware test harness being left in place.

Corrective procedure: remove external power and battery, then restore battery, then try turning on the laptop again.

Workaround: do not press the rotate key when the laptop is off.

Solution: replacement embedded controller firmware has been provided, please upgrade to q3a61 or later.

Reference: <trac>10411</trac>.

XO-1.5 Uncommanded resume may occur in racks

Due to the proximity of the lid sensor activation magnet from an adjacent laptop, the laptop may resume from suspend when placed next to another laptop in a rack. Under a concatenation of other circumstances, such as charging, a running activity, automatic power management disabled, and high room temperature, the laptop may grow quite hot, possibly hot enough to melt the plastic.

Workaround: ensure the laptop is shutdown before placing it in a rack.

XO-1.5 No screen rotation

The screen rotation key (on the bottom left of the display) does not rotate the screen image. It is safe to use, but makes no change. Developers are working on rotation support in the graphics driver. (<trac>9350</trac>)

XO-1.5 Record activity preview black on lid close and open

With the Record activity on screen displaying a preview of the camera image, closing the laptop lid for long enough to cause a suspend, and then opening it, results in the preview going black.

If this happens, the preview can be restored by pressing Alt/Tab, or switching between Sugar views using the keyboard keys or the frame icons.

The black preview does not affect the taking of photographs, or recording of video. If a video recording is being made, there will be a segment of time missing in the playback.

Developers are aware of the problem. (<trac>10068</trac>)

XO-1.5 Low Audio Volume

When comparing an XO-1 to an XO-1.5, the maximum audio volume will be low on the XO-1.5. <trac>10235</trac>

XO-1

XO-1 Automatic power management issues

With My Settings -> Power -> Automatic power management turned on:

• wireless network connectivity may fail, <trac>10232</trac>, or take some time to resume, <trac>9854</trac>, <trac>10272</trac>,
• touchpad may seem slow to respond as the system wakes, <trac>10233</trac>,
• in GNOME a new file browser window may appear as the system wakes if a USB or SD card is inserted, <trac>10306</trac>.

Bugs fixed

Compared against 8.2.1, the bugs fixed were not thoroughly tracked, but they include many fixes by community volunteers and Sugarlabs. Some of these fixes entered community builds that were released between 8.2.1 and 10.1.2.

Compared against 10.1.1, the bugs fixed are listed below in each of the following builds.

os300

The changes that entered in this build were not tracked. It was intended to be practically identical to os206 released in 10.1.1, but with the addition of XO-1 hardware support.

os301

• <trac>10207</trac>, powerd: Fix wake on LAN
• <trac>10208</trac>, kernel: Fix "disable wlan" control panel
• <trac>10209</trac>, sugar: Fix "Start" menu item on activity palette in Sugar
• <trac>10211</trac>, NetworkManager: Fix sporadic mesh connection failure
• <trac>10214</trac>, kernel: Fix gstreamer segfault when using Record
• <trac>10221</trac>, kernel: Fix wlan activity LEDs
• <trac>10219</trac>, Browse: Re-add standard content bundles
• <trac>10228</trac>, kernel: Fix screen blanking events on the VT
• Set nautilus to "browser mode" by default
• Turn on idle-suspend by default
• Temporarily disable pretty boot, to diagnose boot hangs like <trac>9100</trac>

os302

• <trac>10213</trac>, <trac>10249</trac>: XO-1.5 High School fixes for frame and { keys
• <trac>10245</trac>: Fix brightness keys
• New versions of Distance (<trac>10259</trac>), Measure (<trac>10248</trac>), Record
• SocialCalc unintentionally present in this build; will be removed in next.

os303

• kernel, <trac>9323</trac>: Fix viafb color corruption on VT after suspend/resume
• sugar, <trac>10213</trac>: Fix frame key on UY High School laptop
• sugar, <trac>10261</trac>: Fix "sugar-control-panel -c registration"
• sugar, <trac>9623</trac>: Backport disk full fix to 0.84
• powerd: Inhibit suspend when the XO-1 camera is running.

os304

• Include new Q3A48 firmware for XO-1.5
• <trac>10269</trac>, kernel: fix rfkill on XO-1.5
• <trac>10260</trac>, geode: work-around X crash on XO-1 when playing ogg video
• <trac>10266</trac>, sugar: fix resuming activities from Favorites view

os850 (release candidate 1, signed)

• kernel, <trac>10270</trac>: assert wifi reset on XO-1.5 during boot
• sugar, <trac>9623</trac>: another fix for Sugar behavior on disk full
• <trac>10277</trac>: add python-alsaaudio package, which was present in 8.2.1
• Measure, <trac>10248</trac>: ship Measure-31
• Record: ship Record-86

See also the announcement.

os851 (release candidate 2, signed)

• olpc-utils, <trac>10281</trac>: Move pentablet mode initialization to Sugar, on XO-1
• olpc-os-builder, <trac>10280</trac>: Build a .usb image for "olpc-update --usb".
• dracut, <trac>10289</trac>: Always use "eth0" for wifi device
• olpc-utils, <trac>6700</trac> / <trac>10278</trac>: Move root's $HOME to /home/root
• sugar-toolkit, <trac>10218</trac>: Fix crash using Read before data/ exists

os852 (release candidate 3, signed)

• bootfw, <trac>9100</trac>: New OFW version Q2E45 fixes crash during boot on xo-1
• Disable XO-1 idle-suspend for release due to blockers <trac>10232</trac> and <trac>10233</trac>
• bitfrost, <trac>10271</trac>: Fix home view update after Software Update
• kernel, <trac>10233</trac>: Improve resuming from idle-suspend via touchpad on xo-1
• olpc-utils, <trac>10299</trac>: new version of olpc-pwrlog tool
• Speak activity: upgrade to version 18

See also the announcement.