Release notes/13.2.1

Overview

OLPC OS 13.2.1 is a software release focusing on adding support for the SIV121C camera, and improving wireless performance.

Features

• added support for the SIV121C camera sensor, necessary for new production orders, and available as a spare part in bulk for XO-1, XO-1.75, and XO-4, see 12785,
• added support for local network service discovery, for compatibility with third-party school server or content appliances, such as Internet-in-a-Box and Khan Academy on Raspberry Pi, <trac>12730</trac>,
• XO-4, lengthen power button long press for forced shutdown, from two to five seconds, required for Android support, will cause user complaints on upgrade if not managed in advance,
• XO-4, dual boot menu in firmware, required for Android and OLPC OS composite builds, but has no impact if Android not included in build,

Bug fixes

Usability

• XO-4, improved wireless download performance with 8787 wireless module, <trac>12694</trac>,
• XO-1, XO-1.5, XO-1.75, and XO-4, improved network scan with 8686 wireless module, see 12757 for impact, and <trac>12757</trac>,

Deployment

• improved firmware compatibility with recent USB flash drives,
• XO-1, restore support for booting from external SD card slot, see 11233 for instructions, and <trac>11233</trac>,
• XO-1.5, fix to SIV120D camera test in firmware, <trac>12625</trac>,
• XO-1.5, XO-1.75 and XO-4, restore support for four game key boot from network, <trac>12740</trac>,
• XO-4, fix for constant power CP configuration setting in firmware, for when a laptop is used as a server, <trac>12751</trac>
• XO-4, fix for adhoc-start failure when used with test-antenna,
• XO-4, fix to prevent leaving battery discharge mode enabled after a battery capacity test,

Development

• XO-1 and XO-1.5, fix for booting new Linux kernels from version 3.9 onwards, <trac>12727</trac>,
• XO-1.5, remove display noise after firmware self test, <trac>12734</trac>,
• minor fix to firmware self test, where WLAN test fails after NTP is used, <trac>12735</trac>,
• minor fix to firmware display driver, prevent unexpected screen clearing, <trac>12765</trac>
• XO-1.75 respin of key injector,
• firmware screenshot tools, for use in preparing documentation,
• XO-1.75 and XO-4, add boost firmware command for switching battery charger on,
• XO-1.75 respin of sdkit, the firmware software development kit.

Installation

Installation is distinct from update. If you have user data on the laptop that you wish to preserve, you may want to follow the Update instructions, below.

XO-4

Note: see 13.2.2 for a more recent hardware enabling release, for laptops manufactured in December 2014 or later.

How to install signed build 14 of release 13.2.1 on XO-4.

The build is installed to the internal storage device. You will need a USB drive or Secure Digital card of at least 1 GB capacity, but only for the duration of the installation. We recommend the drive be FAT formatted, but other formats are supported, see how to prepare a drive for use by the firmware for more details.

ALL USER DATA WILL BE ERASED FROM THE LAPTOP!

• Prepare the USB or SD drive:
  • Download 32014o4.zd, see How to Download,
  • Save the file to the top directory of the drive,
  • Download fs4.zip,
  • Save the file to the top directory of the same drive,
  • Check that the drive contains at least the two files fs4.zip and 32014o4.zd.
• Prepare the laptop:
  • Make a copy of any data you wish to keep,
  • Check that 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 above the power button,
  • 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 five minutes. Once finished, the laptop will reboot automatically. You may remove the USB or SD drive during or after the reboot.

The USB or SD drive can be used on other laptops. If installation progress is not displayed, you may be running an old firmware version which does not recognise the fs4.zip file. Please rename fs4.zip to fs.zip and try again. If you see a message Boot failed then either:

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

XO-1.75

How to install signed build 14 of release 13.2.1 on XO-1.75.

The build is installed to the internal storage device. You will need a USB drive or Secure Digital card of at least 1 GB capacity, but only for the duration of the installation. We recommend the drive be FAT formatted, but other formats are supported, see how to prepare a drive for use by the firmware for more details.

ALL USER DATA WILL BE ERASED FROM THE LAPTOP!

• Prepare the USB or SD drive:
  • Download 32014o2.zd, see How to Download,
  • Save the file to the top directory of the drive,
  • Download fs2.zip,
  • Save the file to the top directory of the same drive,
  • Check that the drive contains at least the two files fs2.zip and 32014o2.zd.
• Prepare the laptop:
  • Make a copy of any data you wish to keep,
  • Check that 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 above the power button,
  • 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 five minutes. Once finished, the laptop will reboot automatically. You may remove the USB or SD drive during or after the reboot.

The USB or SD drive can be used on other laptops. If installation progress is not displayed, you may be running an old firmware version which does not recognise the fs2.zip file. Please rename fs2.zip to fs.zip and try again. If you see a message Boot failed then either:

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

XO-1.5

How to install signed build 14 of release 13.2.1 on XO-1.5.

The build is installed to the internal microSD device. You will need a USB drive or Secure Digital card of at least 1 GB capacity, but only for the duration of the installation. We recommend the drive be FAT formatted, but other formats are supported, see how to prepare a drive for use by the firmware for more details.

ALL USER DATA WILL BE ERASED FROM THE LAPTOP!

• Prepare the USB or SD drive:
  • Download 32014o1.zd, see How to Download,
  • Save the file to the top directory of the drive,
  • Download fs1.zip,
  • Save the file to the top directory of the same drive,
  • Check that the drive contains at least the two files fs1.zip and 32014o1.zd.
• Prepare the laptop:
  • Make a copy of any data you wish to keep,
  • Check that 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 above the power button,
  • 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. You may remove the USB or SD drive during or after the reboot.

The USB or SD drive can be used on other laptops. If installation progress is not displayed, you may be running an old firmware version which does not recognise the fs1.zip file. Please rename fs1.zip to fs.zip and try again. If you see a message Boot failed then either:

• the USB or SD 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 14 of release 13.2.1 on XO-1.

The build is installed to the internal NAND flash device. You will need a USB drive or Secure Digital card of at least 1 GB capacity, but only for the duration of the installation. We recommend the drive be FAT formatted, but other formats are supported, see how to prepare a drive for use by the firmware for more details.

ALL USER DATA WILL BE ERASED FROM THE LAPTOP!

• Prepare the USB or SD drive:
  • Download 32014o0.img, see How to Download,
  • Save the file to the top directory of the drive,
  • Download fs0.zip,
  • Save the file to the top directory of the same drive,
  • Check that the drive contains at least the two files fs0.zip and 32014o0.img.
• Prepare the laptop:
  • Make a copy of any data you wish to keep,
  • Check that 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 above the power button,
  • 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. You may remove the USB or SD drive during or after the reboot.

The USB or SD drive can be used on other laptops. If installation progress is not displayed, you may be running an old firmware version which does not recognise the fs0.zip file. Please rename fs0.zip to fs.zip and try again. If you see a message Boot failed then either:

• the USB or SD 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, the Sugar Journal and installed Sugar Activities, but does not preserve certain operating system customizations such as additional packages.

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

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 (in the Home view, erase them),
• remove any large collections (library content) 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

See Simple Online Update for more detail about the method.

• 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-4

sudo olpc-update 13.2.1_xo4-14

XO-1.75

sudo olpc-update 13.2.1_xo1.75-14

XO-1.5

sudo olpc-update 13.2.1_xo1.5-14

XO-1

sudo olpc-update 13.2.1_xo1-14

Simple Offline Update

• Download a .usb and .toc file, see How to Download,
  • for XO-4
    • 32014o4.usb,
    • 32014o4.toc,
  • for XO-1.75
    • 32014o2.usb,
    • 32014o2.toc,
  • for XO-1.5
    • 32014o1.usb,
    • 32014o1.toc,
  • for XO-1
    • 32014o0.usb,
    • 32014o0.toc,
• Put them on a USB drive,
• If upgrading from a pre-2012 build, rename the files to os0.usb and os0.toc
  • This is because the old OS releases do not recognise any filenames that don't start with "os"
• 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.

After the Update

• Sugar will attempt to update its Activities -- you should be online for the Activity Updater to complete.

Known problems

This section lists significant known issues that we hope to solve in future releases.

If deployments have solid plans and schedules to deploy this release but feel blocked by some of these issues in particular, they are encouraged to get in contact with OLPC far in advance of the installation date. OLPC may be able to produce a limited scope point-release fixing highlighted issues.

• XO-4 may hang before suspend in an ad-hoc network, workaround is to deploy the previous version of the 8787 firmware, see <trac>12767</trac>,
• XO-4 may lose wireless network if associated with a WPA2 access point while automatically sleeping and waking, problem can be reduced by decreasing the enthusiasm of the power management system, workaround is to reboot, <trac>12779</trac>,

Rather than restate all other known problems, see Release notes/13.2.0.