Release notes/13.2.3

Overview

13.2.3 is an OLPC OS release, adding support for Sugar 0.104, dual core (on XO-4), a new battery module (on XO-4), an 802.11n wireless card (on XO-1.75), a new eMMC part, and a new camera. The target platforms are XO-1.75 and XO-4. Community builds may be available for older models.

Features

• based on Fedora 18,
• based on Sugar 0.104, see release notes, with new activities, a new activity updater, display background control panel, a backup control panel, and web services,
• support for new backlight LEDs to be used by factory <trac>12854</trac>,
• support for new camera sensor siv121d <trac>12861</trac>,
• support for new 16 GB eMMC internal storage,
• about my computer shows extra details,
• Wikipedia EN and ES have been replaced by the Simple English Wikipedia activity,

XO-4

• enabling the second core of the dual core CPU, which improves responsiveness,
• support for new LiPoly battery used by factory,

XO-1.75

• limited support for the 8787 wireless card,

Installation

XO-4

How to install signed build 16 of release 13.2.3 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 32016o4.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 32016o4.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 16 of release 13.2.3 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 32016o2.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 32016o2.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).

Fixes

• remove "failed to start" messages that may occur when an activity is started twice 90 seconds apart, Sugar Labs ticket #2974,
• remove conflicts during yum upgrade of the kernel package, <trac>11641</trac>,
• a new version of the journal datastore backup client for use with school servers,
• addition of the ntpdate package for clock synchronisation,
• a slightly lower default screen brightness after boot,

Known Problems

The following known problems should be considered for impact to deployment support teams.

XO-4 External Power Mandatory for Upgrade

On an XO-4, when upgrading to 13.2.3 or later from a previous release, both a battery and external power must be present, so that the firmware upgrade will complete.

Without the firmware upgrade to Q7C05, our dual-core kernel will not boot. If this happens, turn off the XO-4, add battery and external power, and turn it back on while holding down the X game key. The firmware upgrade should occur and the kernel should boot.

To return to a build before 13.2.3 or 14.1.0, install Q7B45 or later firmware in the Q7B series.

This is because changes to firmware and kernel needed to occur at the same time.

XO-1.75 with 8787 Wireless Card Loses Connection

After replacing the wireless card in an XO-1.75 with the IEEE 802.11n card as used by the XO-4, connection is lost if the system is allowed to suspend.

An easy workaround is to turn off automatic power management and reboot.

A more complex workaround is to change /etc/powerd/powerd.conf so that:

config_WAKE_ON_WLAN="no"

and then reboot.

See <trac>12870</trac>.

Welcome Activity Missing

The new version of Sugar does not start the Welcome activity on first boot. See <trac>12869</trac>.

XO-1.75 Sugar Frame Audio Icon Missing

The audio device icon in the Sugar frame has been hidden because it did not work. See <trac>12867</trac> for details.

Restricted Software

Restricted software, such as browser plugins, codecs, and so forth, is not included in the public release. Deployments who need this software should make their own builds, see OS_Builder/Add_Restricted.

Khan Academy video playback pauses

When built with restricted software, video playback using the player on the Khan Academy web site is silent and stalls frequently. The same video works fine in YouTube or by direct download.