Release notes/13.2.9

Overview

13.2.9 is an OLPC OS release. The target platforms are XO-1, XO-1.5, XO-1.75 and XO-4.

Features

A list of new features;

• new Sugar 0.112 with updated translations,
• new Save-As feature enabled by deployments to enforce journal entry naming,
• better support for external displays on a laptop or desktop computer.
• new firmware to change the default operating system on dual-boot XO-4 laptops,
• new translations for desktop switch control panel.

Fixes

General

• remove an activity from the frame entirely when it is stopped, even if it does not stop properly,
• make sure the journal entry chooser appears in front of the running activity, without needing alt+tab,
• make sure the radio off button works every time it is used,
• updated activities Browse-157.4, Calculate-44, Chat-84, Clock-19, GetBooks-17, Help-20.1, ImageViewer-63, Implode-18, Jukebox-33, Log-38, Maze-27, Memorize-53, MusicKeyboard-8.9, Paint-66, Physics-32.1, Pippy-71.1, Read-118.1, StopWatch-19.1, Terminal-45.2, TurtleBlocks-215 and Write-98.3,

Browse-157.4

• Fix resuming a journal object from older version of Browse,
• Allow bookmarks for PDF pages,
• Fix clicking items in back and forward buttons,
• Improve autocomplete in URL entry list, #4081,
• Open bookmarked links in new tab,
• Show full error message when a page does not load,
• Drag a link to + button to open new tab,
• Show overall progress of downloads on tool bar,
• Add keyboard shortcuts for making text larger or smaller,
• Fix ctrl+c and ctrl+v shortcuts in URL entry, #4979, #4642,
• New and updated translations.

Calculate-44

• Function log10 incorrectly used natural logarithms, #4809,
• Show an error for impossible functions, like log(-10), #4807,
• Remove duplicate fac() function, leave factorial() function, #3531,
• Fix wrong result for b10bin() function, #4811,
• Fix display and delay of raise-to-the-power operator #4810,
• New is_prime() function #4812,
• Do not show decimal zeros if the result is an integer,
• Remove insignificant zeros in result,
• Fix missing sign of result less than zero, #4936,
• Block redefinition of constants, #2698,
• New and updated translations.

Chat-84

• New and updated translations.

Clock-19

• New and updated translations.

GetBooks-17

• Fixed downloading books from Internet Archive error,
• Improve download cancellation,
• Moved progress bar to the area below "Get Book" button,
• Fix main window width growth,
• Split Internet Archive single category into three,
• New and updated translations.

Help-20.1

• Explain Poll activity collaboration,
• Add optional Cartoon Builder, Slider Puzzle, and Jigsaw activities,
• Fix name of folder in Read activity.

ImageViewer-63

• New icons for rotation,
• Fix for file transfers within collaboration,
• New and updated translations.

Implode-18

• New and updated translations.

Jukebox-33

• Add reordering of playlist, #4484,
• New and updated translations.

Log-38

• Use a busy cursor when busy,
• New and updated translations.

Maze-27

• New and updated translations.

Memorize-53

• New and updated translations.

MusicKeyboard-8.9

• Move selection of instrument to the toolbar,
• Add rhythms toolbar,
• Add record and playback,
• Silence activity stop keyboard shortcut,
• Add a button to save as audio, and show an alert,
• Display keys pressed when using physical keyboard,
• Add mimetype for the activity files,
• Change record button color when recording,
• Fix stuck piano notes.

Paint-66

• Fix text tool,
• New and updated translations.

Physics-32.1

• CSV imports/exports removed,
• JSON imports/exports fixed,
• Add colour controls, specific and random choice,
• Fix keep error,
• Fix ground bodies bug,
• New and updated translations.

Pippy-71.1

• Fixes for notebook tabs,
• Fix missing run, stop, and clear icons,
• Clear button to only clear the canvas,
• New Sugar and GTK+ tutorial examples,
• Make pong example playable,
• Open examples in a new tab,
• Fix fail to start on Fedora 18 32-bit, #4926,
• New and updated translations.

Read-118.1

• New and updated translations.

StopWatch-19.1

• Enable game key support,
• Add radio buttons for selected stopwatch,
• Add tab, shift+tab, up arrow, down arrow, to change selection,
• Add ctrl+s, ctrl+m and ctrl+x to start/stop, mark and zero,
• Add tooltips for shortcut keys,
• Stop overflow of marks,
• Show only most recent marks,
• Show zero and mark button feedback with shortcuts,
• New and updated translations.

Terminal-45.2

• Fix for Terminal not stopping on child process exit,
• Use the user's shell, rather than always bash,
• Don't cause keep failure if user closes their shell,
• Keep font size on theme change and when opening new tabs,
• Fix missing close button,
• Add shortcut for theme change,
• Add shortcut ctrl+shift+i for reverse video toggle,
• New and updated translations.

TurtleBlocks-215

• New feature, export blocks as image,
• Add URI handler,
• Show all plugins by default,
• Lowercase color names in new adapter block,
• Added adapter color block,
• New and updated translations.

Write-98.3

• Fix initial state of Undo and Redo buttons,
• Fix for fail to start with Abiword 2.9 on Fedora 18,
• Fix crash on startup due to missing module initialization,
• New and updated translations.

Installation

XO-4

Caution: some SKU322 laptops may hang during firmware update after an electrostatic discharge; prevent this by disconnect power cable, remove main battery, wait 30 seconds, install main battery, connect power cable, then reflash.

How to install signed build 21 of release 13.2.9 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 32021o4.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 32021o4.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 21 of release 13.2.9 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 32021o2.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 32021o2.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 21 of release 13.2.9 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 32021o1.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 32021o1.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 21 of release 13.2.9 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 32021o0.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 32021o0.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).

XO-1 with SD card

An SD card makes an XO-1 faster, and has more space for downloads and activities. See how to install 13.2.9 on an XO-1 with SD card.

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 below, according to which laptop model you are using.

• Download a .usb and .toc file, see How to Download,
  • for XO-4
    • 32021o4.usb,
    • 32021o4.toc,
  • for XO-1.75
    • 32021o2.usb,
    • 32021o2.toc,
  • for XO-1.5
    • 32021o1.usb,
    • 32021o1.toc,
  • for XO-1
    • 32021o0.usb,
    • 32021o0.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.

Known Problems

Welcome Activity

The new version of Sugar does not support the Welcome activity.

Since 13.2.2. See <trac>12869</trac>.

Restricted Software

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

Also, using olpc-update on a restricted software build will remove restricted software.

Video Playback

The XO-1 cannot play some videos in the Browse or Epiphany web browsers, because the Adobe Flash plugin is no longer available for the Geode processor.

On some models, particularly XO-1 and XO-1.5, although MP4 playback support may be present with restricted software builds, the video to be played may require more processor and graphics bandwidth than the hardware can provide;

• especially with advertising or related videos elements on youtube.com,
• also inside a web browser for Khan Academy, but;
• not so much when playing the same video in Movie Player or Jukebox,

Workaround is to transcode videos to a lower bandwidth, or to pause playback and wait for advertising to finish loading.

Since 13.2.0.

Frozen Repositories

The frozen repositories have not been updated; the release was made from all Fedora 18 updates.

Since 13.2.5.

XO-4 Headphone Detection

XO-4 speakers may remain silent if headphones are removed during automatic power management suspend, or headphones may not work if they are inserted during suspend.

Since 13.2.0. <trac>12724</trac>.

Sugar Memory Leak

A memory leak is where a program allocates memory but forgets to release it.

Sugar has had a memory leak for several versions, in proportion to the number and size of icons displayed, see #4889. The cause is in Fedora 18.

The leak has negligible impact on XO-4, XO-1.75 and XO-1.5. On these laptops we recommend that you restart Sugar at least weekly.

The leak has a severe impact on XO-1. On the XO-1 we recommend that you restart Sugar every few hours, and especially after visiting the Background screen in My Settings. The leak is even more severe if the network view shows many icons.

In 13.2.7 the number of animation cycles was reduced for switching between desktop views and exposing the frame, in order to reduce the impact further.

Since 13.2.0.

Sugar Journal

Journal star does not give immediate feedback.

Workaround is to click on the arrow to the right of the journal entry, and use the detail view to check and change the star.

Since 13.2.6. Ticket #4904.

Activity Updates

Activity bugs may be fixed after release. Use My Settings, Software Update, to get fixes. See Activities/13.2.9 page history for updates.