Talk:Activation and developer keys

Activation and Developer Keys as DRM

The XO's "firmware security" is an essential part of the BitFrost security system, yet it is also a good example of "Tivoization".

I edited some of the more pointed language about the evils of DRM out of the page while preparing it for translation, but set up this entry in the discussion because it is a valid point.

The firmware security is there to allow users and deployments to ensure that laptops are running base operating system code that has not been modified (either maliciously or intentionally). OLPC does not intend that this prevent laptops owners from modifying or reinstalling whatever software they want to, hence the notion of a developer key. For laptops obtained through a large scale deployment, this unfortunately must include a delay of several weeks to allow reporting of stolen laptops from areas without connectivity --- the anti-theft system relies on firmware security. OLPC is working to make the process of jailbreaking simply a button on the control panel for all users, with instantaneous results for laptops obtained through the Give One, Get One program.--Wad 05:38, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

Copy and paste woe

The page you get to once a developer key is made directs you to copy and paste a long wget command to the terminal. It is not at all obvious how to do that. I managed to, but only with a great deal of hackery. I suppose you could always write down the string, but that is ugly and error-prone.

28 June 2008

The cut (highlight selection and ctrl-c) works fine in the old builds, however, paste (ctrl-v) does not work with the terminal activity in the old builds. Use alt-tab to switch back and forth beteen browse and terminal activities in order to copy manually with accuracy without having to write down the long command.

Another option is to update the terminal activity first, since the new version supports cut and paste.

Bad Browse instructions

The instruction for getting a developer key by starting Browse and clicking the Library link 'other' and then 'about your xo' didn't make sense on my G1G1. There is no 'other' link. Perhaps this is out of date or just unclear. The file:///home/.devkey.html approach does work for me.

28 June 2008

I just updated to build 703. The 'other' link referred to above and below disappears in this build. If you click on the link "Activities" in build 703's browser vertical menu, however, and then click on the sub-menu "find activities", the "apply for developer key" link can be found at the bottom of the page that displays, just as it was found at the bottom of the "about your XO" page in the older builds.

24 June 2008

When you start the browser, it loads an HTML page from the 'disk' (NAND flash memory) showing a google search bar and some quick links to the OLPC web site. To the left of this is a vertical menu listing various headings e.g. 'books', 'media', 'images', etc. The last item in this menu is 'other'. Click on other, and a submenu with the single item 'About your XO' appears. Click on this, and a lengthy file of screen shot images demonstrating XO usage is loaded from 'disk'. So far all this is done offline, and no internet connection is needed. Finally, page to the bottom, and there you will find the link for obtaining a developer key. This loads the .devkey.html file, and when you press 'submit', your keyrequest will be sent out over the internet, assuming you have a connection.

I updated the instructions on the page to mention this and other ways of navigating to the form. -- Skierpage 06:08, 31 July 2008 (UTC)

A useful and non-obvious use of the browser activity is as a graphical file browser, which beats the terminal command line any day. When you open the browser and the local disk google HTML page loads, click on the text in the URL bar at the top of the screen. The text will change to show the directory path of the current page. Move the cursor to the end and erase all the characters except the "file:///" and press enter. This will show the root directory, which you can navigate by clicking on entries. When you click on a file entry, e.g. .devkey.html (check the show hidden files box to see this file), the file will be opened and displayed. From there you can click 'submit' as before. A defect of the file browser is there is no right click mechanism for moving, copying, or deleting files.

Why the wait for a key?

Out of curiosity, why does it take so long to get a key? I can understand there being a bit of a delay if it has to generate one, but you know exactly how long it'll take (i.e. 24 hours) so is it just some sort of vetting process to make sure that people are Really Sure they want to get a key? Also, the key retrieval process is a bit annoying - it seems that we should be able to just provide an email address to send the key to when it's ready. 70.90.171.153 00:11, 19 September 2008 (UTC)

OLPC is working to make the process of obtaining a key for laptops obtained through the Give One, Get One program faster. The delay is present to allow time for reporting of thefts in foreign countries, the firmware security is central to the anti-theft system--Wad 05:38, 10 December 2008 (UTC)