Cheat codes
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This page is monitored by the OLPC team.
For the general public
A number of special actions are available by holding down game key combinations at the same time as powering on the XO laptop. Other keyboard shortcuts are available after boot.
XO-1.75 and XO-4
In addition to the other keys, the rotate key prevents normal boot. It is used for repair and servicing with a Serial_adapter.
XO-1.5 Firmware (q3a59 or later)
In addition to the other keys (see next section):
| key | what it does |
|---|---|
| rocker down | on dual boot laptops, provides operating system choice menu. |
XO-1 and XO-1.5 Firmware (q2d04 and later)
| key | what it does |
|---|---|
| '×' game pad | force secure boot when in non-secure mode. |
| '✓' (check) game pad | force a more detailed display while booting; see Startup Diagnosis. |
| 'O' game pad | alternate between boot images. Laptops are shipped without an alternate image; they won't have an alternate image until after first olpc-update is done. The alternate image will then be the previous image that you were running. |
| '◻' (square) game pad | not used directly by the firmware, but is remembered and may be handled by an external autoupdater script to wipe out user directory and do a factory-fresh install. (appropriate for upgrading machines straight from the factory). On q2e37 & later: pressing '◻' skips booting from Windows on SD and boots Sugar from the NAND. |
| all four game keys at once | destroy all data and install to the internal storage from either USB, SD, or network. Requires a signed fs.zip file and an image file; see Secure Upgrade. |
| rocker left | hardware diagnostics. You can pause between individual tests by holding down the "rotate" button - the one below the rocker pad. |
| rocker right | try it and see! (hint: it is harmless and pretty). |
| rocker up | XO-1 only, shows a graphical table of full, free, and defective blocks in internal flash. See Scan NAND. |
| all four rocker keys at once | starts a Pong game! |
The "Rocker" is the large round button to the left of the screen, which can be rocked or tilted in any of four directions (up, down, left, or right).
If your laptop has a Developer Key or has security disabled, the Open Firmware 'ok' prompt will be available as your laptop powers on. See Ok for how to get this to work.
You may also disable the startup sound.
The rest of this page applies only to prototype laptops that were used by software developers before December, 2007.
After firmware q2c28 and before q2d04
- The 'X' game pad key is no longer used during upgrading.
- The Open Firmware ok prompt is available by default in non-secure boot. You will have to press the Esc key during the countdown. It is easy to miss the countdown, but pressing Esc too early can disable the keyboard.
- 'X' game pad key: toggles secure and non-secure boot
- '✓' (check) game pad key: forces a more detailed display while booting; see Startup Diagnosis
- 'O' game pad key: boot from alternate image. At first, laptops have no alternate image.
- Rotate button: display Underwriters Labs safety message
- '◻' (square) game pad key: wipe out user directory and do a factory-fresh install. (appropriate for upgrading machines straight from the factory)
Before firmware q2c28
- Rotate button: play "startup sound" at boot (after q2c27, this key will turn off sound and graphic boot up screen)
- 'X' game pad key: interrupt boot, provide Open Firmware ok prompt. You may have to press the Esc key during the countdown (q2c25). It is easy to miss the countdown, but pressing Esc too early can disable the keyboard.
- 'O' game pad key: boot from backup OS image, for system recovery. (not yet in a stable build)
- Left directional pad: try out "pretty boot" (be patient, early versions show a static boot screen for a long time) (after q2c27, this key will turn off the "pretty boot")
- Right directional pad: try it and see! (tests hardware)
Further, the Autoreinstallation image uses a couple more special game key combinations:
- 'X' and '✓' (check) game pad keys: skip upgrade, just write activation lease to USB key and boot. (if your XO doesn't have a check key, use the 'O' key)
- 'X' and '◻' (square) game pad keys: wipe out user directory and do a factory-fresh install. (appropriate for upgrading machines straight from the factory)