Ubuntu Intrepid for the XO

Alex Belits (alias Teapot) has recently (as of 2008-DEC-6) released a customized version of Ubuntu Intrepid (8.10).

This is an easy-to-setup, easy-to-use desktop operating system for the XO based on the rock-solid foundations of Ubuntu. Ideal for G1G1 adult donors who would like to have a real desktop environment instead of Sugar or for children which are used to normal computers (tons of games in Ubuntu repos).

When Ubuntu is installed, the Sugar installation is not affected. The whole OS boots/runs comfortably from the SD card. If the SD card is removed and the machine is restarted, you boot into Sugar.

It also has the most important power management features of Sugar so the XO can be used like a real laptop with it.

XO specific customizations

• Deep suspend/resume works for closing/opening the lid
• Automatic shallow suspend is supported by a custom script which activates shallow suspend if there is no user input and there is no high load on the system. This script can be easily activated/deactivated according to the needs. This can be used for ebook reading or browsing. Similar to advanced power management of Sugar.
• Custom desktop theme with XO-friendly colors (green...etc)
• Battery state of charge indicator works and charge percentage is included in the default desktop toolbar
• Dedicated arrow buttons (left side of the screen) mapped as direction buttons (so can be used when browsing for example)
• Game buttons are mapped as (Home/End, Page Up/Down), so these can be used for browsing or reading.
• Screen rotation with the dedicated button (below the arrow buttons)

Notable features

• Xfce desktop preconfigured with GDM, so the user gets a graphical login and desktop without extra setup. This desktop environment is suitable for the resources of the XO and advanced enough to work with.
• Automatic login can be easily set-up with the GDM configurator, so if you want you can get directly into the desktop if you want (less secure but more comfortable)
• Synaptic and GDebi are installed by default so newbies can install extra software by the GUI
• Web browsing: Firefox 3.0.4 (installed by default but not very snappy), Opera 9.6 can be easily installed (starts much faster than Firefox, smaller memory footprint)
• PDF capable: ePDFViewer by default, Evince can be installed easily with Synaptic. These are very capable PDF viewer programs.
• Flash capable: Flash v10 works in Firefox and Opera (after installing the plugin with Synaptic). Flash-enhanced websites seem to render correctly. Flash games are too slow, but simple flash applets work.
• Watching YouTube videos is supported with a dedicated download/watch program (TubeWatcher). (This is because Flash video playback is not fast enough to be enjoyable from within the browser)
• Java capable: Java JRE 1.6 u10 works without issues (after installing with Synaptic). Azureus works (advanced, Java based Bittorrent client).
• FBReader works (advanced ebook reader). (Installed with Synaptic)
• All other Ubuntu Intrepid tested applications can be installed and used (AbiWord, Gnumeric, OpenOffice...etc)
• Mplayer is installed by default. VLC Player can be installed easily and plays good-quality movies smoothly
• Pidgin installed by default
  
• Skype 1.3 works with headset (downloaded from skype.com, installed from package, audio device set correctly: see solutions)
• Swap file can be easily created, so larger applications can be run on the 256 Mb physical RAM of the XO. A 256Mb swap is recommended for OpenOffice.
• The above install can fit to a 2GB SD card but you won't have too much free space remaining. A 4GB SD card is recommended.

Not supported (yet)

The XO cannot hibernate like a normal laptop (that would further reduce inactive power consumption compared to deep suspend). However, suspend to ram (deep suspend) works and results in low power loss while the XO is not in use. Wacom driver for an external USB tablet is not installed.

Useful Links

The install instructions, the download link and general support (OLPC News thread) Could we please double-check what the current install procedure is, and post it to the wiki, so we can be sure of the correct install procedure? No one should have to dig through a 33 page forum topic just to be sure how to install correctly.

The linked thread is now up to 40 pages of instructions, questions, comments, corrections, asides and off-topic ramblings. It is not a useful resource for anyone who's doing this for the first time. Can anyone who has done this process please create a summary of the relevant instructions to include in the wiki here, where it belongs?

Solutions for typical customizations and problems (OLPC News thread)