How to check the OS and firmware versions

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"About my XO" in release 8.2.X

If you have the latest Release 8.2.X, then you can determine which build and firmware your XO is running by:

  1. Return to the Home view by pressing F3 (the F3 key is the same as the Home key Home key f3 small.png).
  2. Hover the cursor over the XO icon in the middle of the Home view. (If you don't see the XO icon, click the "ring" icon in the menu to switch to Favorites view from List view.)
  3. In the menu that pops up, click the item "Control Panel", then click "About my XO".

The "About my XO" panel displays a build number, e.g. 767. To determine the release you are running (e.g. 8.1.2) from this, see What release am I running?.

"About this XO" before release 8.2.0

If you have Release 8.1.0 (also known as "Update.1", also known as Build 703 and higher) or later, then you can determine which build and firmware your XO is running by:

  1. Return to the Home view by pressing F3.
  2. Hover the cursor over the XO icon in the middle of the Home view.
  3. In the menu that pops up, click the item "About this XO".

OR

If you have Release 7.1.2 or earlier (also known as "Ship.2", builds in the 600s) you can determine which build and firmware your XO is running by:

  1. Open the Terminal Activity
  2. After the "$" prompt you can see your build number by typing
 cat /etc/issue

The full point release (eg. Release 10.1.1) may be available by typing 

 cat /etc/olpc-release

To check which Firmware you are running type 

cat /ofw/openprom/model

If your XO is not running the latest release 8.2.0 also known as build 767 (here's how to check), then you should consider upgrading to it; the details are in the 8.2.0 release notes.

Terminal commands

If your release is older than 8.1.0, you will not see an "About this XO" or "Control Panel" menu item when you put your cursor over the XO icon in the Home View. In that case you can find the build your XO is running by entering commands in a terminal.

Start the Terminal Activity or a console.

Then type the following and press Enter: 

 olpc-netstatus -i

it will display your build, firmware version, and wireless firmware version (as "Libertas")

There are other commands that display your build number, including: 

 cat /etc/issue
 cat /boot/olpc_build

To display something that is almost the same as your software release (I.E. the full point release such as Release 10.1.1) even if it may lack a .0 on the end, type 

 cat /etc/olpc-release

There are other commands that display your firmware version, including: 

su -l
olpc-bios-sig

and 

cat /ofw/openprom/model

Other version information

For wireless Libertas firmware version, type 

ethtool -i eth0

For Marvell wireless boot2 loader firmware version, type 

cat /proc/bus/usb/devices | grep -C 2 1286

Other mechanisms

Console displays build information

The console displays the build number, until it scrolls off the top of the screen.

  1. Press ctrl+alt+F2 (the F2 key is the same as the Group key Friends key f2 small.png. The Ctrl key has a solid diamond on it (♦); the Alt key has an open diamond on it (♢). See Keyboard Shortcuts for more details.)
  2. Read the build number from the first line of text that appears in the console window

Sample transcript: 

OLPC build 650 (stream ship.2: variant devel_jffs2)
kernel 2.6.22-20070919.2.olpc.0987654321abcdefabcedf on an i586
xo-05-29-BB login:

The OS build number in the above example is 650.

To return to the Sugar graphical display press ctrl+alt+F3 . (The F3 key is the same as the Home key Home key f3 small.png.)

See also

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