Support FAQ/Internet, Connectivity, Email, Chat
Internet, Connectivity, Email, Chat
How can I access the Internet?
For information on accessing the internet, see our Connectivity Quick Start Guide.
The XO Laptop Manual also has a helpful chapter (click all 5 sections in the orange bar on the left, under "Network").
Our Wifi Troubleshooting Guide provides tips to connect to different access points, including an important February 2014 fix for a bug that impeded XOs from seeing access points (particularly in situations with many XO-1s nearby).
I am on Google, but the browser then tells me "search failed"!
When the Browse activity is launched, it displays a page with a Google logo and a search box. This page is stored locally in the XO, and it does not indicate that the XO is connected to the Internet. Please check How can I access the Internet for how to connect to the Internet.
Can I use a wired Ethernet connection?
Yes, you can connect to a wired Internet connection by using a USB-to-Ethernet adapter.
Note: XO laptops were intentionally designed for children in developing nations where it is faster and less expensive to introduce wireless connections, rather than a traditional telecom infrastructure.
How do I disable wireless when flying?
If you are running the latest release (Release 8.2.x) you should hover your cursor over your home view XO man and click on the Control Panel option. Click on "Network" and unclick the Radio option.
For older releases use the Terminal Activity's text-based Sugar Control Panel. For details, see Airplane mode.
At the moment, an XO laptop cannot be on both the Internet and on the mesh network at the same time with a default laptop configuration. This ability will hopefully be re-enabled by default in the future; until then, School Servers can serve as Mesh Portals, and further details can be found on the Mesh Network Details page.
What exactly is a mesh network?
A mesh network allows nearby XO-1 laptops to talk to one another directly (wirelessly) without the need for a traditional Internet Service Provider.
This feature makes very small rural deployments practical. The idea is that the laptops do the heavy lifting, rather than the traditional hierarchical network of hubs/switches/routers.
Is there an email program?
If you have a gmail account, you can use the Gmail activity to access your email.
For other e-mail accounts, you can use Browse to access web-based email programs.
Can I install Other software, like Flash, Java, AIM, MSN Messenger, or Skype?
Most Other software is not supported by OLPC. Some software is Free and Open Source Software and supported by its own User Community. Other software does not meet the OLPC standard of Software Freedom.
Still, there are community efforts to enable popular packages like Skype calling on the XO. Proceed at your own risk, making sure to set the sound device in the options menu, if you follow the unsupported installation instructions. For video with sound, follow the 'gstfakevideo' instructions at the bottom of that page.