Communication channels
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</imagemap>The primary OLPC communication channels are mailing lists, IRC channels, and discussion forums.
Mailing lists
see also Community mailing lists See also blogs for a list of OLPC related blogs and feeds.
The full list of mailing lists is at http://lists.laptop.org. Sometimes they multiply when one isn't watching.
Starting a list
The best way to start a new mailing list is to begin a discussion on a related list that already exists, and once the discussion becomes active, to ask for a separate list for that topic or that sort of traffic. Then create a page here about the list you want to start, with a brief description. Finally, add a link from this page and leave a note for sj or ivan.
Public lists
|
General announcements
General discussion
Country discussions
Accessibility and other end-use issues |
Software and content development
Hardware and other tech discussions
Technical announcements
|
Chat
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</imagemap>Most OLPC chat takes place on IRC (that's Internet Relay Chat). See also the older IRC page.
IRC
IRC is mainly designed for group communication in discussion 'channels', but allows for personal chat and data transfer as well.
The OLPC Community uses a series of channels in the irc.freenode.net and irc.oftc.net networks. Check {{User irc}} to see how to register your participation in the IRC channels within the wiki, and to find the category where users are registered.
irc.freenode.net channels
| General: | |
| #olpc-help | Community help. If you need help using your XO, and you haven't asked anywhere else: try here first. |
| #olpc | Contact point for all things olpc, and the core hardware development team's own channel. Picture a room where the knowledgeable core people are hard at work. It is a good place for authoritative answers, but people may be out, or too busy to respond, or don't want interruptions at the moment. Consider going to #olpc-help first. |
| #olpc-content | content related matters and general discussion. |
| #olpc-meeting | OLPC meeting, developer's meeting room |
| #sugar | Sugar development. |
| Primary Community Channels | |
| #olpc-groups | Global channel for all local communities (no language barriers) |
| Secondary Community Channels | |
| #olpc-es | Spanish language channel |
| #olpc-pt | Portugese language channel |
| #olpc-europe | Regional discussions for Europe |
irc.oftc.net channels
- #olpc-devel — for core systems and other development, now that #olpc is truly becoming a general discussion channel
- #schoolserver — dedicated to the School server
- #debian-olpc — dedicated to porting Debian to the XO
How to use irc channels
- Visit the Live Web Chat
- Some helpful resources are here, and this tutorial, which also includes basic commands.
- Learn about IRC etiquette. Try here, here, or here.
- Review the software client list. Pick one, download, install. A good all-around choice is Xchat, which works on both Linux and Windows; Linuxchix has a good tutorial.
- For IRC on your XO, install the latest XoIRC activity.
- Connect to to the above channels, and say hello. (To do this, choose irc.freenode.net as your server, and then /join a channel... if you're new to IRC, the #olpc-help channel is probably the place you want to go first).
- Note OLPC growing pains.
Other chat services
If there are any Skype, AIM, or other chatrooms about OLPC, please list them here.
I found this information on loading Skype onto the XO. NOTE- this version is without webcam- the webcam info is coming soon. "The instructions are below and assume you have some knowledge and comfort with starting a terminal through the Sugar UI and then typing in varous linux commands. *NOTE* The terminal activity is on the second page of activities and is a box with a "$_" in it.
To install skype, start a terminal and to become super user enter:
su
Then to install a library skype will need enter:
yum install libsigc++20
Then to get the skype install files (the linux static version) enter:
wget http://www.skype.com/go/getskype-linux-static
Then to untar it type: (BUT SEE HINT BELOW)
tar xvf skype_static-1.4.0.118.tar.bz2
- HINT* you can just type in "tar xvf sky" but DO NOT press enter but instead press and hold down "control" and then at press "tab" and it will auto fill in the rest for you. Then press enter.
cd skype_static-<version>
- HINT* again just type in "cd sky" and then press "control tab" to have it autofill in the rest
mkdir /usr/share/skype
cp -a * /usr/share/skype/
cd /usr/share/skype/
mv skype /usr/bin/
mv skype.conf /etc/dbus-1/system.d/
So you should be all set now. Remember you are still super user, so I suggest killing/stopping your terminal, then starting it again.
At the prompt just type "skype" and give it a good 10-15 seconds to start-up. It seems to be working pretty well for me, but I am using it at home with a full wifi-signal.
You will notice that the formating/font is a little off. For instance to get to the main skype menu you have to hit the TEENY TINY little blue skype icon in the lower left hand corner. Also note that RIGHT click (which is the "0" track pad button) is used. In the middle of you screen should be your contacts. To call one you put the mouse over the name with the track pad and then RIGHT click....
If you have used skype before this version will be easy to get use to. If you are BRAND NEW to skype I would recommend using it on a laptop or desktop first just to get use to using skype."
Forums
There are a number of active OLPC forums, including
- http://olpc.osuosl.org, run by Michael Burns and the OSU OSL team
- http://olpcnews.com/forum/ (infrequented by developers)
- http://olpchelp.org - Where OLPC users come for help