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archives: through 2006; Jan-Jun 2007

Usability and User Testing

There is very little public information about requirements gathering, usability and user testing. In other words, how do you know whether the OLPC (i) will meet your users' needs and (ii) is easy enough for them to use? Have the target user groups been characterized? What ongoing plans do you have for this? I`d Like test the OLPC in Argentina, Please contct with me to know how. Thanks.

As far as I know, there are two local groups in Argentina with test boards (don't know if anybody has the 2B1/XO prototypes though). They are Ututo and Tuquito. I know Ututo had some explicit arrangements to let other people use/test the boards. If anybody knows about other groups (or about any local XOs) please let me know (or post in the OLPC Argentina pages. --Xavi 07:23, 6 December 2006 (EST)

There is more to life and education than requirements gathering. Usability and testing are of course important, and on-going. Research is often just trial, error, and adjustment. If you want, you can participate by setting up an emulator and seeing how the software works now. The research is going on now, and you can participate. Exciting, don't you think? -Jeff 21:47, 9 March 2007 (EST)

What about usability testing for children? A recent article quoted the OLPC chairman as saying: "Granted, I'm not a child. I don't know if it's going to be intuitive to children." Was there research?

Accessibility

What mechanism olpc is going to adopt to make it accessable for child with physical disabilities? Will there be seperate keyboards for blind with braile? Will there be alternate input methods for child with dysfunctioning hands?

--Ankur Sharma, olpc Nepal

As far as I know, OLPC keybords are standardized for each country's language/s, but not braille. The OLPC has 3 USB ports to which external (braille) keyboards may be connected (quick search and sample result or alternative method). In order to better gauge the dimension of the issue, the World Health Organization (WHO) has some statistics on the incidence of blindness.

I have posted some observations about Dasher as an alternative input method, not only for physical disabilities but general use too. --Xavi 09:45, 21 December 2006 (EST)

Further to the question above, does the OLPC initiative include distributing laptops to children who are currently going through patient care in a hospital setting? And if so do you have links to devices that can allow a child to utilize a laptop from a hospital bed (i.e., wall mounted mechanical laptop ARM)? This is a great initiative!!!

Regards CReid

Technically, it's the governments buying the laptop that will distribute them (not the OLPC), and while I see no difference between a child in a hospital bed or a cabin in the mountains (from a distribution PoV), my guess is that hospitals in these countries have other priorities to allocate their budgets instead of fancy trays (as cool as they might be ;) --Xavi 08:05, 23 January 2007 (EST)

As a representative of an NGO type organization I just recently commented to a UN officer about a similar subject. “Fancy Trays”' are not always at the request of the country or donor agency in general. Part of what makes these items or services that may not at first glance seem functional is the vision of the donor. Just like the water go round in Africa sponsored by Ex US president Bill Clinton and the water see saw in another nation that promotes the washing of your hands. It is not always up to the receiver in what it is they are to receive . There are also many sites that go in-depth about theses issues and the how and why's of the matters. If you are interested in finding out more you can direct searches about: third world programs, world aid and I am sure you can find more information as to why a fancy tray may have been purchased or donated as well as many other interesting things.

I question whether there is some benefit for us or you by getting involved

We are a St. Louis MO based charity doing Health Related activity in many poor parts of the world including Ecuador, Africa, Asia etc. We have recently been asked by Ecuador officials to assist in several different activates, including build schools, clinics, furnish computers etc.(we have a current request for 100 computers that we are trying to fulfill.

Or name is Wings of Hope and you can view our website at www.wings-of-hope.org to get some idea of what we do and who we do it for, both locally and around the world. We are a volunteer organization with pilots, nurses and support people stationed in many countries in poverty stricken areas. We are non political, non religious based, have no ethnic motivations nor any other motivation based issues except to help people in need.

We furnish air transport service to poor people in the central part of the United States to get them to health care facilities. We set up health clinics in poor areas of the US and we Donate aircraft to many areas of the world to be used as Air Ambulances. The website above will reveal a lot about Wings of Hope activates.

I saw the article in Popular Science about your computers and I just feel there is something that we can offer that will advance your cause. Our relationships appear to be with the kind of folks you are trying to reach. If you feel we can be of any assistance to your efforts, we would like to discuss the issue(s).

Please Contact our Director, MR. Douglas Clements, www.woh206@earthlink.net or,.

Keith Barbero, WOH Board Member

Contribution towards Programming

Hello,

I am really interested in contributing towards the programming efforts in linux kernel and python. Please let me know how shall I proceed and start contributing towards it?

Suresh, Bangalore, India.

Suresh, check this page "Getting involved in OLPC" and this page"OLPC Python Environment" -Jeff

Volunteering

How does a computer science professional contact OPLC about volunteering their time to help deploy the laptops and train new users? Is there an affliation with GeekCorps?

See the section about Ask OLPC a Question about Distribution#Training & Capacity Building... but in general, that is upto the deploying countries to decide how it'll work - you should contact that side of the equation (or any organizations they name when the time comes).--Xavi 17:54, 13 January 2007 (EST)

Where can I see an OLPC in the UK?

Hi,

I'm really interested in the OLPC project, and often add things to the wiki... But I've never actually seen one in real life... How many are there in the UK, and what are the chances of actually viewing one? Maybe you should do a grand tour?!

Well, you can try the alpha software in emulation: Using QEMU on Windows XP. If you run into problems, you'll have to research and learn. --Jeff 27 Feb 2007

---

Science curriculum

I do not see any content related sections for the sciences (physics, chemistry, biology) and math. Can you please point me to that section or include this in your curriculum?

Every page has a search section in the column on the left. If you don't see something in the table of contents then use the search capabilities to find it. If you still can't find something which you think should be on the wiki, then start a new page and write an outline of what you think we should have. Others will fill in that outline for you. If you return in a week or two, you will have your answer. --Memracom 05:23, 13 January 2007 (EST)

Adaptation of Musical Editor for local music systems

Hello, While browsing through the software that will be put on the B2 release, I remarked the screenshot of the Musical Editor, and I saw that it was based on the western notes system (do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si, do). These notes have more or less fixed frequencies ('la' has 440 Hz, and going from one note to another happens by stepping of halve tones where the frequencies need to be multiplicated or divided by 1.059, the twelfth root of 2).

The OLPC project is ment for children in third world countries, like for instance India and China and other countries, where different music systems are used. Therefore I propose to foresee these adaptations within the Musical Editor (after all, it can't be the intention of forcing children to abandon their own musical culture :-?).

In case OLPC people are interested, I am willing to do some investigation in order to figure out which are the mostly used music systems with corresponding frequencies in order to facilitate the work. I can be reached via my e-mail address under my OLPC subscription account 'scampsd'.

The OLPC includes csound software which can be adapted to work with any type of musical system. If you want to document these systems and any csound software that works with them, feel free to start a new page on this wiki. --Memracom 05:30, 13 January 2007 (EST)

Best regards and good luck with the project Dominique

Hey "scampsd" i couldnt work out how to contact you about this, I am interested in alternative scales, mail me, simon att simon chadwick dt net

---from another contributor---

yes - i can see nepal, peru, thailand and india on the pilot project map that will be using different scalings 'naturally' without the fixing of the western scale to their use of the software. from the wikipedia.org page on microtonal music: "By this definition, the following systems are not microtonal: a diatonic scale in any meantone tuning; much Indonesian gamelan music; and Thai, Burmese, and African music which use 7 approximately equally spaced tones in each (approximate) octave." - there should be a module in csound for microtonal music: the most sensible option would be to have a special settings page to configure a preset choice of tunings for different regions to fit with preferred choice of tuning for the region. to eliminate locally tuned music would be an ethical crime, and is a big risk with a music program dictating that users have a 'western scale' for their music. i would not like OLPC to be responsible for the destruction of some of the most musically interesting and unique styles of music simply because there was no option for local tunings in the easily available and (relatively) powerful sequencing capabilities of freely available computers. it looks like Csound’s value converters for microtonal programming are functions "ampdb" and "cpspch". documentation on csound available at www.csounds.com/chapter1/index.html

Random generator entropy

Hi, we came up with this issue at the 23c3 in a lecture about the /dev/(u)random generator in Linux. The algortihm gets most of its entropy from the harddisk. Because the OLPC lacks a hdd, this could be an issue, when you need a random number for cryptography at boot time. Of course the algorithm is still strong and sufficient enough for most applications (or at least i think so), but not as good as some people maybe think. (Other entropies: camera, microphone,...) (DustyDingo)

Your question is confusing, as I'm not versed in random number generators based on hard disk... Isn't the built in Flashdrive good enough? It acts like a conventional hard drive, but it's all memory. --Jeff

No, the flash is not good at all. Hard drives have unpredictable timing, and thus the kernel uses them to supply /dev/random data. The DCON chip really should be modified to include a random number generator that works based on electrical noise such as the thermal stuff in a semiconductor junction. (note: NOT a pseudorandom number generator) 24.110.145.57 19:40, 27 February 2007 (EST)

Hmm... Chaos Communication Congress... OK! So you are looking for a way to seed a random number generator from an on board OLPC component (mostly for cryptography a boot time). OLPC doesn't seem to prioritize encryption as a core value (it seems to go against the BitFrost mantra of transparency). That said, you've got a pair of WiFi like transmitters, a monitor, keyboard, touchpad, battery, etc. Does hard drive access time really provide an evenly distributed random number? I find that hard to believe. Also, is this topic really critical to the goals of OLPC as a project? --Jeff

The very first thing an OLPC XO does is generate a long-term public/private key pair. All the over-the-air stuff is at least cryptographically signed. If a kid publishes a Sugar XO bundle, it gets signed with his key. Hard drives are decent; the fast-moving air inside the drive provides randomness. The WiFi may be a tolerable choice; it's both public and subject to lack of input though. The monitor is no good. The keyboard and touchpad are OK, though very slow. The battery is unlikely to help. The digital camera may be the best choice. The microphone is tolerable. Use of many of these devices will require lots of power and/or background daemons. It's just way easier to do as Intel did with their motherboard chipsets. VIA put a random number generator right in the CPU. AlbertCahalan 22:14, 28 February 2007 (EST)

This is a serious issue. There's a paper on the quality of the linux kernel RNG, and how it has relied on obscurity. When people wanted to find out how it works, they got no help from the developers; after analyzing it, they found serious weaknesses, and published.

http://www.pinkas.net/PAPERS/gpr06.pdf

In a nutshell:

1. Linux RNG is overly complicated, and could be made much simpler at no loss of quality if a random source is available.
2. Linux RNG is predictable with no random source
3. A "must" for diskless systems is to save the RNG state across shutdown/bootup. At the very least, each laptop should ship with a 512 byte file fetched from random.org (or similar) so that they can initialize to an unknown state on first boot.
4. Instead of using the linux RNG, perhaps consider a better one. Apple claims that its RNG -- "Yarrow" -- is better than Linux's, however it warns that a lack of random input will degrade it without warning (versus linux's estimate of entropy remaining in the main pool).

I do **REALLY** hope that this is fixed before any "for end user" machines are shipped. --Keybounce 21:36, 31 March 2007 (EDT)

It is a serious issue, but that stuff about Yarrow being better is wrong. People get recognition by publishing alarmist "research" about supposed defects in important software. The Linux developers have little time to help clueless people who won't study the history behind the Linux /dev/random and /dev/urandom devices. Yarrow has one feature of dubious value: it recovers quickly from an attacker who somehow exposes the content of the pool. If an attacker can do that, you have bigger issues to worry about because the attacker is reading your kernel memory! Yarrow does have two weaknesses. First, it assumes that there will not be a successful attack against the cryptographic operations it uses. The Linux /dev/random and /dev/urandom instead assume that such attacks will be somewhat successful, and thus does not depend greatly on the cryptographic operations being unbreakable forever. Second, Yarrow fails to track entropy. Even if no data goes into the pool, you can pull infinite data out. This makes Yarrow a pseudo-random number generator. Linux makes a conservative estimate of the amount of true randomness available in the pool and will cause /dev/random to block (stall) if there is not enough available. 24.110.145.57 00:26, 1 April 2007 (EDT)

The AMD Geode LX processor includes a hardware random number generator. Linux's /dev/{u,}random uses it to seed the entropy pool. Also, keyboard and trackpad input are used to add to the entropy. There should be few issues with the quality of the random numbers.

Look at the Measure activity - it reads unbiased voltage data from the audio in port. I don't know how sensitive the a/d on that is, but if it's sensitive enough to get some random noise when there's no mic attached, this would be an excellent, constant source of random data (I saw an article once arguing that a noisy a/d is either brownian motion - which has quantum input from molecular vibration modes - or direct quantum tunelling of electrons in the chip. Quantum random = gold standard.). I don't know if there are Bitfrost/Raibow issues with accessing this port - I think that's only for the physical mic, not the port. --Homunq 11:06, 24 September 2007 (EDT)

About emulating the OLPC disk Image

I am not sure where to post this as it's a rather technical support like question. I am emulating the OLPC image (I am using olpc-182.zip) in a intel iMac using VMWare tools beta. The emulations runs well, but with a limited size (640 x 480) and I know the laptop goes way beyond this. I have read somewhere an email from the OLPC mailing list that this was a recurring issue and many of the blog posts with screenshots and reviews of the SUgar interface where getting it wrong because of this.

I wanted to investigate this further (and help correct those blog reviews) and posted this question to the VMWare foruns, but they believe it's a problem with the OS image.

Any insights on this?

thank you

Alexandre Van de Sande www.wanderingabout.com alexandrevandesande (at) the email provided by google

Please refer to the emulation section of this wiki, specifically OS images for emulation and User Feedback on Images. --Walter 08:43, 8 January 2007 (EST)

I just want to try the software

I've read about the software and the UI online. I want to try the software. I want something like a "liveCD" that I can stick in my computer to try it out and show other people. a) Is it possible? b) If possible, is it explained anywhere on this eiki? c) if yes, why is it so hard to find? A nice big link on the homepage might be nice.

Don't know if there's a LiveCD, but you can try an emulator. On the left there's a navigation bar with a section titled "about the laptops", and under it you'll find the emulation link that'll take there... That wasn't so hard, was it? Enjoy!--Xavi 07:05, 5 January 2007 (EST)

I would desperately want...

Hello!

I've heard about your project on the program "Click" at BBC World. I think the idea of a 100$ computer is absolutely marvelous!

I would desperatly like to get one of these computers myself, eventhough I can afford usual computers. The problem is, that I'm living in Switzerland, which is still tinted grey on your world map.

I would be prepared to pay double the price (200$) to get one of these computers. That way, you could actually build two of them and donate one of them to a child that really needs it.

I think it would actually be a great idea to allow people who aren't eligible to own one of these computers, to get one for double its price - thus financing a free notebook for a child who really needs it.

It would also prevent people who are eligible to get one to put it on an auctioning site to sell them to people who don't really need them.

Thanks for a reply!

Best Regards

C.Beeli - Switzerland

It's good to read about your enthusiasm, but alas, quite some people had similar ideas before as the "Ask OLPC a Question about Distribution#Availability - Can XXX in YYY get one paying ZZZ ?" section shows, and to which the short answer is no. A longer answer is that you can still participate and collaborate with time and effort to make the project a reality. And a full answer would be this whole wiki, your government, local NGOs, etc. --Xavi 07:23, 5 January 2007 (EST)

I'd like to help teach.

I think your idea is marvelous! I heard recently about how cell phones are benefitting rural peoples in Africa, where landlines are almost non existent. and I can see how OLPC could be similarly beneficial -- perhaps more so.

Are you are recruiting folks yet to help train teachers or children to use the laptops? I've worked as a newspaper journalist, writing instructor, and am now in marketing and public relations for a community college. But I'd like to do something more meaning and helpful on a larger scale. How can I find out if there is a use for my skills in your organization? I am willing to work oversees and in primative conditions.

The OLPC does not actually deploy the computers in these countries. If you want to work in the field, then start by reading our news section to see where the first computers are headed. Then contact the ministry of education in one of these countries to offer your services. They will likely be working together with one or more charitable organizations who operate in their country. Currently, Brazil, Libya and Rwanda are target countries. --Memracom 05:40, 13 January 2007 (EST)

School Gateways follow follow up

Thank you very much for the response on School Gateways -- I had a big misconception about the internet. I am still curious, however, about how the School Gateways for the mesh networks are intended to be powered, and how much energy they will require. I looked at the power page, and it mentioned microbial fuel cells, which is what I was going to ask about. Are the gateways going to require a lot more power than a microbial fuel cell could provide? Thank you!

---(JK, USA) There ought to be a sister project of the OLPC to bring internet connection to schools in the developing world. One internet connection per school wouldn't be a bad name for such project. Wireless Gateway/APs powered by environmentally friendly and renewable energy sources like solar or wind power, perhaps linked to a bidirectional satellite internet receiver, and then use [1]WifiPaypal so that donors in the developed world can donate mothly Satellite connection bill direct to the schools using Paypal.

• I think you should develop your idea and get about doing it. Gus, Chile

Yes, that would be great to get internet capabilities, I agree -- I hope you do start that up!

Does anybody know about the approximate power needs for the gateways? I know somebody working on microbial fuel cells and he asked me to find out what the power needs would be, and I just have no idea. I'm assuming that power is going to be a biggish issue for the gateways, as many of them will be in areas with no elecricity -- Am I wrong? Thank you!

This question might be bettered answered on one of the Tech pages.

Is the 'buy 2 and get 1' scheme going to happen?

Hi there, Is the 'buy 2 and get 1' scheme going to happen or not? There have been many reports that suggested that it was planned for next year.

It will run for two weeks in November 2007; see http://xogiving.org

LiveCD OS Images

I downloaded a few of the recent LiveCD image builds (231), but for some reason the system does not load up and run. Obviously in this case you need a PC that has a CD/DVD reader etc. I may not be burning the CD correctly although Grub seems to start ok. Is there any particular hardware needed that a typical PC does not have, or something that I am not doing properly? Anyone out there that has this working and can share some ideas would be great. Thanks in advance.

This question might be bettered answered on one of the Tech pages.

Could you put a link to the "Tech Page". I'm having the same problem, what do I type at the grub prompt?

Color Coded Maps and Color Blind People

Would you please consider a written list of country status for those of us that are colorblind and can't make heads nor tails of your map?

There's an OLPC Status by Country page with a table - but darn! It too is color coded! ...just checked :(

I'll update it to make it text AND color coded.

It covers Africa, the Americas and Asia, and it's NOT official (iow, the coding of some countries could be wrong).

And yes, there should be a link to that table in the Countries section above and in the Map page.--Xavi 18:30, 21 January 2007 (EST)

Bad netiquette, answering to self, but it's already done! See OLPC Status by Country.

This question and it's answer will soon be moved to the #Country section above.--Xavi 18:58, 21 January 2007 (EST)

can i get one for my 2 kids???

dear sir/madam;

i am a mother of two from the Philippines, my eldest son is only 4 yrs. old, he's now at the nursery level, and i notice that he is interested about computers, he even know how to operate my laptop and start his educational game and i am proud of it. that is why i am asking you a question if i can get one for my eldest son so he can pursue his interest in studying by using laptop, and soon will teach his baby brother to use it.

thank you very much,

laarni muldong

As explained in several places, the short answer is no.

See

• Ask OLPC a Question about Distribution#Where or how can I get one?
• Ask OLPC a Question#Distribution, Roll-out, Marketing & Sales

freifunk.net volunteers

I wrote an e-mail to volunteers@laptop.org ten days ago, which has not been replyed to yet. I will submit this mail here just for making sure it reaches you:

Deleted this private letter. If you do not get a reply to your email, either wait patiently, or send another email. This wiki is not a mailbox!

We noticed that you are looking for people from the freifunk.net community for implementing the BATMAN software into your system.

---Konstantin 09:27, 27 January 2007 (EST)---

The OLPC OS already has a built-in mesh networking system. It is highly unlikely that your BATMAN mesh networking system will be of any use. There is already a Developers program where you can offer your services.

Actually, the B.A.T.M.A.N. free software for mesh networking is the most complete, widely deployed implementation of mesh networking under Linux. It's been running in production use for more than a year, which is more than anyone can say about the OLPC Marvell/CozyBit mesh. B.A.T.M.A.N. may well be useful for wide area networking of the school servers (the 802.11s mesh will only extend as far as the WiFi radios can reach; there's no plan to extend it via DSL or wired links to other parts of the network). Does B.A.T.M.A.N. support IPv6 yet? I concur that you should contact Jim Gettys at the Developers program, and ask for laptop into which you could port the software. --gnu

RealPlayer in OPLC and applications download

We are developing some applications that can be used to education purpose and we have some doubts: - Is it possible to make applications download using the OLPC ? - Is it possible to run the RealPlayer in OLPC ? Thanks in advance Vivian (vivianlona@hotmail.com)

The OLPC is based on downloadable activities, not applications. It will not have any RealPlayer support so you will need to encode in an open-source format. Ogg/Vorbis is good for music while Ogg/Speex is better for pure voice recordings. Read the Activity bundles page to see how to program a downloadable activity in Python.

What format do you require? RealPlayer can play many different formats. Quicktime can be played with GStreamer through OpenQuicktime and Gnash is mostly SWF v7 compliant (this makes Flash an open-source format). Gnash can play Flash movies from local files. If you would like to see either GStreamer or Gnash included you could add them to Category:Feedback. Thin client explains about use of the OLPC as a web client or thin client. --Fasten 11:40, 31 January 2007 (EST)

See also: Flash Player

"Activities" is just OLPC jargon for application programs. Don't be put off by people "correcting" you on that.

Real has been working to produce an OLPC version of their Helix Player, which is a free software player. The big problem is codecs -- most of the ones in common use (e.g. MP3) are patented and require the payment of commercial royalties. If you want to produce multimedia for children and make them useful to kids with OLPCs, then you will need to take care to encode your multimedia into freely licensed formats (Ogg Vorbis for music; Ogg Speex for speech; Ogg Theora for video). These can, of course, also be played on proprietary systems like Macs and PCs, though to encourage the use of their own locked-down formats, neither Apple nor Microsoft ships these free codecs with their OS; your application will have to install them.

The Gnash flash player doesn't come with any codecs; it relies on GStreamer to decode any media embedded in the flash movie. OLPC can distribute gnash, since it's GPL software, but can't distribute the codecs needed to play "FLV" (Flash Video) files, because they are proprietary to Adobe.

Preventing Porn/Adult Content?

At launch time will the laptop include any software for content controls (to prevent porn, etc). I realize that one's definition of "acceptable content" varies over regions, but isn't most content filtering software for the client Win-based?

This will, as far as I know, be left up to countries. Because the hardware and software OLPC will provide is as open as possible, there is no real way to implement such filtering on the laptops themselves; the kids could just change the software to get around such restrictions. --18.85.46.22 19:16, 17 February 2007 (EST)

Since most computers will be used with no Internet access whatsoever, this is a minor problem. In areas where there will be Internet access it will be provided by a school gateway. The filtering will either be implemented on the school gateway or at a central regional gateway.

Sorry, but lack of the Internet won't matter. OLPC is all about locally-produced content. This laptop has a camera. Having an Internet connection is only required for worldwide sales and distribution.

The laptops will have Internet access. Children will be both exploring and producing content. --Walter 11:40, 2 April 2007 (EDT)

This question has not yet been answered with sufficient care Please click here for a comment (on another talk page within this wiki) about the machines being used to create pornography. The OLPC team will be making a grave error if they expect developing world governments to address this issue without guidance.

My guess is that considering that the XOs will basically access the Internet through the mesh (connecting to the School server—acting as the gateway) a simple filter or proxy can be configured... it is (imho) a worthy preocupation, but must not be taken as the issue; most kids will not care about such things, and when they do, they'll manage to get their hands on it regardless of how adults feel about it... --Xavi 00:39, 23 March 2007 (EDT)

Are you talking about a particular already existing sort of image filter? Please elaborate. What sort of proxy? The reason that I am stressing this issue is because the reactionary element within a developing country will see this as "the" issue when it hits the press and they can keep these computers out of the hands of their children. Even if computer literate people can look past this sort of issue, large traditional populations are not likely to. Again, I'm not concerned about people looking at pornography. Every single internet cafe that I visited in 24 African countries last year had at least two young men looking at porn and nobody cared. I am concerned about the video camera being used to exploit poor young women and children. Whoever is putting this project together doesn't seem to know enough about the resourcefulness of the people who they will equip with these machines. Why isn't someone from the actual OLPC project bothering to respond. Have any of those guys actually lived in the marginal areas of the developing world? --[User:Onlinementor] 24 March 2007.

The School server can be used for content filtering; the extent to which it will be is based upon a country-by-country decision. In regard to the children being exploited in the creation of pornographic content, it is certainly a concern, one we are trying to address through a number of mechanism, some technological, but most of a societal nature. The camera and microphone are hardwired to LEDs and are protected against remote access (See BitFrost for details). The Journal logs all activities, including picture-taking. But neither of these measures is adequate if the family and community turn their backs on their children. We are striving to engage all community members in the program, which includes guidance about the exploitation of children. --Walter 11:40, 2 April 2007 (EDT)

Thanks for the feedback, Walter. Is there somewhere on this site where I could track the conversation about how to create a suitably vigilant societal mechanism to protect against the creation of exploitative content? It's a huge challenge and while it is particularly relevant to the OLPC initiative, it is an OLD, often-confronted, unbested challenge. To paint it as a question of family and communal back-turning is somewhat misleading, as it suggests that any shortcoming on behalf of the responsible community will be committed with purposeful disregard. It is much more likely that they will be ignorant of the situation, powerless to do anything about it or coerced into accepting it.

I'm sure you are familiar with the fact that it is not uncommon for teachers in the developing world (especially in Sub-Saharan Africa) to use their students sexually--indeed the notion of what constitutes "exploitation" is rather variable. If you cannot have a meaningful allegiance with educators, I don't know how you hope to engender this new breed of social responsibility. I don't mean to sound glib. I would just love to hear, in reassuring detail, what sort of local and regional expertise is being applied to the question.

On the other page, I suggested a possibility that is less trusting of the local community; but productive of jobs and, perhaps more reliable.

A possible suggestion: Whenever someone is uploading pictures or video (via the mesh) to the internet, it must be approved by human eyes. Those eyes should belong to women in another part of the world. For instance, Uruguayan women, approve every image and video that Nigerian computer users upload. Libyan women approve every image and video that Uruguyans upload etc. It will be harder to corrupt the filter if it exists further away, speaks another language and is built of women.

The countries where you are going to pilot this program are full of women who would happily take an image filtering job for $50/month or thereabouts (and that, in many cases, would be a generous salary). Invest an extra $60,000 in each country towards the power of external, female filtering and you might be able to save yourselves considerable embarassment. In the context of this project, $60,000 sounds like a very modest investment; but it could create scores of jobs in each country and help to protect young people from the world's thirsty perversion. --[[User:Onlinementor] 2:20, 9 April 2007 (EST)

The laptop is a tool, and can be used "for good or evil". Personally I think that censorship is evil and that kids should be free to see what humans look like without their clothes. The kids I've known who grew up that way didn't turn out badly. So please stop trying to push your own cultural prejudices onto every kid in the world. If you made colored pencils for kids, would you set up a system of censorship to make sure they didn't draw anything sexy?

I think it's not about Onlinementor's, yours, or my prejudices. What counts is what the parents of the children want, that we are trying to influence here. They have the right to decide, if pornography/violence is accepted in their community. They should be empowered to limit the influence of the internet on their children.

Society change is always a violent process. The faster the change, the more violent it is. The best chance for success of OLPC in a community will be, if it does not change too much.I think it it very important to fit the filtering to the local community and their values. Internet-Access is a Social Change Tool. If the social change it creates is not wanted, the programm will fail. Every community might need a different level of porn/violence/political filters, so the change doesn´t get too much. But developing the restriction mechanisms should be a high priority for OLPC. Parents/community/nation want to stay in control of the minds of their children. If you refuse to let them have some control of the new influence on their children, they might refuse the whole offer.

In the end OLPC has to listen to the parents of the children, and take on all their key concerns. There is no way of saying: "we from the big wide world know what´s best for your child!" -[User:Bones, 1st post] 14.09.2007

Mesh Network Emulation

I'd like to try running a mesh network with emulation software; using say several laptops and a server (they could all be on one physical machine). I can't figure out how to create a mesh network using the qemu image, and don't see any images for the server. Thanks.

(I am a graduate student in Computer Science and Education, and would like to contribute to this project; but need to evaluate a working environment first)

Could this Virtualized Sugar page be what you're looking for? --Xavi 08:26, 6 February 2007 (EST)

Thanks... maybe. I fired up two instances of olpc on moka5, on separate machines in the same LAN, but couldn't them in the neighborhood. What more tinkering is required?

Looks like it didn't work, uh? I would suggest then that you raise the issue in one of the mailing lists probably networking. If you find an answer (solution or reason on why not) please post it here, so that we may then add it somewhere. Thanks and good luck! --Xavi 00:45, 7 February 2007 (EST)

Try turning on Bridge network for the virtual machines. There is an option to select that on top of the window.

By default, it is NAT.

All of the Mesh software is running inside the Marvell chip set on the OLPC, in currently-proprietary software; there is little or no support in the free Linux kernel or the Sugar UI. (Just configuration interfaces, and a way to gateway to the broader Internet.) So without the hardware, you can't run the mesh -- just an ordinary network. But since the mesh emulates an ordinary network, it's not usually a big deal. As the OLPC's higher level collaboration software starts working (soon, I hear) it should work over both ordinary networks (e.g. WiFi with an access point; WiFi in ad-hoc mode; or a USB Ethernet adapter) and over the mesh. --gnu

autoreinstalation image through usb is not working..help..

i have successfully update image from this site...(olpc/manuals%20notes/Auto re installation_image.htm)...but after giving response ok at the end of setup...machine didn't reboot or shutdown... after waiting long time i shutdown the machine and then turn on .. then message comes : trying startup script disk:\boot\olpc-boot.fth..........and then no response for 5 minutes...after 5 minutes again a 4 lines message comes....

boot-file = ro root=mtd0 rootfstype=jffs2 console=ttys0, console =tty0 fbcon=font:sun12*22 pci=nobios video=gxfb:1024*768-16 boot-device = nand ..... and machine held with this message....and no response ....

can any body help me in this issue ?? -- Salman Minhas System Administrator Electronic Government Directorate

We have seen a few cases of auto-installer failures apparently due to "botched" downloads onto USB disks. We plan to mitigate that by including a manifest in the installer image, with checksums/hashes. In the interim, please try downloadinga new build image. --Walter 20:21, 17 February 2007 (EST)

Arbitrary section break 1

minimum order

NGOs and retailers are supposedly excluded based on quantity, but that really doesn't make sense. In theory, an NGO or retailer could order many millions of laptops.

Some countries are initially excluded because they are too small. It seems you want quantities of 1 million.

Is that the magic number? If an NGO could buy a million, would you then work with them? What if Walmart wanted a million?

Would 5 million do the job? How about 10 million?

It'd be nice to replace all the "NO YOU CAN'T BUY ONE" stuff with a more-understandable "minimum order 1 million", or whatever it is.

AlbertCahalan 00:42, 20 February 2007 (EST)

The fact is that the OLPC does not want to sell large numbers of laptops. Rather, they want to get large numbers of laptops in the hands of children along with educational support for those children to ensure that they actually receive educational value from the laptops. In addition, the OLPC is at a very early stage in its project, so they need to focus their relationships on a small number of countries which are willing to put a lot of energy into pilot projects.

There is no minimum order number because the OLPC is not selling laptops, not at retail and not at wholesale. Sometime after the pilot projects are well under way and there are a few million satisfied child users of the laptops (2 years or more) then there will be alternative distribution channels for the laptops. However, NGOs may take lower priority than small quantity projects with ministries of education in smaller countries, or poor countries which cannot support a full national rollout at one time.

If an NGO really wants to get involved in OLPC laptop distribution, then they should start by providing people and resources to support projects in the countries where OLPC has an agreement. That way, the NGO personnel will gain experience and will be able to speak with the OLPC project on a more reasonable basis than waving dollar bills and demanding minimum-order-quantities.

OS languages that OLPC will release

What are the languages that OLPC will be released with? What are the first Priority ones?

The first priority languages are the languages of countries where the ministry of education has signed an agreement to deploy OLPC laptops to their children. In some of these countries there is more than one official language such as Nigeria with Edo, Efik, Adamawa Fulfulde, Hausa, Idoma, Igbo, Central Kanuri, and Yoruba.

If there is a language that you would like to see higher priority then you need to convince the ministry of education in a country where it is the official language, to sign an agreement with OLPC.

Financial support for OLPC?

How is OLPC supported? How does one make a financial contribution?

You can make a financial contribution to the OLPC foundation, which is not the same as the OLPC association. Contributions will be used for "grants and loans for the development and use of open educational resources and grassroots learning innovations that enhance the effectiveness of the XO" and for the Special Laptop Program. --Fasten 17:30, 27 February 2007 (EST)

Proxy configuration

Is there any way to configure a proxy in the OLPC Firefox?

The web activity is just a version of firefox. As such, you can get to the firefox configuration by typing "about:config" in the location bar. Once there, you can narrow the settings to "network.proxy". Now, edit the fields to configure things properly from behind your corporate firewall :) -Jeff 12:06, 12 March 2007 (EDT)

Photo use suggestion

Apologies if this is the wrong place; I couldn't find a better spot on the wiki to suggest this. I hope someone can route it for me.

As I understand it, the OLPC system takes a photo of the laptop's owner at an early stage, and uses that in various UI elements to identify the child (e.g. the "neighbourhood" view).

Suggestion: this photo should also be displayed during startup, so that a teacher can work out who owns a laptop left behind in the classroom immediately, instead of needing to wait for the entire boot sequence.

It should also be displayed when/if the laptop is locked out due to a failure to contact the authentication server inside 21 days, or because it's been explicitly disabled due to theft.) This would allow a stray laptop to be reunited with its owner far easier, and/or make it simple for the police to ascertain that the person holding the laptop is not the owner.

That may well be the case.--216.194.7.250 11:39, 24 March 2007 (EDT)

About internet access

I am very interested about the OLPC. I am a pc programmer too and I am interested on programming for other plataforms, like the Playstation2, cellphones, and now, to the OLPC, too. I know almost all about he OLPC, ecxept one thing: What are the plans about the Internet access on the OLPC particulary on Brazil?

You can find informations about this, in portuguese, at the DMU site

I think the platform is similar to all the other nations except the language is different. The subject matter is to reflect each nations individual lifestyle and customs. Brazil is also one of the first nations to receive the proto types.--216.194.7.250 11:54, 24 March 2007 (EDT)

A little question

The user install other programs on the pc, like on a normal pc using linux? If not, there is a way to run programs on the OLPC? The programs that I am referring are other programs, developed by users, etc...

The OLPC has a pretty small footprint. The OLPC Redhat distribution is very small, and has few program. There is an OLPC Redhat Development distribution which has a few more Linux programs, but it's still small. Sugar is the GUI interface, and has special activity programs. Activities are inherently networkable and sharable. -Jeff 21:45, 6 March 2007 (EST)

The answer to your question is yes. You can install other programs on the OLPC, like on a normal PC running Linux. The window system (Sugar) currently makes that hard, though someone is working on fixing that.

Internet access

How is internet connectivity achieved?

OLPC laptops talk to each other in an ad-hoc mesh network. Each school has a server which connects laptops on the mesh to the internet. -Jeff 21:28, 9 March 2007 (EST)

Which Unix-like Operating System?

I can find no link among section sub-headings to give me any clue as to where I find information about all the Operating Systems under consideration for this OLPC machine. It will be a Unix-like Operating System I am sure but that could be a Linux Distro, a version of FreeBSD or some other OS such as Minix. Or will this machine be a platform capable of running a wide range of Unix-like OS's?

The OLPC group is developing an open-source laptop OS using Redhat Fedora Linux as the base from which to start. This software will be freely made available to the countries deploying the laptops. However, since the CPU is a standard AMD Geode and the entire design is open-source, a country is free to develop their own OS or to choose some other OS for their laptops. The OLPC group will provide support for the OS and software that we develop.

Assistive Technology Software on the OLPC Laptop

In regards to accessibility, I think the 3 USB prots are a great idea. But what kind of assistive technology will be avaliable on the computer itself? Will synthesized speech, for example, have to be provided by an external synthesizer? Or, will a separate Nraille display and Braille keyboard have to be connected for a blind user to use the machine? Will the system have the necessary drivers built into the kernel or provided by external programs (such as Brltty)? What about support for mouse alternatives such as switches and head mice? Will the laptop be capable of playing sounds on events? I appologize for all the questions, but these are questions we are still trying to answer in mainstream operating systems.

The OLPC system has it's own set of rules and computing factors as mentioned on the many pages devoted to that subject.USB is also answered on this page. The answer to main stream operating systems would be Yes they have servers that are cross coded to allow them to give a limted out put via these servers. Will you beable to directly recive taged pages? Not at first but because from what has been said and the feed back they seem to work well and have few glitchs that will end up in

the main stream if any at all.--216.194.7.136 23:04, 3 April 2007 (EDT)

Has there been any News stories this year about the programa?

I found a page that has some news stories [2] If i find any more I'll add the link. --216.194.7.250 11:10, 24 March 2007 (EDT)

A Question about site submission

I was reading on one of the Wiki pages that you are looking for articles. But in the question and answer section you said the local communities will be adding things to the laptops internet mesh. Once the Laptops are received do you think it would be better to write to the government directly and submit sites based on simple graphics and texts that they can add them selves. I would like to submit but I wrote you people before and no one answered me and it is easier to get the Governments address and phone number . What do you think?

Well I think your idea sounds great! But you should hold off for right now in contacting the governments about submission ideas. If you look around the OLPC Wiki there are some ways you can make suggestions. But I am sure in the future once the program is off and running there will be ways to submit lessons and other suggestions to each OLPC location as well as to the OLPC program itself.

Bakersdz

Accessibility

I'm not sure if the information about accessibility on this WIKI answers the questions we have received about the laptop/program. So here goes: Someone asked me if the device would work for children with disabilities? And if you been designing this device with disability accessibility in mind from the outset? For instance, most persons with vision disability are not Braille readers so might need font enlarging capacity or some sort of audio outputs? Likewise for children with fine motor skills disabilities (e.g., one hand or less than the usual number of fingers or dexterity impacted by other neurological damage) would the keyboard design work for them? Likewise, for children with intellectual disabilities, is the interface usable for children who are not average? We've heard that 10% of the world's population, or more than 600 million people, live with life altering disabilities, and two thirds of those persons are in developing countries (UN statistics). We assume many of these are children. Would you give me a heads-up if you are designing, developing and fabricating this $100 laptop with disability accessibility needs in mind? Thanks! J. Simpson Senior Director, Telecommunications & Technology Policy, American Association of People With Disabilities (AAPD) 1629 K Street, N.W., Suite 503 Washington, DC 20006 Tel Ext 31 Website http://www.aapd.com

We are thinking about this; there are certainly significant disabled populations who will hopefully be using the laptop. You can sign up for our accessibility mailing list: accessibility at laptop. Thank you for your interest. Sj talk 16:51, 6 April 2007 (EDT)

Local version of SUGAR (particularly, Korea for me)

I want to make a Korean Version of SUGAR UI. I know the fact that currently you are making local versions for participating countries and, unfortunately, Korea is not one yet.

However, I think there is no reason to block writing local versions of SUGAR. Having one's own local version will help people persuade their governments to participate in OLPC.

Thanks.

Yes that is a valid point, but whose blocking it? If the government is blocking this then there is really not a lot you can do. They may have a good reason and later they will stop. But that is if it's the Government. You have to figure that part out first.

Sugar is designed to be easy to localize. It's a true pain to work on Sugar, though, as a programmer. If you want to localize it to the Korean language, I suggest going on the #sugar IRC channel on freenode.net and seeing if anyone there can tell you how to get started. They'd probably be happy with well written localization for the Korean language; it would shake out bugs in their Asian language support.

Emulation-screen size control

I emulated Qemu on Fedora 5 but all I get is a full size version of the top 50% of the screen losing all the bottom icons and it will not seem to scroll down. How can I control screen size so that I view full screen?. Also How do I access the Shell or Konsole?.

Data security regarding the camera, microphone and mesh network

Data on a laptop, that is in the hands of a child can never be called secure against malicious intruders, but that is not a great concern as long as the data consists basically of the childs homework. But the OLPC XO has a microphone a camera and a mesh function (through the latter other people can observe its movements through the house). A malicious intruder might manage to remotely turn those devices on and gather a lot of private data on the family, including high risk data, like political opinions. This is a problem in the first world already, but in the third world, with its dictatorships or unstable democracies and often powerful criminal organizations the damage can be huge. So to my question: Does the XO have off switches for the aforementioned three critical devices and, if yes, are they physical (really cutting power off)? If they are not physical, how does the system prevent malicious software from turning them on? Is there an accompanying paper, that explains the security precautions necessary for such a device to the child? --Steve

Please refer to the Bitfrost specification, which goes into detail about our plans to address this potential threat. Also note that there will be LEDs that indicate that the camera and microphone are on physically attached to the power lines of those devices. --Walter 09:01, 21 April 2007 (EDT)

I was imprecise. Certainly there are features, to make an attack difficult in the xo as well as in any other system. But ways around will be found, and my question is, what if (and it WILL happen) the software layer of security is already broken and the computer "owned". What safely prevents the aforementioned devices from gathering data, when they are not explicitly used? --Steve

I'll also try to be more precise: Please refer to OLPC_Bitfrost#P_MIC_CAM:_microphone_and_camera_protection. "The use of the camera and microphone require a special permission, requested at install-time as described in its chapter, for each program wishing to do so. This permission does not, however, allow a program to instantly turn on the camera and microphone. Instead, it merely lets the program ask the user to allow the camera or microphone (or both) to be turned on. This means that any benign programs which are taken over but haven't declared themselves as needing the camera or microphone cannot be used neither to turn on either, NOR to ask the user to do so!" --Walter 09:53, 21 April 2007 (EDT)

Thank you for your reply. The LEDs are certainly a real gain of security. If permissions are a protection depends on the severity of the attack. If the attacker achieved kernel privileges, all protection measures, that come from the operating system are off. Since in unstable countries governments and their agents must be counted among the potential attackers, the signature exception is furthermore a major hole in the (by its software nature already imperfect) protection.

The simplest actually secure solution to the problem would be three good old-fashioned power switches, one before the camera, one before the microphone and one before the antennas. Steve

Typical scenario: A democratically elected president turns into a dictator and wants to spy on his people. Millions of microphones with communication gear are already in the households and, as a leftover from his old democratic days he has the cryptographic keys necessary to activate them. Steve

Now they said, that the XO will run 3$ Windows too. Not even Bitfrost is there when Windows is running and the project has no legal way to even see, where that OS has its weaknesses. This makes a physical solution to the microphone problem almost unavoidable. But since on-off switches are really dirt cheap when bought in masses, it should be easy to do. Steve

The LEDs in the B4 laptops turned out to be great for debugging all the times when the camera and mic were powered on when they shouldn't be by the software. They really work. Of course, that only tells you that the cam or the mic is in use; the LEDs don't provide a way to turn them off. A piece of tape, or a gooey bit of rice, will suffice to shut off the camera if it's turned on and you don't want it to be used. The microphone is a bit harder to shut off temporarily (if you've lost control of your software), since ambient sound penetrates the case. --gnu

Spreadsheet Program

Shouldn´t a calculation program - some clone of EXCEL - be part of the standard software delivered with every computer ? Remember, most of the kids are living in families that are peasants, and they might like to make accounts of what their "business" is producing, what resources are needed to produce it, and so on.

Does Allowing Windows Violate A "Core" Principle?

Negroponte has said this is a "learning" project, not a laptop project.

One of the "core principles" you outline in this Wiki is the use of open source.

You state that the child should not be a "passive consumer" -- which means that he should have access to the source.

Now the news is reporting the XO will run Windows?

This seems like a contradiction.

Allowing closed source to ride on top of the OLPC makes it no more than a Trojan Horse...right?

___

John A. Bailo The Texeme Construct

The Microsoft announcement has resulted in some confusion in the press. It is being suggested that because of the Microsoft announcement, OLPC will be switching from Linux to Windows. On the contrary, OLPC remains steadfast in its dedication to FOSS and has no plans to distribute Windows. However, we have consistant and public with our position that the spirit of openness and freedom; everyone, including software engineers at Microsoft, are welcome to develop for the machine. The fact that Microsoft has been making efforts to bring the price of Windows within reach of children in the developing world gives those children more choices. --Walter 04:11, 28 April 2007 (EDT)

http://www.mobilised.com.au/content/view/947/1/ --Steve (on second look that author may not be very knowledgeable. He understands the 3M minimum units as 3M minimum dollars) --Steve

I wish that we could build a $1 laptop, but that is out of reach for the time being. --Walter 16:42, 29 April 2007 (EDT)

http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=379 --Steve

I am unaware of any government asking for Windows. There is more to the difference between Windows and Linux than just $3. --Walter 16:44, 29 April 2007 (EDT)

But http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2007/04/negroponte_olpc.html --Steve

It's only a contradiction if you have more then education in mind. Like future consumers. Children are just like many computer systems; always changing and growing.Their Tojan Horse could be a brighter future inside! I think it was hard for the OLPC program to keep giants like Microsoft out of the program for as long as they did. But as we can all see by the news as of late every one wants in. Well when you have created something great every one wants one. Don't you think? Bakersdz

Thin Client Model and OLPC? Sugar

Hello, --Sam-c 04:57, 28 April 2007 (EDT) (Please Recategorise if needed, Thanks sam) 1) How do I Download Quickly Sugar On My Linux Machine that at Present Has Limited Resources, For Development and Evaluation Purposes. 2) What about the Thin Client Model? Which Many think is best for inexpensive Educational Purposes? Thanks, OLPC Newbie Sam --Sam-c 04:57, 28 April 2007 (EDT)

RE (1), please refer to the OS images for emulation page in this wiki; (2a) it is not clear that one could build a thin client for significantly less than you can build the XO; (2b) you can use the XO for thin client applications; and (2c) laptops are useful even when they are not connected to the network. --Walter 19:35, 29 April 2007 (EDT)

volunteers

How can I get my wealthy , resourceful high school students involved to help?

Other linux?...

Can I install other linux OS?... in particular can I install Debian etch? And if so will all hardware work?

Not able to buy a your laptop?...

If I wish to raise and educate my child will I not be able to acquire the PC? Why is there a political barrier between your PC and my child (and every other that do not go to school)?

OLPC has no plan to ship XO laptop direct to the consumer market. But Quanta, the manufacture of the XO laptop, will perhaps sell a commercialized version of the same laptop to the normal consumer at about $200[3]. This Quanta version laptop will perhaps also use the same open Sugar OS system, like the official XO laptop, developed by Redhat and OLPC Project. --Scott Zhu 20.20, 01.May 2007(EDT)

What do you do for process virtualization in bitfrost?

I had read that in the Bitfrost security system you do true virtualization of processes with almost no overhead. I was wondering what kernel module you use for that and where I can get it.

Donations

after tonight's 60 minutes' show, you should revamp the site to accomodate the flood of donation offerings. How may i send one? best wishes, tom

Try this site[4] Bakersdz

Laptop Security

I think it is pretty obvious these laptops will be quite possibly the most valuable thing in villages. What security features will these laptops have to make sure they don't get stolen? I have heard that they will be unusable if not used by the owner for 24 hours. Is this true?

There are several ideas aiming to avoid the problem, amongst them is saturation (why steal something that everybody has access to?) If you are interested in the more technical aspects, please see the Bitfrost security platform, and the specifics on anti-theft protection. --Xavi 10:29, 21 May 2007 (EDT)

computers for my school

Hello, My name is Sonia Ponce, I work in two high school´s in Matamoros Tamaulipas, Mexico, Escuela Secundaria Tecnica #46 & Escuela secundaria Tecnica #76, I teach cumputer sience but the problem is that we don´t have the resorces to get new equipment, we ask our local and state goverment for funding to purchase the much needed equipoment but we get no answer, your computer, if the cost is $100 USD looks to me to be afortable, the schools are located in a area where the people just don´t have much money they leve pay check to pay check, or how can we get choosen for a trial basis?

Yours Truly Sonia Ponce e-mail, saponce@gmail.com

why can't I contribute by credit card on the OLPC site?

I'm trying to make a donation. All I see is an address to send a check: nowhere to donate via credit card.

Try this site [5] Bakersdz

feedback

What mechanisms are in place to get feedback and bug reports from the participants in the third world?

How can I buy this lap top?

I definitely want to buy this lap top. How can I do that? Should I just call this compamy?

This is covered on the Ask OLPC a Question about Distribution page. —Joe 14:11, 22 May 2007 (EDT)

How can I help translating contents?

I am japanese. I would like to help translating contents of this web site. Though I looked at help,FAQ,I can't understand. Someone help me how to translate,please.

A (too) short answer: see Translating & Translators. If you have any questions or doubts, you can drop me a note. Cheers, --Xavi 22:28, 22 May 2007 (EDT)

OLPC News Feed?

Is there now or are there any plans to make OLPC news available as an RSS feed? I would very much like to provide my site's readers with up-to-date news on OLPC's progress. Best regards! MT

School Sponsors

After I saw the 60 Minutes piece I thought this would be a great school fundraiser. It would be cool to have US children e-mail children in third world countries. Much of today's issues, I think, could be improved with an understanding of each other. Do you have plans for schools to invest in a laptop and then have the US children e-mail the laptop's recipient? I know there are such opportunities in developed countries, but I know of none for third world countries. cmshaughnessy@msn.com

There has been some interest shown by the US and other First World nations. As the program grows this could be a very good idea for children to have email pals across the globe. Bakersdz

That would be great, but the OLPC software doesn't handle email. --gnu

Say what? The XO has a full-featured web browser, which is more than adequate for using gmail, among other email systems. We haven't ported a native email client to the laptop yet, as it is not as high a priority as other activity development. --Walter 21:35, 7 July 2007 (EDT)

Arbitrary section break II

Will Limited Storage Impact Feeling Of Ownership?

I have been impressed by Seymor Papert's idea that the relationship that users have with their personal computers makes them more powerful. I also note that the storage limitations of the OLPC mean that some portion of the materials of an individual student are likely to be stored on the server. What I am curious about is how this will impact the student's sense of ownership and whether the software will be designed to mitigate this limitation by blurring the distinction of local/remote storage. I imagine that this might be done by something simple like establishing a virtual volume that contains the local and remote materials. Of course it may well be that this isn't an issue at all.

The objective is to have the 'server' space transparently integrated into the 'user' space, so that accessing a resource (ie: a file) stored in the server will be transparent. For more info, you can read OLPC Human Interface Guidelines#Automatic Backup and Restore or OLPC Human Interface Guidelines#The Laptop Experience for a broader view. --Xavi 22:46, 31 May 2007 (EDT)

Cost, Distribution, Technical Support and Competition

It is apparent that in-country sponsor organizations must be involved to distribute and support the PC. These organizations may be governmental, or perhaps even charitable (aid) agencies.

OLPC should create "franchises" of a sort. The sponsoring organization will be responsible for providing a systems integration and technical support center (or centers) in which the PC will be assembled, tested, packaged and distributed; and from which limited technical support will be provided. The centers may also be responsible for establishing the WIFI networks required. The centers must be created by the sponsoring organization per OLPC specifications and should be supervised (from creation) by an OLPC employee. The centers will be funded and owned by the sponsoring organization, and all of the employees at the centers will be employed by the sponsoring organization --- except the OLPC supervisor. It's important to keep the OLPC supervisor independent of the sponsoring organization, since the OLPC supervisor will be responsible for auditing manufacturing and distribution per OLPC guidelines.

Expense in setting up the centers should be minimal for the sponsoring organization. I am happy to aid in the creation of specifications for centers. The specifications for each center will be similar to all others, with capacity being the only unique component of the basic equation. Network establishment for sponsoring organization's geography will also be similar to all others, with capacity and physical terrain being the unique components of the basic equation.

OLPC will establish credit/payment arrangements with each of the sponsoring organizations.

After account establishment, OLPC will send kits of PC materials to the centers for final assembly. The centers will perform top-level assembly only. Kits of parts will include, cases, power supplies, batteries, LCDs, unit packaging, etc. --- and perhaps a calculated spares supply based upon estimated (eventually, known) reliability of the PCs to ensure in-field functionality for 5 years. The centers would also be responsible for PC repairs and refurbishment, as well as network maintenance, to OLPC guidelines.

The sponsoring organization is responsible for distributing the PC per OLPC guidleines. Distribution expenses are borne by the centers.

The OLPC supervisor will audit the performance of the sponsoring organization. In the event that the sponsoring organization fails to meet OLPC standards, OLPC may stop shipments of PC parts to the center.

OLPC cost is reduced by transferring the labor costs of final assembly, test, packaging and distribution to the sponsoring organization, thus relieving the PC unit price of these costs. The countries most in need of the OLPC program have plentiful and inexpensive labor. Perhaps a penny or two per PC must be added to the PC cost so that OLPC can pay its center supervisors (and perhaps area - continent? - supervisors, auditing the center supervisors). The creation of in-country infrastructure --- and local employment --- virtually assures loyalty and continuity of the OLPC program.

I can tell you that we make can even make the OLPC "franchise" work in the U.S. I can provide up to 50,000 employees who can assemble the PC in the U.S. --- legally --- for less than $1.00 per hour. Assuming OLPC program control in the U.S., these employees can even kit and ship the top-level parts to centers throughout the world.

I am aware that certain for-profit companies are threatening competition. Such competition is a serious threat to OLPC and its vision. If a commercial enterprise can thwart OLPC's vision, and cause OLPC to cease to exist --- PC prices will rise due the lack of competition.

The establishment of in-country partnerships with sponsoring organizations (probably governments) will be the only way that OLPC can manage competition from firms such as Intel.

dekedeac@bellsouth.net

While it is possible to do assembly in-country in the future, in order to deliver the lowest-cost laptop in the first year, final assembly needs to be done close to where the some 800 parts in the laptop are manufactured. One needs to consider not just the total cost of final assembly, logistics, packaging, and shipping, but also the cost of logistical coordination of all the parts and their shipping for in-country final assembly, plus duties and capital equipment investment. OLPC and its manufacturing partners are happy to work with countries to explore a local-manufacturing option in future years and to create a phased plan for in-country manufacture now.

OLPC does not want to limit in-country industrial development to only a few low-wage, low-skill, no-growth jobs such as assembling laptops, while the higher value-added, high-skill, high-growth jobs remain elsewhere. Focusing only on parts or system assembly is not sustainable economic promotion. Our commitment to open-source software and content allows rapid, viral growth of these industries in country, which dwarf the assembly-line manufacturing industry.

Serving the OLPC “ecology” will create in-country business opportunities. There are numerous devices ranging from solar panels, generators, point-to-point wireless hardware to extend the network, novel, inexpensive educational accessories to be used with the laptop, and so on that can and will be invented in a grassroots, bottom-up fashion. Software is also an opportunity: systems such as the XO will enable both commercial and non-commercial software to be built to address needs in the majority of the world where computing has not been available due to lack of suitable computers and networks. --Walter 03:47, 16 June 2007 (EDT)

If we have learned nothing, we have indeed learned that simply dumping money, food --- or PCs --- into a needy geography does little long-term good for the intended clients. Don't send fish --- teach your clients how to fish. Without OLPC control of PC distribution, network creation and maintenance and repair/upgrade capabilities, the PCs you dump into the third world will disappear into oblivion.

The concept of client investment is a well-accepted method of creating the sense of ownership necessary to create and care for the in-country programs. The "cost of logistical coordination of all the parts and their shipping for in-country final assembly" bears exactly the same level of complexity as shipping the PCs. OLPC ships KITS of parts to produce X PCs --- not random shipments from various hardware manufacturers. In the unlikely event that there is a country on this earth that will not waive tariff or tax for humanitarian shipments, the kits of parts will be taxed at a much lower rate than the value-added PCs.

In-country assembly and support operations will be the ONLY way to keep your competitors at bay. Don't be naive. Intel can sell its PC for any price it choses. OLPC will lose a price war with any competitor that can produce and provide substantial hardware value a lower-than-market prices.

The in-country assembly plan works because labor rates will be directly proportional to each countries abilities to pay those rates. It's a perfect equation.

OLPC is a GREAT idea. However, there comes a point where idealism must yield to reality to ensure success.

OpenDocument in Write?

What will be the default format for saving documents in Write? I think I read somewhere that all Write documents will be saved in Microsoft's proprietary doc format. It seems to me that OpenDocument should be promoted wherever possible. Will it be OpenDocument or some other open format? -Danny 75.47.72.74 12:31, 17 June 2007 (EDT)

We are hoping that we'll be able to use open document (odt) as the default, although there is some more work QA work to do. --Walter 13:01, 17 June 2007 (EDT)

Game Jam

Can Game Jam games be accessed through FireFox in a format that people can can try it or see an in action demo of the games themes?

If not as many programs can be presented for view in diffrent system formats do you think becuase of the Google link that the program is not being relistic in the real world of internet? In some ways the clanist social pratices of many people and nations is a mid level part of their problem. By following this type of only if you.... belong to the group ,have this kind of system, have a laptop ect... may not be progressive. WHAT DO YOU THINK? jULY 7,2007

Christian content

Are there any Christian based initiatives with regards to providing Christian content on thumbdrives to be used with the laptops?

OLPC is only looking at basic literacy and numeracy; we leave it to the countries to determine what other content to provide on the laptops.

B2-Friendly Software/Firmware Builds

Its been a while since the olpc406_c11 build came out and it doesn't seem (my observation) to bring out the best in the B2s. Are there any future releases that will be B2 friendly while serving the B3s and B4s? I'm asking because the XOs being tested in Nigeria are mostly all B2s (if I'm correct). --Ahmad 12:04, 4 July 2007 (EDT)

There will be two new builds coming out in the coming days, both of which will be (largely) compatible with B2 hardware. One will be a variant of Build 406, but with the power management and suspend/resume in place. This should make a big difference in regard to usability in the school trials as the laptops should last a full school day on a single charge. The other build will be an experimental build that exposes a number of new features regarding the mesh and our model of sharing. It will also include the basic Journal functionality and the new tabbed Sugar UI. Initially, it may not be suitable for the school trials--the idea would be for a few machines in each school be set up with the new software so that the teachers and children can give us feedback. --Walter 16:21, 4 July 2007 (EDT)

The Needy Children of the U.S.A.

To all of those people that want to donate things to all of the children. Shouldn't we think of all of our children in the states?

Stop & think of who is responsible of all the teaching that the Americans are the enemy's. with all of the organizations in this country i would think that our country that a lot of AMERICANS FOUGHT FOR & SO MANY LOST THEIR LIVES FOR.THAT EVERYONE THAT WANTS TO START A DONATION &FUNDING TO SHOULD START IN THEIR COUNTRY THAT THEY LIVE IN.

STOP & THINK HOW MUCH DID OUR COUNTRY DO FOR A LOT OF OTHER COUNTRIES & WHAT DID WE GET ION RETURN.

THE BIG CORPORATIONS SEND ALL OF OUR WORK THEIR & PUT HOW MANY PEOPLE ON THE OUT OF WORK LIST.

JUST BECAUSE OF THE GREED OF BIG MONEY PEOPLE. I THINK IF ANY MONEY IS SPENT IT SHOULD BE SPENT IN OUR COUNTRY FIRST.THEN WHEN OUR CHILDREN HAVE ALL OF THE LEARNING TOOLS THEN WE CAN HELP OTHER COUNTRIES.

NOW STOP & THINK WHO HELPED US ON SEPTEMBER 11!!!!! WE NOW ARE INVOLVED IN A WAY IN A COUNTRY THAT TEACHES THAT ALL AMERICANS SHOULD BE KILLED. IS THAT THE KIND OF CHILDREN YOU WANT TO TEACH MORE TO?? STOP & THINK WHAT YOUR FATHER & HIS FATHER WOULD SAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SO PLEASE STOP & TEACH THOSE CHILDREN IN OUR HOME COUNTRY. ALSO THINK THAT HOW MANY CHILDREN DO WE HAVE IN THIS COUNTRY FROM THE COUNTRIES YOU ARE GIVING THESE THINGS TO.

WE NEED TO BUILD THE U.S.A. BACK TO THE PROUD COUNTRY IT SHOULD BE.

There is a lot more i would like to say but it all comes back to we should help our Country first.

-- AN AMERICAN VET.

OLPC is interested in helping children in all countries, including the United States. We have been in discussions with many governors and are discussing possible deployments in individual school districts. That said, I have two comments regarding your note: (1) OLPC has not been diverting any funds away from the United States into other countries; and (2) it is our belief that one of the roads to peace is making sure that every child in every country has an opportunity for learning. If we can help to eliminate ignorance, perhaps we can eliminate much of the underlying cause of hatred and violence. --Walter 18:11, 7 July 2007 (EDT)

computers

When I turn on my laptop it looks like it is starting normally but then says windows has encountered a problem. it gives me the choices of starting Windows Normally, Safe Mode, Safe Mode with networking, or Safe mode with Command prompt. When I click on any of these, the computer goes to a blue screen that says the computer began and finished a physical memory dump. How do I fix this?

First unpack your Fedora installation CD...

Should the OLPC project be outside of the USA?

Considering that US export laws are at times irrational and politically motivated, is it wise that this project is in the USA and have it software be configure managed in the USA? This project should be outside of USA's jurisdiction.

does this laptop use programs such a word?

I am curious to know if the laptop provided uses programs such as word for things like typing reports.

The laptop comes with a wide variety of software (See Activities) including a word processor based upon Abiword. --Walter 09:14, 13 July 2007 (EDT)

Can the ARTICLES OF INCORPORATION of OLPC be disclosed?

Dear Walter

Please let me know whether it is publicized. I would like to write a similar one for our Korean XO community sincerelyphp5 05:31, 17 July 2007 (EDT)

Can any one translate this page to English?

[[6]

i am a homeschooler

are homeschoolers going to be able to get a laptop like this

It will probably depend on your country for now.

-----------

quote from elsewhere on this page

As much as we would like to see an OLPC in the hands of every child on the planet, practical issues and humanitarian :criteria help decide the first people to get laptops:

• Children and teachers in developing countries whose governmental leaders have partnered with OLPC

-----------

But Quanta the manufacturer will probably be selling a commercialized version in the future for a higher price so you :may be able to get one then if your country isn't buying the laptops. Crazybus 00:05, 24 July 2007 :(EDT)

Support for application languages like Java?

Hi

I think this laptop could have huge potential as the hardware infrastructure for supporting scientific projects in the developing world. I´m a software engineer and I think it would be great to begin building custom applications that suited this particular kind of machine.

Does anyone know what programming languages or software development kits work with this? Dare I ask whether standard Java applications would work on this? Java is supposed to work on Linux based systems but I wonder whether the AWT works with the kind of display used in the laptop.

By the way, it would greatly help the developer community if we could get easier access to the laptops themselves. It could spawn all sorts of open source development projects to build software applications that were relevant to the groups who used them.

You might want to take a look at the Getting started programming page. The main programming environment supported on the laptop itself is Python, but you can also develop in Smalltalk in Squeak and Javascript in a browser-based activity. Note that Python is currently used for a variety of scientific applications.

Java is not in the official build, but I imagine Java and AWT can be made to work, since it works on other Linux/GTK systems (although performance may be poor, given the limited-resource environment). Running a full Java (or C/C++) SDK on the laptop may prove difficult, though... The easiest way to get a particular Java application on the laptop might be to compile it to an x86 binary on a more powerful system.

You can apply for a laptop through the Developers program. —Joe 17:23, 25 July 2007 (EDT)

Source-code editor with transparent native-language display

This is just a note to draw people's attention to my concept of Source-code editor with transparent native-language display. I think it is a perfect fit for the OLPC. --Homunq 16:48, 25 July 2007 (EDT)

Accessing another school's Mesh Network

If a teacher takes an OLPC laptop to another school for a meeting, can they access the other school's Mesh Network to transfer documents and software, etc? Is a laptop strictly limited to only accessing one school's network (without some time-consuming reconfiguration of access-permissions)? If access is possible, how would it be granted?

--Ricardo 12:43, 26 July 2007 (EDT)

I don't think this has been entirely worked out yet, but a recent post to the Sugar mailing list shows that the developers are indeed considering the case where an external laptop (either XO or non-XO) wants to participate in the school's local network. —Joe 19:07, 26 July 2007 (EDT)

access of offline content with browser

I am interested to see some of my html content on the OLPC before the content is uploaded. My content is on flash disk. I managed to mount the Flash Disk using the shell. Then I tried to use the browser in the sugar interface to access my index.html file from the Flash Disk. But, so far, all I got is error message. I need your guide.

What is the error message? Crazybus 07:32, 28 July 2007 (EDT)

Page Load Error is the message. I am just trying to access an html file from my flash disk with out being connected to the internet. I used the path to my html file in place of URL.

How can Wikipedia editors help?

I'm a relatively experienced Wikipedia editor (User:Creidieki@en), and I've heard that the Wikipedia project will be involved in some way with OLPC. However, I can't find any concrete information about this, either on this site or on Wikipedia. Are there wiki-related tasks which need to be done to help prepare content for the OLPC project? Which wikiprojects will be included on the OLPC? How can I help? -- Creidieki 12:41, 2 August 2007 (EDT)

You might want to ask SJ Klein, as he is apparently something of a liaison between OLPC and Wikipedia, as well as being the OLPC director of content. I believe the plan is to ship a subset of Wikipedia with either the laptops themselves or the school servers (in case internet connectivity isn't locally available), although I'm not sure how the subset is being chosen. I think contributions to the Simple English Wikipedia would be helpful, as these articles are likely to be used both for English instruction and in the case where translated articles are not available. —Joe 18:42, 2 August 2007 (EDT)

The One encyclopedia per child page may be relevent to this (see both the Article and Discussion pages). It covers a Wikipedia for children, cut-down to fit on CD/DVD. --Ricardo 04:44, 12 August 2007 (EDT)

OLPC's NEW FORMAT

how do i order one?

http://wiki.laptop.org/go/How_can_I_get_one%3F Crazybus 22:50, 11 August 2007 (EDT)

is this able to access yahoo and myspace?

It has a web browser so yes. Crazybus 22:50, 11 August 2007 (EDT)

If I make sites for kids how can the OLPC child find me? and can you give me the best Meta key words?

Network library for Python

I am trying to write a code in Python that will establish direct communication between OLPC computers via WiFi.

Normally I would use the "twisted matrix" library or the "raknet" library. Does anyone know if one of these libraries (or other equivalent) will be included in the OLPC build?

Thank you.

The main networking library to be distributed with the laptops is Telepathy Tubes—see the relevant section of Getting started programming. According to that page, other libraries are not being distributed, probably for space concerns. The python socket library is, of course, also available. —Joe 09:58, 26 August 2007 (EDT)

How interact with the SUGAR operating system?

I've seen several answers to questions that indicate it is somehow possible to interact with Linux or the SUGAR interface, such as to install software, but in those instances there is no indication of how to do it.

Is that discussed anywhere? Is there some magic key combination (a la Windows) that allows interruption of the boot sequence at the right moment? Or, after booting up to the normal user interface, is there some magic way to escape to a Linux prompt and, if so, would it indeed look like Red Hat Linux? Or ... ?? - Bubba Bob

One of the ways to interact is to use the terminal. Which can be accessed via pressing "alt +" You can there use yum etc. I assume by looking by Red Hat Linux you mean using gnome as the window manager. If so then no, as you would have to install that separately. Crazybus 00:39, 25 August 2007 (EDT)

See Sugar Instructions shortcut keys. —Joe 12:28, 25 August 2007 (EDT)

Can I raise funds to purchase olpc computers for a third world school and my own?

I am a principal of an elementary school in the United States with a significant number of students who are impacted by poverty. If I were able to mobilize my community to raise enough money to purchase these computers for a school in a third world country, would it be possible for us to purchase these computers for ourselves? I believe our community could raise $30,000 to fund the purchase of these laptops for a school of 300 students. I actually have a school in mind?

You might want to read the Ask OLPC a Question about Distribution page. —Joe 13:30, 1 September 2007 (EDT)

Yes! For the two week period between November 12-26, 2007, you will be able to buy OLPC laptops for $400 each. You could buy 300 of them for $120,000. This would fund a second 300 laptops for children in a developing country. -gnu

Arbitrary section break Three

Coming to the US ?

is this laptop going to be sold in the U.S. like in stores or just for the peolpe in need? If so how much would it cost and when will it come this is the coolest laptop anybody invented for years!!!! thanks for the help! email me at maddyj123@hotmail.com thanks sooo much!!!! i live in florida in the united states in ft. laraudale. thanks!

See Ask OLPC a Question about Distribution#Where or how can I get one?. —Joe 13:33, 1 September 2007 (EDT)

Yes, the laptop will be sold for a two-week period (Nov 12-26, 2007) initially; see http://xogiving.org. I presume that if this trial succeeds, a more permanent way to buy the laptop will be created. --gnu

How many schools will have internet connections on rollout?

As far as I know most (all?) of the trials in Peru, Uruguay Nigeria and elsewhere, schools where provided with permanent internet access via dial-up, satellite etc. I would like to know if there are any estimations on how many of schools will actually be connected to the internet when the big rollout begins`?

--Nils 11:20, 12 September 2007 (EDT)

The roll-out plan includes providing a connected school server; our plan is that 100% of schools will have a connection to the Internet. --Walter 11:53, 12 September 2007 (EDT)

Single family homes

I have a niece who is in a one parent home struggling financially to make ends meet here in the USA, she has 3 sons, 2, 11 and 12 years old. Her oldest son is in the 6th grade, she cannot afford the monthly fees for the internet, nor the cost of a computer for her oldest sons. I think this is an unbelievable project! I checked the website out just to see if I could purchase one for my nephews but I see from the reading material I cannot.

But, I sure would like the idea of prioritizing single family homes as the first to receive them, if you eventually allow state or county non-profits to buy them for individuals or schools or maybe the USA federal government, naaa that would take too long.

Anyway, if a non profit could be set up in South Carolina, I would be willing to be a volunteer.

Thank you.

FreeDOS

Any plans of a FreeDOS alternative or to drop GNU/Linux completely? FreeDOS is very effective and small. It is open source. Greowsigbwoe

No plans to drop GNU/Linux, although we expect that some children will want to experiment with other operating systems. --Walter 15:00, 23 September 2007 (EDT)

So it will only be possible if they download them selves? And how will they be able to boot and install? The laptop have neither CD-ROM or floppy drives. Greowsigbwoe

Is FreeDOS preinstalled not even an possible alternative to you? Greowsigbwoe

They'll be able to boot from an SD card or USB. --Walter 15:33, 23 September 2007 (EDT)

I have heard that LinuxBIOS can not boot DOS, but OK. You have not answered if the company might consider FreeDOS preinstalled. Greowsigbwoe

We are not using LinuxBIOS. We are using Open Firmware as our bootloader. OFW does not emulate all the legacy PC hardware you'd need to run DOS, e.g., VESA (since the VESA emulation code in AMD's Geode VSA was the one part they could not open source due to not owning rights), and the PCI configuration emulation code (which gets in our way for fast resume). There are third parties working on a BIOS for the machine but there is a fair amount of driver work required, e.g., DCON. As far as whether or not we would consider FreeDOS preinstalled, if there is sufficient demand for it and it enables us to meet our epistemological goals, then yes. --Walter 15:52, 23 September 2007 (EDT)

I hope there will be someday. But i am not so sure, GNU/Linux is taking over almost everything. From big mainframes to these laptops. Thank you for your answers. Greowsigbwoe

DOS knows nothing of PCI, so the emulation code is not needed. DOS programs generally don't care either. DOS also doesn't need VESA, but many DOS programs do need it. DOS certainly needs a pile of BIOS calls, but these could be built right into FreeDOS. (in other words, hack FreeDOS to boot from OpenFirmware and supply its own BIOS crud) DOS also needs a text mode video screen; this would be difficult but possible. AlbertCahalan 17:18, 23 September 2007 (EDT)

One of the emulators is probably a better choice. It could even be wrapped up as a Sugar activity. If the emulators shipped with the OS itself, then one might be able to write DOS-based activities that are thin wrappers around DOS programs. Maybe there could be an easy way to share DOS disk images, much like TamTam projects can be shared. AlbertCahalan 17:18, 23 September 2007 (EDT)

FreeDOS should run just fine in Bochs on the AMD Geode chips being used. It would make more sense to leave the base machine alone and just run FreeDOS from a USB key containing Bochs and a disk image. That way you make the machine more useful because you aren't subtracting any of the core package and capabilities.

Partnering Schools

My children visit a small primary school in Scotland, which is actively looking to find a partner school in the developing world. From talking to other parents, I believe I would be able find enough interest to purchase 30-40 OLPC laptops on your 'buy two - get one' scheme. Would it be possible to distribute the 'donated' laptops in one particular school and such create a community between the two schools?

I don't know if it's possible to designate which country or school your "donated" laptops go to -- I doubt it, since that would increase the overhead of selling them to the public (and they're trying to keep the overhead very low). But what I suggest is that your Scottish school children find another school (anywhere in the world) which is also using the XO, and partner with that school. Nigeria might be a good candidate, since there would be less of a language barrier. -gnu

Also, you can probably run your own "School Server" by getting an ordinary PC and downloading the appropriate server software that's published on this site. You'll need either a Marvell USB-based Mesh WiFi dongle (not yet available, but maybe soon), or you'll need to use one of the OLPC laptops as your mesh portal (gatewaying the school server onto the mesh, so the kids can access it). -gnu

individual use in USA

If I "buy one - get one," I would give mine to my 6 year old grandson. Will he be able to network with kids around the world? Can the camera-mic be used to communicate with kids in Nigeria, Peru, etc?

Yes. Don't forget that Peruvian kids probably don't speak the same language as your grandson. But they may be able to play together and show each other things. -gnu

Along the same lines, how will networking work outside the expected Mesh Network environment. For instance, can my 6 year old nephew use the WiFi hub in his home?

Yes. -gnu

How can I get an XO outside USA and Canada?

Why is the Give One, Get One program being restricted to the USA and Canada only? Lots of application/content developers in other countries will also be interested in buying an XO to work with. If you use the services of an international shipping company like DHL and accept credit card payment only, then it is really no more difficult to ship to other countries than to North America.

I don't know the details of any country restrictions for the Give One Get One program, but please note that developers in other countries can also apply for a machine through the developer's program. —Joe 12:31, 24 September 2007 (EDT)

---

You've obviously never tried shipping outside the USA... shipping the XO prototypes had its saga of glitches caused by local bureaucracies and some 'issues' (to put it mildly) from the shipping company. So I would disagree that it would be no more difficult to ship to other countries... Xavi 14:05, 24 September 2007 (EDT)

I realize that there are some countries in the world where it can be difficult to ship things. I myself have experienced difficulties with Russia and Ukraine. But surely Western Europe, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand are pretty straightforward. In any case, this is not a prototype circuit board that someone thinks might be a bomb controller. It is a finished and packaged laptop. Every single box going out should be identical. This is the type of situation that a shipping company like DHL can easily deal with. --Memracom 16:16, 24 September 2007 (EDT)

My story, heard similar ones for Peru, Brazil, but also in Switzerland & France (iirc). Each country has their own rules governing imports & customs, and unfortunately DHL (and others) together with the recipient have to abide by them. So I wouldn't assume that shipping is some kind of fire-and-forget deal... Xavi 16:44, 24 September 2007 (EDT)

Parallel Purchasing Program

Have you investigated the idea of having Dell or other major manufacturers give people the option of adding an OLPC Laptop to their orders? I think this is something my company and others could easily support; throwing in one of these laptops every time we buy a new computer. It would be nice, simple method of supporting your efforts. Just a thought

Server applications: Squid caching, Sendmail

Should the server include Squid cache, Sendmail or some other open sourece POP3 and SMTP server, and an admin interface such as WebMin? My experience is that there is a great benefit to using off-peak network capacity and one-way satellite downloads so people have their e-mail with attachments waiting nearby when they log in. Many web documents can be e-mailed to the viewer and downloaded as low-priority bits, what Nicholas calls "Stand-by Bits." from Edresor (I now have a username.)

yes, it should. join the devel@lists.laptop.org list if you want to help...

using xo machine as music streamer

i am interested in doing the 2 for 1 program; I would like to know if the machine can be used to contually stream music off the internet (using rhapsody service)/ thank you

The hardware is certainly capable of streaming music continually. As shipped, the XO can't play MP3 files, because of the MP3 patents; it uses the freely available Ogg codecs instead. But freely available MP3 software is widely available and would work on the laptop. There has been an effort by Real to port their pseudo-free Helix player to the Sugar XO user interface (called Watch and Listen). I don't know if it will stream anything from Rhapsody. Unfortunately, the Sugar implementation makes it hard to install common Linux GUI programs (like other music players) on the machine. -gnu

Unlimited Give 1 Get 1 program

I think that OLPC has underestimated the general interest and strong demand for their laptops. I think that the Give 1 Get 1 program should run for now and forever, and not be just a limited 2 week engagement - there are far too many people in the US that want to provide a laptop for their children, like the laptop designed, and think that the Give 1 Get 1 program is perfect - they can get 1 for their children or relatives, and at the same time they can give 1 to another country that needs it. As many other people have requested in previous questions and comments, they wanted the ability to directly purchase the laptop or somehow provide it to their communities in the US. The Give 1 Get 1 program helps to fill BOTH needs simultaneously. Do not just run this program for the limited time. You accidently hit upon what can push this program into overdrive. As you have found, Governments will never shovel out cash for anything. BUT private individuals will - if they can get something for their efforts as well.

I don't speak for OLPC, but my guess is that they're going to gather up all the orders over that two-week period and then order and ship that number of laptops, so that they're ordering thousands at once for efficiency, rather than one or two at a time. I presume that if the first burst of orders doesn't satisfy the demand, they will be amenable to doing something similar every few months. (Of course, anyone who wants to invest in buying a bunch of XO's during that two weeks is free to sell them to others -- for whatever price they can get -- after the order period closes. So an enterprising person could make some money selling them for e.g. $500 during times OLPC is unwilling to do so. And people could then get them in small quantities at any time.) --gnu

access to email & the internet

Will access to email and the internet be available if a wireless connection is available?

I've seen the XOs working at a conference using the convention center's commodity wireless connection, so I believe the answer is "yes". Of course, such access will be easiest if you are using webmail and everything you need online can be accessed via Firefox, since that is the main internet application shipping with the laptops. Running other internet programs may be more difficult, depending on a number of factors (whether someone has made an XO version of it, whether it is bundled for Fedora, whether it is ported to Linux, how many resources it uses, etc.). —Joe 20:19, 24 September 2007 (EDT)

The browser is not Firefox (unfortunately); it uses some of the guts of Firefox but trashes the user interface. So you can only view one web page at a time, for example. And there is no email client at all. However, there's a rumor about Installing Debian as an upgrade on the machine, which when perfected, would free it from many of its software limitations. --gnu

While we haven't exposed all of the Firefox features (yet), it is essentially a fully featured web browser. Contrary to the assertion above, you can have multiple webpages open at once and multiple windows when spawned by a page. Other options include loading Opera on the laptop. Switching to Debian won't make much difference. If you are so inclined, you can run X Windows without the Sugar UI and use a standard Firefox, but you will miss out on many of the Sugar features, such as mesh collaboration and the Journal. --Walter 23:21, 24 September 2007 (EDT)

Other software

Will you be able to load other software packages (small) on OLPC? For example data logger or GPS software?

OLPC is physically capable of loading all kinds of Linux software, and some of it can be run in a terminal window, or by replacing the Sugar UI with a more capable GUI. There are DRM modules that some OLPCs will ship with, that prevent installation of new software. I hope and pray that these will be disabled on OLPCs that are sold under the "Buy 2 Get 1" program. In theory, "developer keys" that would disable all the DRM will be available to any OLPC owner, but OLPC has not actually created a mechanism for getting one yet. --gnu

Internship Updates?

I'm interested in the internship program. How can I get updates on this?

Warranty

In the Give 1 Get 1 Program, how do you handle warrenty questions?

Technical Help

In the Give 1 Get 1 Program, how do private users, receive technical help if needed?

Through Internet resources such as this Wiki, the bug tracking system, IRC, and mailing lists. So far the technical help has been outstanding. --gnu

If the computer malfunctions, what is the return policy?

OLPC on a disk?

just heard about the buy 1 give 1 program, which sounds great, but i wonder if there aren't many in north america who would appreciate a kid-friendly computing environment for whom $400 is a bit much to spend, especially if they already have access to conventional hardware.

i haven't analyzed the pros and cons thoroughly but the following qestion occurs to me:

would it be practical to create a knoppix-style live CD version of the OLPC environment (or a useful subset) that would run on generic hardware and use it as a fund raising device? an automated site could permit downloading disk images and assertively request a donation . (as it's open source you can't charge a licensing fee, but requesting a donation is probably OK.)

donations could then be used to subsidize the cost of distributing the complete machines where they are needed.

many folks already have kid-unfriendly PCs at home. others have access to hand-me down or refurbished hardware incapable of hosting contemporary grown-up computing environments but that would probably work OK with the OLPC software. making a $25-$50 donation and getting an OLPC-like environment on disk might be an easier sell in such cases than a $400 expenditure.

as a side benefit, such a project might permit experimenting with expanding the target audience for the software. there are folks other than young children who might benefit from a more approachable computer. (the elderly, adults with special needs, etc.) frankly, in some respects this may be a better general purpose computing environment than some of the fatter mainstream ones.

also, getting the software in broader use in developed countries might preclude any stigma connected with the idea of a special product for the poor. it could change the OLPC hardware from an specialty computing system just for the poor to a specialty platform for hosting a software environment that is popular among the affluent.

(as the software is open source presumably it's already possible for somebody to do this independantly and perhaps somebody will. this might be benfit the project by popularizing the software, but it wouldn't help the project raise funds. might be good to get there first.)

Right, poverty is right here in the USA. $399 is no good for the kids of a West Virginia coal miner or truck stop waitress. These kids often have just one practical option for getting out of poverty: join the military. $100 might work, barely.

What power source will come with the November Give one get one XO for the purchaser?

What Power source will come with the xo laptop for the purchaser during this November's give one get one? WIll it be an AC adaptor and/or a pull cord? Thanks, Greg

AC adaptor.

Distribution over missionaries?

The project wants the country governments for the buying and distribution of the XO to their students. But is there a possibility for missions (Christian) to buy laptops for their development projects? In many countries missions found schools and start educational programs. Are there possibilities for missions to get involved into the distribution of the XOs? The "give 1 get 1"-program is not an opportunity for the missions, because they can't afford the doubled price. I think missions could be a great distributor, because they go with schools where governments aren't.

We are open to discussions with NGOs.

Mono libraries on OLPC for activity developped on MonoDevelop

Hi,

I will make an activity for olpc, but i want to developpe on c# with monoDevelop how can use gtk librairies for the Gui of my application.

It is possible to install the Mono librairies on the fedora core how works Sugar ? and it is possible to execute c# code on the olpc

Thank you for your answer.

It is possible, but we are trying to keep the number of dependencies minimal in order to keep the footprint small. Is there some reason Python anf pygtk cannot work for you? --Walter 16:13, 27 September 2007 (EDT)

thanks. I carry out a work of diploma and the goal of this work is to make the portage of already existing .net code on sugar linux as an activity. I have also the possiblity to re-code all in python but the portage would get the possibility to the .net developer to create activities for olpc and to make this portage I absolutely need the framework .net on olpc and Mono makes it possible. --Cihan 09:53, 28 September 2007 (EDT)

Hi, I migrate an existing application (a simple game) to the OLPC platform. To integrate the GTK# with sugar environment I start to write a Sugar assembly that permit to create a new main window integrated with the sugar shell. I hope to release my simple "prof-of-concept" code as soon as possible. I try to put all my code in a single .xo bundle including the mono runtime so nothing is necessary to install on the OLPC.

Bye, Torello.

Is there a way to find local developers/testers with the physical units?

I hope to participate in the Give 1 Get 1 program. I would like to find someone in my local area to test (read as 'play with') the mesh concept in real equipment. Emulation is neat, but not real. Is there any plans to provide a place on the Wiki for finding fellow OLPC'ers for testing, development, etc? Or have a I completely overlooked an existing feature of the Wiki?

See Presentations

word processor

I am not a computer person, so this might be a dumb question, but it is one that confuses me. Say I use the word processor on this laptop to write a document. Now say that I send the document via e-mail to someone with a conventional computer. Before I e-mailed it, would I have to convert my document to Word? If so, how would I do this? If not, can it still be done? Or can conventional computers read the document no problem? Thanks a bunch for answering.

The XO laptop uses AbiWord as its word processor. If the person receiving a document cannot open it using their normal PC software, AbiWord is available for many platforms and many languages from this site.

Laptops for children with disabilities in group homes

Hello, My name is michael Goldstein and I am a father of a young man with multipe disabilities who lives in a group home. I have purchased my son a dell computer but it is beyond his capabilities. Could you not consider the disabled chilren in the U.S.A.as a group akin to any nation which you have targeted for assistance? You have my email as I registered for a reminder. Looking forward to your reply Truly, Michael Goldstein

how many XO laptops per person

May a person make multiple $400 donations and get an XO laptop for each one under the buy one get one program?

See See xogiving.org or XO Giving for further information on the "Give 1 Get 1" program.. Note that a very limited number of computers will be made available through this program in November. Contact webmaster@xogiving.org to ask a question or be added to the mailing list for notifications.

The One Laptop Per Child Foundation has a page where you can make larger donations if that is your goal.

for a school class room in usa

My name is Steve and I would like to know if you can set up for a classroom to network from a teachers to 30 kids for testing in the 2nd grade, to help our teachers and children learn, and to help teachers find and help slower learning kids and bring them up to speed?

Please get back to me on this; Thank you, Steve

Not sure what you are asking. We've been working in classrooms of up to 80 children. We are certainly interested in children and teachers learning and believe that the laptop will give them that opportunity. In regard to "slower learning kids", often times "slower" is really a matter of needing a different path to approach a problem; one nice thing about computers is that they offer many different venues for engagement. --Walter 10:06, 1 October 2007 (EDT)

Is purchase of an XO by the relatively wealthy unethical?

I am very attracted by the simplicity and rugged design of the XO but as a citizen of arguably the wealthiest nation in the world is it an ethical choice for me to own one? I travel and commute by motorcycle so the ruggedness and simplicity of the XO is perfect for my uses as my only computer.

My misgivings about owning an XO come from the following thoughts. The production numbers of the XO are limited therefore would it be more ethical for me to spend $200.00 (US) for a used laptop and give another $200.00 to provide an XO for a child? By doing this I am keeping a used machine out of the bin longer and providing a purpose built machine for it's intended user.

I am not passing or implying judgment on those in wealthy nations that purchase one but asking an open question. Because the XO is available and the wealthy can afford them should they when the available numbers are relatively low and therefore the supply to the intended users is reduced by their purchase?

The more production, the lower the per-unit cost. Ignoring environmental effects and short-term supply issues, purchasing a few million for your local landfill might ultimately help kids by getting the per-unit cost down closer to $100. :-)

Of course the better solution for wealthy people is to Give 1, Get 1 and then donate money for additional laptops to go to kids. If you have PayPal, you can donate money now on the Give 1, Get 1 site. Or, if you want to write a cheque, then send it to the address on the One Laptop Per Child Foundation page.

Payment plans? for low income

Will you take $40.00 a month for ten or even twelve months? To get the buy 1 give 1 program? My daughter and I live in poverty,but can pay $40 a month for this most wonderful program. I want to help with the success of 'One laptop per child' program. What can I do? Please reply.

OLPC does not yet have this functionality on its website. We are working with our credit card vendors and hope to introduce it in the next couple of months.

United States

I think the idea of distributing these laptops to the countries you have listed is a great idea! However, what about the parents here that can not afford to buy laptops for their children. I am a single parent and work two jobs and then after working 10 hrs and cooking/cleaning we then have to go to the library so my son can finish doing his homework on their computers at 10:00 at NIGHT!. Why isn't our goverment involved in this project? Why isn't our goverment taking care of it's own? people!

Printing

Will you be able to Print from the OLPC

G1G1 for school servers too?

Schools in the USA also need servers.

Colorblindness

I'm colour blind, and it is likely that any sons I have will be too.

How will they be able to fully access the Sugar interface?

For example, will my son be able to tell how much battery charge is left? Will my son be able to distinguish his friends' icons on the mesh map?

Red-green colour vision deficiencies affect around one in twelve caucasian europid males, although other types of colour vision deficiencies affect tiny numbers of all races and sexes.

The XO is unique in that it has both a backlit color mode and a sunlight-readable monochrome mode. The interface is being designed so that it will be usable in both modes; for instance, colors are being chosen both for their difference in value as well as their difference in hue, so that they are distinguishable in both modes. Hopefully this should go a long way in making the laptop easier for colorblind people to use. (See also Colors in the OLPC Human Interface Guidelines)

Also, there are alternate ways to identify users beyond the color schemes; since there are only 200-some color pairs, some duplicates within a school are inevitable. —Joe 15:53, 5 October 2007 (EDT)

OpenOffice?

Will students be able to install OpenOffice?

Printing

Can the XO Laptop print a printer? If so, does it print to all printers or just some?

Give 1 Get 1 for a U.S. school?

If I were able to convince enough local parents and other donors to raise $400 times the number of students in our kindergarten, could we participate as a group in the Give 1 Get 1 program, thereby equipping all our local students entering elementary school and an equal number of children in some other part of the world? If we were to do so, could the OLPC provide us with contact information for a corresponding class in some other part of the world, so the school children here and there could engage in cross-cultural dialog as a mutual learning experience?

Do you need help on marketing in Europe?

I am a marketing and communications professional and see many ways on how XO could become a great offer on the children's and educational market whilst helping children and schools in other regions get equipped.

Will we be able to purchase a Pull-Cord Generator and/or Solar Cell for the Give 1 Get 1 laptop?

You have answered that the G1G1 laptop will come with an AC adapter. The unique (and amazing) capabilities for manual and solar power are something I would like for my "keep 1" laptop. Will there be a way for us to obtain these OLPC laptop accessories? Additional cost would be acceptable.

will olpc work on a open wifi network in a bookstore

I realize that OLPC uses 802.11s and that is based on 802.11b/g.

Will it be able to communicate on an open wifi network that is common in the better bookstores and coffee shop, colleges etc.

It does normal networking too.

Link between the two give 1 get 1 laptops ?

Wouldn't it be great to have some kind of link between the laptop I get and the laptop I give?

The kid getting the laptop I give could write me an email, maybe send a picture. This way there could be great contacts with people who otherwise would or could never communicate with each other. That would really broaden the mind of me and of the kid, too.

I know this should be difficult to accomplish, but think about the possibilities. Think about how happy both the donator and the donatee would feel to have such a bond. Think about how many many people in the richer countries would gladly give money, because they can really really see where their money is going.

Since all laptops surely have some unique number or sth. like that, it should be doable.

Ok, so my question is, could there be such a link between two OLPC?

Wireless on/off switch?

Does the X0 have a hardware option to turn the wireless off and on? If so, what key(s) are used? If not, is there a simple software option?

Zane

Multiple users per laptop?

I know the philosophy is "One Laptop *PER CHILD*". However, we were wondering about getting just two or three XO's for our preschool, and having the kids share. Is that feasible? Would all the kids have to share the same file space, or is it possible (with user profiles, or separate flash memory cards) for them to have their own space?

SD card size?

How large an sd card can the xo use?

dial-up

sorry if I'm dumb. If I do the "buy one, give one" thing, and I don't have wireless access, will I be able to access the internet via dial-up?

You can use a USB to serial (RS-232) converter to connect to a modem for dial-up access. Chris 21:25, 14 October 2007 (EDT)

ayudenos a ayudar

Distinguidos Señores de wiki.laptop.org

Mi nombre es Patricio Sharup, vivo en el canton taisha, provincia de morona santiago, amazonia, pais-ecuador. Mi pregunta es, como dar inicio a una apertura de dialogo con esta empresa para ver las posibilidades de cooperacion por parte de wiki.laptop.org.

Saludos cordiales... PATRICIO SHARUP

Boot Time

As of this date, October 12, 2007, as OLPC prepares to undergo full production, what is the boot time of the XO?

Donating the income of free ad space

I would like to use some free space on my site to place ads. I want to let the income of these ads be donated to the OLPC project. Is there a possibility for me to ensure that the advertisers paid for their ads by donating to your project, without transferring the money to my account first?

Thank you for your interest in donating to OLPC. We recommend that you transfer the money through your account. First, it will allow you to ensure proper credit for a possible charitable donation (please make any donations payable to the OLPC Foundation). Second, tracking and confirm third party payments would introduce an overhead that our small, already multi-tasking team can not take on.

One Laptop in America

It would be nice if we could concern ourselves with providing children in America before we worry about everyone else. My wife is a teacher and cannot even get a single computer in her classroom much less a laptop for every child. Why can't we fix this problem first. I saw the report on Dateline (I think that was the show), and the question was asked if we can purchase them for Americans, and the response was we have to buy two. One for us, and one for someone in another country. Are you kidding me?

Give 1, Get 1 - warranty/support

For people participating in the Give 1, Get 1 program, how will warranty and support issues be handled? As I understand it, other countries buying XOs for students will buy spares and handle maintenance and repairs themselves. What will be the warranty period for the US purchased XO systems, and will there be some type of mail-in or depot exchange/repair program available (possibly through Quanta)?

is there a scope to filter age-specific or grade-specific information

I am a parent of 7yr old and a teacher educator. I was going through the library grid. The info there is quite useful for children(and educators). I am wondering whether it would be possible to make it in to auto-capsules that are age-appropriate and adequate? For example, I was going through module on animals,the info is vast and a child of say age 7-8 may not require all that is there, may be he/she would be quite thrilled to get some exciting bits of it to begin with. How we can filter? of course one way is through teacher intervention, but typical parental tendency would be to make available all that is out there on the wiki. I would be keen to know any such efforts are made in this direction to sort the info grade wise/age wise? thanks

Alex - russian salt2002@ukr.net

Добрый день. Как можно приобрести ваш компьютер вне правительствненной программы? Очень нужно. salt2002@ukr.net

Making a donation from a group

As part of a discussion in my Bus Adm 230 Introduction to Information Systems lectures, I talk about the digital divide. As part of this discussion I mentioned projects designed to help bridge this chasm - and of course - talked about the OLPC program.

I have collected over $100 dollars from my students for your project! I will add enough money to bring the total up to $200 - enough to provide a child with an XO laptop. I would like to know the best way to donate this money in the name of my class.

Thank you for giving my students the opportunity to make a difference!

Antennas , plugs

why do the antennas have to be sticking out, as it makes them easily breakable / fragile ? Couldn’t you put them alongside the screen like it is done on other laptops? Although it gives it a fun look, it probably cost more if they can resist real life bending and tearing? What about dust /sand in the plugs, are they isolated from the rest of the case? Are these plugs safe if a child put’s in a paper clip?

Hope I don't offend anyone in asking, trivial questions.

I don't know much about the decisions behind the antennas, but there are several facts that may help answer your questions: The antennas serve double duty; they both provide wireless networking and cover the plugs to provide some protection against dust. Unlike typical laptops, the XO has almost all of its electronics in the screen portion (only the keyboard and battery are in the base), so having an antenna around the edge of the screen might not have been an option due to interference. If I recall correctly from when I last saw an XO, the antennas are rubberized and quite rugged; this is apparently a recent design change in reaction to field tests. This photo shows that the plugs are directly on the motherboard, not really isolated at all, but they may still be adequate for keeping out dust. According to the hardware specification, the laptop conforms to child toy safety standards, among others, which hopefully test for the safety of the ports as well. —Joe 14:04, 17 October 2007 (EDT)

Will the OLPC be able to boot something like PUPPYOS via a USB stick?

Before I consider the purchase of two OLPC laptops, I would like to verify that the hardware will support booting Linux via USB flash devices. I know PuppyLinux was unfortunately quickly dismissed as a possible candidate to run on the OLPC hardware; however, since the AMD Geode is a x86 processor, I am in hopes I can boot PuppyLinux from USB attached devices, IE... USB Flash, Compact flash using USB adapter, hard drive/cdrom/dvdrom using sata/ide-to-USB adapter, etc.. Has anyone on the development team tried to boot any of the later PuppyOS releases on the current OLPC hardware? If so, how did it work?

Thanks Very Much In Advance Regards Ron

give one get one

what will the laptop come with if I get one from the give one get one offer?

Give 1: Get One program --> how to run another OS on my olpc

While I am fascinated to try the sugar UI paradigm, I feel that I may wish to run a different light linux distro on an olpc that I get through the "Give 1: Get 1" program in order to work with a broader and more current selection of packages. This raises a number of questions which I haven't been able to find answers for:

• What distros other than the stock image will install easily on the OLPC? I know fedora is related to the OLPC stock image, but is fedora light enough? What about DSL or another light distro?
• What drivers and other software may need to be hand added to these distros to take advantage of the networking and display optimizations of the XO?
• Does the XO hardware have the capability to work with more standard network topologies and use standards such as WPA?

"Easily" is a relative term, and even more so when combined with the words "installing Linux". :) There is a page on the wiki that tells how to install a fairly vanilla Debian on the OLPC (and there's also one for installing Fedora Core, but that is quite old and uses a custom image). Given that Debian goes on fairly easily (where "easily" requires command-line work, a USB key, and an additional Debian machine), I imagine other Linux distributions could be made to work as well. I have seen the XO running off of commodity 802.11b wireless networking, and I understand it also works with ethernet if you have a USB adapter (but not just any adapter will work). —Joe 15:01, 23 October 2007 (EDT)

JVM in XO

Is there any way to install JVM (Java Virtual Machine) or similar tool in XO o run java software?

The Java page implies that there is. —Joe 14:00, 23 October 2007 (EDT)

setting up web proxy in the OLPC machine

Our network is under proxy settings.. could you please help us how to set up web proxy in OLPC machines

WHY?

WHY don't you just buy Pen's paper and textbooks in calgary kids get along really well without laptops1!