IIAB
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NOTE: The contents of this page are not set in stone, and are subject to change! This page is a draft in active flux ... |
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Use cases, teacher suggestions, network topologies, roadmap & FAQ coming soon.
Thanks much those who joined us in person at http://olpcSF.org/summit (Oct 19-24's global community summit also including our SugarCamp++ hack sprint) to meet many of this project's contributors and build out this ongoing experiment!
Please revisit this XS Community Edition page in coming weeks. Open education contributors most welcome! For now:
- Community Design Document outlining purpose & scenarios (Sept 7, 2012)
- Context: OLPC School Server background & community blog
- Early Demo & Goals near Toronto (Sept 22, 2012)
- Tracker: https://sugardextrose.org/projects/xs
- Recent changes: https://sugardextrose.org/projects/xs/activity
- Public mailing list: http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
- Contributors: Jerry Vonau (SW architecture), George Hunt (GUI configuration, low-power HW), Tim Moody (documentation), Anna Schoolfield (testing?), Alex Kleider (bookserver?) & many more!
- Packaging: http://zenit.senecac.on.ca/wiki/index.php/School_Server_Packaging
- Contact: holt @ laptop.org, Sridhar Dhanapalan (video)
FAQ
Tim Moody & Jerry Vonau ask what XO services are genuinely used or needed:
Activation Server?
Presence/Chat Server?
Activity Server?
Moodle Content?
Moodle User Management?
Backup?
DHCP/Name Server/Routing?
Content Filtering?
xs-rsync? (used by olpc-update)
Squid or other proxy?
Other?
What do XOs do when there is no server?
Use Cases
In addition the scenarios listed in Sridhar's Design Doc, here are 7 interesting use cases proposed by Tony Anderson:
1. Configure the XS server to handle internet access via a GSM (mobile) network. In much of the developing world, cell phone networks outreach wifi.
2. How to configure the XS server to control XO access to the internet (e.g for the next hour only the 4th grade class) to make effective use of the available bandwidth.
3. In an expensive GSM environment, how to configure the school server to access the internet for updates periodically, e.g. fetch and send email, access rss feeds of news in the local language, get updates from a central server).
4. Configure the server to support an attached printer and to make this printer accessible (under control for paper and ink usage). The current print model in Linux requires each client (XO) to have the print driver installed. The main cost of a printer is the expendables (paper and ink), so schools will have to limit student ability to print.
5. Configure the server to provide email (pop3 and smtp). Make this work in a 'dial-up' internet environment (i.e. internet access is not continuous but intermittent).
6. Currently I am using Django to provide access to a digital library stored on the school server. Pathagar has a similar approach. OLE Nepal is using Fedora Commons and Fez.
7. The school server can be configured with Mediawiki to enable access to Wiki4Schools. There is an alternative based on Kiwix and Wiki4Schools using the Zim format. This has the advantage of providing a search interface. Note: I normally get to Wikipedia via a Google search. The school server does not support such an engine. Incidentally, the school server wiki slice is much larger than that offered by the Wiki Sugar activities and does not tie up space in the XO local store.
Documentation
For now: http://schoolserver.wordpress.com
Sept Agenda
Toronto area hack sprint Sept 16-23, incl public demo Saturday Sept 22.
October Agenda
Working w/ Alex Kleider's model classroom @ http://olpcSF.org/summit & http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Sugarcamp_SF_2012
November Agenda
Centred around Toronto area hack sprint Nov 10-18:
Expand testing+UX with Anna Schoolfield, Tim Moody & Seneca College students' packaging with York Univ/Seneca College Professor Chris Tyler.
Meet with Anish Mangal and Nathan Riddle near Detroit etc to discuss wider community integration.
