Software components

{{OLPC}} {{Translations}} {{TOCright}} The default system software for the XO laptop includes child-friendly Activities, the Sugar user interface, and many other [[software components]] built on top of a modified Fedora Linux kernel. This page enumerates some of them, the [[#Application environment diagram|diagram below]] shows how they fit together. '''Note:''' [http://wiki.sugarlabs.org Sugar Labs] and the [http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/OLPC Fedora-OLPC] special interest group have assumed most of the development of the Sugar learning platform. See those links and [[Future releases]] for more information. Almost all the software is free/open source that users can inspect and modify. Alternatively, versions of Debian, Fedora, Ubuntu, and other [[:Category:Linux distributions|Linux distributions]] have been developed that run cleanly on the XO. * For activities, collections, and other software that you can download to your XO, see '''[[Activities]]''' == Live CDs and emulation == If you don't have an [[XO]] laptop, you can emulate the current build of the OLPC environment — Fedora 9 + Sugar + core activities — on your existing computer by running a [[Live CD]] or running one of our [[OS images]] under [[emulation]]. == OLPC software details == ===Operating system=== * Linux Kernel: recent Linux 2.6.xx; [[Fedora]] base environment. ** The OLPC specific bits of the kernel are pulled from the olpc-2.6 GIT tree on dev.laptop.org: (http://dev.laptop.org/git/olpc-2.6) ===Programming environments=== * [[Python]] (Version 2.5); much of the [[Sugar]] UI is written in Python, as are many [[Activities]] ** [[Pippy]], an activity for exploring Python on the XO * [[Forth]] in [[Open_Firmware|Open Firmware]], accessible from the 'ok' prompt if you get a [[Activation_and_Developer_Keys|Developer Key]] * [[JavaScript]]™[[http://www.firefox.com]] * [[Csound]], music programming language * [[Etoys]], an implementation of [[Squeak]] using [[Smalltalk_Development_on_XO|Smalltalk]], an object-based programming language ** Please see [[Sugar Etoys]] for a detailed description of the Sugar implementation * [[Turtle Art]], a graphical programming environment * [[Gnash]], a free and open source browser plug-in for the Adobe Flash™ file format supporting vector and raster graphics, a scripting language called ActionScript™ and streaming of audio and video * [[Adobe Flash|Adobe's Flash Player]], [[Java]]™ virtual machine, and players for other [[restricted formats]] can be added via [[Yum]] or [[Rpm]] install but are not part of the standard distribution. ===Libraries=== This is a very incomplete list. You can consult an [[OS images|image]]'s build log (for example the [http://pilgrim.laptop.org/~pilgrim/olpc/streams/8.2/build767/devel_ext3/ log for build 767]) to see what packages it incorporates, or run [[rpm]] commands on an XO. * Mozilla [http://www.mozilla.org/newlayout/ Gecko]/[[XULRunner]] (the Firefox web engine) * GUI toolkit ([http://www.gtk.org/ GTK+]), also used by [http://www.gnome.org Gnome] * a few other libraries from [http://www.gnome.org Gnome] * [http://projects.o-hand.com/matchbox Matchbox] window manager * [http://www.pango.org/ Pango] text layout * Gnome accessibility toolkit ([http://developer.gnome.org/projects/gap/ ATK]) * Python [[GTK for OLPC | GTK]]+ bindings * [http://cairographics.org/ Cairo] 2D-graphics support * [http://x.org X Window System] X.org Foundation * Font rendering ([http://www.freetype.org/ Freetype]) * [http://telepathy.freedesktop.org/ Telepathy] real-time communications framework * [http://avahi.org/ Avahi] local service discovery * Multimedia framework: [[GStreamer]] * [[Bitfrost]] security system * [[Mesh_Network_Details|Mesh]] network following IEEE 802.11s draft, as possible * [[Pygame]] * [[Gettext]], the GNU internationalization library * Additional libraries to support all of the above. Users can install other libraries using [[yum]] or [[rpm]]. ===User environment=== * [[Sugar]] graphical user interface, written in Python, on top of the X Window System and the Matchbox Window Manager. ** Designed specifically for [[collaboration]] of users through [[Activity_sharing|network sharing]] of user activities (method calls and signals); ** [http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Human_Interface_Guidelines/The_Laptop_Experience/Zoom_Metaphor “Zooming” interface] to network connectivity “spheres” - Neighborhood, collaborators (Groups), and local (Home); ** [[Journal]] interface to storage of events, activities, objects (files); * ~800 MiB of flash storage space available for other software content. ==== Alternative user environments ==== * [[WindowMaker_Interface]] An interface that has been around in Linux for many years. It runs on top on the X Windows system and was written in C++. WindowMaker is more of a standard laptop interface than you would see on any laptop. This interface is still in its infancy in the OLPC Laptop and Needs a lot of new community documentation and testing before it is used in class rooms. The only drawback for WindowMaker on the OLPC is that there is a bug in scrolling and refresh rate of the screen. * [[OpenBox]] A very small compact window manager written in C++. If you are looking into changing from Sugar to a more conventional windows manager this is the one you should use. It's fast, efficient and displays windows nicely. Works very well with abiword, firefox and gnome-terminal. * [[Xfce]] is a lightweight but powerful desktop environment that will work well on the XO. It aims to be fast and lightweight, while still being visually appealing and easy to use. Xfce is mainly used for its ability to run a modern desktop environment on relatively modest hardware, and therefor an excellent choice for the OLPC. It is based on the GTK+ 2 toolkit (as is GNOME). It uses the Xfwm window manager. Its configuration is entirely mouse-driven, and the configuration files are hidden from the casual user. You can also run a completely different Linux distribution on the XO, see [[:Category:Linux distributions]]. ==Applications== There are three types of applications distributed with the base system: tools for exploring, expressing, and collaborating. Applications that have been (or are being) built for the laptop are called '''activities''' and the [[Activities]] page has a list of them.. ===Application environment diagram=== ---------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | | | | Non-python | Sugar shell | Python | | | Sugar | (Desktop window, | Sugar | | | Activities | panel, | Activities | | Regular | (Etoys, | journal) | | | X | Simcity, | | | | Apps | Mono |--------------------------------------| | | activities, | Sugar toolkit (python-only) | | | etc.) | | | |----------------------------------------------------| | | DataStore | Presence | | | service | service | ---------------------------------------------------------------- | Matchbox window manager | | (considering switching to Metacity for improved compatibility) | ---------------------------------------------------------------- | | | GNOME-ish Linux desktop | | X11, HAL, D-Bus, NetworkManager, GConf, Telepathy, etc | | | ---------------------------------------------------------------- ''from Tomeu Vizoso e-mail to devel'' ===Tools for exploring=== * [[Browse]], a web browser built on the [[xulrunner | Firefox engine]]; * [[Read]], a simple document viewer accessed through Browse, based on [http://www.gnome.org/projects/evince/ Evince] (including the ability to view PDF files); * [[News_Reader|News Reader]], an RSS (“really simple syndication”) subscription reader ([http://penguintv.sourceforge.net/ PenguinTV]); * multimedia playback using gstreamer (the Real Networks Helix™ platform has been ported to the laptop and is available for download but is not part of the base distribution); * OpenDocument Viewer to read documents in OpenDocument format, a highly-compressed format that is a fully open international standard (ISO 26300); * The [[Opera]] web browser and the Real Networks [[Helix media activity|Helix™]] platform have been ported to the laptop and are available for download but not part of the standard distribution. * [[Measure]], a tool for exploring the physical world by measuring DC and AC voltages, observing them on a oscilloscope-like interface, being able to watch waveforms in frequency domain (spectrum analyzer), logging data at a specified time interval, and drawing the graph of logged data; * [[Distance]], aka Acoustic Tape Measure, measures the distance between two XO laptops. ===Tools for expressing=== * [[TamTam]], a music synthesis and composition tool; * Etoys (see above); * a [[Write|word processor]] based upon the [[Abiword]] project; * [[Record]] video, audio, and still-image capture and playback (a “video wiki” is under development); * [[Draw]], a pixel-paint programming; * a [[OLPC_Human_Interface_Guidelines#Journaling|journal]]; * [[MikMik]], a wiki with WYSIWYG editing, using [[Crossmark]] (under development); * [http://www.vim.org VIM] and [[nano]] text editors. ===Tools for communicating=== * [[Chat]] and serverless instant messenger; * [[Video Chat]] (under development); * a VoIP client (under development); * Email through the web-based Gmail service; * Native email client (under development). ===Other tools=== * [[Calculate|Calculator]]; * Spreadsheet (under development); * [[Terminal Activity|Terminal]], a shell to the Linux command line using Bash; * [[Develop]], an activity editor (under development); * [[Remote_display|Remote display]], and [http://foss.sit.rp.sg/main Remote Desktop], tools to remotely control the XO laptop. ===Online Applications=== * [http://www.google.com Google Docs] (spreadsheet and word processor) work flawlessly from the XO browser. In addition, they are also shareable applications. * [http://www.apple.com/webapps/ Apple Web Apps], although designed for the iPhone, work well for the XO. You access them from your Browser. In many cases just zoom into the page to fill the screen. * [http://www.aleks.com ALEKS] (adaptive self-paced learning system) See [[ALEKS]] for information on getting ALEKS running on an XO * [[Drupal]] explains how to install the Drupal community content management system on your XO * [http://www.alasproject.com THE ALAS PROJECT] (Advanced Language Acquisition Software) is a free online program for teaching English to speakers of Spanish, and Spanish to speakers of English, through sister schools in the U.S. and Latin America. The program is designed to run on the XO laptop. ===Games=== * Numerous [[Activities#Games|games]], including variations of the “memory game”, strategy games, etc ===Shared Applications=== All applications share a common data store accessible through the Journal. Several applications, including reading, writing, recording and browsing, allow for child-to-child and teacher-to-child [[collaboration]] to varying extents through the network. See [[Activity sharing]] and [[Collaboration Tutorial]]. ===Running other Linux apps=== You can install and run other [[Linux software]] by using [[yum]] or [[rpm]] in a [[Terminal Activity]]. By way of example, see the [[Skype]] page in the wiki. ==Networking== See [[:Category:Network]]. The specifications for the wireless networking interface include: * Ability to act as a mesh point when laptop's main CPU is off; * Support for asymmetric links/paths; * Incremental releases—mesh networking is available immediately on XO; Upgrades will continue to improve functionality and adherence with standards; * Simultaneously acts as a mesh point and an infrastructure node. * Standards Compliance: follow 802.11s draft when possible. See [[Network principles]]. == School server == The '''X'''O [[School server|school '''S'''erver]], or '''XS''', is software for a resource-rich peer to the laptop, which provides additional storage, and Internet access. * [[XS Server Software]] * [[XS Installing Software]] == Additional [[software projects]] == Please see the [[Activities]] page for a more complete list of activities being developed for the laptop. Below is just a sampling. * [[Measure]] oscillocope * [[OLPCities]], a virtual world programming environment * [[FACIL]], a webpage editor developed to be used by children. (In English at [[EASE]]) * [[Musical Editor]], a music composition toolkit * [[Paint]], a shared graphics space * [[Tux Paint]], a paint program with extreme ease-of-use * [[Block Party]], a Tetris-like game that exploits the mesh * [[Develop]], an activity editor ==Builds, images, and schedules== OLPC regularly compiles and assembles "builds" of the OLPC software listed here for development. This process creates software images to which XO users can [[Upgrading the XO|upgrade their XO]], and [[OS images|OS "images"]] of the bundled software that users on other computers can download and run by [[Emulating the XO]]. These builds progress towards various official releases of the OLPC software. See [[Releases]] for the high-level schedule of releases. ==See also== * for the January 9, 2009 discussion on the future of OLPC's software (right after the large reduction in developer employee force), see [[Software discussion 2009-01-09]]. * for older general discussion, see '''[[Software discussion]]'''. * for a software summary (from early 2008) see [[:image:XO_Software.ppt|XO Software presentation (MS PowerPoint)]]. * Software ** [[Software/Goals|Software goals]] ** [[OLPC on free/open source software]] ** [[Software ideas]] * [[Manuals]] * [[OLPC Human Interface Guidelines]] ** [[Sugar]] ** [[Activities]] ** [[Demo notes]] * [[Contributors program|For developers]] ** [[Activation and Developer Keys]] ** [[Autoreinstallation_image|Updating your software image]] ** [[Customizing NAND images]] *** [[Localization]] *** [[Python_i18n]] *** [[Yum]] package manager ** [[OS_images_for_emulation|Using an emulator]] ** [[Hacking Sugar]] *** [[Sugar Architecture]] *** [[Sugar almanac]] **** [[:Category:API|Sugar-specific APIs]] *** [[Sugar_with_sugar-jhbuild|Building the Sugar environment]] **** [[Sugar on Fedora]] *** [[Activity sharing]] *** [[Collaboration Tutorial]] *** [[Low-level Activity API]] ** [[Ejabberd Configuration|Running your own XMPP server]] ** [http://dev.laptop.org Bug reporting/tracking] ** [[Test issues]] *** [[Test Group Release Notes]] *** [[Test_Config_Notes#OLPC_Update|Updating to test configurations]] [[Category:Software ideas]] [[Category:Software]] [[Category:Sugar]]