User:Kevgor/Two-Step Reflash to Signed 11.3.0 Build 883 Image using Ntugigroup USB stick

These instructions are used to re-flash an Ntugigroup XO to current deployment defaults, using an Ntugigroup provided signed build with custom software from a USB thumb drive:

This refresh and install script process takes around 30 minutes from start to finish on an XO1; and about an 40 minutes on an XO 1.5 due to more custom software being installed onto the XO 1.5.

The first step involves replacing the entire operating system, and the default Sugar Activities, with the master copy which has previously been saved onto a USB Refresh stick. Any work previously saved on the XO internal storage since delivery, or any new programs or activities installed on internal storage since delivery, will be erased. All Sugar journal entries from the main storage will be erased. At the end of this install, the machine internal memory will be exactly as the image on the USB drive. If this is the same USB drive that was used for initial deployment, this could be termed: Return to Installed Defaults. Be advised that in this process, no changes are made to any external SD cards or other USB flash drives. If there is any content you wish to save before the reflash, please ensure it exists either on the SD, or on a user's USB thumb drive before proceeding. If in doubt contact the appropriate technical resource to ensure that no valuable information will be lost.

Plug the charger into the wall, and the other end into the XO. Ensure that XO is fully charged by observing that the green battery light is on. If an XO is completely discharged, this can take a few hours for the yellow light to turn green. While being fully charged and having line power may not be mandatory in all re-flash circumstances, it is the best practice.

Put the Refresh USB stick in the right hand vertical XO USB port.

Press the power button, and quickly hold down all 4 game keys on the front right side beside the display.

Release the game keys when prompted. If the prompt does not appear, and the machine just continues to boot, once the system comes up and is running, power it off elegantly (using the shutdown command). Start again: perhaps being faster on hitting, or more accurate at simultaneously holding down, all 4 game keys.

The screen will now show a grid of black rectangles, followed by a partial grid of yellow rectangles, signifying memory erasure. On an XO 1, It will then slowly fill the yellow rectangles with green and blue rectangles as the operating system is loaded from the USB stick into memory. You will also see the red light from the USB stick flashing during this process, indicating activity. On an XO 1.5, there will be alternating green fill and white rectangles, as it skips writing when the process determines that there is no need to write that information.

When it has finished installing, the Linux Operating system and two operating desktop environments, Sugar and Gnome are now available on the machine. On first boot, the XO will begin to start the Sugar environment. You will be asked to Name the machine. Please use a unique name.

After naming the machine, you will be prompted to change the colour of the machine icon. You may elect to just hit return here, since having accurately matching coloured icons is not really required in your deployment.

Once this phase is complete, you will be at the Sugar Activity Home View screen. After the Linux Operating System and base activities have been loaded, some other programs and activities still have to be manually loaded, and this is done via running a script in the Terminal activity. Right click on the central XO icon, click on My Settings, click on "Power", and uncheck any Power-saving options. Click the right checkbox to exit Power settings panel, and click the right-top checkbox again to exit "My Settings"

At the top right of the screen there are two small icons. The square with 4 lines across it on the right corresponds to the ‘List View’ of Sugar Activities. Place the pointer on that square and hit the left-click button. You will now have changed from the favourite Home View to the List View of activities. You need to scroll down to the Terminal activity, and click the icon beside the ‘star’ icon. This will now start the Terminal activity.

It is very important to type the following at the prompts *exactly* as they appear below. Failure to do so will cause the machine refresh to be incomplete. In the worst case, you may have to return to the beginning of the document and begin the entire process anew.   Besides the regular activity menus and status bars at the top of the screen, you should see a series of various languages saying “Hello”, and then a command prompt beginning with “[olpc” The cursor is a black rectangle beside the prompt Enter:

su -

(There is a space between the “su” and the “-“)

You should see pretty much the same prompt, except it will now start with “[bash” and end with “#”

Enter:

bash /media/PATRIOT/installrpms.sh

Hit return, and again, the USB stick will flash red, signifying activity. For those of you familiar with tab-complete method of command entry, that works here too. You will see various status messages appear; for example:

“New Activities”

followed by many rolling lines of text, and then ending with

“Please reboot”

At this prompt, enter:

reboot

The system will restart and take you back to the Favorites view of Sugar. You will most likely wish to look at the ‘List View’ of the activities again, and click the star beside any which you would also like to see on the favourites wheel view, such as IRC or Geoquiz. You will then need to re-attach to your network, since your previous network settings have been removed by this refresh.

Please be reminded that the Network Neighbourhood View key is the 3rd key from the left on the top row of the keyboard, looking like a circle with eight dots in it. To return to the home view, one can then use the Home key, which is also on the top row, and like the screen icon, is a circle with a single dot in it.

If you are connected to a network, perhaps check the browse activity at this time to ensure you have internet connectivity. At this point, one can then switch to the Gnome desktop, through the settings in Sugar, again attach to the desired Network in Gnome, then return to Sugar. This porecedure ensures that future boots will automatically attach to the last connected network.

This completes a full refresh of the XO.