Re: [IAEP] [Sugar-devel] Several chapters of Make Your Own Sugar Activities! ready for review, feedback
Bert, That is the kind of feedback I was hoping to get, actually. I figured if I make a definite statement like Every Activity needs at least some Python someone who knows better would correct me. I will make a more qualified statement in my next revision. I am hoping that the book will be read by those who have not programmed (maybe even older children) before so even though I know it is possible to write an Activity that connects to DBus, etc. I'm not planning to include examples of that in the book. In fact, one of my goals was to get through the whole book without mentioning DBus at all. I'd like to leave stuff out of the book if a person could write an Activity without knowing it. But I will definitely mention that there are other ways to make an Activity than the one I'm writing about. Thanks again, James Simmons On Tue, Jan 12, 2010 at 10:49 AM, Bert Freudenberg b...@freudenbergs.de wrote: On 12.01.2010, at 16:43, Jim Simmons wrote: http://objavi.flossmanuals.net/books/ActivitiesGuideSugar-en-2010.01.11-23.05.32.pdf Very nice, Jim! It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a Sugar activity should be written in Python. However, there are other means to go about that, and special circumstances may lead a developer to consider alternatives. In WHAT IS A SUGAR ACTIVITY? you make it sound like Python was a necessary ingredient for all Sugar activities. That is not true, an activity *can* be written without any bit of Python code. Not even Python bindings are needed. See http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Low-level_Activity_API Activities can be written in any language, as long as it can connect to D-Bus and provide an X11 interface. While it's most convenient and also encouraged to write new activities in Python, it is not mandatory. The Sugar API was carefully designed to allow activity development in any language. There are a couple of non-Python activities, most prominently Etoys which is even part of the Sugar platform, emphasizing it is *not* Python-only. It would be nice if you could rephrase that introductory section. Other than that, very nice book. I love your style :) - Bert - ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] dealing with mailing lists
On Tue, Jan 12, 2010 at 18:08, Martin Langhoff martin.langh...@gmail.com wrote: On Tue, Jan 12, 2010 at 5:58 PM, Tomeu Vizoso to...@sugarlabs.org wrote: could play a very important role in Sugar Labs have expressed their inability to read and participate on any of our mailing lists. Why -- Traffic? S/N? Directness/rudeness? A preference for web forums? ... ? A particular deployment said that it takes too much time from real work. I suggested appointing one person in the organization to keep a closer watch on the mailing list and relaying the posts most relevant for them, but this didn't seemed to convince them. Regards, Tomeu I would also like to suggest to those colleagues who are subscribed to the mailing lists but are not being able to keep up with them regularly, to set up a rule in their mail client that highlights those emails that include their addresses in CC or that mention their names. +1 -- that's what I do. I'm sub'd to many lists, follow some threads (definitely not all! :) ). I sure keep track of threads where I am CC'd or that I recognise as mentioning areas I work on. cheers, m -- martin.langh...@gmail.com mar...@laptop.org -- School Server Architect - ask interesting questions - don't get distracted with shiny stuff - working code first - http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Martinlanghoff -- «Sugar Labs is anyone who participates in improving and using Sugar. What Sugar Labs does is determined by the participants.» - David Farning ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
[IAEP] Cheap Air to SCaLE 8X
Hi Folks, A lot of airlines are having sales right now so I checked the fares for Boston to LAX. You could come in to LAX on Virgin America on Thursday (Feb 18) for $109 (one way) and return to Boston on Monday (Feb 22) for another $109. That makes a fare of $218 plus tax. To return on Sunday would cost $88 more. The Monday return flight at that price is a red-eye that gets in Tues morning. Here's a link to their website. http://www.virginamerica.com/va/home.do You still have until Friday (JAN 15) to submit a proposal for a presentation in the OSSIE and WIOS tracks which take place on Friday Feb 19. Here is the link to the CFP: http://www.socallinuxexpo.org/scale8x/scale-8x-call-papers Hope to see some of you there! Caryl P.S. Other airlines may have competitive fares, if you have the time to check. ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] dealing with mailing lists
On Tue, Jan 12, 2010 at 11:58 AM, Tomeu Vizoso to...@sugarlabs.org wrote: Hi, this message is to share my concern with the fact that people that could play a very important role in Sugar Labs have expressed their inability to read and participate on any of our mailing lists. Any ideas about what we could do here? Is Walter's Community Newsletter enough? What about when we know that their feedback is needed? Walter's Community Newsletter is not enough in part because I get almost zero contribution from the community. To make it more than just my take on what is happening the world of Sugar, I need the community's collective input. I should be spending more time editing your thoughts than constructing my own if the Sugar Digest is going to fulfill this broader goal. On Tue, Jan 12, 2010 at 12:14 PM, Tomeu Vizoso to...@sugarlabs.org wrote: On Tue, Jan 12, 2010 at 18:08, Martin Langhoff martin.langh...@gmail.com wrote: On Tue, Jan 12, 2010 at 5:58 PM, Tomeu Vizoso to...@sugarlabs.org wrote: could play a very important role in Sugar Labs have expressed their inability to read and participate on any of our mailing lists. Why -- Traffic? S/N? Directness/rudeness? A preference for web forums? ... ? A particular deployment said that it takes too much time from real work. I suggested appointing one person in the organization to keep a closer watch on the mailing list and relaying the posts most relevant for them, but this didn't seemed to convince them. Regards, Tomeu I would also like to suggest to those colleagues who are subscribed to the mailing lists but are not being able to keep up with them regularly, to set up a rule in their mail client that highlights those emails that include their addresses in CC or that mention their names. +1 -- that's what I do. I'm sub'd to many lists, follow some threads (definitely not all! :) ). I sure keep track of threads where I am CC'd or that I recognise as mentioning areas I work on. cheers, m -- martin.langh...@gmail.com mar...@laptop.org -- School Server Architect - ask interesting questions - don't get distracted with shiny stuff - working code first - http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Martinlanghoff We had talked some while back about setting up a team structure where each school deploying Sugar assigned one person to be responsible for communication. It is not something we can leave to chance--it has to be someone's explicit responsibility and there has to be a sufficient motivation to participate. I believe that the incoming tide will raise all of the ships but we need some structure to get things moving. -walter -- «Sugar Labs is anyone who participates in improving and using Sugar. What Sugar Labs does is determined by the participants.» - David Farning ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep -- Walter Bender Sugar Labs http://www.sugarlabs.org ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] dealing with mailing lists
Hi I would also like to suggest to those colleagues who are subscribed to the mailing lists but are not being able to keep up with them regularly, to set up a rule in their mail client that highlights those emails that include their addresses in CC or that mention their names. Another good practice is filtering and only letting inbox got mails that are directly aim to you. Some people have established times of the day to reply specific filtered messages or mail lists and then back to ''real'' work. +1 -- that's what I do. I'm sub'd to many lists, follow some threads (definitely not all! :) ). I sure keep track of threads where I am CC'd or that I recognise as mentioning areas I work on. cheers, m -- martin.langh...@gmail.com mar...@laptop.org -- School Server Architect - ask interesting questions - don't get distracted with shiny stuff - working code first - http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Martinlanghoff -- «Sugar Labs is anyone who participates in improving and using Sugar. What Sugar Labs does is determined by the participants.» - David Farning ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
[IAEP] GCompris was Re: Sugar Digest 2010-01-07
=== In the community === 2. Bruno Coudoin announced the release of GCompris Version 9.0. Aleksey is already working on making sure that it is properly packaged for Sugar and available on http://activities.sugarlabs.org. Congrats to the GComris team! I have found GCompris activities a valuable addition to Sugar and look forward to the upgrade. GCompris also has a groups model that allows some teacher administration: http://gcompris.net/wiki/index.php/Manual#Administering_GCompris Did the upgrade touch this part of the project? Does anyone know if anyone is thinking about how to make this functionality available to teachers using Sugar? Thanks, Caroline IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] dealing with mailing lists
On Tue, 2010-01-12 at 17:58 +0100, Tomeu Vizoso wrote: Hi, this message is to share my concern with the fact that people that could play a very important role in Sugar Labs have expressed their inability to read and participate on any of our mailing lists. Any ideas about what we could do here? Is Walter's Community Newsletter enough? What about when we know that their feedback is needed? Well a lot email is hard to read for me: - I find a lot sentences / abbreviations hard to read - top posting - subjects no changing with the topic - I got cc'ed halfway a thread - some mail are 4-5 times (cc'ing / crossposting) So I know I miss messages where I could serve. My suggestions (not much news): - no top posting - reply to list (less cc's) - less lists / crossposting - no me too responces - avoid abbreviations - use simple to understand English Actually I am at the point to unsubscribe from most sugarlab mailinglists to keep my inbox more free for other projects. Generally if don't respond in less than 24 hours I may assume that missed the email. 2ct Marten I would also like to suggest to those colleagues who are subscribed to the mailing lists but are not being able to keep up with them regularly, to set up a rule in their mail client that highlights those emails that include their addresses in CC or that mention their names. This is a simple step that will allow them to keep up with the subjects they care most about without forcing them to peruse all emails in all mailing lists. Regards, Tomeu -- http://www.voedselbankleiden.nl needs your help! http://martenvijn.nl http://bsd.wifisoft.org/nek/ http://opencommunitycamp.org OCC 2010 ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] GCompris was Re: Sugar Digest 2010-01-07
On Tue, Jan 12, 2010 at 19:24, Caroline Meeks solutiongr...@gmail.com wrote: === In the community === 2. Bruno Coudoin announced the release of GCompris Version 9.0. Aleksey is already working on making sure that it is properly packaged for Sugar and available on http://activities.sugarlabs.org. Congrats to the GComris team! I have found GCompris activities a valuable addition to Sugar and look forward to the upgrade. GCompris also has a groups model that allows some teacher administration: http://gcompris.net/wiki/index.php/Manual#Administering_GCompris Did the upgrade touch this part of the project? Does anyone know if anyone is thinking about how to make this functionality available to teachers using Sugar? Didn't got many answers when I asked about similar functionality on the Teachermate. My guess is that Sugar is supposed to be deployable in some situations where the data sharing solutions in the Teachermate and GCompris don't work. Regards, Tomeu Thanks, Caroline IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep -- Caroline Meeks Solution Grove carol...@solutiongrove.com 617-500-3488 - Office 505-213-3268 - Fax ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep -- «Sugar Labs is anyone who participates in improving and using Sugar. What Sugar Labs does is determined by the participants.» - David Farning ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] Why #sugar should be logged - a plug for transparency and ease of use.
2010/1/13 Jeff Elkner j...@elkner.net It would like to make most of these conversations available to the rest of the community, but I don't have the time to log and publish them myself. +1 for a log bot Is there a good reason why we don't auto log the channel? jeff elkner ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] Why #sugar should be logged - a plug for transparency and ease of use.
On Tue, Jan 12, 2010 at 17:54, Jeff Elkner j...@elkner.net wrote: Is there a good reason why we don't auto log the channel? We've talked this subject practically to death. See http://www.mail-archive.com/iaep@lists.sugarlabs.org/msg06656.html. (hint: the thread you want is herehttp://lists.sugarlabs.org/archive/iaep/2009-February/thread.html#3828 ) Consensus has been no for a variety of reasons, which would be redundant to enumerate here once again. We already log meetings http://meeting.sugarlabs.org/ in #sugar-meeting, but the policy for #sugar is against it. -- Luke Faraone http://luke.faraone.cc ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] Why #sugar should be logged - a plug for transparency and ease of use.
On Tue, Jan 12, 2010 at 5:54 PM, Jeff Elkner j...@elkner.net wrote: Hi All, II have two personality quirks that often get in my way: I have a great deal of trouble multitasking, and I would loose my head were it not attached to my shoulders. What I need from a computer are tools that complement my limitations, and help me be more productive. irc can be such a tool, particularly in combination with logging. I'm a regular user on #schooltool. I go there to ask questions about schooltool, and participate there in on-line meetings about the development of schooltool. I don't worry about trying to take notes or record what happens on the channel, that all happens *automatically*. If I think later... Oh, yeah, we discussed that back in the first week in October. No problem, just go here: http://schooltool.pov.lt/irclogs/ and look through the dates around the time I remember the meeting happening. I was surprised to find out that there was no logging on #sugar, and it keeps me from wanting to hold any real discussions on the channel. I go there to find if folks are around, then ask them to meet me on google talk, so that I can automatically get a log of what we discuss. It would like to make most of these conversations available to the rest of the community, but I don't have the time to log and publish them myself. Is there a good reason why we don't auto log the channel? Apparenly it was discussed. Some people do not like publicly available logs. I log all my IRC channels locally. This is handy because I can use desktop search to find something. I can't point someone else to them, but I suppose I could email part of it to someone. Dave jeff elkner ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep -- Dave Bauer d...@solutiongrove.com http://www.solutiongrove.com ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] Why #sugar should be logged - a plug for transparency and ease of use.
On Tue, Jan 12, 2010 at 8:01 PM, Dave Bauer dave.ba...@gmail.com wrote: Apparenly it was discussed. Some people do not like publicly available logs. I log all my IRC channels locally. This is handy because I can use desktop search to find something. I can't point someone else to them, but I suppose I could email part of it to someone. Dave I'm glad logging locally works for you, Dave, but it doesn't work for me. I really need less things to do, not more ;-) On Tue, Jan 12, 2010 at 7:44 PM, Luke Faraone l...@faraone.cc wrote: Is there a good reason why we don't auto log the channel? We've talked this subject practically to death. See http://www.mail-archive.com/iaep@lists.sugarlabs.org/msg06656.html. (hint: the thread you want is here) Consensus has been no for a variety of reasons, which would be redundant to enumerate here once again. We already log meetings in #sugar-meeting, but the policy for #sugar is against it. Can I just use #sugar-meeting, then, instead of #sugar? That would work for me. ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] Why #sugar should be logged - a plug for transparency and ease of use.
On Tue, Jan 12, 2010 at 21:25, Jeff Elkner j...@elkner.net wrote: Can I just use #sugar-meeting, then, instead of #sugar? That would work for me. #sugar-meeting is for just that, meetings. Things outside of meetings are not recorded. -- Luke Faraone http://luke.faraone.cc ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
