Re: [IAEP] [Sugar-devel] Tom Gilliard
Sorry to hear of his illness and passing. I know he put a lot of effort supporting this project. RIP. Condolences to his family and friends. mad rights organizer/activist at Nyc Icarus On Sunday, July 26, 2020, 04:48:58 PM EDT, Walter Bender wrote: I am saddened by the news that Tom Gilliard (satellit), long time Sugar contributor has passed away after a long illness. Tom was one of our most dedicated and diligent testers of Sugar builds (on a wide variety of GNU/Linux platforms) and a great advocate who will be missed. Tom's wife Virginia can be reached at sandykayak...@gmail.com -walter -- Walter Bender Sugar Labshttp://www.sugarlabs.org ___ Sugar-devel mailing list sugar-de...@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/sugar-devel ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [support-gang] It's Time to Sign Up For Sensors!
I take a significant amount of cords and electronic doodads through TSA regularly. I find that you'll only be hassled if the wires are parts are all mixed together making it hard to tell what's there in X-ray. I just keep a ball of rubber bands around and neatly coil and band each cable, and put small parts in clear zip lock bags. And you can store it in checked baggage if you're doing that. Mike Have a bill of sale might be good to show? ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [support-gang] Sensors at SF Summit & Sugar Camp...Wanna' play with us?
--- On Mon, 10/8/12, Caryl Bigenho wrote: From: Caryl Bigenho Subject: [support-gang] Sensors at SF Summit & Sugar Camp...Wanna' play with us? To: "support-g...@laptop.org" , "IAEP SugarLabs" Date: Monday, October 8, 2012, 4:16 PM Hi Folks, Some of us have been discussing how we can incorporate work with sensors into the SF Summit and Sugar Camp. The thread of our discussion is below for your perusal. There are lots of good links there. Now, we need to expand our discussion to try to include all who might be interested in making and learning to use sensors with their XOs for Science Education (STEM, SET, SCIB, etc). Here is a summary of what we have talked about. Tony Anderson and I both feel a need to be able to use sensors for science experiments/lessons with projects we are working with. We envision some time in SF devoted to our own maker/hacker space type activity where everyone interested could make and test sensors and come up with ideas for using them with students. Lesson ideas could be published on one of the wikis. We might also be able to make video tutorials on how to make them. Nick Doiron will only be there for the weekend, but could get us started on them, perhaps on Friday evening. We would like to find others who will be staying into the Sugar Camp time who could help us. Volunteers anyone??? Or maybe we could build them all Friday evening after the reception and then play with them during Sugar Camp??? Ideas anyone? We would need to get all the parts ahead of time. I can pick them up at a large electronics store (http://www.allelectronics.com) here in SoCal sometime this week. To do this I would need a "shopping list." I notice that the requirements for some of the sensors vary with the model of XO they will be used with. I will need someone to work with me on this list to make sure I get everything we will need. Volunteers anyone??? I would also need to know who will be interested in doing this so I can get the supplies for everyone who will need them. It could be that some folks would only be able to participate on the weekend but would like to take "kits" home with them to finish later. I will fund the purchase and you all can reimburse me. Would you like to come and "play" with us? Please send your name and what sensors you might be interested in building and testing. The obvious ones seem to be temperature and light, but it should reasonable to add one or 2 more. Here are a few ideas of the possibilities. If you know of others, please share! The wiki has the instructions for a light and temp sensor. The parts could be gotten at most radioshacks but bulk orders are cheaper. Some xo's (175,3,4) have built-in accelerometers.There was a mention of Noisebridge, they would have soldering irons. Ask them to use the space for your meeting and they might have some of the parts also.-kev___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [support-gang] Turtle Blocks question
--- On Fri, 10/5/12, Dr. Gerald Ardito wrote:
From: Dr. Gerald Ardito
Subject: Re: [support-gang] [IAEP] Turtle Blocks question
To: "Walter Bender"
Cc: "iaep" , "support-gang"
Date: Friday, October 5, 2012, 2:02 PM
Walter,
Thanks. Sorry if this is elementary. So, I download both files on the XO, and
then run the rules script?
Gerald
Just a lttle explanation for less familiar folks:Gnu/Linux has various
sub-system to connect the outside world to the world inside your computer. One
of those systems is involved with USB devices('udev' -- user devices). When you
plug-in a USB device, the kernel tries to find a kernel module to talk to
it(with UDEV rules) and if it succeeds, it makes a device entry in the 'dev'
directory (/dev/ttyUSB0 or something). If this happens, your device is
recognized and other Gnu/Linux programs can 'see' it, if not, they will keep
looking and fail to find it and nothing will happen or an error message will be
displayed. There are multiple components to make TurtleArt work with the
sensors/boards/etc. One is to load the plugin, two is to setup the 'udev'
rules', three is to have a kernel modules that works and four is to plug in the
device. So pluging-in the device, loading the plugin, are two steps but two
more are needed. If the kernel modules is present, then
all you need to do is add the UDEV rules with the script and that should make
everything work.ARDUINO->USB port->kernel module->udev rule->usb device
node->turtle art plugin->turtle artor something like that.hope that helps.-K___
IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org
http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [support-gang] Turtle Blocks question
--- On Thu, 10/4/12, Walter Bender wrote: From: Walter Bender Subject: Re: [support-gang] [IAEP] Turtle Blocks question To: "Dr. Gerald Ardito" Cc: "iaep" , "support-gang" Date: Thursday, October 4, 2012, 10:46 PM On Thu, Oct 4, 2012 at 10:43 PM, Dr. Gerald Ardito wrote: > Hello. > > I have been playing with the Turtle Blocks plugins for Follow Me, We > Do Robots, Lego Mindstorms, and Arduino. They installed perfectly in > Turtle Blocks (as expected). > > I have two questions: > 1. I will need to install Turtle Blocks and these plugins on 25-50 > XO-1s. Do I have to do the plugins one by one on each machine? TurtleBot comes with all of the above plugins pre-installed. It is also possible to create a special spin of Turtle Art with just the plugins you want (several deployments do this and I could walk you through the process) > 2. How do I go about requesting plug in(s) for the TI Launchpad? I need to know more about how to talk to the TI Launchpad and what sorts of interactions between it and TA you are looking for. I have a TI Launch pad. Its a microcontroller board with 2 sample MSP430 microcontrollers. This is different than the Atmel microcontrollers that Arudino uses. Someone is working on a fork of Aurdino software called Energia. I guess you need the MSP430 tool chain to support the launch pad as you would need the atmel tool chain for the Arduino environment. -Kev___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [support-gang] Have You Heard From The Machine?
The version of python on the Mac, Fedora, XO, etc. while they might not be the same, should be similar enough that all people learning the language should find 99% of their program code function the same. There is that 1%, but my estimation is that you would have to use more advanced or esoteric functions to find a difference. There is the transition to Python 3 but I'm not up on that difference. So.. dont worry about any issues until there are issues and then just ask someone with more python skill to explain. -Kev From: Janissa Balcomb To: Community Support Volunteers -- who help respond t ; IAEP SugarLabs ; OLPC SoCal Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2012 2:25 PM Subject: Re: [support-gang] Have You Heard From The Machine? Network Email hi caryl & other python students, caryl - you put a burner under my butt with this email. i had gotten the class email, but it had no links, so i didn’t even think to find the materials or download python yet. when you say you downloaded the textbook, were you referring to the lecture notes, or is there an actual textbook? i plan to use my windows laptop running python, not the xo laptop, but i thought maybe if we have an xo laptop team, we could discuss how to use what we’re learning in this course for practical use with the xo’s. i seem to remember reading somewhere that they were talking about small teams of up to 10. do you know how to find out what version of python the xo’s run? janissa From: Caryl Bigenho Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2012 9:20 AM To: Community Support Volunteers -- who help respond t ; IAEP SugarLabs ; OLPC SoCal Subject: [support-gang] Have You Heard From The Machine? Hi Janissa and others, If you are signed up for the M-MOOC Python class, read on If you aren't signed up but think you might want to be, see the "P.S." below. I am signed up and I know several others from the so-cal and iaep lists are as well. I don't know how large the teams are supposed to be. If you looked at the resource from "The Machine" yesterday, it appears they had teams of 2 for the original MIT class. Maybe this will be different. We shall see. They also used a specific version of Python, 2.6.x. The version on the XO may be different. I would rather do mine on my Mac, but we can probably work on a team anyway. I have downloaded the textbook and Python 2.6.6 and have bookmarked the two MIT OCW classes described in yesterday's message from The Machine. Caryl P.S. You can probably still sign up. The class starts October 15, but there is some prep work and orientation going on already. If you want to be a part of this experiment, here is the link: http://info.p2pu.org/2012/08/21/its-alive-the-mechanical-mooc-offers-gentle-intro-to-python/ From: jani...@silverstar.com To: support-g...@lists.laptop.org Date: Wed, 26 Sep 2012 23:42:46 -0600 Subject: Re: [support-gang] FW: Tonight - A True History of the MOOC I signed up for the Python class. They mentioned that people can work in small teams. Is there anyone taking the class who’d like to form an XO laptop team? Janissa ___ support-gang mailing list support-g...@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/support-gang ___ support-gang mailing list support-g...@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/support-gang ___ support-gang mailing list support-g...@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/support-gang ___ support-gang mailing list support-g...@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/support-gang___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] Warning! Your email account may have been compromised
Sorry Folks :( It seems something has accessed my yahoo.com 'contacts' list AFAICT. I'm not sure what action to take. But obviosuly, 'no subject' or Email with only wierd, long URLs should be avoided by folks. -K From: Caryl Bigenho To: kevin.m...@verizon.net Cc: IAEP SugarLabs ; "support-g...@laptop.org" Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2012 12:26 PM Subject: Warning! Your email account may have been compromised Hi Kevin, I noticed a "No Subject" email from you this morning. I looked and there was a link that had nothing I could see in relation to OLPC or Sugar Labs so I did not open it. The last time this happened with a message from a neighbor I made the mistake of opening the link and I was without email for several days... it was a scam. I suspect your account has been compromised in a similar fashion. Caryl___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [Sugar-devel] Sugar Digest 2012-09-18
--- On Sun, 9/23/12, S. Daniel Francis wrote: > From: S. Daniel Francis > Subject: Re: [Sugar-devel] [IAEP] Sugar Digest 2012-09-18 > To: "Agustin Zubiaga Sanchez" > Cc: "iaep" , "Sugar-dev Devel" > , community-n...@lists.sugarlabs.org > Date: Sunday, September 23, 2012, 3:53 PM > 2012/9/23 Agustin Zubiaga Sanchez > : > > Hi, everybody. > > Like Daniel, I'm from Uruguay and I feel identified > with the Walter message. > Hi Agustin! > > > I'm fourteen years old, and I started using sugar when > I was ten, when I > > receive my XO was the first time that I used linux and > it liked me a lot. > > > > About the young programmers: > > I was a student of Flavio Danesse, and he taught me a > lot but for obvious > > reasons I had to appeal the internet to found more > information, where the > > most are in english, for me it wasn't a problem, > because I have learned > > english.. > > > > But the most of the children in Latin America hasn't > this luck, and they > > find it difficult to program. > > I'd say now there's a lot of documentation in Spanish, but I > agree > with you in the language can be a barrier sometimes, > specially for > write e-mails and similar things. > When Flavio said he doesn't understand why Spanish speakers > write > source code in English, I replied I don't write code in > English, I > write in Python, in C (not for Sugar) or in any programming > language. There is a subtle thing that I experienced when I was working at a multilingual website where it was common to speak, write and program in English, Spanish and Italian. The program language might have been C, python or vb script but it was written not like you'd expect. - In the US, this is the norm: #!/usr/bin/python # this is how you compute the total total = sum1+sum2+sum3 print "This is the total" total - but where I worked, it was like this: #!/usr/bin/python # questo è il modo in cui il punteggio di corrispondenza viene calcolato partida = calcio101+calcio02 - They are both 'python' but most programmers are not going to be able to debug the 2nd example easily. -- Making all the comments and the variable names in Spanish is not what I expect for sugarlabs but maybe for the 'python joven' or similar. ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [Sugar-devel] Sugar Digest 2012-09-18
Hello Agustin from the US :) --- On Sun, 9/23/12, Agustin Zubiaga Sanchez wrote: From: Agustin Zubiaga Sanchez Subject: Re: [Sugar-devel] [IAEP] Sugar Digest 2012-09-18 To: "Gonzalo Odiard" Cc: "James Simmons" , "iaep" , "Sugar-dev Devel" , community-n...@lists.sugarlabs.org, "S. Daniel Francis" Date: Sunday, September 23, 2012, 3:16 PM Hi, everybody. Like Daniel, I'm from Uruguay and I feel identified with the Walter message. I'm fourteen years old, and I started using sugar when I was ten, when I receive my XO was the first time that I used linux and it liked me a lot. About the young programmers: I was a student of Flavio Danesse, and he taught me a lot We need to 'clone' this person, we need more who can do what he is doing! but for obvious reasons I had to appeal the internet to found more information, where the most are in english, for me it wasn't a problem, because I have learned english. Yes, access to the internet, a laptop and free time are VERY important in the global world and provides access to the largest library, but sadly 90% of the text is in English. But now there is more in other languages, and even better, almost anyone of any age can write a web page to add Spanish (or other langauge) text. But the most of the children in Latin America hasn't this luck, and they find it difficult to program. About sugar and the teachers: Unfortunately, when I was in primary school, no teacher was concerned with explaining how to use my XO, and the "logical sugar activities", such as Turtle Art and Scratch, but luckily their interfaces are very intuitive. That was the goal of Sugar Labs, to make it easy to use, its great that you agree and they need more kids to help them make it better. And when I started the high school was the same, no teacher was interested in the XO, except Mr. Flavio Danesse :) That is sad, more teaacher need to see what he is doing in High Schools. For this reason the most of my classmates, only use their XO to browse in Facebook and other social networks. That is useful, but its not as educational as learning about python or reading about world news or science or animals or something more about your interests or your future. Unless you are using facebook to talk about science and news and books. Thanks you for your great effort to explain how the XO is helping and how you use it.-KevinRegards, Agustin Zubiaga -Inline Attachment Follows- ___ Sugar-devel mailing list sugar-de...@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/sugar-devel ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [support-gang] What Sensors and Where To Buy?
--- On Sat, 9/22/12, Caryl Bigenho wrote: From: Caryl Bigenho Subject: Re: [support-gang] What Sensors and Where To Buy? To: "Community Support Volunteers -- who help respond t" , "IAEP SugarLabs" Date: Saturday, September 22, 2012, 1:26 AM Hey Guys... Don't loose sight of the fact that learning electronics is not necessarily the main goal here. I think that, most of the time, the sensors will be used for measuring things in science experiments... physics, chemistry, even biology and health science. Oh, I think I and others might have given the wrong impression. I was just trying to figure out what parts were useful and how they'd be built FOR the teacher. With the goal to not expect the teacher or the students to build any of the sensors. If the students are a bit older, then making an sensor might be cool. But our 'geeking out' about the technical bits might have seems like we were moving in a different direction. So, yeah, the main thing is to have sensors and for the teacher to have some material that they are using it with. Most of the more basic sensors are composed of:1 audio connector, 1 bit of audio wire, 1 resistor and one 'sensor. So the cost would not be very high. But getting bulk parts vs getting 2 made will affect the price a lot (economies of scale). LEDs can cost 1 $ if you buy them 1 at a time but 10 cents if you buy them in 100 packs. I spent this evening with the young science teacher who will be using the XOs at the CP project here in Montana. He is very excited about the possibility of using them in his middle school science classes. I showed him some of the things Trinidad Guzman has on YouTube and we came up with a lot of ideas for possible lessons. He thought he might actually do the building of the sensors himself. The electronics aspect isn't the main lesson here, the science experiments they are used in will be. You guys have provided lots of great links and resources which I am sharing with him. Money is an issue. Montana schools are not well funded (what public school is these days?). He will do what he can with the funds he can scrape up. Maybe making inexpensive kits of parts and instructions for sensors along with lesson ideas would be a good project for SF? Caryl P.S. He is really into using open source... actually so is his wife, who just had all of her schedule changed to music (K-8). > Date: Sat, 22 Sep 2012 14:23:14 +1000 > From: qu...@laptop.org > To: support-g...@lists.laptop.org > Subject: Re: [support-gang] What Sensors and Where To Buy? > > On Fri, Sep 21, 2012 at 07:35:13PM -0700, Kevin Mark wrote: > > What your explanation makes clear is why people typically pay 3rd > > parties to develop educational material with pre-tested sample > > circuits and included parts. The average teacher will not have the > > expertise to just find a sensor, make a circuit, connect it, use > > software like measure and explain what the output means. > > I don't think teachers are as unskilled as you seem to suggest. > Teachers can only teach what they know, and knowing this level of > electronics is about as complex as knowing macrame. > > A syllabus might not contain electronics, and so a teacher's support > systems may be naive to electronics. > > That's where lesson plans and materials can be useful, for a teacher > who wants to go the extra mile beyond their syllabus. > > > I assume if a packet was constructed for the basic concepts for Ohms > > law and the basic understanding of how the sensor fits-into this > > Electronics equation, then they could present a lesson with a > > packaged electronics kit with audio-plug w/sensor bits. Maybe the > > XOexplosion/ilovemyxo or PlanCeibal/Butiabot people or whoever could > > mass-buy such parts and constructs these kits and create the > > teaching material(wiki?). > > I expect these already exist somewhere. The Using_Turtle_Art_Sensors > page referenced earlier in the thread is a good example that focuses > on Turtle Art, with some OLPC XO guidance as well. > > Perhaps a more appropriate subject area is Physics rather than > Electronics. > > > > > LDRs, IR LED, flex sensor and other cheap parts if ordered in bulk I > > would imagine could be bought for a relatively cheaper cost compared > > to Radioshack-type stores. And if the purchase is made by a > > geographically closer group, that would limit the shipping cost. > > Agreed. For any education system where electronics is in syllabus, > there are ample opportunities for bulk purchasing. > > > Just my reaction to your great explanation of how those bits could > > be used. > > Thanks. > > -- > James Cameron > http://quozl.linux.org.au/ > _
Re: [IAEP] [support-gang] What Sensors and Where To Buy?
--- On Fri, 9/21/12, fors...@ozonline.com.au wrote: > From: fors...@ozonline.com.au > Subject: Re: Re: [IAEP] [support-gang] What Sensors and Where To Buy? > To: "Kevin Mark" > Cc: iaep@lists.sugarlabs.org > Date: Friday, September 21, 2012, 11:22 PM > Kevin wrote > > > What your explanation makes clear is why people > typically pay 3rd parties to develop educational material > with pre-tested sample circuits and included parts. The > average teacher will not have the expertise to just find a > sensor, make a circuit, connect it, use software like > measure and explain what the output means. > > > > I assume if a packet was constructed for the basic > concepts for Ohms law and the basic understanding of how the > sensor fits-into this Electronics equation, then they could > present a lesson with a packaged electronics kit with > audio-plug w/sensor bits. > > Kevin > You make a very good point, a kit of sensors and associated > lesson plans would be great. One like the Arduino Starter > Kit would be good, it has a patch board, leads and sensors > suitable for the XO mic socket, it has a few output devices > we don't need > http://littlebirdelectronics.com/products/starter-kit-for-arduino-flex > > The concern I have is cost. The XO is $188 and most of the > target market is very price sensitive. My guess is that it > would accept a cost of $10 for a Starter Kit, just my > guess. > > The Arduino Starter Kit would be at least $23.50 if you > removed the Arduino and USB cable and added a 3.5mm phono > plug with flying leads, probably more, my guess $30 -$35 > considering that the per component price goes up for smaller > kits. > > Here is how I calculate $23.50 > > http://littlebirdelectronics.com/products/starter-kit-for-arduino-flex > $59.95 > http://littlebirdelectronics.com/products/USB-Cable-A-to-B-6-Foot > less $3.95 > http://littlebirdelectronics.com/products/arduino-uno-r3 > less $32.50 > total starterkit less arduinouno and usb cable > > $23.50 > > Maybe the next step is to talk to a kit manufacturer like > Sparkfun Funny you should mention them, when I was at World Maker Faire 2012, they were very interested in the XO that I and Nick where displaying. They provide a bag of goodies that he used at our table and it was useful for his work when he went to Haiti with Waveplace. I think they might be someone to ask about either providing a kits or .. helping certain small groups as part of 'good will', 'tech outreach' with a 'shout-out' to them or such. They run a 'free day' which I have been party to, and they are generous with their efforts at creating a community of Makers. We might be able to work with them on kits or be a recipient of their outreach. -Kev ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [support-gang] What Sensors and Where To Buy?
--- On Fri, 9/21/12, James Cameron wrote: > From: James Cameron > Subject: Re: [support-gang] What Sensors and Where To Buy? > To: "Community Support Volunteers -- who help respond to "help AT > laptop.org"" > Cc: "IAEP SugarLabs" , "OLPC SoCal" > , "support-g...@laptop.org" > Date: Friday, September 21, 2012, 7:39 PM > On Fri, Sep 21, 2012 at 03:38:12PM > -0700, Kevin Mark wrote: > > This is a minor update because I was reading a post[1] > on sparkfun. This kit > > shows a kit with single examples of various types > of sensors. This kit is too > > expensive but you can buy the individual parts > separately at their site or > > elsewhere. > > [1] https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11283 > > Thanks. Interesting. > > Not every sensor works with an OLPC XO though, and the > teaching of the > sensors themselves is more difficult with the highly > integrated > sensors, since they don't provide a simple voltage as > output. What your explanation makes clear is why people typically pay 3rd parties to develop educational material with pre-tested sample circuits and included parts. The average teacher will not have the expertise to just find a sensor, make a circuit, connect it, use software like measure and explain what the output means. I assume if a packet was constructed for the basic concepts for Ohms law and the basic understanding of how the sensor fits-into this Electronics equation, then they could present a lesson with a packaged electronics kit with audio-plug w/sensor bits. Maybe the XOexplosion/ilovemyxo or PlanCeibal/Butiabot people or whoever could mass-buy such parts and constructs these kits and create the teaching material(wiki?). LDRs, IR LED, flex sensor and other cheap parts if ordered in bulk I would imagine could be bought for a relatively cheaper cost compared to Radioshack-type stores. And if the purchase is made by a geographically closer group, that would limit the shipping cost. Just my reaction to your great explanation of how those bits could be used. -K ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [support-gang] What Sensors and Where To Buy?
--- On Fri, 9/21/12, Kevin Mark wrote: From: Kevin Mark Subject: Re: [support-gang] What Sensors and Where To Buy? To: "support-g...@laptop.org" , "IAEP SugarLabs" , "OLPC SoCal" , "Community Support Volunteers -- who help respond to help AT laptop.org" Date: Friday, September 21, 2012, 2:55 AM --- On Thu, 9/20/12, Caryl Bigenho wrote: From: Caryl Bigenho Subject: [support-gang] What Sensors and Where To Buy? To: "support-g...@laptop.org" , "IAEP SugarLabs" , "OLPC SoCal" Date: Thursday, September 20, 2012, 8:37 PM Hi… OK, here I am again with another "dumb" question… well, maybe not so dumb after all as I'll bet there are others out there who could also use this information. On the OLPC wiki there are several very nicely illustrated instructions about how to make sensors to use with the XO… temperature, humidity, light, etc. But, they don't include a materials list or reference to sources where the parts can be purchased. http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Making_XO_sensors Radio Shack? Edmond Scientific? Parallax.com? or where? Curious people, myself included want to know. Can someone help here? Thanks! Caryl (GrannieB) P.S. Here's an example of the type of info needed. This site sells a number of light sensors but they call them things like Photoresistor, Photo Transistor, Light to Frequency Converter. These are all little ones that appear similar to the one in the instructions on the wiki. How do you tell which kind you need? I'm not someone schooled in Electronics, just an autodidact. If you are talking about a 'light sensor', this is usually a device that when exposed to visible white light will change its electrical resistance. If you are familiar with the concept of volts, current, and resistance, the basic components of Ohms Law, this device would be part of a circuit and act as a gauge for the amount of lightness or darkness in a room. So the device would increase its resistance which is measured in Ohms when more light hits the active surface. if you buy this[0] at Radio Shack, it will contain various types of these cells. The main difference is their resistance range. Some might vary the resistance from 0 to 1,000 Ohms, some might vary from 0 to 10,000 Ohms. Or other response ranges. The names can vary. I first knew them as a Cadmium Sulfate Cell, they can also Light Dependent resistors. Or Photoresisitors. As for the light to frequency converter, that is a different device.For the sake of experimentation and convience, the radioshack package might be an OK $4 investment. If you know someone who likes electronics, they might have these parts to space. Even better if you can visit a 'hackerspace' where they can help with a few parts and explanation. I think the main use is to connect the light sensor directly to the audio-in port of the XO, which means a few wires, an audio jack and the light sensor. The 'Measure' Activity should provide a basic idea of how the sensor reacts to varying amounts of light. [0] https://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062590 This is a minor update because I was reading a post[1] on sparkfun. This kit shows a kit with single examples of various types of sensors. This kit is too expensive but you can buy the individual parts separately at their site or elsewhere. [1] https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11283-k___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [support-gang] What Sensors and Where To Buy?
--- On Thu, 9/20/12, Caryl Bigenho wrote: From: Caryl Bigenho Subject: [support-gang] What Sensors and Where To Buy? To: "support-g...@laptop.org" , "IAEP SugarLabs" , "OLPC SoCal" Date: Thursday, September 20, 2012, 8:37 PM Hi… OK, here I am again with another "dumb" question… well, maybe not so dumb after all as I'll bet there are others out there who could also use this information. On the OLPC wiki there are several very nicely illustrated instructions about how to make sensors to use with the XO… temperature, humidity, light, etc. But, they don't include a materials list or reference to sources where the parts can be purchased. http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Making_XO_sensors Radio Shack? Edmond Scientific? Parallax.com? or where? Curious people, myself included want to know. Can someone help here? Thanks! Caryl (GrannieB) P.S. Here's an example of the type of info needed. This site sells a number of light sensors but they call them things like Photoresistor, Photo Transistor, Light to Frequency Converter. These are all little ones that appear similar to the one in the instructions on the wiki. How do you tell which kind you need? I'm not someone schooled in Electronics, just an autodidact. If you are talking about a 'light sensor', this is usually a device that when exposed to visible white light will change its electrical resistance. If you are familiar with the concept of volts, current, and resistance, the basic components of Ohms Law, this device would be part of a circuit and act as a gauge for the amount of lightness or darkness in a room. So the device would increase its resistance which is measured in Ohms when more light hits the active surface. if you buy this[0] at Radio Shack, it will contain various types of these cells. The main difference is their resistance range. Some might vary the resistance from 0 to 1,000 Ohms, some might vary from 0 to 10,000 Ohms. Or other response ranges. The names can vary. I first knew them as a Cadmium Sulfate Cell, they can also Light Dependent resistors. Or Photoresisitors. As for the light to frequency converter, that is a different device.For the sake of experimentation and convience, the radioshack package might be an OK $4 investment. If you know someone who likes electronics, they might have these parts to space. Even better if you can visit a 'hackerspace' where they can help with a few parts and explanation. I think the main use is to connect the light sensor directly to the audio-in port of the XO, which means a few wires, an audio jack and the light sensor. The 'Measure' Activity should provide a basic idea of how the sensor reacts to varying amounts of light. [0] https://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062590___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [Sugar-devel] Sugar Digest 2012-09-18
--- On Wed, 9/19/12, S. Daniel Francis wrote: > From: S. Daniel Francis > Subject: Re: [IAEP] [Sugar-devel] Sugar Digest 2012-09-18 > To: "Kevin Mark" > Cc: "James Simmons" , "iaep" , > "Sugar-dev Devel" , > community-n...@lists.sugarlabs.org > Date: Wednesday, September 19, 2012, 11:27 PM > Hi Kevin, > > 2012/9/19 Kevin Mark : > > Hearing from the kids who are making Sugar activities > and more contributions, I'm really wanting to > > know what teaching environment made this possible? > > Summing my case all the cases I listened about, we usually > learn by our self. > Thinking about why Sugar, well, we could make desktop > applications, > but a free and decent way to share a program is difficult to > find and > there's not always a community where we can share what we > make. While I can't speak for Sugar Labs, this sound like a very good problems to address. "Scratch" has a website to 'upload' its programs. I would really love to see a way to help young sugar activity hacker have a place for them to 'hack' on their games/activities. Maybe Activities.sugarlabs.org or some website in .uy? And maybe a forum? (I'm not someone to do this sadly but would think that the very capable people around the sugar community would find this idea motivating) > Also I > think Sugar needs activities, unlike desktops, where > practically all > is already made. > > Just Edward suggested us to tell our stories, but at the > moment I'll > not get into many details and only answer your questions. > > > Are there activity hacking classes? > In Uruguay there is only one activity hacking teacher: > Flavio Danesse. OH wow. I have recently started to 'hack' on JAMedia and JAMediaTube. So I know his work. I wonder if making videos of his lecture would be something he could do and the kids could watch? > He is an IT teacher, and every year he organizes a workshop > where he > teaches volunteer students to program in Python. The group > "Python > Joven", in English "Young Python".. If you and others can make 'clubs' in your area, that would be great, maybe they can setup a web 'forum' for everyone to exchange ideas. > > Currently, his students contributing here are Agustin > Zubiaga and > Cristhofer Travieso, they told me about another student who > develops > applications for Android. > > > Is this kind of experimentation part of a turtleart > class? > For my part I can say "yes and no"... When I received my XO > with Sugar > I liked very much TurtleArt, but the teachers don't teach it > very > often, I had to look for documentation. Oh, that is sad, I'm surprised to read that. > > >Have kids 'goggled' about programming on their own time > and wanted to know about programming? > Now you are right, I learn practically all 'googling'. > Flavio's > students told me they also learn(ed) a big part of what they > know > searching and investigating by them self. > I think it's better because we can learn what we are > interested in, > also if it's not related with Sugar. yes that is true. learning what you want (being an auto-didact) is powerful. > > > Are there computer programming classes and teachers > that have assignments that ask the kids to explore? > > Programming is not often a subject at the school. > I know about optional workshops, like Flavio's. My parents > are > teachers, and about three-four years ago, when I was ten > years old, I > used to go to the highschool where my parents worked and I > listened to > a workshop about web design (basic HTML development) and > graphic > design (with GIMP). That workshop was not a way to get > young > programmers, but it removed me the fear of seeing a source > code as > something strange or made for be understood by non-human > people. Yes, many people have a fear of this 'scary' stuff. It something everyone who wants to learn about programming has to face. Turtleart and Scratch was suppose to help. > > Cheers. > ~danielf > > P.S: Sorry, I don't speak English very well. Thanks you very much for your answers. I think you write English very well! -Kevin aka kevix ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [Sugar-devel] Sugar Digest 2012-09-18
--- On Wed, 9/19/12, S. Daniel Francis wrote: > From: S. Daniel Francis > Subject: Re: [Sugar-devel] [IAEP] Sugar Digest 2012-09-18 > To: "James Simmons" > Cc: "iaep" , "Sugar-dev Devel" > , community-n...@lists.sugarlabs.org, > "Walter Bender" > Date: Wednesday, September 19, 2012, 12:42 PM > 2012/9/19 James Simmons : > > Walter, > > > > First, congrats on the grandchild. > > > > Second, I am intrigued by the statement that 10% of > Sugar Activities were > > written by children who grew up with Sugar. That > is an incredible > > accomplishment, and it makes me wish that the ASLO > website had a Collection > > of those Activities. If something like that > existed I could see what kinds > > of Activities they were doing, how many were programs > written for other > > environments using a Sugar wrapper, how many are purely > Sugar Activities, > > who the developers are, what Sugar features are they > using and not using, > > how popular the Activities are, etc. > > Hello James, > I feel identified with what Walter described so I dare to > answer. I'm > from Uruguay and I'm thirteen years old. I'm one of the > activity > developers in transition to Sugar contributor. I don't know > other > young Sugar contributors outside Uruguay, so I'll tell you > about the > situation here. > > About one year ago, children made activities often as a > hobbie, that > activities had not a reasonable aim and they weren't very > well > integrated with Sugar. > Hearing from the kids who are making Sugar activities and more contributions, I'm really wanting to know what teaching environment made this possible? Are there activity hacking classes? Is this kind of experimentation part of a turtleart class? A math class? have kids 'goggled' about programming on their own time and wanted to know about programming? Are there computer programming classes and teachers that have assignments that ask the kids to explore? Is this material online? Are there self-assembled sugar hacking groups? I've love to have any of these answers. Cheers, Kev ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [support-gang] Need Help! Unable to Update XO-1s for Project in Rural Montana
--- On Sat, 9/15/12, Caryl Bigenho wrote: From: Caryl Bigenho Subject: Re: [support-gang] Need Help! Unable to Update XO-1s for Project in Rural Montana To: "Community Support Volunteers -- who help respond t" , "IAEP SugarLabs" Date: Saturday, September 15, 2012, 12:28 PM Hi... Thanks for the suggestions. I only did the updates on one of the machines. I wanted to make sure it worked before doing anything to the others ;-D I guess my first error was updating the firmware before fixing the date. Perhaps if I did that first it would work better. In fact the firmware might have taken care of itself. I am in the midst of a tiling job in the kitchen of the house we have been working on for 12 summers, but later today will try this on one of them: (a) reset the clock, (b) update to an intermediate build, (c) update to the latest signed build. Then, on the one that is hanging up on boot... perhaps I should try going back too? But since I already took the firmware to Q2E46 this might cause a problem with installing a build with an earlier firmware. What do you folks think? I should mention some of the things that happen when I try to update without doing anything special... it keeps looking for a mesh network (there is none) and complains about the date being wrong. I can understand the date problem, but haven't a clue why it suddenly thinks there should be a mesh network. Part of the discovery process looks for an internal hard drive, a usb hard drive, an sd hard drive and an wifi access point to help with booting: covering all known routes to boot. Any and all suggestions will be welcome. Also, I lost the link to the place on irc where helpers lurk. I'd love it if someone could send it. http://en.forum.laptop.org/chat/ Which is usually me or Quozl :) Thanks,Caryl From: greenf...@laptop.org Date: Sat, 15 Sep 2012 04:37:21 -0400 To: support-g...@lists.laptop.org Subject: Re: [support-gang] Need Help! Unable to Update XO-1s for Project in Rural Montana The imaging process has checksums in it; for the most part if something bad happened during imaging it should have been detected. It may be useful to hold down the checkmark game key while turning the power on a XO-1 and releasing it when instructed to see what text last appears before the XO ring got stuck. This will hide the XO ring so it doesn't appear. Note that the final circle of dots may sit around for a bit (if it wasn't still dancing). I would give the XO at least 2-3 minutes to boot before stating something hung. A USB2VGA adapter could cause an XO-1 to hang like this but no one said anything about one being attached. On Sat, Sep 15, 2012 at 4:14 AM, wrote: Maybe try to first go back to build 883, 11.3.1. To start from a known point, as it were. If you've been able to flash the firmware and set the clock, I doubt there's a h/w issue. Since it's happening on them all, it might just be a corrupt download or a bad USB stick. I'd go back to a known working signed install stick then work forward using a freshly formatted USB with a retried d/l of the .img and fs.zip file, using the 4-game key install method. KG Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network -Original Message- From: Caryl Bigenho Sender: support-gang-boun...@lists.laptop.org Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2012 15:33:43 To: Community Support Volunteers -- who help respond t; IAEP SugarLabs Reply-To: "Community Support Volunteers -- who help respond to \"help AT laptop.org\"" Subject: [support-gang] Need Help! Unable to Update XO-1s for Project in Rural Montana ___ support-gang mailing list support-g...@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/support-gang ___ support-gang mailing list support-g...@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/support-gang ___ support-gang mailing list support-g...@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/support-gang -Inline Attachment Follows- ___ support-gang mailing list support-g...@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/support-gang ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [support-gang] Stanford Online Education Course
nute when preparing one particular presentation, and even at the quietest moments, a good dozen per day. Our Investor was not too impressed (probably his money needs the "stability" of an all-America team), but I, and the team, do love it that our main tech guy is in Lithuania, our main Joomla sysop in Iran, our "reflective integrators" in Canada and somewhere in the US East, and active participants in every continent. My total cost, excluding time, came to about $30, and zero for most others. The team survived me dropping out for one month, as I was in Bolivia with no internet access. They did things by themselves. (Some say that's the mark of the best kind of leader - I prefer to think that's the mark of a team of capable people who get an opportunity to achieve on their own, away from the constraints of leaders) Are "smart" habitat management systems *the* coming Big Thing, and will 15ils be among those to take the lead? I don't know. Yet, I went in with the idea to "learn" about how to position myself in tech startups, and by now I can at least see much better how to do it. I now know many buzzwords, and the mud feet they stand on. I have gained more confidence in myself. I'm sure this ties in with the ideas of Symore Papert. Mastery as the way to self-esteem and confidence.I have made great connections, not only with my team mates, but with other team leaders, professionals in similar fields, etc. My Linkedin looks almost like something College used to be only about real-world connections, so you are just networking in the current mode. And both provide similar advantages. the downsides (¿?) 60,000+ began, less than 5,000 finished. Talk about a disastrous rate of attrition. Or think about it with clear eyes: the people that continued are the ones that could. Instead of the one-size-fits-all "education warehousing", here there was a free opportunity, freely taken. Of course it is sad to see that the have-less are the ones that got least - my international team was the exception, in giving a chance to some that no one would have given a chance. If you are to do a real startup, as in many other fields socioeconomics does give you an edge, and you will choose "better", and might miss the best. Even then, it was better than what the have-less can get at home. Just like the XO and Sugar: they are something that, as available, can reach and benefit only a small proportion of those who receive the opportunity. On 09/11/2012 11:51 AM, Kevin Mark wrote: If you have any summary of what skills or valuable expierences that you gained from s-g that helped you finish this high profile class, I think folks would like to know! Or any insights for us to use. -Kev s-g is open to anyone. Many people have skills, and desire to help, and often all they need is a gentle hand to get them moving. I am no Adam, but I could sometimes think on how he has managed to deal with the utter unreliability of humans, how to appreciate, encourage, carefully pull someone's ears in a discrete private message... And how Adam guides us: when participating, *DO*. Do not expect direction, do your best. As from a long ago conversation with Bernie, when organizing something like this, see your leader role to be one of a "catalyst". Working in this kind of teams, reaching decisions is not easy, and the worst you can do is to try to build some complicated participation, organization process. Open source has it: operate with a Benevolent Dictator, and if you don't like it, fork, but keep moving! When OLPC made decisions among 3, 4 people shut in one room, they made a mess. When the community had buy in and took ownership, good things were happening. I guess there is a moral there. Yet, a *real* startup needs be a small team, 3, 4 people, shut inside a small apartment, and throw away the key. Well, if all your stakeholders are those 3-4 people, then that is what is important. In that sense, this class was not real. Once we go past /that/, we can enjoy working with people of all stripes from all over. Ultimately, the real win is in being able to cooperate. The small, hungry team will get the bucks, but humanity as a whole will gain more from simple, open handed cooperation. A choice to make. Maybe I did not learn to be a successful Tech Entrepreneur after all :-) But I got the better part, and it will
Re: [IAEP] [support-gang] FW: News from CK-12 Foundation
On Wed, Aug 01, 2012 at 09:01:33PM -0700, Caryl Bigenho wrote: > Hi All, > > Since I know some of you are familiar with the great work by the CK-12 > Foundation with their free, online, flexbook texts, I know you will be If my memory serves, OLPC's SJ Kline was/is involved with that. -- | .''`. == Debian GNU/Linux ==.| http://kevix.myopenid.com..| | : :' : The Universal OS| mysite.verizon.net/kevin.mark/.| | `. `' http://www.debian.org/.| http://counter.li.org [#238656]| |___`-Unless I ask to be CCd,.assume I am subscribed._| After twelve years of therapy my psychiatrist said something that brought tears to my eyes. He said, "No hablo ingles." -- Ronnie Shakes ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [Sugar-devel] Sugar Digest 2012-06-10
On Mon, Jun 11, 2012 at 08:28:30AM -0500, Yamandu Ploskonka wrote: > (kudos for Gnome! BTW, I had been pushing for some XO-based > microcontroller work - > http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/OLPC_XO-1 as part of > eat-my-own-catfood in enabling the XO for real-world use) > (last weekend I was at a local (Austin, Texas, USA) High School > track. Nearby were the dumpsters. End-of-the-year dumpsters. Since > it probably does not happen that way in Boston, let me indicate that > here they were overflowing with "learning" materials. Pricy stuff, > not necessarily useful, but what passes as education in these > parts.) Cool, I had bought a Launchpad when they came out (2 yrs ago?) and was able to compile the GCC bits for it on my XO-1.5. But had not tried to use my XO-1. You probably have seem the proposed plans to make an XOduino and XOstick. Thanks for writing notes for the XO-1/Launchpad. I think I noted some intermittent issues with the kernal/usb/Launchpad where it would create a /dev/TTYACM01 and then 02 (I dont recall the specifics) and when I tried to access the device via Python, my code was referrring to the wrong device node. And I had to disconnect the usb cable for it to work. -- | .''`. == Debian GNU/Linux ==.| http://kevix.myopenid.com..| | : :' : The Universal OS| mysite.verizon.net/kevin.mark/.| | `. `' http://www.debian.org/.| http://counter.li.org [#238656]| |___`-Unless I ask to be CCd,.assume I am subscribed._| Victory uber allies! ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [support-gang] XO Self-Test for XO-1.5?
On Tue, May 15, 2012 at 12:37:44PM -0700, Caryl Bigenho wrote: > Hi Folks, > > I was trying to use the "XO self-test" on the 2 Roadshow XO-1.5s that were > recently returned (including the one with the ripped key). I followed the > instructions on the wiki: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XO_Self_Test > it goes for several lines, as far as: > > "Testing /switches @(a character I don't have) > Activate lid switch" > > And, then freezes. This happens on both machines. I reflashed one and got the > same result. The test still works fine on an XO-1. > > Is there a different test for the 1.5? If so, where do I find it? Or is > something more serious going on? This is happening with 2 machines. > > Thanks, > Caryl are you saying you tried to activate the lid switch and it didnt continue the test or you didnt activate the lid switch and it stopped (as its waiting for the switch to be activated) or something else? -- | .''`. == Debian GNU/Linux ==.| http://kevix.myopenid.com..| | : :' : The Universal OS| mysite.verizon.net/kevin.mark/.| | `. `' http://www.debian.org/.| http://counter.li.org [#238656]| |___`-Unless I ask to be CCd,.assume I am subscribed._| Van Roy's Law: Honesty is the best policy - there's less competition. Van Roy's Truism: Life is a whole series of circumstances beyond your control. ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [support-gang] FOSTBs! (Free Open Source Text Books) FW: News from CK-12 Foundation
On Tue, May 01, 2012 at 02:02:31PM -0700, Caryl Bigenho wrote: > Hola! Si deseas una traducci n, puedes usar Google o preguntame. Abrazos! > Carolina My spidey-sense say to ask SJ about this as he might have been involved. -K -- | .''`. == Debian GNU/Linux ==.| http://kevix.myopenid.com..| | : :' : The Universal OS| mysite.verizon.net/kevin.mark/.| | `. `' http://www.debian.org/.| http://counter.li.org [#238656]| |___`-Unless I ask to be CCd,.assume I am subscribed._| "I distrust a close-mouthed man. He generally picks the wrong time to talk and says the wrong things. Talking's something you can't do judiciously, unless you keep in practice. Now, sir, we'll talk if you like. I'll tell you right out, I'm a man who likes talking to a man who likes to talk." -- Sidney Greenstreet, _The Maltese Falcon_ ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [support-gang] Any Ideas For This?
On Fri, Mar 09, 2012 at 12:55:50PM -0800, Caryl Bigenho wrote: > Hi... > > Anyone ever used Finale Note Pad (free mini version of Finale)? I need a way > to move the bar lines. I have a 12 measure file of "Mary Had A Little Lamb" > for > my Tam Tam Mini FLOSS manual. Finale has put it on 3 lines of 6 measures, 5 > measures and one very large measure that stretches across the score. I would > like it to be either 2 lines of 6 measures or 3 lines of 4 measures. There is > no logical reason why this shouldn't work. No info on how to move bar lines. > I could try portrait view to see what happens there, but there should be a > way > to fix this one. > > If anyone wants to download Note Pad and experiment, I can send the .mus file. > > Caryl there are a few music notation software for Linux: denemo, canorus, pwm, etc. I'm wonder what the output should look like? a postscript file? a jpeg? one for each line or 1 file? -- | .''`. == Debian GNU/Linux ==.| http://kevix.myopenid.com..| | : :' : The Universal OS| mysite.verizon.net/kevin.mark/.| | `. `' http://www.debian.org/.| http://counter.li.org [#238656]| |___`-Unless I ask to be CCd,.assume I am subscribed._| Those lovable Brits department: They also have trouble pronouncing `vitamin'. ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [support-gang] Sugar Labs Down?
On Fri, Nov 11, 2011 at 07:53:31AM -0500, Walter Bender wrote: > On 11/11/11, Caryl Bigenho wrote: > > > > Hi Folks, > > Is the Sugar Labs site down for maintenance? I have been unable to access it > > at all for the past several hours. > > Caryl > > 12:01 AM PST > > Not sure what the problem was, but it seems to be working again. > > regards. > > -walter > -- > Walter Bender > Sugar Labs > http://www.sugarlabs.org (21:28:45) kevix: _bernie: last night wiki.s.o was not working (but the host resolved). It must be working now. (21:33:42) _bernie: kevix: someone else fixed it... apache was unhappy about another ssl virtual host with no certificate (this is about 15 hrs later) -- | .''`. == Debian GNU/Linux ==.| http://kevix.myopenid.com..| | : :' : The Universal OS| mysite.verizon.net/kevin.mark/.| | `. `' http://www.debian.org/.| http://counter.li.org [#238656]| |___`-Unless I ask to be CCd,.assume I am subscribed._| Moore's Constant: Everybody sets out to do something, and everybody does something, but no one does what he sets out to do. ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [support-gang] Need To Know: How to get the latest Help Activity on Macs and PCs???
On Tue, Oct 25, 2011 at 05:59:56PM -0700, Caryl Bigenho wrote: > > > > Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2011 20:46:23 -0400 > > Subject: Re: Need To Know: How to get the latest Help Activity on Macs and > PCs??? > > From: walter.ben...@gmail.com > > To: cbige...@hotmail.com > > CC: de...@lists.laptop.org; support-g...@laptop.org; > > iaep@lists.sugarlabs.org > > > > On Tue, Oct 25, 2011 at 8:39 PM, Caryl Bigenho wrote: > > > Hi Walter, > > > > > > The Help Activity we want to work from is 11.3.0. It is version 13 and was > > > updated by Bastien, David Farning, and Brian Jordan. I don't think they > did > > > anything with the Turtle Art Activity. As far as I can see, the last work > on > > > it was done in 2008 during, or soon after, the Book Sprint. I you have > > > 11.3.0 running on an XO you can check it over and be sure of the status > > > and > > > contents. > > > > I thought that the idea was to pull fresh content from the Wikibooks > > we had written and that the TA book was one of the sources, hence I > > updated it. I'll try downloading the latest help activity bits and > > check them. Are they not available on ASLO? > > Yes, we would like to import the newest versions taken from updated manuals. > That is what Tuukka is helping with. But even then, they may need some > "tweaking" for the latest 11.3.0 Also, some that are much longer than the > original SECTIONS may not be used in their entirety, but instead will be > referenced with links. We are a bit concerned about space and don't want the > Activity SECTIONS to be long enough to be a whole separate manual. The idea is > to get folks off to a good start with an Activity and have them do one or 2 > projects. Then they can go to the Activity's own manual to learn more. > > Now, "true confessions," I am not familiar with the acronym "ASLO." What does > it refer to and how can we use it to make the FLOSS manual revisions? Is it > something we can use to read and edit the material on our laptops/ > > Caryl > wrt 'ASLO', its an abbreviations to reference the website: 'a'ctivities.'s'ugar'l'abs.'o'rg -- | .''`. == Debian GNU/Linux ==.| http://kevix.myopenid.com..| | : :' : The Universal OS| mysite.verizon.net/kevin.mark/.| | `. `' http://www.debian.org/.| http://counter.li.org [#238656]| |___`-Unless I ask to be CCd,.assume I am subscribed._| There are certain things men must do to remain men. -- Kirk, "The Ultimate Computer", stardate 4929.4 ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [Sugar-devel] I know India
On Wed, Oct 26, 2011 at 12:56:59AM +, Alan Jhonn Aguiar Schwyn wrote: > > Hi, > > When I received the email, I started working! > This is the background of the game .. > and the political divide there are... and the names of the states .. > > In the other "Conozco" the excuse of the game is important ... > In the "Conozco Uruguay", a Martian spaceship comes in and suffers a breakdown > and spacecraft parts fall into different parts of the country... > The game is based on finding the parts of the ship... > In the "Conozco America" a boy has a test the next day and has not studied for > it.. > The idea is based on helping he to go exploring and learning .. > > For "know India" a new story should be invented, to don't make so repetitive > games .. > > Someone comes up with something? > maybe the directory of a (bollywood) film has to visit the actor of her upcomming film? -- | .''`. == Debian GNU/Linux ==.| http://kevix.myopenid.com..| | : :' : The Universal OS| mysite.verizon.net/kevin.mark/.| | `. `' http://www.debian.org/.| http://counter.li.org [#238656]| |___`-Unless I ask to be CCd,.assume I am subscribed._| First there was Dial-A-Prayer, then Dial-A-Recipe, and even Dial-A-Footballer. But the south-east Victorian town of Sale has produced one to top them all. Dial-A-Wombat. It all began early yesterday when Sale police received a telephone call: "You won't believe this, and I'm not drunk, but there's a wombat in the phone booth outside the town hall," the caller said. Not firmly convinced about the caller's claim to sobriety, members of the constabulary drove to the scene, expecting to pick up a drunk. But there it was, an annoyed wombat, trapped in a telephone booth. The wombat, determined not to be had the better of again, threw its bulk into the fray. It was eventually lassoed and released in a nearby scrub. Then the officers received another message ... another wombat in another phone booth. There it was: *Another* angry wombat trapped in a telephone booth. The constables took the miffed marsupial into temporary custody and released it, too, in the scrub. But on their way back to the station they happened to pass another telephone booth, and -- you guessed it -- another imprisoned wombat. After some serious detective work, the lads in blue found a suspect, and after questioning, released him to be charged on summons. Their problem ... they cannot find a law against placing wombats in telephone booths. -- "Newcastle Morning Herald", NSW Australia, Aug 1980. ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [support-gang] Version 3 of I know America
On Sat, Oct 22, 2011 at 06:57:05PM -0200, Alan Aguiar wrote: > ENGLISH: (Espa ol abajo) > > Hi, > > I just uploaded version 3 "I know America." > This version adds to the 29 countries (now there are 30), > Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, which recently launched an OLPC deployment: > > http://education.gov.vc/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=125&Itemid > =107 This page has 'dead links' for the olpc info and they are using some logo on the right side that is not 'official' -- | .''`. == Debian GNU/Linux ==.| http://kevix.myopenid.com..| | : :' : The Universal OS| mysite.verizon.net/kevin.mark/.| | `. `' http://www.debian.org/.| http://counter.li.org [#238656]| |___`-Unless I ask to be CCd,.assume I am subscribed._| The only thing cheaper than hardware is talk. ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [Sugar-devel] Sugar Digest 2011-10-11
On Tue, Oct 11, 2011 at 07:38:26PM -0400, Walter Bender wrote: > == Sugar Digest == > 3. Ignacio Rodrigez, a young developer from Uruguay was issued a > Magellan computer from Plan Ceibal upon entering middle school. He > pointed out to me that the machine comes with Sugar installed on top > of Ubuntu. Details are still a bit sketchy, but some version of Sugar > is running (and presumably supported by someone). The only activity > shipped with Sugar is a very old version of Turtle Art. This is > somewhat ironic, since Turtle Art can be run directly from GNOME. I > asked Ignacio to please install the latest version of Turtle Blocks, > which he was able to do with apparently no difficulties. Great to hear that Ignacio is able to give some feedback and testing. We need more Ignacio's :) -- | .''`. == Debian GNU/Linux ==.| http://kevix.myopenid.com..| | : :' : The Universal OS| mysite.verizon.net/kevin.mark/.| | `. `' http://www.debian.org/.| http://counter.li.org [#238656]| |___`-Unless I ask to be CCd,.assume I am subscribed._| Q: How many surrealists does it take to change a light bulb? A: Two, one to hold the giraffe, and the other to fill the bathtub with brightly colored machine tools. [Surrealist jokes just aren't my cup of fur. Ed.] ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [support-gang] Fwd: [OLPC-SF] OLPC SF 2011 Community Summit - Poster contest
On Mon, Oct 03, 2011 at 11:11:40AM -0700, Cherry Withers wrote: > > Rules: > > • Posters will be 13 x 19 inches in size. > • Only 1 entry per project. > • All artwork and lettering must be original. Copyrighted images are not > allowed. > • Entries must be submitted electronically in by 9:00 AM Wednesday morning > Pacific Time, October 19th, 2011. Submit entries to: > poster-submiss...@green-wifi.org > • Posters will be also posted to the OLPC SF website during the summit. The point "Copyrighted images are not allowed" does not quite seem useful. Every image has an author and that person (at least in the US) get a copyright on anything they produce. There are images that an individual might own the copyright to and images they dont. As well as images that you can use in accordance with the license requirements: CC, GPL, PD. So I think that needs a bit of revision. -- | .''`. == Debian GNU/Linux ==.| http://kevix.myopenid.com..| | : :' : The Universal OS| mysite.verizon.net/kevin.mark/.| | `. `' http://www.debian.org/.| http://counter.li.org [#238656]| |___`-Unless I ask to be CCd,.assume I am subscribed._| A Linux machine! because a 486 is a terrible thing to waste! (By j...@wintermute.ucr.edu, Joe Sloan) ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [support-gang] OLPC / Sugar folks in Finland
On Thu, Sep 22, 2011 at 03:51:18PM +0200, Christoph Derndorfer wrote: > Hi all, > > I was wondering whether anyone here happens to know of anyone doing > OLPC / Sugar stuff in Finland? > > A quick search through the archives and the Web didn't yield much > beyond a short exchange between Sameer, Seth, Walter, and Ed back in > 2008... Well, it might be 'a shot in the dark' but you could try to ping the edubuntu/skolinux/debian-edu folks. -- | .''`. == Debian GNU/Linux ==.| http://kevix.myopenid.com..| | : :' : The Universal OS| mysite.verizon.net/kevin.mark/.| | `. `' http://www.debian.org/.| http://counter.li.org [#238656]| |___`-Unless I ask to be CCd,.assume I am subscribed._| "Every group has a couple of experts. And every group has at least one idiot. Thus are balance and harmony (and discord) maintained. It's sometimes hard to remember this in the bulk of the flamewars that all of the hassle and pain is generally caused by one or two highly-motivated, caustic twits." -- Chuq Von Rospach, c...@apple.com, about Usenet ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [Sugar-devel] butiá robot challenges in sumo.uy event
On Wed, Sep 21, 2011 at 08:24:50PM -0300, Andres Aguirre wrote: > Hi, I want to share with you what we was doing the last week here in Uruguay: > > http://www.fing.edu.uy/inco/proyectos/butia/mediawiki/index.php/Review Hi Andres, this looks like more excellant work about the butiabot. I was showing photos of the bot at the Maker Faire NYC 2011 booth to all the kids and parents as your project is the one that shows how the kids are learning about robotics, programming and computational thinking. And also how people can derive new software and new educational uses with an 'open' approach in a learning environment. -- | .''`. == Debian GNU/Linux ==.| http://kevix.myopenid.com..| | : :' : The Universal OS| mysite.verizon.net/kevin.mark/.| | `. `' http://www.debian.org/.| http://counter.li.org [#238656]| |___`-Unless I ask to be CCd,.assume I am subscribed._| The PILLSBURY DOUGHBOY is CRYING for an END to BURT REYNOLDS movies!! ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [support-gang] Problems!
On Thu, Sep 15, 2011 at 03:06:44PM +1000, James Cameron wrote: > On Wed, Sep 14, 2011 at 09:53:12PM -0700, Caryl Bigenho wrote: > > I forgot to mention... before the reflash I was not able to get this > > machine to go to Open Firmware to reset the time (pressing esc while > > booting). All the other machines would do this even if their clocks > > were off. That's why I brought it home to try a reflash. No change. It > > still won't. > > Oh, and I forgot too ... a jammed down button may prevent you from > getting to the OpenFirmware ok prompt. > > It becomes difficult to diagnose with firmware or software, since you > need the keyboard to do it easily. > > I'm able to get the ok prompt with the 2 key held down. Perhaps there's > more than one key held down. I've had that happen on an XO-1, and I > swapped the keyboard out. It was the shift, ctrl, and tab keys on the > left side. This brings to mind the wiki page for 'sticky keys'. my xo-1 and other xo-1s has this keybaord that had keyboard issue like you described. Sometimes messaging the keys works, sometimes playing with the membrane, or other ideas on the wiki page and of couse replacement. if you attached a USB keyboard, could that override the internal to access OFW? the OFW keyboard testa (test /keyboard?) would show the issue if you could get to it I'm guessing. -- | .''`. == Debian GNU/Linux ==.| http://kevix.myopenid.com..| | : :' : The Universal OS| mysite.verizon.net/kevin.mark/.| | `. `' http://www.debian.org/.| http://counter.li.org [#238656]| |___`-Unless I ask to be CCd,.assume I am subscribed._| travel, n.: Something that makes you feel like you're getting somewhere. ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [support-gang] FW: [Olpc-uruguay] Carita triste
On Fri, Sep 09, 2011 at 07:30:12PM -0700, Caryl Bigenho wrote: > Hi Folks, > > Can one of our many solutions that were discussed in the past few days about > incorrect dates help these folks in Uruguay? I'll translate the note below > and > if one of you knows the answer, but not how to tell them in Spanish, write it > in English and I'll translate it and send it on. Note: these are all XO-1s and > are probably secure. > > Caryl > > P.D. Alan, he mandado su nota a los grupos que han tenido una discus on sobre > este mismo problema en la semana pasada. > > > Translation: > Hello! > > This could be a question that seems to be "forgotten" .. put... > > If an XO shows the "sad face" because it has the "incorrect hour" > > Is there a way to fix it without sending it in for repairs? > > Cheers > > Alan > Hi Carly, the yellow sad face is the 'date incorrect' issue that you have seen from a discharged battery. So the date needs to be set and the coin-cell needs to be recharged or replaced. James mentioned a way to recharge a 'weak' (not dead) coin-cell to allow the fix to work. so do that for 4 hours? and then try to start the laptop, go to linux and set the date. if you set the date, try to update the firmware if its from the 65x release. But can I assume this person is connected to a deployment where they should have gone first? (I saw he mentioned LATU). -- | .''`. == Debian GNU/Linux ==.| http://kevix.myopenid.com..| | : :' : The Universal OS| mysite.verizon.net/kevin.mark/.| | `. `' http://www.debian.org/.| http://counter.li.org [#238656]| |___`-Unless I ask to be CCd,.assume I am subscribed._| Have a nice diurnal anomaly. ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [support-gang] SD Card Expert Needed
On Thu, Aug 25, 2011 at 10:52:23AM -0500, Mikus Grinbergs wrote: > Kevin Gordon wrote > >Talk to Mikus. He is my muse on this stuff. > > On multiple occasions (including this one) when Caryl has posted a > question to which I have previously developed an answer, I've > offered Caryl my help. None of my offers have gotten a response. > > mikus In the age of email boxes brimming with stuff to read, it can get lost in the shuffle or perhaps it was eatten by a rogue spam filter :) -- | .''`. == Debian GNU/Linux ==.| http://kevix.myopenid.com..| | : :' : The Universal OS| mysite.verizon.net/kevin.mark/.| | `. `' http://www.debian.org/.| http://counter.li.org [#238656]| |___`-Unless I ask to be CCd,.assume I am subscribed._| An idea is not responsible for the people who believe in it. ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [support-gang] "Narrative Interfaces" at OLPC
On Sat, Jun 18, 2011 at 09:46:23PM -0700, Caryl Bigenho wrote: > Hi All > > Thanks for recording and posting these. Do any of you remember the Apple ii > game for Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?" Must have been circa mid 1980s. > All text. Fun problem solving. I got the Babelfish! > At sugarlabs.org, they do have the frotz activity which can play (If I recall) the HHGTTG game or some text adventures. -- | .''`. == Debian GNU/Linux ==.| http://kevix.myopenid.com..| | : :' : The Universal OS| mysite.verizon.net/kevin.mark/.| | `. `' http://www.debian.org/.| http://counter.li.org [#238656]| |___`-Unless I ask to be CCd,.assume I am subscribed._| Iles's Law: There is always an easier way to do it. When looking directly at the easy way, especially for long periods, you will not see it. Neither will Iles. ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [support-gang] Journal prompts (was: Re: FW: [OLPC Bolivia] No logro aprender Sugar / I cannot learn Sugar)
On Thu, Jun 16, 2011 at 10:21:53PM -0400, moku...@earthtreasury.org wrote: > On Thu, June 16, 2011 8:17 am, Walter Bender wrote: > > On Thu, Jun 16, 2011 at 3:51 AM, Kevin Mark > > wrote: > >> On Wed, Jun 15, 2011 at 08:16:23PM -0400, Walter Bender wrote: > >> > >>> > > >>> > So what we seem to be left with at this point is a system which tries > >>> to > >>> > force users to add comments or tags even though there is very little > >>> > incentive or supportive mechanisms to actually do much with that > >>> metadata. > > The first use of titling Journal entries is to be able to search for > important work. Have you tested the search functions in the Journal > toolbar? They are not Google, or even Google Mail, but they are fairly > effective. They search not only titles, but also tags and comments, a fact > not immediately obvious to the user who does not click every button and > pull every lever. I have followed OLPC since and a little before G1G1, so I have used the Journal and tried to follow its improvements as the sugar versions have moved -- 0.82, 0.84, etc. I guess I did not convey my exposure to olpc/sugarlabs ideas well. I own an xo-1 and 1.5 and demo them for olpc-nyc and carry one around when I travel as advertising for OLPC/Sugarlabs and am on the support-gang. > > >>> One of my favorite examples of using a computer is school is a 1-to-1 > >>> program at a middle school in Dorchester, MA. The kids spend five > >>> minutes writing at the end of *every* class, including gym. Even if > >>> they never use "that metadata", the act of reflecting is important. > > Excellent. Essential for discovery learning. > > Every serious explorer, scientist, and other discoverer keeps a journal or > log of everything significant, whether or not it seems to be important at > the time. These documents are frequently invaluable to their authors and > to later workers. When you are chasing an idea, you need to record every > twist and turn in the paths you try, even those that seem to be dead ends. > It often happens that an exploration that fails to answer one question or > reach one particular goal becomes important to some other. It is important > in every possible subject, including gym, where one should record one's > progress in training and note areas to investigate for further > improvement. > > One of the best places to grasp the value of such notes is in Leonardo da > Vinci's notebooks. It is not that we can all aspire to either the quantity > or quality of his discoveries and inventions, but that he shows us so well > how it can work, five centuries later, to inspire further discoveries. > Kepler's detailed account of his twenty years wrestling with the orbit of > Mars is another excellent example, though not as immediately accessible. > (De Motibus Stellae Martis, The Motions of the Star Mars, in Astronomia > Nova, The New Astronomy). One of the ideas that I was trying to convey, that I think Mr. Bender responded to in his recent email to me, was that there is a disconnect between what people in the OLPC/Sugar camp would like to convey to teachers in deployments and what teachers are actually learning about OLPC/Sugar ideas and how they actually teach. I have kept my own notebook in a similar way as you described but not as a bona fide scientist and I understand what you are conveying but if you asked a teacher at a deployment if they were using the journal as a scientist lab book and telling their students to be 'little scientists', then you might find that they were not. So that wonderful idea is not making an impact and its seems to be a central aspect to the design of Sugar. > > >>> We do have some tools/supportive mechanisms for using that metadata, > >>> including the Portfolio activity. Have you tried it? > >> > >> As someone who is not versed in educational theory, I have tried to > >> understand > >> what intentions where put into Sugar. I have herd mention of > >> Constructionism and > >> Constructivism and reflection. I could imagine writing after doing > >> something as > >> a way to gain more from any activity, so that sounds like something any > >> deployment should do, but I dont know the total picture of what was > >> expected. > >> And I dont know about what is or was done to convey these idea of > >> reflection, > >> the journal, the writing and collaboration as part of an ecosystem to > >> the > >> deployment educators. If this is being done, I'd like to learn about it > >> and if > >> not, then what
Re: [IAEP] [support-gang] Journal prompts (was: Re: FW: [OLPC Bolivia] No logro aprender Sugar / I cannot learn Sugar)
On Thu, Jun 16, 2011 at 08:17:30AM -0400, Walter Bender wrote: > On Thu, Jun 16, 2011 at 3:51 AM, Kevin Mark wrote: > > > As someone who is not versed in educational theory, I have tried to > > understand > > what intentions where put into Sugar. I have herd mention of > > Constructionism and > > Constructivism and reflection. I could imagine writing after doing > > something as > > a way to gain more from any activity, so that sounds like something any > > deployment should do, but I dont know the total picture of what was > > expected. > > And I dont know about what is or was done to convey these idea of > > reflection, > > the journal, the writing and collaboration as part of an ecosystem to the > > deployment educators. If this is being done, I'd like to learn about it and > > if > > not, then what did I miss about what is told to deployments? > > The Sugar design was informed by educational theory and lots of > experience on the ground in numerous pilot programs conducted in > places as far ranging as an inner-city school in the US to a one-room > school in the hill-country of Thailand. That said, the reality of > Sugar deployments is that they are largely determined by the local > teams, which vary from top-down ministry-of-education initiatives to > bottom-up grass-roots efforts by an NGO to the initiative of an > individual classroom teacher. So there is not one voice or message. > As someone who has followed since G1G1, this is what I learned. > What we try to do with Sugar is to skew the odds that certain (good) > things would happen, regardless of the details of the deployment. (In > a similar vain, the 5 principles of OLPC are meant to skew the odds > that a 1-to-1 deployment will have maximum impact.) But we cannot and > don't want to force these ideas on deployments; rather we want them to > be appropriated and transformed locally as fit the needs -- a tough > balance to achieve. More and better documentation is certainly in > order. Even better would be real examples of best practice from the > deployments themselves. I am happy that the (ceibal, realness, olpcSF, etc) summits in the last few years have happened to allow folks to compare their efforts and hope it continues. > > One of main ideas behind the Journal is to give the learner a place to > reflect on their work -- providing a consistent forum for that > reflection. We also envision that the Journal will be used as part of > the assessment process as entries can be incorporated into a > collection of artifacts that the learner can periodically amass and > present. (There is some good literature on portfolio assessment, > including Stefanakis Evangeline's book -- > http://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/features/mi08012002.html -- which I > find a nice balance between theory and practice.) > > Not every deployment has leveraged this aspect of Sugar yet, but as we > continue to improve the underlying tools, I think we'll see more use. > (By chance, when I was visiting the Caacupé deployment last year, I > happened upon a meeting at one of the schools where the parents were > being taught how to use the Journal so that they could talk with their > children about their work, so I know that at least in some places, the > Journal is being used in ways that we envisioned.) It was in response > to feedback I got at the OLPC-sponsered assessment summit a few months > back that I wrote the Portfolio activity -- > http://activities.sugarlabs.org/en-US/sugar/addon/4437 -- which I am > hoping will lower the barrier to using portfolios as a routine part of > the Sugar experience. Its great that things are improving and that deployments are learning to take advantage of the tools that Sugar has! This year and next should see a lot of improvement after EduJam 2011. I like the upcoming multi-selection and the adding of support for ~/document in the Journal Sugar is getting support from folks in Nepal, from Ceibal, from Activity Cental and other places and that is great! -- | .''`. == Debian GNU/Linux ==.| http://kevix.myopenid.com..| | : :' : The Universal OS| mysite.verizon.net/kevin.mark/.| | `. `' http://www.debian.org/.| http://counter.li.org [#238656]| |___`-Unless I ask to be CCd,.assume I am subscribed._| Where's th' DAFFY DUCK EXHIBIT?? ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [support-gang] Journal prompts (was: Re: FW: [OLPC Bolivia] No logro aprender Sugar / I cannot learn Sugar)
On Wed, Jun 15, 2011 at 08:16:23PM -0400, Walter Bender wrote: > > > > So what we seem to be left with at this point is a system which tries to > > force users to add comments or tags even though there is very little > > incentive or supportive mechanisms to actually do much with that metadata. > > One of my favorite examples of using a computer is school is a 1-to-1 > program at a middle school in Dorchester, MA. The kids spend five > minutes writing at the end of *every* class, including gym. Even if > they never use "that metadata", the act of reflecting is important. > > We do have some tools/supportive mechanisms for using that metadata, > including the Portfolio activity. Have you tried it? As someone who is not versed in educational theory, I have tried to understand what intentions where put into Sugar. I have herd mention of Constructionism and Constructivism and reflection. I could imagine writing after doing something as a way to gain more from any activity, so that sounds like something any deployment should do, but I dont know the total picture of what was expected. And I dont know about what is or was done to convey these idea of reflection, the journal, the writing and collaboration as part of an ecosystem to the deployment educators. If this is being done, I'd like to learn about it and if not, then what did I miss about what is told to deployments? -- | .''`. == Debian GNU/Linux ==.| http://kevix.myopenid.com..| | : :' : The Universal OS| mysite.verizon.net/kevin.mark/.| | `. `' http://www.debian.org/.| http://counter.li.org [#238656]| |___`-Unless I ask to be CCd,.assume I am subscribed._| ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [support-gang] FW: [OLPC Bolivia] No logro aprender Sugar / I cannot learn Sugar
On Wed, Jun 15, 2011 at 12:11:44PM +0200, Christoph Derndorfer wrote: > Am 15.06.2011 11:28, schrieb Kevin Mark: d his ideas. > > Paolo Benini, another core volunteer from Montevideo, wrote up some more > specific criticism - which is mainly focused on the Journal - on o> http://lists.laptop.org/pipermail/olpc-sur/2011-June/008474.html I tried to use google translate to read it. He mentions kids trying to use WINE to play game and trying to listen to music files. This is the kind of things any kid would do. Its just having fun and mischief. There can certainly be an attempt to provide them with ways to play music files, show them sites with OGG music and maybe some of the sugar games. But I think that is more of a social/teaching issue that can not be simply addressed with a technology solution. He also mentions the suggesting to use a usb stick (in a place where that is not possible for many reasons). That I understand. He also talks about using OO4kids with uses a non-sugar dialog box. That should be fixed with a technological solution. I just dont know who will do it. That would address the inconsistence of learning the standards linux dialog box. I dont understand the bit about creating attachments, I think I once used the object chooser to attach a file. So it worked for me(tm). > > In my reply to him I said what I also said in my eduJAM! summary for > OLPC News > (http://www.olpcnews.com/use_cases/community/a_look_back_at_conozco_uruguay.html): > We now seem to have a broad consensus among the community and developers > that the Journal needs some serious love. Walter also spent a large part > of one of his eduJAM! presentations on that topic. The coding sprint > after the summit itself also dedicated quite a bit of time on the > Journal and I pointed Paolo to the relevant notes on the wiki. > > More than the actual complaints itself I think this clearly shows that > we absolutely need to improve our communication channels to enable this > kind of vital feedback from people close to deployments to reach the > wider community. As C Scott mentioned in a different context many months > ago it's not just about just hearing these types of comments but > actually listening to and subsequently acting on them. As someone in the FLOSS community, I expected OLPC to educate the pilots about the way we do things and to bring our tools (wiki, irc, ML, etc) to bear and provide a place for all of the deployments to talk and exchange ideas. This did happen but not enough and not quick enough and only a few are part of this dialogue. There are more than 10 and maybe less than 100 pilots. It was only in the last 2 yrs that we have had these great events like ceibaljam, edujam, 'realness' and other summits. Debian has a yearly conference to bring together its stakeholder and hash out ideas in a meatspace. It helps alot. So I expect these recent events to really accelerate activity and improve olpc, sugarlabs and those deployments that can take part. > > As a global community the frustration evident in the messages by Carlos > and Paolo, undoubtably two of the most dedicated volunteers we have, > should really give us something to think about. Particularly because at > the end of the day it's their local work - more than anything we do > thousands of kilometers away - which will decide what kind of impact > Plan Ceibal will have in Uruguay over the long run. > I certainly appreciate any voice that want to express frustration so that folks can listen and make these projects better for the kids who want to learn. I read something by Karl Fogel that says that a project that does not have a stream of bug reports is a dead project. So we need folks to keep those reports coming. And help them direct these report from their local site to OLPC or other developers. Finding the people, time and resources to fix that is another story. -- | .''`. == Debian GNU/Linux ==.| http://kevix.myopenid.com..| | : :' : The Universal OS| mysite.verizon.net/kevin.mark/.| | `. `' http://www.debian.org/.| http://counter.li.org [#238656]| |___`-Unless I ask to be CCd,.assume I am subscribed._| understand, v.: To reach a point, in your investigation of some subject, at which you cease to examine what is really present, and operate on the basis of your own internal model instead. ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
Re: [IAEP] [support-gang] FW: [OLPC Bolivia] No logro aprender Sugar / I cannot learn Sugar
On Tue, Jun 14, 2011 at 07:58:48PM -0700, Caryl Bigenho wrote: > Hi Folks, > > This is a FYI... Carlos Rebassa, a Rap Ceibal volunteer many of us met in > Uruguay has come up with a surprisingly critical complaint about Sugar. He > included a link to an English version, but did not send it to IAEP or the > Support Gang lists. I have no idea what prompted his criticisms nor can I > figure out exactly what they are. Carlos is fluent in English. He lived in > New > York and sold Real Estate there for many years. If any of you want to reply, > you can send it to the olpc-sur list or directly to Carlos. > > Caryl He points out Apple as a top-down company and the FLOSS folks as horizontal. Its sort of might parallel Canonical vs Debian. Apple is more polished because it pays experts and does lots of user testing. I'm sure if OLPC/Sugarlabs had the same resources, it might do similar. I know that Sugar was pushed out into the world with less than perfect feedback where kids could be observed in school setting (or that is what I recall from the days of 656). And that the South American deployments are a valuable source of feedback. And as soon as that is added to Sugarlabs efforts, everyone will benefit. As to the idea that other OS's that are Office-focused and are made by companies that have spent lot on user testing and design, again, that is a luxury that OLPC/Sugarlabs did not have. What they did produce was damn great considering what they had to work with and it implemented an idea that was new and revolutionary and targeted for kids. People often forget their first time using new user interfaces and how they stumbled with them until they got lots of help from other users or teachers. And the basic elements for Windows, Mac and Linux are reasonable similar when using it for office automation. I know it took a bit of time to get some of the elements and it might be useful to have a few video tutorials for both teachers and students for some of the more confusing elements of Sugar (which is being improved with the valuable feedback of many stateholder). I was not able to understand exactly what he was saying, he'd need to produce a lists of specific things that Sugarlabs could address. And I'm sure they'd like to add his ideas. -- | .''`. == Debian GNU/Linux ==.| http://kevix.myopenid.com..| | : :' : The Universal OS| mysite.verizon.net/kevin.mark/.| | `. `' http://www.debian.org/.| http://counter.li.org [#238656]| |___`-Unless I ask to be CCd,.assume I am subscribed._| We're constantly being bombarded by insulting and humiliating music, which people are making for you the way they make those Wonder Bread products. Just as food can be bad for your system, music can be bad for your spiritual and emotional feelings. It might taste good or clever, but in the long run, it's not going to do anything for you. -- Bob Dylan, "LA Times", September 5, 1984 ___ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
