Re: [Server-devel] Can XSCE benefit a tablet deployment?
On Mon, Dec 2, 2013 at 8:42 AM, George Hunt wrote: > This is a branch off of the thread "Does XSCE need a new home?", and > stimulated by James Cameron's comments quoted where in part: > > I also disagree with the implication that the tablet is any more > proprietary than the laptop. The mix of intellectual property is > certainly different, but the opportunity for use is also different. > Therefore the products shouldn't be compared at an intellectual > property licensing level. > > What is very different is that the laptop was ground-breaking > original technology, and the tablet is buy-in technology. This > cascades into completely different community involvement models. > > (I don't yet see how XSCE can benefit a tablet deployment, nobody > appears to have enumerated that.) > > > At the SF summit, last month, Rodrigo demonstrated sugar running on a google > Nexus tablet. This was achieved by running the python/sugar mega-package on > top of the Ubuntu touch distribution. > > Is the Nexus the right hardware platform long term? Well, it's bootloader is > unlocked! And here, in my opinion, is where the licensing becomes an issue. > > A little Vivitar digression: > > The XO tablet is rebranded Vivitar. On Amazon, besides the XO Tablet, there > is also a lower cost/capability tablet introduced as a "Camelo". I > purchased one. Looked at it's End User Licensing Agreement. Under the DCMA > (Digital Millennium Copyright Act), it is illegal to reverse engineer or > repurpose hardware that has proprietary material, without the express > consent of the manufacturer. I contacted the Vivitar customer support for > the Camelo, and asked that they tell me how to unlock the boot loader -- > that I liked their proprietary material, but I preferred to load other > software which was not covered by their license. They refused. > > Whether Miami sees any value in giving its permission to unlock, and > repurpose the XO Tablet seems to me an open question. My own preference > would be to help increase manufacturing volumes of the XO tablet, and > continue to explore classroom technology integration of client and server, > which has really only been successful in a few deployments. > > At the Malaysia summit, there were a few Taiwanese tablet entrepreneurs, > pushing to become a hardware base for next generation classroom technology. > Whether any of these initial contacts could provide a way forward is my > current question. Your current line of questioning is good. From Activity Central's point of view we are going to be shifting our emphasis from specific technologies such as Sugar or XO towards 'Open Educational Standards.' It seems that many of the core technical pieces of the school server are in place or shaping up nicely. In the back of mind I have the fuzzy SAT apology of Linux distros are to the LAMP stack as the school server is to _ . The idea is that the School Server can grow into the lowest level of an educational stack. Sorry the thought is so hand wavy :( One approach is to: 1. Continue improving XSCE until it becomes that School Server of choice for OLPC deployments. 2. Work with existing deployments that are piloting tablets. 3. Start looking towards other projects like OLE and add the necessary functionality so that XSCE becomes the School Server choice for them as well. > I believe a tablet should be thought of as part of a learning technology > system, which also includes a laptop, and a school server. The tablet is > more appropriate for younger grades, and I believe will always a more cost > effective solution. Touch keyboarding, an essential skill for upward > mobility, can come with the addition of a bluetooth keyboard, or in upper > grades, a laptop. The school server is essential for both of these client > interfaces to manage media storage, limit pornography, collect usage > statistics, etc. > > ___ > Server-devel mailing list > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] Does XSCE need a new Home?
On Fri, Nov 29, 2013 at 4:14 PM, George Hunt wrote: > Organizationally, I think there's a lot more leverage staying within the > laptop.org fold, as long as it still exists. We don't need to repeat > disconnects, and bad feelings, when there are really no egos involved. We > have few enough people and resources that any dilution is a bad strategy. I agree. Any move should be made because there is enough advantage to outweigh the costs, both socially and financially. For 0.6 and probably 0.7 and 0.8, the quality of the documentation and information on the site is more important than where the site is hosted. I would suggest we looking at this issue again in the middle of 2014 as the fog starts to clear. > I think I over reacted to Samuel Greenfeld's concern about laptop.org > hosting going away. It seems to me that it's in everyone's interest to plan > for an orderly transition from one hosting arangement to another, if that > ever becomes necessary. If during the interim, there needs to be bridge > funding, I'd be glad to spearhead taking up a collection among the people > that follow these things. > > George > > > > On Fri, Nov 29, 2013 at 4:06 PM, David Farning > wrote: >> >> On Fri, Nov 29, 2013 at 7:13 AM, George Hunt >> wrote: >> > This is a more related to Samuel Greenfeld's comments than the XSCE >> > documentation/install thread from which I branch. >> > >> > I think it makes sense to grab off of laptop.org all the essential stuff >> > and >> > put it some new place. We don't know the future, but in the present the >> > prospect of ongoing support and maintenance of wiki.laptop.org seems >> > more >> > shaky to me. >> > >> > When I was first exploring the process of building something on top of >> > schoolserver 0.7, I found ancestry of different components (documented >> > at >> > http://schoolserver.wordpress.com/xs-installation/rpm-heritage/). I >> > think we >> > should contact the most recent contributors to these ancestral repos, >> > and >> > with their cooperation/approval, move them to github.com. >> > >> > How to pay for a server somewhere? Three candidates come to me. >> > Sugarlabs, >> > activitycentral, and unleash kids. Of these, activitycentral is the >> > only >> > for profit organization, I'd vote for the synergy that needs to exist >> > between a for profit open source shop, and the ecosystem which it needs >> > to >> > remain legitimately part off a larger open source community. >> >> >> The question in my mind is what would be best for XSCE. While I am >> personally investing in XSCE. I am also financially invested as XSCE >> is the community upstream to Dextrose Server. The better and more >> popular XSCE becomes, the more opportunities there are for AC to sell >> services. >> >> There seem to be three general options of XSCE. Stick with OLPC, go it >> alone, or partner with someone else in the ecosystem. >> >> So far we have chose to stick with OLPC. The benefits of building on >> the OLPC brand have been greater than the costs. The benefit is that >> the laptop.org site is still a 'hub' of the ecosystem. The cost is >> XSCE appears to be an unapproved and undesirable server clone piggy >> backing on the Association's message and brand. The question becomes, >> will the Association endorse XSCE as a successor or upstream to >> OLPC-XS or will it continue to live in the bowels of the wiki. >> >> Going it alone. This would be pretty straight forward. Getting a cheap >> VM somewhere or piggybacking on a larger project is possiable. >> Although it can be a lot of work and mean jumping though hops. The >> questions becomes, do XSCE have the ability to thrive on it's own. >> There are about a dozen similar projects floating around in various >> states of completaion. >> >> Finally, there is partnering with someone with aligned goals such as >> Sugar Labs, unleash kids, or Activity Central. >> >> Whenever I think of the relationship between XSCE and AC, I think of a >> conversation I had years ago with Greg DeKoenigsberg ( >> https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Gdk/Experience ) about the relationship >> between Fedora and Redhat. He considered Fedora's relationship to >> Redhat it's greatest strength and its greatest weakness. The financial >> support and developer resources were valuable... but there were >> strings attached. >> >> We would be happy to host XSCE site on th
Re: [Server-devel] Does XSCE need a new Home?
SJG >> >> >> >> On Fri, Nov 29, 2013 at 3:33 AM, James Cameron wrote: >>> >>> I agree with John. Every point in his documentation section should be >>> handled. Especially the point about wiki.laptop.org, which has so >>> many distracting links on the navigation bar that we are all used to, >>> but which new people become lost in. >>> >>> With regard to forums, the type that Google Groups has where they can >>> also be received in mail may suffice. >>> >>> On Fri, Nov 29, 2013 at 11:44:33AM +0530, Anish Mangal wrote: >>> > Hi, >>> > >>> > I would like to share this blog post from John Ellis with the XSCE >>> > community: >>> > John is a high school student who is trying to setup XSCE in his >>> > class/school >>> > under the supervision of his teacher Jeff Elkner. >>> > >>> > http://johnmichaelffs.blogspot.in/2013/11/problems-with-xsce.html >>> > >>> > Some of the stuff he points out certainly makes a lot of sense to me, I >>> > think >>> > the core underling message is to make XSCE more approachable to the end >>> > user >>> > and the advanced end-user/deployer. He has gone to some lengths to >>> > point out >>> > specific aspects which could be improved. >>> > >>> > As we think about the possibilities for XSCE-0.6, I would like to >>> > further the >>> > discussion along these topics here and/or on IRC. I think the project >>> > could do >>> > well listening to end users' needs for the 0.6 cycle, especially that >>> > we now >>> > seem to have our house in order codewise thanks to the terrific work by >>> > all the >>> > software hackers here :-) >>> > >>> > Thoughts? >>> > >>> > Cheers, >>> > Anish >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> >>> > ___ >>> > Server-devel mailing list >>> > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org >>> > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel >>> >>> >>> -- >>> James Cameron >>> http://quozl.linux.org.au/ >>> ___ >>> Server-devel mailing list >>> Server-devel@lists.laptop.org >>> http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel >> >> >> >> ___ >> Server-devel mailing list >> Server-devel@lists.laptop.org >> http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel >> > > > ___ > Server-devel mailing list > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
[Server-devel] Handing off release manager duties to Tim Moody
As everyone in the project knows, George Hunt has been serving as release manager for the last 5 releases. He has spent most of the last year working on the some time boring foundation tasks rather than scratching his own personal itches of low power hardware. As such, I would like to suggest that we give George a break and ask Tim to step in as Release manager. 1. George has been spending a lot of time and effort on sometimes boring foundatiol aspects of the projects. He is due for a reprieve to scratch his own itches. 2. Last January when we met, I was impressed by George's ability to say, "Slow down, I don't get it" rather than let someone push a half-baked idea past him. This is surprising rare in open source. Now, much of that vetting of ideas happens in the code reviews before merging. There is less need for the release manager to hold the role of bad cop. 3. Tim brings a lifetime of experience to the project which he can effectively share as release manager. We don't need to reinvent any wheels, but some process can be tweaked. 4. Term limits on releases managers is a good way of avoiding territorial disputes within the project. 5. Finally, I would like to be confident that the release manager is not employed by Activity Central. We need to prove that AC supports the project but does not control it. I apologize for violating my own rule about avoiding private communications :( I pinged both George and Tim off list to verify they were happy with the idea before suggesting it in public. -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] a kernel for our solidrun protos?
sani, What would you recommend? On Sun, Nov 24, 2013 at 7:43 AM, George Hunt wrote: > Jon, > > I'm beginning to want to do something with the solidrun proto. It looks like > I can use the fedora 18 image at https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Cubie_Board, > and drop in a kernel that works with the new board. Is that the case? Is > there a kernel that I should be using? > > Or what do you suggest? > > George > > ___ > Server-devel mailing list > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] [crazy idea] Supporting basic mobile phones | Searching for possible standards
This is one of the reasons for my constant harping on modularity; A very small core with many loosely coupled services. If someone wants to leverage the school server for use with mobile phones, it should be possible. IFF we have done the design correctly, it should be possible to to the mobile phone work as extended services. During the initial phase this might require some coordination between the core team and the mobile phone team to adopt and extend the APIs. Then if we start we finding our selves says "Wow, is is awesome" we can take step to roll parts of the mobile phone services into core. I am expecting that the project will spend the next couple years circling around a coupe of themes: 1. System Integration - Create a turnkey system of hardware, software, and content. 2. Polish - Continual clean ups to make XSCE easy to work with and adapt to ones own needs. Configuration fits into this theme. 3. Extensions - People will take XSCE into unforeseen directions via services. 4. Student Information Systems / Statistics - Decision makers are hungry for data. 5. Content - As always the point of XSCE is to collect and deliver content. On Sun, Nov 24, 2013 at 9:51 PM, Anish Mangal wrote: > Hi, > > Disclaimer: Please do not construe this as a direction that XSCE should be > taking, but more of a crazy idea I am exploring on the side. > > In developing nations, the most common communication device is the mobile > phone. It is atleast a magnitude more common any other electronic > communication device. If one were to look at building technology solutions > for education in less developed nations of this world, a cellphone would > seem like the perfect thing to piggyback upon. > > On the other hand, this would seem like saying lets shut down sugar and move > to android, because it's everywhere, something I'm not sure is the best > thing to do. (So I am conflicted about it). > > Cutting to the chase: > 1. Is there any overlap between the xsce vision *as you see it* and > supporting mobile phones. > 2a. If the answer to that is a yes, are there standards or software that > might help make XSCE content and services available on basic mobile phones. > We will probably forego 80% of the value XSCE provides, but that 20% might > be valuable. > 2b. What kind of service standards would be most suitable to build upon? > WAP, SMS, Voice (navigation)? Most basic mobile phones today have a WAP > browser. > > The more I think, the more it "feels" that this may not be the right thing > for the XSCE project, but still would like to have an understanding of the > challenges involved. > > Thoughts? > > -- > Anish > > P.S. this email is a result of talking to a few people over the past few > weeks and hearing from them again and again the sheer availability of mobile > phones. At the same time, I'm sure many people would have already tried to > figure out this space (maybe I'm trying to do just that). > > _______ > Server-devel mailing list > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] The three step XSCE demo
I'll add this and Miguel's info under http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XS_Community_Edition/0.5/Hacking . I had to order a new 8GB memory stick for my laptop. It was swapping really badly with 4GB :( On Fri, Nov 22, 2013 at 12:15 PM, Tim Moody wrote: > I take a middle of the road approach, using vbox, but not vagrant. > > Some time ago I created a vbox with a minimal FC18 64 bit install, which I > call FC18-64Base and which I periodically yum update and into which I put my > personal account, make myself a sudoer, etc., turn on sshd if necessary. > > I then did a vbox clone of the that vm and performed Miguel's setup - get > git and ansible and update ansible, which I call XSCEAnsibleBase with two > nics, one for wan and one for lan. A vbox clone takes a little over a > minute. > > When I want to test the server I do a vbox clone of XSCEAnsibleBase and name > it XSCEAnsibleTest (I usually generate new mac addresses to be safe). > > Then I git clone https://github.com/XSCE/xsce --depth 1 or my working > branch. (--depth 1 saves a lot of time on the git clone) > > I connect XSCEAnsibleTest to my home network on wan so I can ssh in and to > an isolated access point on the lan to connect XOs. I can also sftp into > the server using my account. > > I am fortunate to have some XOs for testing, but I have also used SoaS, > again running as a vbox vm. In that case I could eliminate the extra access > point and just connect the server and client vms on the lan side over a > virtual network internal to vbox. Awhile back I successfully ran three SoaS > vms simultaneously on an old Dell laptop to test collaboration. > > > >> -Original Message- From: server-devel-requ...@lists.laptop.org >> Sent: Friday, November 22, 2013 12:00 PM >> To: server-devel@lists.laptop.org >> Subject: Server-devel Digest, Vol 79, Issue 17 >> >> Send Server-devel mailing list submissions to >> server-devel@lists.laptop.org >> >> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit >> http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel >> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to >> server-devel-requ...@lists.laptop.org >> >> You can reach the person managing the list at >> server-devel-ow...@lists.laptop.org >> >> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific >> than "Re: Contents of Server-devel digest..." >> >> >> Today's Topics: >> >> 1. Re: The three step XSCE demo! (Miguel Gonz?lez) >> 2. Re: The three step XSCE demo! (David Farning) >> 3. Re: The three step XSCE demo! (Thomas Gilliard) >> >> >> -- >> >> Message: 1 >> Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2013 19:27:42 +0100 >> From: Miguel Gonz?lez >> To: Anish Mangal >> Cc: server-devel >> Subject: Re: [Server-devel] The three step XSCE demo! >> Message-ID: >> >> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 >> >> I'm going to describe in detail my current dev environment. Hopefully, >> it could be useful for somebody. >> >> >> Pre-requisites >> >> >> I'm using a VirtualBox and installing a virtual machine with Fedora18. >> >> I'm also use vagrant to automatically manage the virtual machine. >> There packages available from its website [1]. I'm currently using >> version 1.3.4. >> >> >> Booting a fresh virtual machine >> >> >> The file Vagrantfile defines a basic image to download (= vagrant box) >> and allows to add configuration details like network configuration. >> >> This is a simplified but fully functional version: >> >> ```ruby >> # -*- mode: ruby -*- >> # vi: set ft=ruby : >> >> VAGRANTFILE_API_VERSION = "2" >> >> Vagrant.configure(VAGRANTFILE_API_VERSION) do |config| >> config.vm.box = "fedora-18-x86_64" >> config.vm.box_url = >> >> "http://puppet-vagrant-boxes.puppetlabs.com/fedora-18-x64-vbox4210-nocm.box"; >> >> # config.vm.network :public_network >> >> # config.ssh.forward_agent = true >> >> config.vm.synced_folder ".", "/vagrant", :disabled => true >> >> config.vm.provider :virtualbox do |vb| >> # vb.gui = true >> end >> >> end >> ``` >> >> With this command, vagrant downloads the basic image (only the first >> time) and deploys and boots up the virtual machine: >> >> ``` >> $ vagrant up >> ``` >> >
Re: [Server-devel] The three step XSCE demo!
xsce/pull/76 when we are > trying to simplify adding new *roles* (services) to XSCE. > > > > 1: http://downloads.vagrantup.com/ > > 2: https://github.com/XSCE/xsce/blob/master/docs/INSTALL.rst > > On Wed, Nov 20, 2013 at 11:01 AM, Anish Mangal > wrote: >> Hi Sebastian, >> >> You should be able to download the image from here (Thanks to Thomas Gillard >> for uploading the file): >> http://people.sugarlabs.org/Tgillard/XSCE.ova >> >> Please verify the md5sum once you have downloaded the file. >> 56a4f141b564b0d2bd65c543a5e585c6 >> >> About your question on dev environment I am ccing Santi and Miguel who can >> answer it best. It may depend on what part of the server you want to >> contribute to, but I think you should mostly be able to get away with just a >> VM image. I don't believe anyone has tried a chroot env (though I could be >> wrong) but it _might_ be possible. >> >> Also, for testing with real clients (like xo laptops) you are probably going >> to need something for the LAN side (an access point). There are a few >> permutations here, but I will step back and let more the technical experts >> converse :-) >> >> Cheers, >> Anish >> >> >> >> On Wed, Nov 20, 2013 at 10:54 AM, Sebastian Silva >> wrote: >>> >>> Thanks that will be simpler. Actually I'm more interested in what a good >>> dev environment would be in order to contribute. >>> Do I need to make a fedora chroot? >>> >>> Regards, >>> Sebastian >>> >>> El 19/11/13 09:51, Anish Mangal escribió: >>> >>> I tried uploading it to xsce.activitycentral.com, but I ran out of space >>> in my user dir. Normally the appliance is 1.3G, but this also has 400mb of >>> IIAB test dataset. >>> >>> I'll give it another shot in another area where there is some free space, >>> and get back. >>> >>> >>> On Tue, Nov 19, 2013 at 7:24 PM, Sebastian Silva >>> wrote: >>>> >>>> Hi >>>> I tried this but google drive problematic to download from as it requires >>>> to download from a browser. Not adequate for 1.6gb. Let me know if I can >>>> pick it up from a regular download place. Why is it so big? >>>> >>>> Regards, >>>> Sebastian >>>> >>>> El 17/11/13 20:48, Anish Mangal escribió: >>>> >>>>> Download the XSCE Virtualbox appliance from here >>>>> https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B3eW2YPe6koIVXRVbDhSR0xXQ1U (approx 1.6 >>>>> GB) >>>> >>>> >>> >>> >> > > > > -- > Miguel González > Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com > ___ > Server-devel mailing list > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] The three step XSCE demo!
Can everybody sit back and have a tasty beverage of their choice to celebrate? On the surface, this email might seem simple. Below the surface this is a turning point in the project. "Actually I'm more interested in what a good dev environment would be in order to contribute." This is exactly what we have been targeting for that last year. A busy deployment support person who doesn't really can about the School Server or its technology. He just cares about how to build on XSCE to meet his specific deployment needs. If, and this is a very big if, we have done a good job designing the XSCE project and the XSCE product, Sebastian will find that it is more effective to do his work as an plug-in-service on XSCE rather than head off in his own. The open source theory behind this the notion of creating a modular and collaborative base which others use to solve their own specific problems. The business theory is that of Lead Users. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_user ) As an upstream, we don't have a complete understanding of users needs and priorities. Working with lead users, enables us to understand and meet their individual needs while gather information to create abstract solutions which apply to other users as well. It looks like 0.5 is coming along nicely. There is a lot of green in the task matrix at http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XS_Community_Edition/0.5/Ansible_Progress . While there are several interesting features at http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XS_Community_Edition/Features for 0.6, there is no cohesive theme to 'unite' us together as a project. I would like to suggest that the theme for 0.6 is making XSCE as easy and desirable as possible for lead users like Sebastian. Much like the initial statement, "Actually I'm more interested in what a good dev environment would be in order to contribute." which seems simple, but is actually a tipping point for the project. Engaging lead users seems simple, yet is rather subtle. On first glace there is: 1. Documentation about the the project and it's technologies. 2. Simple ways to install,test, and develop XSCE. 3. Simple ways to interact with the community and transfer knowledge and technology. More subtly, there are decisions about encapsulation. What does a new developer need to know to get started? What complexity should be hidden and what should be exposed to new developers via best practices, APIs, and community processes. The challenge is to create an on-ramp to engage a broader audience at a pace which enables them to use XSCE to meet their needs while avoiding the tendency to create a wall between 'us' them 'them.' On Tue, Nov 19, 2013 at 11:24 PM, Sebastian Silva wrote: > Thanks that will be simpler. Actually I'm more interested in what a good dev > environment would be in order to contribute. > Do I need to make a fedora chroot? > > Regards, > Sebastian > > El 19/11/13 09:51, Anish Mangal escribió: > > I tried uploading it to xsce.activitycentral.com, but I ran out of space in > my user dir. Normally the appliance is 1.3G, but this also has 400mb of IIAB > test dataset. > > I'll give it another shot in another area where there is some free space, > and get back. > > > On Tue, Nov 19, 2013 at 7:24 PM, Sebastian Silva > wrote: >> >> Hi >> I tried this but google drive problematic to download from as it requires >> to download from a browser. Not adequate for 1.6gb. Let me know if I can >> pick it up from a regular download place. Why is it so big? >> >> Regards, >> Sebastian >> >> El 17/11/13 20:48, Anish Mangal escribió: >> >>> Download the XSCE Virtualbox appliance from here >>> https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B3eW2YPe6koIVXRVbDhSR0xXQ1U (approx 1.6 GB) >> >> > > > > ___ > Server-devel mailing list > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] Re: XSCE weekly voice call, 2PM NYC Time Thursday
A quick note CCed to Sugar-devel An interesting thing the XS community is doing is holding irc meetings on Tuesday and voice meetings on Thursdays. There are two mailing lists, a public list and and internal list. Different people prefer different styles of communication. On Thu, Nov 7, 2013 at 2:23 PM, Adam Holt wrote: > Missed ya Jon: > > Minutes were cleaned up @ > https://docs.google.com/document/d/1o6QtzLb6e58YKWqMf_junux2XyBRLFm31un8YLcYslg > but let us know what's missing! > > > On Thu, Nov 7, 2013 at 1:08 PM, Jon Nettleton > wrote: >> >> Unfortunately I can't make it tonight guys. I will review the >> minutes/call notes and make it to the next one. If there are questions on >> the call that you need my input on try IRC. I will kind of be online but >> can't be on a voice call as I will be on another one. >> >> -Jon >> >> >> On Thu, Nov 7, 2013 at 3:28 PM, Adam Holt wrote: >>> >>> On Thu, Nov 7, 2013 at 9:22 AM, Adam Holt wrote: >>>> >>>> Some of us will join from Malaysia next week (1AM) but obviously some >>>> will not ;) >>> >>> >>> Correction: 3AM Malaysia Time! In any case, 2PM NYC Time every Thursday. >>> >>>> >>>> Agenda/Minutes: >>>> >>>> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1o6QtzLb6e58YKWqMf_junux2XyBRLFm31un8YLcYslg >>>> >>>> George is back and 0.5 is coming down to the wire! Thanks again for >>>> sending yr Skype username or phone number in advance if you can join in >>>> just >>>> under 5 hrs from now (2PM NYC Time). >>>> >>>> -- >>>> Unsung Heroes of OLPC, interviewed live @ http://unleashkids.org ! >> >> >> >> ___ >> Server-devel mailing list >> Server-devel@lists.laptop.org >> http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel >> >> >> -- >> Unsung Heroes of OLPC, interviewed live @ http://unleashkids.org ! > > > ___ > Server-devel mailing list > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] Reminder: XSCE IRC scrum tomorrow (5th November), 1600 UTC / 1200 EDT on #schoolserver/irc.freenode.net
Great meeting. The section at 17:15 about the pros and cons of breaking compatibility with older versions was enlightening. Everyone brought their personal experience and frame of reference, earned over the years in different aspects of different industries, to the table. On Tue, Nov 5, 2013 at 12:13 PM, Anish Mangal wrote: > We just finished the meeting: > > Here are the logs: https://sugardextrose.org/issues/4841 > Thx to all those who attended!! > > Cheers, > Anish > > > On Tue, Nov 5, 2013 at 7:30 AM, Anish Mangal > wrote: >> >> Thanks for clarifying. >> >> /me is a simple man from the tropics, no daylight saving there, so got >> confused with acronyms and conversions. :) >> >> >> On Tue, Nov 5, 2013 at 7:28 AM, Anna wrote: >>> >>> Since Daylight Savings is over, we meet at Noon EST, 11 am CST. For >>> folks on the West coast, that's 9 am PST. >>> >>> Basically, if it's noon in NYC, that's when we meet on Tuesdays on IRC. >>> >>> Anna >>> >>> >>> On Tue, Nov 5, 2013 at 9:22 AM, Anish Mangal >>> wrote: >>>> >>>> I screwed up, because 1600 UTC is not the same as 1200 EDT anymore >>>> (daylight savings confusion). So lets meet at 1200 EDT only, which is 1 hr >>>> and 40 mins from now. (1700 UTC). >>>> >>>> - >>>> Anish >>>> >>>> >>>> On Mon, Nov 4, 2013 at 3:27 PM, Anish Mangal >>>> wrote: >>>>> >>>>> Hi fellow server-hackers! >>>>> >>>>> We will be having our eighth IRC scrum meeting tomorrow 5th November on >>>>> 1600 UTC / 1200 EDT at the #schoolserver channel (irc.freenode.net). The >>>>> meeting will be logged by a supybot instance. >>>>> >>>>> Please start filling in your points to discuss in the rolling agenda >>>>> document >>>>> >>>>> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1o6QtzLb6e58YKWqMf_junux2XyBRLFm31un8YLcYslg/edit >>>>> >>>>> Logs for the last meeting held on 29th October are here: >>>>> https://sugardextrose.org/issues/4826 >>>>> >>>>> Cheers, >>>>> Anish >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> ___ >>>> Server-devel mailing list >>>> Server-devel@lists.laptop.org >>>> http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel >>>> >>> >> > > > ___ > Server-devel mailing list > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] mesh potato
On Tue, Oct 29, 2013 at 1:30 PM, Tony Anderson wrote: > Hi, > > There was discussion of this at the SF sprint. > > As I understand it, openWRT (from the Shuttleworth project) can be installed > on > a TP-Link router. As with many open source projects the lineage can be a bit confusing. The Mesh Potato is a appliance developed and sold by http://villagetelco.org/ . Villagetelco is a the Shuttleworth project. the software side of the project is a thin and clever mesh layer + confiuration GUI running on top of openWRT. In the past year terry ( I forget his last name) has been repurposing it software to provide mesh data service. >It can be configured to serve connected XOs (such as in a > classroom) > on a mesh. It could also serve as a gateway to the school server's LAN. > > If this could work, then the schoolserver would not provide DHCP (since the > mesh potato routers would > have fixed addresses on the schoolserver LAN) and would not provide ejabberd > (since that function is > served by the classroom-level mesh). > > Presumably each classroom mesh would be a subnet of the LAN so that openWRT > would act as a gateway > for messages directed at the schoolserver. I don't know the technical details. OLPC-AU has been piloting some systems at the classroom level they might have more information. Terry is clever enough to solve this level of issues in a couple of hours if necessary. > Is my understanding in the ballpark? > > Is there someone in the community who is working on this capability or is an > appropriate reference for further > information? I spent a couple of weeks testing the system. The mesh aspect brings many advantages in terms of set up because it requires no wiring. Theoretically you could place a potato anywhere with in range of an existing mesh and it would just work. The initial mesh is just a matter or setting up the master potato. My challenge was contention. Many inexpensive routers are single frequency and many existing laptops use the 2.4 GHz range. That give you 4 non-overlapping channels with with to work. My conclusion was that while the villagetelco work is potentially very valuable, tooling which makes it easier for unskilled or semiskilled facilitators to figure what is wrong with a network and then fix it were of greater priority. If you or anyone else want to look into that would be most welcome. Much of the value of enterprise routers, which can cost more then my car, is on the software side. Please see http://villagetelco.org/ > Tony > ___ > Server-devel mailing list > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] extension of Moodle authentication mechanism
For full disclosure. This feature has been sitting on the side lines because of its kludginess. So, keep you hopes low :( On Mon, Oct 28, 2013 at 10:28 AM, George Hunt wrote: > Thank you. I'll spend some time studying it and try to write up some > documentation, and use cases. > > > On Mon, Oct 28, 2013 at 5:07 AM, Miguel González > wrote: >> >> >> >> On Mon, Oct 28, 2013 at 4:54 AM, George Hunt >> wrote: >>> >>> I heard that someone at activitycentral was extending, augmenting the >>> authentication used by Moodle, so that other web based services can climb >>> on. >> >> >> It's called xs-autherserve and is a component in DXS initiative. If you >> install XSCE using ansible you will find it in >> http://schoolserver.local:5000. >> >>> >>> >>> Can someone point me to the code? >>> >> >> The source code is in https://github.com/migonzalvar/xs-authserver. >> >> >>> >>> ___ >>> Server-devel mailing list >>> Server-devel@lists.laptop.org >>> http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel >>> >> >> >> >> -- >> Miguel González >> Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com > > > > ___ > Server-devel mailing list > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
[Server-devel] XSCE Features Pages
A minor quirk. Nothing in the wiki seems to point to the feature page ( http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XS_Community_Edition/feature ) or its subpages. Wearing my, 'Hmm what happened at the sprint hat.' I was unable to browse around for a link to trigger my failing memory. -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
[Server-devel] Post sprint wrap up tasks.
Just a couple of suggestions for wrapping up the sprint. So far we have had 4 iterations to revise our process and culture. Let's see what works and what doesn’t work as we scale beyond the original core people 1. Road Map -- The RoadMap at http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XS_Community_Edition/0.5/Road_Map is the foundation of our synchronization. It gives as a target date for coordination and planning. Considering the time available and the number of activite community members and their interests we can estimate some reasonable targets for the Project specification. 2. Project Specification -- The Project specification at http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XS_Community_Edition/0.5/Project_Specifications is our primary planning tool. By assessing our starting point and available active community members we can make reasonable estimations about what we can achieve in the time available. An interesting thing about the Project specification is that while it is a planning document for everyone for developers, to deployer, to teachers and students to share expectations, it is not set in stone. The Modular structure allows anyone to work on whatever they thing is interesting and valuable. The Agile nature of the development process means features can slip or be added as we learn more about them and what their implementation entails. The specification tries to be a guide about about what past contributors feel is important in current and future releases, with creating a culture of, 'My way or the Highway.' 3. Release page -- The release page at http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XS_Community_Edition/0.5 is our state of the union. Priorities continually adjust as we receive feedback from the field about what deployments feel is important. Scope and expectations continually adjust as active community join or move on to other projects. 4. Installing -- The Installing information at http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XS_Community_Edition is the first time potential users and deployers get to kick the tires. 1,2, and 3 above are really just talk. The install is where users can assess the projects usefulness to them, the state of the project, and if the project is consistently meeting its stated goals. 5. Testing -- The testing at http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XS_Community_Edition/0.5/Testing is where the rubber meets the road. Verifying that each specified feature passes a smoke test on each stated platform keeps us honest. In past releases, these particularly 1 and 2 were some of the administrative tasks with which I have tried to help. As the community grows I would like to reduce my role in these planning and communication tasks to reduce real and/or perceived bias on my part. Seem reasonable? -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] Server-devel Digest, Vol 78, Issue 28
On Thu, Oct 24, 2013 at 9:26 AM, Tony Anderson wrote: > Hi, > > I looked at the Compulab website and the Trim-slice H is no longer offered. > All > links to Trim-slice now go to Utilite. I was only able to find one vendor in > the UK > which offered the Trim-slice for 208 pounds. > > I suspect that the Trim-slice has gone out of production. Yes, that is the situation. > Perhaps, David Farning can check this out. Maybe we could work a deal to buy > remaining inventory. I'll give it a shot. These guys are pretty lean :) I also suggest contacting public forum at http://www.utilite-computer.com/forum/ They are trying hard to build a reputation of being hacker friendly. This round we we not able to promise enough unit sales for them to adjust their priorities to include a SATA connection for rotating drives. I'll nudge again in January to see if they can do a hardware update some time in the first quarter of 2014. > Tony > > On 10/24/2013 09:00 AM, server-devel-requ...@lists.laptop.org wrote: >> >> Message: 7 >> Date: Wed, 23 Oct 2013 22:42:23 -0700 >> From: Anish Mangal >> To: Alex Kleider >> Cc: server-devel >> Subject: Re: [Server-devel] Supported Hardware Architectures >> Message-ID: >> >> >> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" >> >> Does the $100 model have an enclosure for the hard drive? (even if the >> hard >> drive itself is not present) >> >> >> On Wed, Oct 23, 2013 at 9:47 PM, Alex Kleider wrote: >> >>> >On 2013-10-23 13:04, Martin Dluhos wrote: >>> > >>>> >>>> >>For the upcoming 0.5 release, we will be targeting the following >>>> >> hardware >>>> >>architectures: >>>> >> >>>> >>* Trim-Slice >>>> >>* XO-1.5, XO-1.75, X0-4 >>>> >>* i386 >>>> >>* x86_64 >>>> >> >>>> >>Feel free to provide XSCE support for other architectures, but these >>>> >> are >>>> >>the >>>> >>ones we believe are most useful to the user community. >>>> >> >>>> >>Martin >>>> >>__**_ >>>> >>Server-devel mailing list >>>> >>Server-devel@lists.laptop.org >>>> >>>> >> >>http://lists.laptop.org/**listinfo/server-devel<http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel> >>>> >> >>> >>> > >>> >FYI and FWIW: >>> >The price of the Trim-Slice is now down to US$100 (plus shipping.) >>> >(Without a hard drive which most would probably want to replace with a >>> >larger one anyway.) >>> > > > -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] XSCE | renaming 0.4.5 to 0.5
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XS_Community_Edition/0.5/Road_Map updated to reflect the roadmap. On Wed, Oct 23, 2013 at 1:27 PM, David Farning wrote: > On Wed, Oct 23, 2013 at 12:57 PM, Martin Dluhos wrote: >> On 10/07/2013 09:51 PM, James Cameron wrote: >>> Don't number it 0.4.5, instead number it 0.5, and push any plans you >>> had for 0.5 out to 0.6. The sooner you get to 1.0 the more acceptable >>> the version number will become. 0.4, based on the descriptions I see, >>> is already 1.0 fodder. >> >> We have just discussed the XSCE Roadmap among those present at SF XSCE >> Hackathon. We have reached a consensus on the following schedule: >> >> 10/23: Design Freeze >> 11/14: Ansible migration completed and properly tested-> release 0.5 >>(two days before Malaysia Summit) >> 12/6: Feature Freeze for 0.6 release >> 1/1: RC1 for 0.6 release >> 1/14: 0.6 Final release > > Agreed. > > The very quick turnaround for .5 forces us to fix everything we break > during the migration to Ansible. Then we can take off running for 0.6 > with new feature without worrying about the API shifting under our > feet. > > Additionally we have added several new team member and a new keeper of > the roadmap and project specification. During the learning period it > will be helpful to keep the number of moving pieces to a minimum. > >> Does anyone have comments about or objections to this roadmap? >> >> Martin >> _______ >> Server-devel mailing list >> Server-devel@lists.laptop.org >> http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > > > > -- > David Farning > Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] XSCE | renaming 0.4.5 to 0.5
On Wed, Oct 23, 2013 at 12:57 PM, Martin Dluhos wrote: > On 10/07/2013 09:51 PM, James Cameron wrote: >> Don't number it 0.4.5, instead number it 0.5, and push any plans you >> had for 0.5 out to 0.6. The sooner you get to 1.0 the more acceptable >> the version number will become. 0.4, based on the descriptions I see, >> is already 1.0 fodder. > > We have just discussed the XSCE Roadmap among those present at SF XSCE > Hackathon. We have reached a consensus on the following schedule: > > 10/23: Design Freeze > 11/14: Ansible migration completed and properly tested-> release 0.5 >(two days before Malaysia Summit) > 12/6: Feature Freeze for 0.6 release > 1/1: RC1 for 0.6 release > 1/14: 0.6 Final release Agreed. The very quick turnaround for .5 forces us to fix everything we break during the migration to Ansible. Then we can take off running for 0.6 with new feature without worrying about the API shifting under our feet. Additionally we have added several new team member and a new keeper of the roadmap and project specification. During the learning period it will be helpful to keep the number of moving pieces to a minimum. > Does anyone have comments about or objections to this roadmap? > > Martin > ___ > Server-devel mailing list > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
[Server-devel] A couple of suggestions for making sure this week's XSCE sprint goes smoothly.
1. In a session like this, it can become easy to complain about what others are doing. (or not doing) Complaining is contagious. Le't use the complaint bowel. Any time someone complains about someone else is doing wrong they need to put a dollar in the complaint bowel. We use the money for a dinner on the final night of the sprint. 2. A new idea that came to mind this weekend was a rant sheet. Any time someone launches off on one of their 'go-to' rants, we write that rant on a white board and assign it a number. If anyone gets back on their soapbox and repeat a rant, we yell out the rant number and the person needs to put a dollar in the bowel. These are just (hopefully fun but firm) suggestions to help us self-police our passionate group of hackers. -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
[Server-devel] XSCE Wiki facelift :)
As we get ready for the 0.4 release in a couple of week, I cleaned up the wiki landing page at http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XS_Community_Edition . 1. Every time I went to that page, I was overwhelmed by the quantity of information. To reduce the sensation of facing down a firehose,I shifted most of the information about people and processes to subpages linked under the heading 'Us'. 2. The second pass was to shift the focus from the technology the project uses to the the value the product offers users. I have tried to create a funnel with: - Devices and Networking - Educational Content - Learning and Collaboration We need a few points under each heading. 3. Finally, I left the section on ecosystem in the front to emphasis the relationships XSCE might have with other projects. Edit welcome. -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
[Server-devel] XSCE 0.5 wiki is open for Editing
Hey all, I just wanted to let everyone know that the XSCE wiki is open for editing at http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XS_Community_Edition/0.5 Historically, I have cut and pasted the previous releases wiki and subpages to the next release number. Then edited as the details were filled in at meetings and on email threads. To reduce conflicts of interesting between upstream XSCE and downstream DXS, I personally have tried to reduce my roles in XSCE communications. Anyone want to step up and whip the the XSCE 0.5 wiki into shape? If not, I'll start poking at it again. -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] Squid caching on the XSCE AND AP's
gt;>> >>>>> I think it was Tony (please correct me if I'm wrong) who pointed out >>>>> that network capacity in a School Server setup can be a hindrance (esp >>>>> considering 200 kids, and 20 kids per AP). >>>>> >>>>> This weekend, I attempted to run squid on a TP-Link router. I used a >>>>> USB drive as a storage medium, and flashed the router with the OpenWRT >>>>> SECN >>>>> firmware. The initial results seem quite promising, and I'm going to >>>>> explore >>>>> this a bit further. >>>>> >>>>> If anyone's interested in hacking on this or has thoughts/feedback, >>>>> please chip in :-) >>>>> >>>>> Drawing a "microprocessor" analogy, having a L1 cache on the XSCE and >>>>> an L2 cache on the AP, and some smart fine tuning, we could potentially >>>>> make >>>>> much more efficient use of the network capacity we have. >>>>> >>>>> This can be REALLY advantageous if someone is planning to use the SECN >>>>> firmware in the mesh mode (no ethernet cables whatsoever). The AP's >>>>> wouldn't >>>>> have to talk to each other as often, if they all have small cache memories >>>>> embedded in them. >>>>> >>>>> Cheers, >>>>> Anish >>>>> >>>>> ___ >>>>> Server-devel mailing list >>>>> Server-devel@lists.laptop.org >>>>> http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel >>>>> >>>> >>> >> >> >> ___ >> Server-devel mailing list >> Server-devel@lists.laptop.org >> http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel >> > > > ___ > Server-devel mailing list > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] A couple of thoughts about moving forward.
On Sun, Sep 8, 2013 at 6:49 AM, George Hunt wrote: > > On Sun, Aug 11, 2013 at 9:47 PM, David Farning > wrote: >> >> Hey all, >> >> I would like to offer some reflections after the last couple of weeks. >> >> I stepped aside because I felt I was hindering the project more than >> helping it. I spent years being frustrated by Langoff's hold on >> OLPC-XS. Then after less than 8 months I found myself controlling the >> funding for the 6 person DXS team, creating the roadmap & project >> specification, and doing much of the external communication. All of >> this while receiving dozens of emails and calls per week from >> deployments pressuring me to make XSCE and DXS different from what the >> core XSCE team was interested in doing. > > > My shortcomings may have caused a split between XSCE and DXS. When David > and I were discussing whether Ansible should be part of 0.4 XSCE, I felt a > fear of creating a situation I have created many times before, in my life as > a programmer. I tend to add more complexity than I have brain power to sort > out during the debugging phase. > > So, now David has moved forward with DXS, with an aggressive schedule, > adding features based upon customers requirements. And when he wants to > incorporate DXS into the next revision, XSCE 0.5, the fear crops up again. I > need help dealing with my fear of complexity. Are there any volunteers? > > In a sense it's the Red Hat, Fedora situation with a twist. The quick > turnaround, feature development test bed, is the commercial enterprise. The > volunteer, community based, effort is the slower moving, and more > conservative. > > So now, our history, becomes our handicap. XSCE has not asked for much help > from the people and the accumulated wisdom available on server-devel. But > now I think we need that perspective. > > I don't want to have a "hold" on XSCE. I'm feeling like I need to pass the > baton to someone, or a group of someones. I've been working hard at a > volunteer job, and there just are no more hours in the day that I'm willing > to devote to the XSCE enterprise. Nine months ago I recommended you as release manager for XSCE and I stand by that recommendation today even though it has meant the AC lead Ansible work has lived out of tree for the last couple of months. The release manager has a tough (some might say impossible) job in community project. In a thriving community there will be a million people all clamoring that their work be committed NOW. The release manager must weigh the pros and cons before accepting a patch especially when it is significant. In this case you and Jerry said 'hold on, I don't see the value in this ansible stuff." That was the right decision at the time. It is the branch authors responsibility to prove the value of their work. Anish et. al. put their heads down and translate xs-conf to ansible. My reasoning for personally stepping back from participation in XSCE was to ensure credibility in the XSCE decision making process. I believe that porting xsce to ansible is the best way forward for the ecosystem, XSCE and AC. However, if it appeared that I was using my roles within XSCE to push an external agenda, XSCE would forever be tainted. As george says, there are a lot of skilled people reading these lists. Is Anyone willing to step up and help ensure that we have a neutral community that balances the (often passionate) needs of school server developers, deployers, and users. > George > >> >> It was not a recipe for community success :( So, I spent the last >> couple of weeks regrouping. If anyone has any suggestions for how they >> think I can help the community without becoming too smothering please >> let me know. >> >> I have been a little concerned about the relationship between the XSCE >> team and the DXS team. We put a pretty intense deadline of mid Oct for >> delivering commercially supported Dextrose Server. The goal of this >> division was to ensure the upstream XSCE team had the freedom to >> scratch their own itches while ensuring the downstream DXS team was >> focused on specific customer requirements. As a side effect it feels >> like there has become a gap between the teams. >> >> I would like to encourage Anna to step into the role of liaison >> between the two team. She can make sure that everyone is aware of what >> is happening. >> >> External communications hit a couple of rough patches over the past >> couple of weeks. While keeping the signal to noise ratio high, the use >> of a semi-private mailing list seemed to be hindering external >> awareness of what we were doing. Rather than ask
Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] School Server Special Interest Group at OLPC-SF
On Sat, Sep 7, 2013 at 10:06 AM, Sameer Verma wrote: > > > > On Thu, Sep 5, 2013 at 9:26 PM, David Farning > wrote: >> >> Great, >> >> I have been thinking of two parallel themes for how school servers can >> add value to the conference. >> >> Dogfooding/Demo. School server developers from various projects could >> dogfood their work at the conference by providing network connectivity >> for all participants via their server. This will provide an >> interesting feedback loop about what works and what else is needed. >> Plus it could be fun for everyone. >> >> Deployment feedback. The idea here would be to have a set of talks by >> deployments about how school servers add value to their projects and >> what else school servers can do to make their lives easier. The less >> time deployments have to worry about technical stuff like school >> servers, the more time they have to think about the educational side >> of the project:) >> >> From there we can have a talk about how the various people and >> organizations involved in school server projects can work together (if >> possible) to meet the needs of deployments. >> >> Finally, we can shift to work mode to design and implement solutions >> identified by dogfooding and deployment feedback. >> > > I would encourage you all to submit multiple proposals for the workshops > you'd like to lead or participate in. Here's the submission form. > http://www.olpcsf.org/CommunitySummit2013/proposal > > The sessions committee will sort through and merge proposals. Our approach > is to accommodate as many proposals as possible, and merge similar ones into > common sessions. We are not doing panel discussion this year, so that should > open up more sessions. Submit away! +1. My initial question was to see if other people participating in the conference are interested in the general theme of School Servers. If so, I will do what I can to encourage school server related talks and workshops. This means funding travel key people to give those talks and participate in those workshops. Final decisions over the sessions and how they are moderated is up to the event coordinators. For full disclosure, I thought the session events on the first day of last year's conferences were outstanding. People with overlapping interests were meeting and talking about how they were solving their own problems at their own deployments. After the panel discussions, I was so frustrated that I left early and swore never to return Eleven month later, I am ready to try again. Having sponsored EduJam in Uruguay, I am well aware of the tendency of some of our more vocal community members to treat a public event as their personal soapbox. Thanks for doing this. It is a hard and thankless task. > Sameer > -- > Sameer Verma, Ph.D. > Professor, Information Systems > San Francisco State University > http://verma.sfsu.edu/ > http://commons.sfsu.edu/ > http://olpcsf.org/ > http://olpcjamaica.org.jm/ > >> >> On Thu, Sep 5, 2013 at 10:24 PM, Adam Holt wrote: >> > Indeed, two very successful XSCE 0.4 RC1 / IIAB server installations >> > here in >> > Haiti over the past 10 days (at 2 very different schools) where George >> > Hunt >> > & I learned more than we could have imagined. >> > >> > I'd encourage folks to use the following page as a scratchpad for school >> > server ideas of all kind coming together around SF Oct 18-20 and exactly >> > 4 >> > weeks later in Malaysia Nov 16-18 for the new Asia/Pacific folk too! >> > >> > http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XS_Community_Edition/0.5/Sprint >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > On Thu, Sep 5, 2013 at 10:59 PM, David Farning >> > wrote: >> >> >> >> Hey all, >> >> >> >> I would like to float the idea of a School Server Special Interest >> >> Group as part of the upcoming OLP-SF conference. >> >> >> >> Over the last year, there has been a lot of activity around the school >> >> server. In addition to the ongoing OLPC - School Server work, the >> >> School Server Community Edition project has established itself as the >> >> leading community supported upstream project. Activity Central is >> >> creating Dextrose Server, a professionally support Downstream school >> >> server product on top of XSCE. >> >> >> >> With that in mind, I would like to test the temperature of the water >> >> about holding a School Server submit as part OLPC-SF with a possible >> &
Re: [Server-devel] DXS demo: highlights
require per user accounts and authentication. We want to build a mechanism > through which a child doesn't have to remember his/her username/password to > be able to access the service. One such example which is already part of the > XS/XSCE/DXS is Moodle. If you're registered to the schoolserver, you don't > need to type in your username and password when you go to > schoolserver/moodle. We would like to make it generic for more services that > may be added in the future. > > This is a very tricky problem to solve, and we don't claim to have the > perfect solution yet. Even so, you may look at this video, that demonstrates > one possible approach. > https://plus.google.com/u/0/116719750476123557573/posts/PwYwPSPuTyC > > > Munin, ejabberd & collaboration on the public DXS instance. > > We have included Munin on an experimental basis in the DXS. It's certainly > useful to be able to see usage data in nice looking graphs when you're > testing stuff. Also, one may go to the public instance of the DXS, follow > the instructions there to register, and test out collaboration and other > features. > > http://schoolserver.alabamaxo.org/ > > Note: The homepage portal that is included in XSCE isn't part of the DXS > yet. The homepage on the above link was created by Anna to make it easy for > users/testers to experiment with the public DXS instance. > > - - - - > > Should you have any questions, or feedback, pls reply to this thread. DXS > team-members (aklis, ajay, annabham, migonzalvar, m_anish) are also present > on #schoolserver and should be able to answer any questions you may have. > Also, there is an XSCE meeting on Tuesday, 12 noon, EDT @ #schoolserver, > where we all plan to be present. > > The full meeting minutes and logs can be accessed at: > https://sugardextrose.org/issues/4612 > > Cheers, > Anish > > > ___ > Server-devel mailing list > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] School Server Special Interest Group at OLPC-SF
Great, I have been thinking of two parallel themes for how school servers can add value to the conference. Dogfooding/Demo. School server developers from various projects could dogfood their work at the conference by providing network connectivity for all participants via their server. This will provide an interesting feedback loop about what works and what else is needed. Plus it could be fun for everyone. Deployment feedback. The idea here would be to have a set of talks by deployments about how school servers add value to their projects and what else school servers can do to make their lives easier. The less time deployments have to worry about technical stuff like school servers, the more time they have to think about the educational side of the project:) >From there we can have a talk about how the various people and organizations involved in school server projects can work together (if possible) to meet the needs of deployments. Finally, we can shift to work mode to design and implement solutions identified by dogfooding and deployment feedback. On Thu, Sep 5, 2013 at 10:24 PM, Adam Holt wrote: > Indeed, two very successful XSCE 0.4 RC1 / IIAB server installations here in > Haiti over the past 10 days (at 2 very different schools) where George Hunt > & I learned more than we could have imagined. > > I'd encourage folks to use the following page as a scratchpad for school > server ideas of all kind coming together around SF Oct 18-20 and exactly 4 > weeks later in Malaysia Nov 16-18 for the new Asia/Pacific folk too! > > http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XS_Community_Edition/0.5/Sprint > > > > > > On Thu, Sep 5, 2013 at 10:59 PM, David Farning > wrote: >> >> Hey all, >> >> I would like to float the idea of a School Server Special Interest >> Group as part of the upcoming OLP-SF conference. >> >> Over the last year, there has been a lot of activity around the school >> server. In addition to the ongoing OLPC - School Server work, the >> School Server Community Edition project has established itself as the >> leading community supported upstream project. Activity Central is >> creating Dextrose Server, a professionally support Downstream school >> server product on top of XSCE. >> >> With that in mind, I would like to test the temperature of the water >> about holding a School Server submit as part OLPC-SF with a possible >> School Server code sprint to follow. >> >> The timing of this summit opens up several opportunities for >> coordination between the people and organizations developing the >> School server and the the people and organizations deploying the >> server. Anyone interested interested in school server focused talks, >> tutorials, sessions? >> >> -- >> David Farning >> Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com > > > > > -- > Unsung Heroes of OLPC, interviewed live @ http://unleashkids.org ! > > ___ > Server-devel mailing list > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
[Server-devel] School Server Special Interest Group at OLPC-SF
Hey all, I would like to float the idea of a School Server Special Interest Group as part of the upcoming OLP-SF conference. Over the last year, there has been a lot of activity around the school server. In addition to the ongoing OLPC - School Server work, the School Server Community Edition project has established itself as the leading community supported upstream project. Activity Central is creating Dextrose Server, a professionally support Downstream school server product on top of XSCE. With that in mind, I would like to test the temperature of the water about holding a School Server submit as part OLPC-SF with a possible School Server code sprint to follow. The timing of this summit opens up several opportunities for coordination between the people and organizations developing the School server and the the people and organizations deploying the server. Anyone interested interested in school server focused talks, tutorials, sessions? -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] DXS github repository
Thanks anish, This reduces my freakout level by an order of magnitude :) At time my mental model fails me. I think of DXS as downstream to XSCE. I think of AC as doing less frequent releases than XSCE with the goal of increased stability. This release was inverted as DXS led the painful shift to ansible. If you are into such things. The affect of a downstream getting ahead of an upstream is remarkably similar to 'interest rate inversions.' http://www.investopedia.com/articles/basics/06/invertedyieldcurve.asp . Normal planning starts to go out the window. :) I would like to encourage Tim, George, and Jerry to play with and explore and test the code at https://github.com/activitycentral/dxs . We have three general approaches for upstreaming thing code: 1. Do a complete rebase to the DXS code when the XSCE 0.5 window open. While riskiest it minimizes the amount of duplicated effort. 2. Create a stepwise plan. While possible, is quite hard due to circular dependencies. :( 3. Keep the code separate. A couple of considerations: 1. Is it worth learning Ansible? While pretty easy to learn, read, and code, Ansible is yet another language to learn. 2. How does this affect 0.5 planning? How will the XSCE community determine priorities and goals for the release. Have fun and thanks for everything :) On Tue, Sep 3, 2013 at 1:23 PM, Anish Mangal wrote: > Hi George, Jerry, Tim, et. al. > > Please have a look at the DXS github repository. We have been able to use > ansible playbooks to install a School Server. One can try setting it up > using the instructions in the INSTALL.rst file. We also added Ajenti as an > admin GUI, there are separate instructions for that. Also included is Munin > (i think on an experimental basis). Some things which are present in the > XSCE-0.4 are missing in our repo, like Pathagar, or IIAB, or CUPS. > > Mostly, we wanted to be much more public with the code, and the development > process, as we move beyond the XSCE-0.4 release. Ideally, I want to merge a > majority (if not all) of this code with the upstream, so we all have a > common base. Within AC (Santi, Miguel, Ajay, Myself) we will participate > more openly with the XSCE project going forward. Anna already does a lot of > work within the XSCE community :-) > > https://github.com/activitycentral/dxs > > Best, > Anish > > ___ > Server-devel mailing list > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] [support-gang] XSCE Test machines.
On Sat, Aug 31, 2013 at 7:24 PM, Samuel Greenfeld wrote: > Personally I don't want to commit OLPC to anything, but we definitely have > lots of XOs, as well as networks which could potentially isolate a way in. Great, I'll keep you in the loop. > Load testing also is not new to me since I used to work with network > firewalls and servers. > > However the office I am at and the offices historically in Massachusetts > have highly utilized 2.4 GHz network environments. You therefore will be at > the mercy of whatever our neighbors are doing. > > Have you considered virtualizing your test setup? It shouldn't be too hard > to setup a bunch of Fedora VMs with simulated network delays, or even have > one Fedora VM with several unique Sugar users. It this point I am exploring the feasibility of a couple of options. 1. Load test suits. Running various simulations that would enable us to reproducibly load test the server hardware. 2. As you suggest a bunch of VMs on a server. We could direct connect the VM server to the piece of hardware on which we are testing the school server using a cable 3. Alternatively, I was wondering about the possibility of a running a bunch of wireless usb dongles from the VM server so we can get more realistic wireless network device capacity. Each VM would be running a dongle. 4. A test bed of actual laptop. As we shift from option one to option four things get more complex and expensive yet the quality of test will improve. I am in the early of exploring what is possible on a really tight budget :) Tight as in if I skip my ice cream cone this week, I can buy a usb dongle. > On Sat, Aug 31, 2013 at 7:20 PM, David Farning > wrote: >> >> I was wondering if anyone was aware of any unused XOs laying >> around which were meant for a school of deployments. >> >> We are interested in doing some load testing for network hardware and >> XSCE performance. >> >> My dream setup would be 30-60 XO1's arranged semi-permanently in >> someone's spare room. Testers could then SSH into the network to run >> scripts on the XO's to simulate various types of load. >> >> Does anyone have experience with this type of testing? Does anyone >> have machines or a room to donate:) >> >> -- >> David Farning >> Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com >> ___ >> 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 > -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
[Server-devel] XSCE Test machines.
I was wondering if anyone was aware of any unused XOs laying around which were meant for a school of deployments. We are interested in doing some load testing for network hardware and XSCE performance. My dream setup would be 30-60 XO1's arranged semi-permanently in someone's spare room. Testers could then SSH into the network to run scripts on the XO's to simulate various types of load. Does anyone have experience with this type of testing? Does anyone have machines or a room to donate:) -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] A couple of thoughts about moving forward.
The code is moving to github as we speak/type :) On Thu, Aug 29, 2013 at 7:32 PM, George Hunt wrote: > Hi Anish, > > I look forward to playing with the XSCE installed via Ansible. > > Will there be an install procedure, and cookbook, to try it out? > > George > > > > On Wed, Aug 28, 2013 at 11:37 PM, Anish Mangal > wrote: >> >> Well, I was sort of hoping: >> >> >> * We could start to have discussions and work around some/all of the >> topics as a community. Everyone here has way more expertise than me in many >> (if not all) of the topics I listed. We can build a much better server if we >> all can use our expertise in the relevant part of the server. This >> transcends the pure software-development aspect of XSCE. >> >> >> >> * As the 0.4 version of the XSCE is nearing release, it's a good time to >> start thinking about additions/changes for 0.5. One of the consistent >> efforts (and demands) has been to make the server code more manageable, and >> by extension, modular and scalable. >> >> * 0.2.1 was a drop-in replacement of the XS-0.6/7 >> * 0.3 involved a major reorganization to make the services more modular >> * 0.4 built upon that, by providing all the code in the same modular >> structure >> >> Within Activity Central, a team of developers (Santi, Miguel, Ajay, Anna) >> have been working on converting services available on the XSCE into ansible >> playbooks. The playbooks are written in a syntax which is *very easy to >> understand*, and the same playbook can be run on different platforms to >> produce the same effect. The playbooks can provide variables which may be >> integrated easily with other administration web-services (for example >> ajenti). >> >> I hope to share the code for the playbooks very soon, so anyone can have a >> look at and try them. We have been able to get a fully functional server up >> just by playbooks and reusing/restructuring the available XSCE (xs-config) >> code. >> >> As someone leading the Dextrose Server initiative, I would push for the >> inclusion of these playbooks in XSCE-0.5. There is long term value in >> learning a bit of ansible and being able to work at a higher abstraction >> level. >> >> Best, >> Anish >> >> >> On Wed, Aug 28, 2013 at 6:48 PM, Tim Moody wrote: >>> >>> Thanks for making this public. What do you see as the next step? >>> > >>> >From: Anish Mangal >>> >Sent: Wednesday, August 28, 2013 6:16 PM >>> >To: xsce-de...@googlegroups.com ; server-devel ; Tim Moody >>> >Subject: Re: [XSCE] A couple of thoughts about moving forward. >>> > >>> >Hi Tim, et. al., >>> > >>> >Since it was requested that I share my conversations with various >>> > deployments over the summer yielded in form of potential requirements for >>> > the school server, I created this wiki page: >>> > >>> >https://sugardextrose.org/projects/xsce/wiki/Primary_considerations >>> > >>> > >>> >There's obviously more data available, but what you see is a filtered >>> > version of guidelines I think we should keep in mind while developing a >>> > school server. >>> > >>> >Do the points in there (summarized below) make sense? I intentionally >>> > created this page on the sugardextrose.org wiki. If it has greater >>> > acceptance community-wide, I'd be happy to move it to the main XSCE wiki. >>> > >>> >* Statistics >>> >* Content >>> >* Internet traffic shaping >>> >* Administration >>> >* Networking >>> >* Classroom and School management >>> >* Total Cost of Ownership >>> >* Power >>> >* Sneakernet -> LAN -> Internet >>> >* i18n >>> > >>> >Best, >>> >Anish >>> > >>> > >>> >>> -- >>> Sig inserted by AutoHotkey ver. 1.1.11.01 (signature - first line) >>> WLMail QuoteFix -> http://www.dusko-lolic.from.hr/ (signature - second >>> line) >> >> > -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] Server-devel Digest, Vol 76, Issue 21
On Saturday, August 17, 2013, Adam Holt wrote: > On Fri, Aug 16, 2013 at 11:28 PM, Braddock > > > wrote: > >> > From: David Farning > 'cvml', 'dfarn...@activitycentral.com');>> We have just >> > received confirmation that compulab won't be releasing a SATA >> > connector with the utilite. ( http://utilite-computer.com/web/home >> > ) Instread they will offer a mSATA connection. >> >> This is a real disappointment to the Internet-in-a-Box project. I was >> really hoping the Utilite would be the perfect solution for our full >> dataset (which is too large for an SSD). > > > Yep, Utilite screwed us. > As a community we need to be careful about talking about how others 'screwed us.' I 'screwed up' by endorsing the Utilite before we had run it through our QA process. Engineers at compulabs 'screwed up' when their prototype didn't perform as well as expected. We all might feel 'screwed' that something we had depended on did not materialize. Perhaps the NSA got tired of Snowden/Assange/Manning's civics lessons, and > will ban USB3 ports altogether, > > Anyway, we have secret hardware no Israeli can match: 1-800-Tony-Anderson > -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
[Server-devel] List Culture
I would like to thank everyone who has participated on this mailing list over the past several days. It feels like we are turning a corner. Lately, the threads have shifted towards people asking about and explaining how they are adapting what is available to meet their situation. I hope this trend continues to include more contributors discussing more topics and more solutions. -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
[Server-devel] What is your deployment looking for in a School Server.
For the past couple of months, member of the XSCE team have been interviewing deployments and schools to gain information on what they would like to see from a school server. I would like to open this up to a straw poll about school server priorities for the 0.5 release which will probably happen earning in the first quarter of 2014. To keep things organized let's focus this round of discussion on four topics: 1. Hardware: What hardware priorities should a school server have and why? 2. Services: What services and features should a school server provide and why? 3. Content: What content would you like to see on a school server provide and why? 4. Other : Other priorities. Please let us know your priorities by responding on this list or responding to me privately. I'll compile the data and make it available to this list and the XSCE team Our success depend on engaging volunteers like you to add value user to XSCE. If we are able to add enough value, schools and deployments will chose to deploy the XSCE. As we _prove_ impact on deployment success and students lives, it will be easier and easier to engage volunteer to continue the cycle by adding more value. -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
[Server-devel] Powering a hard drive?
We have just received confirmation that compulab won't be releasing a SATA connector with the utilite. ( http://utilite-computer.com/web/home ) Instread they will offer a mSATA connection. So far, they have not been willing to clarify if the change is due to heat, power, or marketing. As shipped the base utility will hit the all important sub $100 mark. However the cost of a SSD is significantly higher than a normal drive. Do any of the power experts have suggestions? Losing the 'all in one' form factor greatly reduces the value in my opinion -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] Questions for today
On Wed, Aug 14, 2013 at 12:39 AM, James Cameron wrote: > On Mon, Aug 12, 2013 at 05:51:55PM +1000, James Cameron wrote: > > I like Sugar Network, because the problem of content sharing is > > examined from a top down design perspective, including the constraint > > that internet connectivity might not be available, or it may be > > intermittent. > > > > On the other hand, the two School Server projects (XS and XSCE) seem > > to be bottom up designs; here's a Linux server, now how can we use > > it? > > After private mail, I retract this. It was a false impression based > on the Wiki pages for XS and XSCE, which emphasise technical > specifications rather than the functional specifications or features. > > (e.g. XS_Features is split out to another page, not on School_server, > and School_server begins heavily with "Linux-based" and "hardware > recommendations".) > > (e.g. XS_Community_Edition explains more about the project team, > communications methods, contributors, and history than it does about > the features.) > > I suggest that the product and development content be split so this > distinction is clearer. If I got it so wrong, others may too. > I agree. Our challenge, and strength, is that most of the original people involved in the project support deployments as our day jobs. We all have a pretty good idea of what problems we want a school server to solve. The question at the front of our minds was not "What should we do?" The question was "How can we do it without killing each other?" Now that the project has made good progress sorting out the community stuff ( internal communication, decision making, release management ) We will see a shift towards external communication. My apologies for the misunderstanding. While painful, I found the recent threads extremely helpful. Talking (and more) amongst ourselves about how the world didn't get us, did not seem to be a particularly productive communication strategy for the XSCE community:( -- > James Cameron > http://quozl.linux.org.au/ > ___________ > Server-devel mailing list > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] Clarifying some XSCE issues.
On Mon, Aug 12, 2013 at 2:18 AM, James Cameron wrote: > On Sun, Aug 11, 2013 at 04:34:08PM -0500, David Farning wrote: >> After a couple of eventful, and fruitful, weeks with XSCE, I would >> like to to clarify a few points where our message seemed to be >> unclear. >> >> -- Emphasis on small deployments. As a community, there is currently >> an emphasis towards small deployments. Due to their limited >> bureaucracies, we have been able to establish very quick turnaround >> times for feedback and fixes. This has enabled us to keep our rate of >> development quite high. >> >> The design and implementation of XSCE should scale from 1 school to >> 100,000 schools. There is currently an "Ansible rewrite" ( >> http://www.ansibleworks.com/docs/ ) in process. We believes that the >> use of ansible as a configure management tool has the potential to >> reduce the maintenance required at large deployments. A team of >> developers at AC is working on this now with the goal of landing in >> the beginning of the 0.5 release cycle >> >> -- Emphasis on ARM. XSCE runs on any hardware which runs Fedora 18. >> The current releases heavily favored XOs because they were a logical >> starting point from a Quality Assurance perspective. Debugging is an >> order of magnitude easier when testers and developers are running the >> same equipment. Starting with XOs enabled us to focus on school server >> developments rather than hardware quirks. >> >> Each quarterly release we have added additional hardware types. This >> is allowing the project to scale gradually to more and more device >> types without overwhelming developers and testers. >> >> -- Core OS. The decisions to base on Fedora was not taken lightly. If >> we wanted to run on XO-4s we had to run on a recent Fedora. The second >> issue is the fact that most of the interesting low powered servers >> are ARM based. >> >> Moving forward, our goal is to use the flexibility of the ansible >> provisioning system to be able to configure XSCE on fedora and CentOS. >> On an interesting note, we have been contacted by a team of ARM on >> CentOS developers who offered to work with us to get CentOS a a couple >> of ARM based servers. >> >> -- Our goals is not to tell anyone what they should do. We have >> avoided discussions on public lists such as this to avoid the >> temptation for people to tell us what to do... or for us to tell them >> what to do. Instead, we have focused on adding value. >> >> We hope to add value to the ecosystem. We hope that adding value earns >> us influence. In exchange we invite people to participate in the XSCE >> project by adding value. That value will help them earn influence >> within the project. >> >> I hope this help clarify some of the issues that have come up over the >> past couple of days. > > Not really, since those issues mainly had to do with OLPC. I am sorry. I don't have any first hand knowledge of the incident it Jamica. My interest in that incident was moving past blame to finding a way to move forward in a way which reduces that type of confusions in the future. Samuel's email combined with the wiki templates did that well > but I do > think your write-up could be better placed by merging it with the > http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XS_Community_Edition article. +1. Now that we understand where we failed to communication effectively, we will try to take step to improve that communication. Those step will include improving the wiki. -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
[Server-devel] Clarifying some XSCE issues.
After a couple of eventful, and fruitful, weeks with XSCE, I would like to to clarify a few points where our message seemed to be unclear. -- Emphasis on small deployments. As a community, there is currently an emphasis towards small deployments. Due to their limited bureaucracies, we have been able to establish very quick turnaround times for feedback and fixes. This has enabled us to keep our rate of development quite high. The design and implementation of XSCE should scale from 1 school to 100,000 schools. There is currently an "Ansible rewrite" ( http://www.ansibleworks.com/docs/ ) in process. We believes that the use of ansible as a configure management tool has the potential to reduce the maintenance required at large deployments. A team of developers at AC is working on this now with the goal of landing in the beginning of the 0.5 release cycle -- Emphasis on ARM. XSCE runs on any hardware which runs Fedora 18. The current releases heavily favored XOs because they were a logical starting point from a Quality Assurance perspective. Debugging is an order of magnitude easier when testers and developers are running the same equipment. Starting with XOs enabled us to focus on school server developments rather than hardware quirks. Each quarterly release we have added additional hardware types. This is allowing the project to scale gradually to more and more device types without overwhelming developers and testers. -- Core OS. The decisions to base on Fedora was not taken lightly. If we wanted to run on XO-4s we had to run on a recent Fedora. The second issue is the fact that most of the interesting low powered servers are ARM based. Moving forward, our goal is to use the flexibility of the ansible provisioning system to be able to configure XSCE on fedora and CentOS. On an interesting note, we have been contacted by a team of ARM on CentOS developers who offered to work with us to get CentOS a a couple of ARM based servers. -- Our goals is not to tell anyone what they should do. We have avoided discussions on public lists such as this to avoid the temptation for people to tell us what to do... or for us to tell them what to do. Instead, we have focused on adding value. We hope to add value to the ecosystem. We hope that adding value earns us influence. In exchange we invite people to participate in the XSCE project by adding value. That value will help them earn influence within the project. I hope this help clarify some of the issues that have come up over the past couple of days. -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
[Server-devel] Interesting opportunity to study upstream - downstream relationship Was: Root fs on XO1
The is an example of the opportunities and potential challenges that can occur between the community and the Association. This is why I was very pleased that the XSCE-XS thread last week shifted to clarification. The motivations and drives behind community volunteer decisions can be very different than the motivations and drives behind the decisions of an Association employee. As expressed in this thread, when working with large and remote deployments, the Association must be very risk adverse. Sending a qualified engineer to diagnose and fix a flakey SD card can take days... during which time their reputation takes a beating. I have some experience wearing those shoes :( Hackers like George and Mikus, who have the time and talent to drive XSCE forward, are much less risk averse. They can swap SD cards and reboot in a couple of seconds... while they take a break to refill their coffee :) The question becomes how can the community and Association work together to encourage innovative and useful work, while providing backstops to prevent fragile code from entering the OLPC support pipeline. My suggestion is to think of the relationship between XSCE and the Association as a funnel rather than a pipeline. XSCE will have a lot of ideas. The modular structure of XSCE enables all these ideas, both the good and the bad, to coexist. Over time, the good ones will raise to the top. Some examples of this in practice at the community level: 1. Each feature in XSCE is developed in a branch. When the core developers are happy with the quality they agree to merge it into master: 2. Each feature must pass basic 'smoke tests' before being included in the release notes. It might be useful for an organization like the Association to take a subset of XSCE (include only the bits you trust and need) and run some additional layers of QA before endorsing it as a product. As long as we can focus on 'the funnel' and our areas of overlapping interest without getting too caught up in our differences, it is likely the project will add value to both the community and the Association. This example is particularly important to me. As one of the tireless trio -- consisting of Jerry, George, and Tim. George has done the lion's share of the development on XSCE. Due to his experience and ability to clearly communicate, I bookmark a embarrassing number emails written by James so that I can 're-ask' the questions during key parts of the decision making process. On Fri, Aug 9, 2013 at 6:04 PM, James Cameron wrote: > On Fri, Aug 09, 2013 at 08:31:27AM -0500, Mikus Grinbergs wrote: >> On 08/09/2013 06:17 AM, James Cameron wrote: >> >I have never been happy with using the >> >XO-1 SD card slot. >> >> I have been using SD cards in the XO-1 SD card slot for more than >> five years now. Although I have experienced occasions of SD card >> corruption, they have been so rare as to not affect what I've been >> doing with my XO-1 systems (I just "clean" the SD card and keep on >> using it). In those five years I have had maybe five SD card >> failures (the SD card stops responding electrically) out of a pool >> of about 40 cards -- I consider my SD cards to have provided me >> "acceptable reliability". [Contrast that with my experience with >> XO-1.5 systems - four out of ten failed (admittedly, the failures >> were early systems).] > > Yes, you have gone through the effort of finding 35 out of 40 cards > capable of operating well with the faulty hardware. ;-) That's > something that an XSCE deployer probably can't afford, especially if > the site is remote. > >> By providing a swap partition on the SD card, I've been able to run >> *large* Linux applications (e.g., BOINC, gvSIG) on the XO-1, despite >> its limited main memory (I run them from Terminal in the Sugar >> environment, and live with the limited multi-window capability >> provided by Sugar). What I place on the SD card is executables >> (e.g., Adobe, Java, Browsers, Sugar Activities (3GB+), Timidity) and >> data (mainly accessed through Terminal - Movies, Books, Music, >> Images, Maps, etc.). >> >> Without my 'permanent' SD card. the XO-1 would be "too little" for >> me. > > I agree swap can be very useful. I like swap over network block > device using USB ethernet. The size of the swap can be unlimited (a > sparse file), additional swap spaces can be added as needed, there's > no worry about SD card compatibility, and no worry about endurance of > FLASH in the card or USB drive. Sustainability. > > http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Swap#Swap_to_network_block_device > > -- > James Cameron > http://quozl.linux.org.au/ > ___ >
Re: [Server-devel] Dealing with the disruptions caused by XSCE.
On Thu, Aug 8, 2013 at 1:26 PM, Samuel Greenfeld wrote: > Unfortunately you chose a week to ask this question when many people are on > vacation. > > I will give my personal, non-official response; however as it is wider > issue, server-devel@ likely is not the list this should be discussed on. > > Recently there have been a number of cases where volunteers along with other > companies/parties have either been confused for or interfered with official > representatives of OLPC. This is causing problems with support & sales > where the OLPC Association is trying to send one message, and the other > party, no matter what their intent, is sending another. > > As a result, the mandate has come that we need to be extra clear when > volunteers and other parties are doing something versus someone actually > hired or contracted by OLPC professionally. This is why you might have > noticed templates being added to the XSCE Wiki articles noting that it was > not something OLPC supported or created. > > That being said; I welcome a discussion on how to do this. Although it may > be desired to move purely volunteer-run items into their own area, > personally I do not think we should splinter hosting all over the place. > Samuel and Daniel, Thanks for the clarity. I think this is a reasonable position. It provides legitimacy for olpc (lowercase) projects without implying support or endorsement by OLPC. (uppercase) David > On Thu, Aug 8, 2013 at 3:47 AM, David Farning > wrote: >> >> Over the past couple of days there have been some threads about XSCE >> and OLPC-XS which raised some interesting questions. >> >> The primary impetus for the project was that several of the original >> participants had struggled to deploy and adapt OLPC-XS to meet a >> specific deployments needs. The original School Server design was >> sound. We felt deployments struggled unnecessary with the monolithic >> implementation. The project could improve from a more modular >> implementation. The potential rewards or a rewrite were significant. >> >> However, the risks were just as significant: >> 1. The project could fail for any of a million reasons. That would >> mean wasted work and pilots left with an unsupported server. >> 2. The project could alienated current stakeholders. Several people >> and organizations had become experts at setting up and maintain XS >> systems. A different system would have a negative impact on the value >> of their expertise. >> 3. The project would reduce the value of past investments in XS. >> Several deployments had invested significant amounts of time and money >> on their current systems. A different system would have a negative >> impact on the value of their investment. >> >> As the impact on of XSCE increases, the ecosystem is adapting to these >> changes by adapting, ignoring, or pushing back. These are all rational >> adaptations. Building credibility is an iterative process. The >> responsibility for building the credibility is squarely on the >> shoulders of XSCE to _prove_ that the rewards of working with the >> project are greater than the risks. >> >> This is all pretty straightforward stuff as described by Disruptive >> Innovation theory. >> >> This disruption is particularly evident in the relationship between >> XSCE and OLPC. Long term, XSCE _might_ be valuable to OLPC in their >> role as "The world food bank of education." Short term. in their roles >> as a sustainable business, it is a pain in the ass. What do you say to >> a customer when they ask for features which are still in a unreleased >> version of a community project... which just showed up on their wiki >> one day. >> >> Now that XSCE exists and is a viable project, OLPC will have to make a >> decision; take a wait and see approach, compete with it, or >> collaborate with it. >> >> A first question is should the XSCE wiki remain in a username space at >> wiki.laptop.org ? Should it move to another home? Should it move to >> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XSCE ? or should we wait 3 months and >> revisit the issue? >> >> -- >> David Farning >> Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com >> ___ >> Server-devel mailing list >> Server-devel@lists.laptop.org >> http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > > -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
[Server-devel] Dealing with the disruptions caused by XSCE.
Over the past couple of days there have been some threads about XSCE and OLPC-XS which raised some interesting questions. The primary impetus for the project was that several of the original participants had struggled to deploy and adapt OLPC-XS to meet a specific deployments needs. The original School Server design was sound. We felt deployments struggled unnecessary with the monolithic implementation. The project could improve from a more modular implementation. The potential rewards or a rewrite were significant. However, the risks were just as significant: 1. The project could fail for any of a million reasons. That would mean wasted work and pilots left with an unsupported server. 2. The project could alienated current stakeholders. Several people and organizations had become experts at setting up and maintain XS systems. A different system would have a negative impact on the value of their expertise. 3. The project would reduce the value of past investments in XS. Several deployments had invested significant amounts of time and money on their current systems. A different system would have a negative impact on the value of their investment. As the impact on of XSCE increases, the ecosystem is adapting to these changes by adapting, ignoring, or pushing back. These are all rational adaptations. Building credibility is an iterative process. The responsibility for building the credibility is squarely on the shoulders of XSCE to _prove_ that the rewards of working with the project are greater than the risks. This is all pretty straightforward stuff as described by Disruptive Innovation theory. This disruption is particularly evident in the relationship between XSCE and OLPC. Long term, XSCE _might_ be valuable to OLPC in their role as "The world food bank of education." Short term. in their roles as a sustainable business, it is a pain in the ass. What do you say to a customer when they ask for features which are still in a unreleased version of a community project... which just showed up on their wiki one day. Now that XSCE exists and is a viable project, OLPC will have to make a decision; take a wait and see approach, compete with it, or collaborate with it. A first question is should the XSCE wiki remain in a username space at wiki.laptop.org ? Should it move to another home? Should it move to http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XSCE ? or should we wait 3 months and revisit the issue? -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] XS to become XSCE???
On Tue, Aug 6, 2013 at 8:19 PM, Sameer Verma wrote: > On Tue, Aug 6, 2013 at 6:06 AM, David Farning > wrote: >> On Mon, Aug 5, 2013 at 12:13 AM, Sameer Verma wrote: >>> Just noticed that on >>> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XS_Installing_Software_0.7 it says that >>> stable version is XS 0.7 and unstable is XSCE 0.3 >>> >>> Is this correct? >>> >>> Is XSCE to become XS 0.8? I am all in favor of the two projects >>> merging, but as I understand it, XS and XSCE are two very *different* >>> projects as of now. Some clarification would be great! >> >> This question has many interesting implications! While I don't know >> the answer to your question I do have some more specific follow on >> questions. >> >> Questions about today: >> >> If I am a deployment, large or small, looking to deploy a school >> server, which should I choose? and Why? >> >> If I am a deployment, large or small, looking to make customizations >> to my school server, which 'base' should I choose? Should I upstream >> my customizations or should hold on to them? >> >> If I a contributor looking to help ICT4E move forward, which school >> server should I work on and why? >> >> Questions about the future: >> >> Is the XS feature complete? Does it do everything it can to add value >> to deployments? If there are ways to add more value, is there a plan >> or funding model to support that development? >> >> Is the XSCE feature complete? Does it do everything it can to add >> value to deployments? If there are ways to add more value, is there a >> plan or funding model to support that development? > > It's not that complicated. My original assertion was to be clear about > the roadmap for XS and XSCE. It is now clear that the XSCE project is > not going to be the next XS. Both projects are very different, and > convergence may not be in the best interests of all parties involved. > So be it. Move along. Nothing to see here. > > From my perspective, XS is designed by OLPC to service their projects, > which tend to be larger than microdeployments. XSCE, on the other hand > seems to be driven by smaller LAN size, such as the classroom scenario > promoted by AU, or my India project. > > We use XS 0.7 in Jamaica because it was the only game in town back > then, it runs atop CentOS, and it uses Moodle, which we are not averse > to. It is also tried and tested in many other deployments much larger > than ours, so that's comforting. > > I also use XSCE in India, but for entirely different reasons. I needed > something that was extremely low power. XS 0.6 that ran on a FitPC was > ok, but it pulled 8W. I couldn't move up to XS 0.7, because of a PAE > issue, and didn't have the resources to wrangle with it. The XO 1.75 > as XS running XSCE fits the bill for very low power, although running > atop Fedora does not give me clear upgrade paths. We'll see how > quickly that install gets old. In fact, XS 0.6 was on F9, and suffered > the same fate. Personally, I would prefer the stability of CentOS over > the newness of Fedora. > > Can XS 0.7 serve the features of XSCE? With a bit of work, sure. Can > XSCE serve the stability of XS 0.7? With a little bit of work, sure. > The difference in design is based on a difference in the needs of > various projects. I suspect it is also fueled by a "not invented here" > sentiment. Interesting observations. Can you expound on what you would like to see in XS-0.8 or XSCE-0.5? The XSCE project will start their 0.5 roadmap later this month. Your input is welcome. > While the XS continues to live in the colored box on the wiki as an > "official" offering from OLPC, as I expect it to be, along with the > OLPC images for the XOs (and I hope we hear about the roadmap from the > powers-that-be), I think XSCE needs to grow up and live in its own > space on the wiki as a proper page, and not live in Adam Holt's user > page. It is a community project and it should be treated as such. Let > the deployment pick and choose what they'd like. If living under the > same wiki becomes too contentious, space is cheap! Move some place > else, and while you are at it, please keep the mailing lists open. I > shouldn't have to write a paragraph to Adam and ask permission to be > added to the mailing list. That stifles communication, and if you all > haven't caught on as yet, we are *not* dealing with a technology > problem! This business of building a dozen different server projects > is a people problem. Patches welcome! If it is important to you that the wike move, please take
Re: [Server-devel] XS to become XSCE???
On Mon, Aug 5, 2013 at 12:13 AM, Sameer Verma wrote: > Just noticed that on > http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XS_Installing_Software_0.7 it says that > stable version is XS 0.7 and unstable is XSCE 0.3 > > Is this correct? > > Is XSCE to become XS 0.8? I am all in favor of the two projects > merging, but as I understand it, XS and XSCE are two very *different* > projects as of now. Some clarification would be great! This question has many interesting implications! While I don't know the answer to your question I do have some more specific follow on questions. Questions about today: If I am a deployment, large or small, looking to deploy a school server, which should I choose? and Why? If I am a deployment, large or small, looking to make customizations to my school server, which 'base' should I choose? Should I upstream my customizations or should hold on to them? If I a contributor looking to help ICT4E move forward, which school server should I work on and why? Questions about the future: Is the XS feature complete? Does it do everything it can to add value to deployments? If there are ways to add more value, is there a plan or funding model to support that development? Is the XSCE feature complete? Does it do everything it can to add value to deployments? If there are ways to add more value, is there a plan or funding model to support that development? Questions for OLCP: Are there steps OLPC can do to encourage deployments to fund further development of XS by OLPC developers? Are there steps OLPC can do to encourage direct development of XS by deployments? Would it be effective for OLPC to support and fund future development of XSCE or a product based on XSCE? Would OLPC officially endorse XSCE as supported project? Questions for XSCE: What can XSCE do to ensure that it continues to improve by adding values to deployments with each quarterly release? What can XSCE do to ensure future development viability via community support, deployment support, OLPC support, or support through Activity Central? What steps can XSCE do to ensure that is solid base project for future product offerings by: OLPC-A, XS; OLPC-AU, One Network; Plan Ceibal, ?; OLE-Nepal, ?; Activity Central, Dextrose Server. Immediate questions: Is XSCE overstepping by have its wiki at laptop.org? Should XSCE remain in a user space at laptop.org? Should XCE have its own mailing list at laptop.org? Should it continue the current blend of xsce-de...@googlegroups.com + server-devel@lists.laptop.org ? So I don't know the answer to your original question. These are the questions that come to my mind when I think about the relationship between XS and XSCE and their future :) > cheers, > Sameer > ___ > Server-devel mailing list > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] Centos as a base for sugar-Dextrose? and/or XSCE
On Thu, Aug 1, 2013 at 11:45 AM, Johnny Hughes wrote: > On 08/01/2013 10:55 AM, Thomas Gilliard wrote: >> On 08/01/2013 07:52 AM, Karanbir Singh wrote: >> Hi Guys, >> >> Let me introduce Johnny Hughes Jr to everyone on the olpc server list. >> >> I spoke to him about this thread, and he has shown interest in >> attempting to scope up and then execute the work needed to make this >> happen. Where this = look at sugar, and the gtk stack and attempt the >> backports. >> >> As Walter mentioned Sebastian Dziallas has already done some of the >> work, I have tried to track it down and failed to find anything in a >> bit of google time and looking at Sebastian's fedora pages/work - can >> you please point us in the right direction ? >> > Maybe this? >> > >> http://pkgs.org/centos-6-rhel-6/epel-i386/sugar-0.88.1-1.el6.noarch.rpm.html >> > > That already seems to work on EL6 ... so I assume we need a newer > version or something else. > >> >> If we are able to get this piece of work done, we will try and >> maintain the entire stack from .centos.org if there is value in doing so. >> >> regards >> >> - KB >> >> On 07/28/2013 11:42 PM, David Farning wrote: >> >>> We are mixing our channels abit here. >> >>> >> >>> A Sugar based desktop on CentOS is pretty unlikely. As Peter >> >>> noticed, there are many dependencies necessary for a recent Sugar >> >>> which are not present in CentOS. CentOS intentionally lagges fedora >> >>> by several releases for stability. If someone wanted to do it badly >> >>> enough, it would be possible to backport the fedora 18 GTK stack to >> >>> CentSO >> >>> >> >>> A school server based on CentOS or Ubuntu LTS is more likely. The >> >>> challenge is remaining compatible with XOs. For hardware >> >>> compatibility, a XO requires recent OLPC-OS versions which are >> >>> based on recent fedora version. >> >>> >> >>> The step necessary to make XSCE on CentOS run on _Commodity_X86_ >> >>> hardware are not that great. The problem is that it would require >> >>> maintain a non-XO branch in parallel with the XO compatible >> >>> branch.. Anyone have the time, energy, and flame retardant skin to >> >>> tackle that? :) >> >>> It seems we lost the list somewhere along the way :( Johnny, Thanks for looking into this. > I see that there is a list that discusses XSCE here: > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > > What I do not see is any documentation on any of it and what our targets > are. > > So, there are 2 possible things I see. One is to make sugar work on > CentOS-6. I assume that sugar is what runs on the actual laptop device > ... what kind of device, what kind of architecture, etc. > > Second is to run a server, something called XSCE, on CentOS-6. What > architecture is that and where can I find a version that we need to make > work? You can see the project specifications for the upcoming release at http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Holt/XS_Community_Edition/0.4/Project_Specifications . The project site is at http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Holt/XS_Community_Edition . The git repo is at https://sugardextrose.org/projects/xsce/repository/show?rev=master . One interesting we thing we are working on it rewriting the bash code in XSCE to ansible. ( http://www.ansibleworks.com/ ) Please see the code at https://bitbucket.org/migonzalvar/xsce-playbooks . The goal of the ansible is to see how effective it is to use a provisioning system to maintain multiple branches. As this thread has shown, some deployments want to use XOs running a recent OLPC-OS and others want i386 on CentOS. > Assume I know nothing and help me get up to speed :D > -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] Centos as a base for sugar-Dextrose? and/or XSCE
We are mixing our channels abit here. A Sugar based desktop on CentOS is pretty unlikely. As Peter noticed, there are many dependencies necessary for a recent Sugar which are not present in CentOS. CentOS intentionally lagges fedora by several releases for stability. If someone wanted to do it badly enough, it would be possible to backport the fedora 18 GTK stack to CentSO A school server based on CentOS or Ubuntu LTS is more likely. The challenge is remaining compatible with XOs. For hardware compatibility, a XO requires recent OLPC-OS versions which are based on recent fedora version. The step necessary to make XSCE on CentOS run on _Commodity_X86_ hardware are not that great. The problem is that it would require maintain a non-XO branch in parallel with the XO compatible branch.. Anyone have the time, energy, and flame retardant skin to tackle that? :) On Sun, Jul 28, 2013 at 4:41 PM, Thomas Gilliard wrote: > I am having install problems using the i386 6.4 Centos Live Cd/DVD's. Has > anyone had kernel panics after install finishes and when rebooting? > i7 Laptop with install on USB HD (USB3) > --- > would like to do Both if it is possible. > > But first I would like to setup a USB external HD with centos and install a > schoolserver on it. As a test system. > This could be booted on my system76 i7 laptop (gazelle) using a wired and > wireless connection. > > I have a working install of os885 (11.3.1) on the XO-1.5 Adam lent me for > testing. > > Getting a current Sugar-Desktop (Dextrose?) to run on centos would be great. > The long term stability of centos is very attractive. > > Please contact Peter robinson about the possibilities. He did an initial try > as sugar 0.88.1 on Centos as referenced below. But found that it had too > many missing dependencies. > > Cordially > > Tom Gilliard > Bellingham WA. > #satellit_e on #schoolserver freenode IRC > > On 07/26/2013 06:09 PM, George Hunt wrote: > > If this is referring to whether XSCE will run on centos, that's a different > question that whether sugar-destop will run on centos. > > But maybe I'm responding with insufficient information about the question. > > George > > > On Fri, Jul 26, 2013 at 8:14 PM, Adam Holt wrote: >> >> Jerry, >> Can you help at all here? >> >> >> On Fri, Jul 26, 2013 at 6:10 PM, Thomas Gilliard >> wrote: >>> >>> Adam; >>> >>> Peter Robinson (usually on #fedora-arm) asked me in a PM IRC session >>> today to have you contact him: >>> >>> has anything newer been done on centos sugar-desktop? >>> http://pkgs.org/centos-6-rhel-6/epel-i386/sugar-0.88.1-1.el6.noarch.rpm.html >>> no, we tried it but the dependencies are too old >>> so it was decided it was more pain than it was worth >>> ok that was what I just found: ) >>> yes, I think 0.88 would likely work and it's likely from our >>> attempt but 0.88 is ancient so we should likely just kill it >>> I like the long time stability of centos too bad >>> It has it's uses but unfortunately because sugar is moving >>> quite fast "long term stability" and "needed and wanted features" tend to be >>> mutually exclusive. RHEL-7 (and hence likely Cent-OS 7) will likely be close >>> to supporting what we need for Sugar 1.0 so that might suffice but then >>> I said that with RHEL-6 too >>> I have been playing with schoolserver DX3 and Adam wanted to >>> know if centos might be used but Way over my head I fear >>> ask adam to email me >>> ok >>> if he wants that discussion >>> presumably DX3 is dextrose? >>> yes >>> olpc >>> OK, is it currently fedora based? >>> (I've never used Dextrose) >>> I have tested it in Ubuntu and on my XO-1.5 and as a vdi in >>> VirtualBox >>> not sure what that means >>> >>> http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Ubuntu#Ubuntu_12.04.2_LTS_-_Dextrose_Sugar_Live >>> no, what I mean is the dextrose distro derived from Fedora >>> or something else >>> not what platforms you ran it on >>> looks like fedora >>> OK >>> basically for XO-1.5 1.75 >>> if he's really interested in an educated answer tell him to >>> ping me an email >>> >>> https://sugardextrose.org/projects/dextrose/wiki/Wiki >>> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Holt/XS_Community_Edition >>> >> >> >> >> -- >> Unsung Heroes of OLPC, interviewed live @ http://unleashkids.org ! > > > > ___ > Server-devel mailing list > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
[Server-devel] XSCE Update
It has taken a while to recover from the Sprint in Winnipeg So this week's update is about the some of the independant projects and communities that become part of XSCE. -- Internet in a Box ( http://internet-in-a-box.org/ ) We have heard several references to IIAB in these updates. But what is IIAB? From the website "The device includes Wikipedia in 40 languages, a library of 40,000 e-books, most of the world's open source software and source code, hundreds of hours of instructional videos, and world-wide mapping down to street level." Please see the video on the site for more information. The really clever part of IIAB is how they adapt major sites like openstreetmaps and wikipedia for offline rendering on a low power machine. -- Pathagar ( https://github.com/PathagarBooks/pathagar ) Pathagar is a simple book server which uses the open OPDS Catalog format. For this iteration, we are limiting Pathagar to use as a book server. With your help we can catalog and server other forms of digital media. Pathathgar is clever in that the catalog can be access via a web browser or custom activities like getbooks. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtRvMGEQrI0 ) -- Calibre ( http://calibre-ebook.com/ ) Calibre is a free and open source e-book library management application developed by users of e-books for users of e-books. Whenever teachers talk about elibraries, one of their first questions is how do we set up and curate our library? Calibre is a multiplatform tools which works nicely with OPDS. If you are a teacher looking to help, we could really use a written or video tutorial showing other teachers how to setup and manage their ebook library! -- VillageTelco ( http://villagetelco.org/ ) The Village Telco is an initiative to build low-cost community telephone network hardware and software that can be set up in minutes anywhere in the world. The crossover between a village telephone network and a school or village 'ISP' is surprisingly high. VillageTelco make school setup easier by reducing the need for a onsite network engineer to set up the wireless network. If you, or anyone you know, is involved in a project which might add value to XSCE please let us know so we can have make your work available to students and teachers around the world. Now for the Heartfelt thanks XSCE is a free software project which depends on project like those above who are willing to share their work with the world. Thanks to these project for their willingness to lead from the front. -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] [support-gang] Attempting to upgrade XO 1.5 firmware. Says "activation lease not found"
WOW that is the best... and most concise list I have ever seen for bring a XO back to life. Congrats On Fri, Jul 19, 2013 at 9:49 PM, James Cameron wrote: > Indeed. Here's my checklist for bringing an old XO back to life: > > 1. charge the battery, > > 2. upgrade the firmware, > http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Upgrading_firmware > > 3. disable security, > http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Collection_stick > http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Developer_key > > 4. run the diagnostics, > ok menu > > 4. set the clock, > http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Fix_Clock > > 5. install the operating system, > http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Release_notes > > 6. clean the keyboard, touchpad, and display, > > 7. tighten the screws, check the battery latch, > > 8. test the wireless antenna, > http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Antenna_testing > > Placed on the Wiki: > http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Reuse_checklist > > On Fri, Jul 19, 2013 at 07:29:07PM -0700, Nancie Severs wrote: >> Hi Kevin, Richard, James and all, >> >> You have probably solved this firmware problem already. But for future >> reference I have a suggestion. >> >> When reflashing to one of the newer builds; i.e., 12.1.0 or newer, be sure to >> use a fully charged battery and a plugged in power adapter when reflashing. >> The >> new builds will upgrade the firmware automatically if the battery is fully >> charged. If it is not, during the end of the reflash process it will say >> something like "cannot get new firmware" continuing to update with old >> firmware. If you are not watching the screen you might not see this. >> >> And, I always check the system date and reset it (from the root terminal per >> instructions on the Fix ClockWiki page) before reflashing. That has solved >> the >> "stuck on the grey dots" problem. >> >> Best, >> Nancie >> Nancie Severs >> OLPC Support Volunteer >> ━━━ >> From: James Cameron >> To: "Community Support Volunteers -- who help respond to "help AT >> laptop.org"" >> >> Cc: XS Devel ; Support Gangsters >> >> Sent: Friday, July 19, 2013 7:40 PM >> Subject: Re: [support-gang] Attempting to upgrade XO 1.5 firmware. Says >> "activation lease not found" >> >> On Fri, Jul 19, 2013 at 10:58:45AM -0400, Kevin Cole wrote: >> > Unfixable bug: I'm an idiot, sometimes. >> >> Nah, we're working on it. ;-) >> >> > I don't know if it's typical, but I often find that the USB port on >> > the left side of the screen doesn't seem to work as nicely as the ones >> > on the right. >> > [...] >> > This time less, rushed than yesterday, and armed with suggestions from >> > the list, I tried the same USB thumb drive on the one of the USB ports >> > on the right, and voila: away it went on its reflashing. >> >> There _was_ a problem with older firmware, now fixed, which combined >> with certain USB flash drives (with embedded hubs), would cause them >> not to work in _one_ port on XO-1 or XO-1.5. >> >> Having reflashed to 13.2.0 with external power supplied, that problem >> should have gone. >> >> If not, you may have a damaged USB flash drive or port. >> >> -- >> James Cameron >> http://quozl.linux.org.au/ >> _______ >> 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 > > > -- > James Cameron > http://quozl.linux.org.au/ > ___ > support-gang mailing list > support-g...@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/support-gang -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] XSCE Sprint
I apologize to Tony, George and any others confused by this thread. I am still learning how to balance my various roles and responsibility to the project and ecosystem. In the back ground, Tony and I have been having a separate thread searching for areas of mutual value between XSCE and the deployments he supports. I hope that he and I can continue that discussion and achieve consensus among the various stake holders. In the mean time, we are have this public XSCE thread searching for way to get started. In this case a good implementation strategy seems to be picking high value services and/or content and making it available on XSCE. In this way, Tony and other deployments can pick and chose between the various available content and services to build a stack which meets their needs. The things George was asking about about are three strategic pieces which fill holes in the current XSCE project: 1. epath library system: George is talking about the server side service which distributes the content to students. XSCE is currently working with Pathagar and Internet In a Box. We would like to see what synergy we can achieve by working together. 2. english language content: Our ability to grow XSCE as a project depends on our ability to 'show value' to students, teachers, and deployments. Off line learning content is the single biggest way to show that value. 3. "schools": Once we get beyond content, the single most requested feature is the ability to keep track of the relationships between students, teachers, classrooms, and schools. The learning curve for tools like moodle and schooltool are a barrier to their adoption for many teacher, schools, and deployments. The simple django web app you use looks like a nice step toward meeting classroom management requests without become overwhelming. On Fri, Jul 12, 2013 at 1:24 AM, Tony Anderson wrote: > Hi, > > I think this should be done in the overall context of XSCE as proposed by > David Farning. I think of what I am doing as a system and not as isolated > pieces. The ds-backup is independent because it only addresses backup and > restore of the Journal. However, this is going to become more a system > element as deployments turn to the shared model. It may become moot, if the > community abandons dependence on Sugar. > > Tony > > > On 07/12/2013 03:39 AM, George Hunt wrote: > > Hi Tony, > > When you sent me your ds-backup script to migrate student datastore to the > server based upon the "favorite" star in the journal, I downloaded the olpc > repo, and added your version as a branch, and uploaded it to > https://github.com/georgejhunt/ds-backup/blob/ds_on_xs/client/ds-backup.py. > This is a branch which I called "ds_on_xs", but which could just as easily > be called "tony's ds-backup". > > If you are interested, I'd like to create a repo at github for any of the > following: (can't do everything at once): > > epath library system, > english language content, > schools, a django application to keep track of students and teachers > > And then we can all have access to it and make changes to separate branches, > and contribute to one another's code. If you'd like, you can have your own > github account (they're free), or I can give you shared > access to the repo that we create together at the github.com/georgejhunt > account. > > George > > > On Wed, Jul 10, 2013 at 8:32 AM, Tony Anderson wrote: >> >> Hi, >> >> >> On 07/10/2013 02:07 PM, David Farning wrote: >>>> >>>> Pathagar is based on Django. The digital library on the school servers >>>> in >>>> >Rwanda and Lesotho is based on the same technology but supports any >>>> > item >>>> >with a recognized mime-type. The issue is how to organize the contents >>>> > so >>>> >that it can be easily accessed. >>> >>> Are these open source projects? Can you send links to project code so >>> we can learn from the approach or include it directly >>> in XS? The plugin structure enables us to run multiple libraries. >>> >> Django is open source. I have sent you copies of the scripts with install >> Django. Django is organized by applications - it provides a framework to >> build an application. >> The basic application is called schoolsite (this is sort of a master >> application that handles the interface to Apache and to the other >> applications). The library is handled by the 'library' application. >> >> Essentially the library content is organized into collections. A >> collection is a set of media files (library items), a folder of thumbnails >> (e.g. the first
[Server-devel] XSCE Sprint day 4.
A brief update. George and Jerry made progress getting IIaB to run on the XSCE. It is running, but needs some clean up. Braddock has been a great help. -- Thanks Braddock Santi and Ruben have been testing the new hardware which arrived yesterday. Ubuntu 12.04 runs out of the box. They are trying Fedora 18 to stay consistent with the rest of the XSCE project. -- Thanks Santi and Ruben Tony Anderson of Nepal, Rwanda, and Lesotho fame has set up http://www.karmalearning.com/learn/ to share a subset of the content they have created. We are making progress laying out a road map on how to work more closely. This is exciting. -- Thanks Tony If everything works out, we will try to do as much of the development communication on server-devel. This will help us learn and demonstrate how two existing projects can find point of common interest and collaborate our those common interests without getting too wrapped up in the differences. It is all about the plugin design. If you like a service, turn it on. If you don't like it, don't install it. But we will frown on people telling other that they shouldn't or can't implement a plugin. -- Thanks to everyone who is comeing together to help the project gather the momentue necessary for continued growth. For those folks who want to watch and participate a status page is available at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1blFrHtvl6RaMH37-DhznphaEG9bfWZv4b-wSyhS9vDM/edit -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] XSCE Sprint
Thanks for this thread Creating a place to share and record this knowledge is as important as the code! On Thu, Jul 11, 2013 at 2:49 AM, Tony Anderson wrote: > Hi, > > Thanks again. The laptops are good to go for this school year (12.1.0). I > will be able to work the collection stick problem when I return to the > schools (probably in December). > I'll double check the flash time to check for variability between units. > > At these schools all the laptops are XO-1 or XO1.5. However, I think a > Nandblast facility working across all the models would be very useful for > the start-of-year update. > > Yours, > > Tony > > > On 07/11/2013 09:32 AM, James Cameron wrote: >> >> On Wed, Jul 10, 2013 at 11:07:04AM +0200, Tony Anderson wrote: >>> >>> Hi, >>> >>> Thanks again for this! >>> >>> What I gather is that we should use Nandblast from an XO for >>> reflash. For a time it was not supported for XO-1.5, but my current >>> understanding is that it supported for all versions of XO. >> >> Up to 13.1.0 it is supported on XO-1, XO-1.5 and XO-1.75. >> >> It is fast for XO-1, and quite slow for XO-1.5 and XO-1.75. The >> breakeven point, where I would switch from USB drive to NANDblaster, >> is about five XO-1, and about twenty for XO-1.5 and XO-1.75. >> >> In 13.2.0 it is broken, and I am working on that in ticket #12726, >> hoping to get fixes in before release. Fixes are available for XO-1 >> (Q2F19) and XO-1.5 (Q3C16). XO-1.75 is still a problem. >> >> It was not intended to be supported on XO-4 with the new 802.11n >> wireless card, but so far it looks possible. >> >>> In Lesotho, the flash was taking 15min from boot to reboot for >>> registration. These laptops (XO-1) date from the first G1G1 and so >>> there is no telling about endurance. >> >> That time of 15 minutes is far too long, and should be investigated >> ... if the internal storage is three times slower than when the >> laptops were produced, you will have performance problems. I have >> some old XO-1 units here that have been used by children, and they are >> not showing that symptom. >> >>> Naturally, reload of the Journal occurs via the file system after >>> the flash. Sadly, this is not a current issue because none of the >>> deployments actually use the Journal (e.g. in Lesotho the laptops >>> are shared among several students). >>> >>> The laptops (XO-1.5s) at Saint Jacobs were sponsored by a group in >>> Stuttgart and are not part of the Rwanda purchase. In any case, I >>> believe the information needed for the collection stick is available >>> (serial number and uuid). >> >> If it is already available, get it to me. >> >>> Yours, >>> >>> Tony >>> >>> >>> On 07/10/2013 10:55 AM, James Cameron wrote: >>>> >>>> On Wed, Jul 10, 2013 at 10:11:14AM +0200, Tony Anderson wrote: >>>>> >>>>> The 'locked' XO problem derives from XOs distributed in the minimum >>>>> 100 XO purchase - many of these are locked. Also, in Rwanda the >>>>> policy is to keep the laptops locked even though they have >>>>> indefinite leases. >>>> >>>> Rwanda probably has a deployment key and should be able to sign builds >>>> with it. My guess is that the laptops would also have the deployment >>>> keys injected already. You will need to work with the people who have >>>> the keys. >>>> >>>>> My current plans are to visit these schools in December and so I may >>>>> be able to get them unlocked then. >>>> >>>> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Collection_stick is perfect for this, >>>> provided the deployment did not remove the OLPC keys. >>>> >>>> (I don't have records of what deployments have done). >>>> >>>>> What I would really love is a 'Nandblast' capability in the firmware >>>>> that gets it's image from the schoolserver. That probably would work >>>>> (how does an XO know an image is coming over wifi from an XO or a >>>>> school server?). >>>> >>>> There is no implementation of NANDblaster for the school server, >>>> because it requires special support in the wireless device. A typical >>>> access point will not work. It requires an XO as the sender. >>>> >>>> (NANDblaster is implemented in the fi
Re: [Server-devel] XSCE Sprint
ansible strategy is that it is to update the server > from a mothership, not an XO from the school server. > > >>> >6 - support for GSM modems and wifi dongles on the school server. This >>> > is >>> >minor, but network configuration for this has to be done at the command >>> >line (no gui network manager). More important is a model for 'ET call >>> > home' >>> >for the school server. I believe in our deployments, the internet model >>> > is >>> >going to be more 'batch' jobs than online surfing. We all have >>> > experienced >>> >what happens when 100 users try to share a single DSL line. The school >>> >server will most often be using a DHCP lease from the ISP. >>> > >> >> The "ET call home" need is pretty well covered by openvpn, which has been >> used in India, and Haiti, for remote monitoring and support. The >> configuration of GSM modems seems problematic, because each country, and >> often each provider within a country, requires different "wvdial" (the >> command line auto-dialer) settings. But we can provide better >> documentation, and simple scripts to run every hour to keep the 3g >> connection open, and restart the vpn (virtual Private Network) tunnel when >> it goes down. > > > The ET call home is needed to get the IP address of the school server as > provided by the ISP through DHCP. Once that is available openvpn, scp, ssh, > etc will work. My primary concern is not monitoring but for updating > content, interchanging email, rss feeds, and so on. So the work is less on > how the connection gets established, but what happens after it gets > established. > > I don't think continuous connection is necessary or desirable. Many schools > will pay for internet access by the Megabyte or by connect time (or both). > Therefore, the model should be a call from ET, exchange of pleasantries, and > then disconnect. > >> >>> >7 - default configuration of the second network port with a fixed IP >>> >address would be very handy for support. The idea would to enable an XO >>> > to >>> >connect via a ethernet cable (USB to ethernet at the XO and possibly >>> > also >>> >at the server) to do ssh for rescue. Currently, if the server cannot be >>> >accessed via the router because of DHCP problems, you have to find a >>> >monitor and keyboard to login. >>> > >> >> >> The XSCE attempts to make sure that very early in the install process the >> lan adapter is set to the 172.18.96.1 ip address, and the default admin >> user is available for ssh (secure shell remote connection) , to address >> this issue. >> > > The point here is that the school server architecture has two ports: LAN and > WAN. The WAN is used to access the internet and the LAN to serve the XOs. I > realize that the XSCE community has a model in which the school server is a > peer in the LAN network, but this model is much more complicated to support > and really (IMHO) should be avoided where possible. > > So in this case, what I suggesting is that the default WAN port should be > configured as an emergency SSH access by default and then reconfigured for > the ISP when one is available. The primary use of this port would be when, > for an unknown reason, the DHCP server on the school does not start. This > port would give a wired access by SSH from an XO. A technical quibble, XS is > set up correctly so that remote login as root is not possible. An admin > account is set up and then the user su to root (meaning the user must know > two passwords). > > The LAN port configuration should be fixed (172.18.0.1) with host name > schoolserver and no domain. Even if a school has two schoolservers (e.g. the > Rwanda school with 4000 students), the choice of school server to connect is > made by the router (e.g. schoolnet1, schoolnet2, ...) and so each > schoolserver's LAN setup can be the same. > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> >Frankly, the server software has been quite functional and stable since >>> >XO-0.4. Daniel Drake solved the urgent problem of being dependent on >>> >unsupported software with the move to CentOs in XS-0.7. >>> > >>> > >> >> My hope is that XSCE can approach the stability you speak of in earlier >> versions, (we're not there yet), but be able to combine the contributions >> of many minds, and many people's efforts. >> > One option is to follow Daniel Drake's build based on Fedora Arm > repositories. Abhishek and I were able to do that in Nepal last year. > The goal then was to have a way to build XS-0.7 offline from the internet (a > still necessary capability). The process was not bug-free but Abhishek was > successful. The result would be a stable build (albeit the Fedora ARM > repositories may introduce some issues) with all of the capabilities of > XS-0.7. > > Tony >> >> >>> >Yours, >>> > >>> >Tony >>> > >>> > > > -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
[Server-devel] XSCE Update day 2
We are in the early afternoon of day two here in Gimli. We are still in a camper trailer with limited 3G access. George is suggesting that we turn of the power and try to survive on the trailer's 12 volt battery power The big new is that Aneesh Dogra will be picking up Pathagar ( http://www.olpcsf.org/node/126 ) and beating it into shape. Pathage is a simple book server which is a critical piece of the puzzle. The book server presents a four way question of which came first the chicken or the egg :( 1. Well curated book collections. Unless librarians and teacher know that real live students will be benefiting from their work, it is hard to engage them in curating digital libraries. 2. Working book collection software. Unless hackers know that real live students will be benefiting from their work, it is hard to engage them in writing the software. 3. Publishers support. Unless publishers know that real live students will be benefiting from their catalog, it is hard to engage them in sharing their catalog. 4. Impact on students. Without book collections, book server software, and publisher support, it is hard to have a significant impact. This presents an implement challenge. We can't just say, "Step one done, let's move on to step two." Instead, we iterate back and forth. Adding one brick at a time to build up the four walls. The other technical advance is Jerry's progress on the off line installer. As we saw with David Leeming. Installing MUST just work. If someone wants to try XSCE and the install fails, it is going to be very hard to convince them to try again. Please see the Purchase Funnel at ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purchase_funnel ) Finally, on the community side. We have 10+1 people from around the globe participating in the sprint to make this project a success. A couple of hours ago, during our daily call I thought I was going to lose my mind:) Each sprint the number of people and number of moving parts increases. It can be stressful to trust the culture that we have worked hard to nurture... rather than micromanage and piss everyone off:( -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
[Server-devel] XSCE sprint update day 0 and day 1
We are safely locked away in cabin in Gimli, Manitoba ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli,_Manitoba ) We have been going through a couple days of reflection. Sometimes painful, but always useful. It feels like many of the big technical pieces are coming together. Now, we are in that awkward adolescence phase, more than an idea... by less than a product. We are 80% done... with 80% left to go :) We are talking about where we should go and what we need to do. Navigating the fog of uncertainty. Through all this I am still pretty confident: 1. George is advocating for what he needs in Haiti. - A full turnkey system from power to wireless. A typical micro-deployment. 2. Jerry is advocating for what he needs in Australia. - Thousands of laptops in 100s of schools which are 1000s of kilometers apart. 3. I am advocating for I think the ecosystem needs in a server appliance. Inexpensive, low power, easily maintainable, sane defaults yet configurable. 4. Adam is advocating for the big picture needs of olpc Please join us on this mailing list or IRC #schoolserver to advocate for your deployment or use case. If it feels like your voice is not being heard, patches and clearly define customers specification will have greater effect than all caps :) -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
[Server-devel] XSCE update
This has been another interesting week for the XSCE. Technically -- The biggest advancement as been translating XSCE to Ansible ( http://www.ansibleworks.com/ ) For the past couple of months, George, Jerry, and Tim have been busy modularizing the server into a series of services and plugins. This modularizing has set the stage for the translating XSCE to ansible. As a proof of concept Santi has translated about 25% of the current plugins. Outreach, User Requirements -- AC started a discussion on the value of OpenVPN, remote management, and the need for someone to provide an openVPN server as a service to the community. Several people, especially James, add valuable thoughts to the thread. -- thanks James. Sprint preparations -- The quarterly XSCE ( http://schoolserver.org/ ) sprint kicks off next week in Winnipeg, Canada. Please stay posted for: - Daily email updates on these lists. - Constant chatter on IRC #schoolserver channel. - A daily voice call via skype. Details to follow. - A wrapup unleashkids hangout. Details to follow. A good old fashioned bake off -- In other interesting news, I am hearing an increase in talk about OLPC-AU's One Network project. Maybe we can get some examples of XSCE, OLPC-XS 0.7, One Network, and Dextrose Server together in one place for a bake off :) On a serious note, this is awesome for XSCE. We can: 1. Work like hell to be the best foundation for these projects. The way the linux kernel has become the goto kernel for many downstreams. 2. Try to be fair and balanced so that downstreams collaborate on the common core while competing on value adds. The way android has become the platform of choice for many phone and tablet vendors. -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] [support-gang] Value of remote access to School Servers.
James, As you can see we don't pretend to have all the details worked out :) We hope that this incentive help encourages a public feedback loop between ideas and implementations like this thread. On Wed, Jul 3, 2013 at 4:38 AM, George Hunt wrote: > The central openvpn server would be configured to pass out local > (unroutable in the wider internet) addresses in the 10.0.0.0/8 subnet to > each client. > > There would be one public/private key pair distributed with the XSCE > software distribution, for testing. The server would be configured to > accept multiple conections from the same key pair. Effectively this would > create a "party line', where everyone who had access to the key pair, would > have access to the "party line". Then they would be able to ping all the > other XSCE servers, on the local 10.0.0.0/8 virtual private network > (which is worldwide) -- assuming that the firewalls were set to enable ping > responses. And they could log into any servers on that party line, for > which they had ssh authentication credentials. > > Then, most likely with passwords turned off, deployments could use > public/private key pairs they generate themselves to access their own > servers. > > For an additional level of security, deployments could contact > activitycentral to get their own public/private key pairs, one for each > machine, and a config file which connects to different ports, openvpn > instances, virtual box instances, or whole physical machines. > > At the extreme, a deployment could have it's own virtual private network, > protected by key pairs known only to itself, on it's own machine, running > under lock and key, in its own back room, and then ssh (password or key > pair) connection to each of its machines. > > George > George > > > On Wed, Jul 3, 2013 at 4:36 AM, Anish Mangal wrote: > >> >> >> On Wed, Jul 3, 2013 at 1:54 PM, James Cameron wrote: >> >>> On Wed, Jul 03, 2013 at 12:45:35PM +0530, Anish Mangal wrote: >>> > James wrote: >>> > > Would the person accessing their XSCE remotely then establish >>> > > another tunnel to your OpenVPN server, or would your server do >>> > > inbound connection forwarding? >>> > >>> > Hmm. I'm not so clear on that. I can give the example of a setup in >>> > Bhagmalpur (a pilot we recently did). >>> > >>> > 1. There is an openVPN server hosted by Sameer. >>> > 2. The XSCE when connected to the internet dials into this open vpn >>> >server. >>> >>> Thanks, I understand the first two steps, and they sound good. >>> >>> > 3. I can login to the XSCE through the openVPN connection through >>> >ssh and administer remotely. >>> >>> How is this last step achieved? There's much flexibility, so I'm >>> curious. I imagine one of three methods: >>> >>> a. does the user first SSH into an account on the OpenVPN server and >>> then SSH again to the XSCE, or; >>> >>> b. does the user SSH to a particular port on the OpenVPN server that >>> is automatically forwarded to the XSCE, or; >>> >>> c. does the XSCE have a routable IP address, courtesy of the OpenVPN >>> server, to which SSH is directed? >>> >>> >> I'm not sure... let me explain (perhaps Sameer or Santi can chime in)... >> >> I have a set of openVPN keys on may laptop through which I connect to the >> openVPN server automatically (and a network called tun0 is created) >> >> I know the IP address of the XSCE in Bpur >> >> So, from my laptop, I just do ssh root@> openVPN network> >> >> Does it make things any clearer? >> >> >>> -- >>> James Cameron >>> http://quozl.linux.org.au/ >>> >> >> >> ___ >> support-gang mailing list >> support-g...@lists.laptop.org >> http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/support-gang >> >> > -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
[Server-devel] Value of remote access to School Servers.
One of the features that we have been experimenting with for XSCE is OpenVPN access. Several pilots are using it to remotely monitor and maintain their School Servers. The functionality is pretty straight forward. It opens several doors for future services like automatic updates and statistics collections. The hard part is setting up and maintaining the OpenVPN server. Large deployments will want to setup their own server. Smaller deployments might want someone else to host their OpenVPN server. To kick this off, AC would be willing to host OpenVPN for small deployments for free to deployments willing to test XSCE. Does this free service sound like something anyone is interested in testing? -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] Installing XSCE on XO-1
On Mon, Jul 1, 2013 at 5:56 AM, David Leeming wrote: > Hello, > > > > Can anyone confirm that XSCE 0.3 has been successfully installed on an XO-1? Sadly no. Anna spent many hours of tweaking trying to get a 0.3 to run on a XO-1. But we didn't make it in time for the feature freeze. > If so, the starting point would be installing 31036o0.img (not .zd) onto an > external 8GB+ SD card? > > > > We want to try this here in rural PNG but need to be sure as it is a long > job with the downloading Agreed. There is a git branch for running on the XO-1 that _should_ land in time for 0.4. As soon as it lands, I'll test it and let you know how it works. > Oh yes, we tried to prepare an XO-1 as per the instructions on the wiki > (installing the os on an SD card) but failed at the first step – we can’t > get a developer key for the XO because “activation.laptop.org uses an > invalid security certificate” (Error code > sec_error_expired_issuer_certificate). How can we get the developer key? We > don’t have any unlocked XOs available... (we checked the date/time on the XO > was correct) Any OLPC folks in the room who can help with this? > David Leeming > > Leeming Consulting, P.O. Box 652, Honiara, Solomon Islands > > Tel: +677 747-6396 (m) 24419 (h) > > www.leeming-consulting.com > > > > > ___ > Server-devel mailing list > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
[Server-devel] A quick and valuable way to get involved in the XSCE project.
Is anyone looking for a way to get involved in the XSCE project. A _very_ valuable way is to help us test. We have created a testing page at http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Holt/XS_Community_Edition/0.4/Testing . With a results page at http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Holt/XS_Community_Edition/0.4/Testing/Results It would be great if someone could run through the smoke tests on their XO 1-5, XO 1.75, XO 4, and TrimSlice each time they notice that tested version is older than the newest version at https://sugardextrose.org/projects/xsce/repository and update the results page. We are in a bit of a bind right now... some of the current round of patch are pretty risky. Their is a likely chance of unexpected side effects and breakage. The earlier we detect the breakage, the less code the developers have to search looking for the cause. -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
[Server-devel] XSCE Update
Sorry, the first try went to the wrong list :( Time for the second installment to the XSCE Update. - Deployments- 1. Bhagmalpur, India - http://bhagmalpur.wordpress.com/ . The update to XSCE is complete in Bhagmalpur. It will be interesting to see what Sameer concluded based on the statistics generation system. -- Thanks Sameer and Anish 2. Haiti - http://haitidreams.wordpress.com/ . Haiti was the first 'real world test' for XSCE started a couple of months ago. Many of the ideas for XSCE come from George's and Adam's experiences maintaining the deployment. -- Thanks George and Adam 3. OLPC Australia - https://www.laptop.org.au/ . Much of the planning for XSCE comes from the experience of Jerry, the lead developer of OLPC AU. Jerry lives in Canada while maintaining a 5000 unit deployment which is is the process of expanding to 50,000 XO4s. -- Thanks Jerry 4. Solomon Islands - http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_Solomon_Islands . Working with David has been a great help to the project. For the past couple of weeks, David has been asking a series of questions about testing and deploying XSCE in the Solomon Islands. Many of the questions involve working in a low bandwidth environment. We hope we learn from his questions and can create something which meets his needs. -- Thanks David 5. Dominican Republic - http://olpcdr.wordpress.com/ . Last week Ruben, from OLPC-A, joined the #schoolserver mailing list to ask some questions about deploying XSCE in the Dominican Republic. I hope this is a sign of growing cooperation between OLPC-A and XSCE. -- Thanks Ruben -Development - Santiago started using our new gIt workflow as documented at http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Holt/XS_Community_Edition/0.4/Hacking . We hope the recent modularization and the new workflow will make it easier for deployment to upstream their hard work with needing to understand the entire system. If you are interested in tracking progress please see https://sugardextrose.org/projects/xsce/repository . -- Thanks Santi, Tim, George - What does the SchoolServer Serve? :) - For a general overview of the School Server please see http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Holt/XS_Community_Edition . More specifically, a number of existing projects are working with XSCE to provide their content. XSCE's plug in design allow these projects to easily prepare their project for inclusion in XSCE 1. Internet in a Box - http://internet-in-a-box.org/ . It looks like IIAB will ship as an add on with 0.4 in Sept. -- Thanks Braddock 2. Pathagar. - https://github.com/PathagarBooks/pathagar . Pathagar is a simple book server for making custom libraries available to deployments. Pathagar is interesting because it allow curators to use widely available, cross platform tools such as http://calibre-ebook.com/ to maintain those libraries. -- Thanks Seth As always, please help us met your deployment or project's needs. -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
[Server-devel] Fresh install of xs-config-0.8.4.40.g6050482-1 on 13.1.0 on XO4 fails
Near the end of xs-setup i see the following error Error: Package: active-document-0.1-13.1.noarch(xs-extra) Requires: gevent Then a couple of lines later the install fails with +chown -R named /var/named-xs chown: invalid user: 'named' -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] Testing and comparing wireless setups.
On Mon, Jun 24, 2013 at 6:24 PM, James Cameron wrote: > [Warning: this author is on coffee for the first time in months] > > On Mon, Jun 24, 2013 at 07:14:11AM -0500, David Farning wrote: >> As part of the XSCE, we would like to start offering wireless setup >> guidelines. >> >> Large deployments might be able to afford a site assessment. Small >> deployments are left scratching their heads and making decision on >> anecdotal references. This results in a bottleneck. Smart and >> motivated people are spending time, early in a deployments >> lifecycle, on wireless which means other critical task are left >> undone. >> >> This topic is challenging because it is complex. Every workload is >> different and every electromagnetic environment is different. >> >> My idea is start very simply by assigning a numerical score for >> various wireless devices based on simple criteria like throughput, >> connection count, overheating, and range. My _very_ naive experiences >> are that among consumer grade devices: >> 1. Some devices can handle more connections than others before they >> start dropping connections. >> 2. Some devices can handle higher throughput - Several kids watching >> youtube and me doing a download. >> 3. Some devices overheat and reset more frequently than others. >> 4. Some devices have better range than others. > > I think this is overly simplistic, yet I know a simple heuristic is > what is needed. So I suggest coming at it from a different angle. > >> Does this information seem valuable to deployments? Does the general >> approach seem sane? > > The stack is deep, so deep that anecdote can be inaccurate and > misleading. The phase space has a large number of dimensions. It may > be better to accumulate test reports so that people can form their own > opinions. The test report should include: > > - the wireless access point manufacturer, model, serial number, and > firmware version, > > - the XSCE version, > > - the XO OS version, model, and wireless card, > > - the measured capability of the internet service, in terms of latency > and bandwidth, measured with ping and wget, > > - the number of access points deployed adjacent to the XSCE, > > - the number of XO users active during the test, > > - individual user XO performance observations, in terms of latency, > bandwidth, and packet loss, such as ping, wget, and curl POST, > rolled up into a total performance score in the range 1 to 10. > > Then, abstract from the collection of reports a list of access points, > user counts, and total performance score. Link each line to the > actual report. > > This ensures that the claims the community make about the access > points can be substantiated ... which benefits the community, the > deployers, and the manufacturers of the devices. > > (With enough data, of the order of ten or so reports, the workload and > radiofrequency environment aspects can be reduced in importance. I > think those aspects are better handled by site design guidelines based > on what we find is common to all working deployments.) > > -- > James Cameron > http://quozl.linux.org.au/ James, Let's agree to agree on the type of data that is desirable . Yours is better than mine :) My next question is how do we collect, analyze, and publish that data. IE the organization. Our challenge, as XSCE, is that we don't _currently_ have the knowledge or resources to implement the complete testing you propose. As such, we need to bootstrap the process. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bootstrapping ) As XSCE, we are more likely add value to the ecosystem by breaking the big problem down into a series incremental problems which provide a foundation for understand and solving other problems. Working on this series incrementally enables us to build the credibility to attract additional knowledge and resources to work on the issue. So, to slightly shift the conversation. Is is possible to break down the process of getting your endpoint into a series of series of iterative steps? -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
[Server-devel] Testing and comparing wireless setups.
As part of the XSCE, we would like to start offering wireless setup guidelines. Large deployments might be able to afford a site assessment. Small deployments are left scratching their heads and making decision on anecdotal references. This results in a bottleneck. Smart and motivated people are spending time, early in a deployments lifecycle, on wireless which means other critical task are left undone. This topic is challenging because it is complex. Every workload is different and every electromagnetic environment is different. My idea is start very simply by assigning a numerical score for various wireless devices based on simple criteria like throughput, connection count, overheating, and range. My _very_ naive experiences are that among consumer grade devices: 1. Some devices can handle more connections than others before they start dropping connections. 2. Some devices can handle higher throughput - Several kids watching youtube and me doing a download. 3. Some devices overheat and reset more frequently than others. 4. Some devices have better range than others. Does this information seem valuable to deployments? Does the general approach seem sane? -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
[Server-devel] XSCE Update
I would like to begin by thanking everyone for their support helping make XSCE what it is today. This list has provided inspiration and customer requirements from deployments and deployment support personal, development resources and technical solutions from people who have been work on this type of problems for years, and a steady stream of feedback. Without this support... and the tireless effort of core of dedicated volunteers this project would not be where it is today. If it would be valuable, and not too presumptuous, I would like to share a recurring column on this list called 'XSCE Update' to provide a summary of what is happening in the XSCE project. As a starting point Iike to invite feedback on the 0.4 project specifcation at http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Holt/XS_Community_Edition/0.4/Project_Specifications . While not everyone agrees 100% on the specification or its priorities (after all we are a community of opinionated volunteers), it is a useful common ground for discussion and collaboration. If your School Server needs not met by 0.4 please consider how you can help us meet those needs in future releases. -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] Server Hardware.
Agreed lets call it: Tolerant 12V input. In this information gather phase, I am targeting manufacturers who specialize in automotive and industrial controllers. These folk seem to grok the environmental constraints of School Servers better than traditional server manufacturers who are used to climate controlled equipment rooms :) On Fri, Jun 21, 2013 at 2:40 AM, David Leeming wrote: > DC power input should be 12V and quite tolerant, say 9V - 15V. We have used > two types of fanless e-box; the first needed a 5V DC input and there were a > few embarrassing mistakes, as we were using mainly 12V supplies (solar). The > 15V upper limit is needed as many solar power systems do not have voltage > regulation - only charge regulation. The load voltage floats with the > batteries, commonly to about 14.5V so the device needs to be able to handle > that and shed any heat generated even in hot climates, humid and still air. > > David Leeming > Solomon Islands > > -Original Message- > From: server-devel-boun...@lists.laptop.org > [mailto:server-devel-boun...@lists.laptop.org] On Behalf Of David Farning > Sent: Friday, 21 June 2013 2:22 a.m. > To: server-devel > Subject: [Server-devel] Server Hardware. > > Over the past few months, a number of hardware vendors have expressed > interest in providing server hardware for the XSCE project. > > After working with several deployments, talking to several of you > personally, and reviewing the information on the lists I have a set a > couple of priorities: > > General -- > 0. POTS -- To keep development cost low, the hardware should be > available Plain Off The Shelf. > 1. Self contained -- The most important requirement is that the server > is self contained in a single box. No dongles or external USB devices. > 2. Rugged -- No fans or moving part. Metal case which serves as a heat > sink is preferable. > 3. Low power -- Power consumption is critical in many deployment situations. > 4. 2-3X price of laptop -- This seems to be a generally accepted price > for a school server. > 5. ? > > Specifics -- > 1. Internal harddrive -- Offline content, caching, and backup space is > needed. > 2. Expandable memory -- In many situations the server memory is the > constraint for handling more users 1GB to 4GB? > 3. Dual ethernet connectors -- In many situations the school server > acts as a gateway between classroom LAN and the internet WAN. > 4. USB ports -- The ability to connect USB devices is critical. > 5. ? > > Would be cool -- > 1. Internal battery -- ... > 2. Any other thoughts? > > -- > David Farning > Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com > _______ > Server-devel mailing list > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > > > -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
[Server-devel] Server Hardware.
Over the past few months, a number of hardware vendors have expressed interest in providing server hardware for the XSCE project. After working with several deployments, talking to several of you personally, and reviewing the information on the lists I have a set a couple of priorities: General -- 0. POTS -- To keep development cost low, the hardware should be available Plain Off The Shelf. 1. Self contained -- The most important requirement is that the server is self contained in a single box. No dongles or external USB devices. 2. Rugged -- No fans or moving part. Metal case which serves as a heat sink is preferable. 3. Low power -- Power consumption is critical in many deployment situations. 4. 2-3X price of laptop -- This seems to be a generally accepted price for a school server. 5. ? Specifics -- 1. Internal harddrive -- Offline content, caching, and backup space is needed. 2. Expandable memory -- In many situations the server memory is the constraint for handling more users 1GB to 4GB? 3. Dual ethernet connectors -- In many situations the school server acts as a gateway between classroom LAN and the internet WAN. 4. USB ports -- The ability to connect USB devices is critical. 5. ? Would be cool -- 1. Internal battery -- ... 2. Any other thoughts? -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] Best XSCE strategy for us in Pacific with XO-1.5 2GB Testing XSCE 3 on XO 1.5 2GB os855
On Mon, Jun 17, 2013 at 3:12 PM, David Leeming wrote: > In the Pacific Islands we have at least couple of recent deployments. I have > been helping in the Solomons with a 200 XO deployment sponsored by a > regional bank. They only received the shipment some weeks ago. In Fiji a few > months ago, Ian Thomson supervised a larger deployment with the Ministry of > Education and a regional university (USP). It seems that in both cases, we > have been shipped XO-1.5s with only 2GB installed with release 11.3.1. I do > not know the history of that. This is a common situation. This initial purchase price seems daunting so initial decision makers cut cost by purchasing 'lite' versions for hardware without fully realizing that initial purchase seems to near about 33% of the total cost per laptop when spread across the life of the device. Your milage may vary but 33% of the cost is a reasonable starting point for budget makers as the deployment grows and you can share fixed expenses across more and more units. > This is causing us a lot of headaches. The Journals become full as there is > less than 100MB free space out of the box. There are work arounds but it’s > less than optimal. We can delete Wikipedia-ES that gives us an extra 100MB, > but then as we want to add our own favourite Activities that are not > included in the release, we end up with the same issue. It’s a problem for > children and teachers, even if they are taught to manage their Journals – I > imagine it would be disruptive in class. This is a interesting situation where the XSCE can really help. We have been UY has been deploy an version of Sugar which uses Webdav. With Webdev on on both the server and the client it allows users to treat the XSCE as personal cloud storage. While it may not be optimal it will provide the user experience of more space while connected. > The above is really not an issue for this particular list but it is relevant > because we would really like to experiment with XCSE, which requires release > 13.1.0 as the starting point. Now we see that we can’t install 13.1.0 on the > internal drive because the os image is too large (see attached). We > understand that if we want the XOs to be upgradable, we can increase the > internal memory but (a) it would take 100+ hours to do so on all the several > hundred XOs, and (b) we understand that the compatibility of cards can be an > issue, even within the same brand. +1 I would start by adding an internal SD card to the machines you intend to use as servers. > The option of installing it on an external SD card is interesting, and I am > going to try that. However, we want to add content storage too – so we’ll > need a 32GB or 64GB card. Would be interested to know if anyone has tried > with such a sized card. If we can do that, and have the content stored on > the same card, it would be the best solution for us. Bhagmalpur is using a 64GB external SSD. My Sameer could explain the reason for the decision. > The reason we are so interested in the XSCE is because it means the schools > would not depend on a single non-XO machine for the school server. We would > want a solution where it’s easy to swap if something goes wrong. These > schools are very remote, and it will not possible to download large amounts > of data during installs etc, neither do they have sustainable technical > skills on hand. I agree, inventory management seems to be the best argument in favor of XOs as School Servers. As the deployment grows special purpose hardware seems to be start looking better. > For these reasons the XSCE on a bootable external memory card is the best > strategy. As long as (a) we can use a 64GB card to include our content > storage and (b) that it will boot on any XO-1.5 2GB machine without any > preparation. To whet your appetite, the team at XSCE has started talking to hardware vendors about special purpose school servers. In July George, Jerry, and Adam will have a first prototype on hand for the July sprint in Winnipeg :) > David Leeming > > Solomon Islands > > > > From: David Leeming [mailto:da...@leeming-consulting.com] > Sent: Monday, 17 June 2013 8:58 p.m. > To: 'George Hunt'; 'David Farning' > Cc: 'Jerry Vonau'; 'server-devel' > Subject: RE: [Server-devel] Testing XSCE 3 on XO 1.5 2GB os855 > > > > Still trying to set up my XO-1.5 2GB ready for XSCE, which as per advice > requires the 13.1.0 release as starting point. > > > > I downloaded the 13.1.0 files as per > > > > http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Release_notes/13.1.0#XO-1.5 > > > > 31036o1.zd > > 31036o1.zd.zsp.fs1.zip > > > > Copied to a newly formatted 1GB USB stick, and checked the zd file md5sum > matched > > Renamed the zip to fs1.z
Re: [Server-devel] Testing XSCE 3 on XO 1.5 2GB os855
Yikes, you are having some bad luck with this install. Thanks for your patience. I looks like the 1.5 "lite" does not have enough space for the 13.1.0 image. You will need almost an 8gb hard disk in order to proceed with the installation. If the internal hard disk is less than that, you can use a sdcard to install the system, check the following instructions:http://activitycentral.com/community/news/installing-os-sd-card . We are adding this note to the install page. On Mon, Jun 17, 2013 at 4:57 AM, David Leeming wrote: > Still trying to set up my XO-1.5 2GB ready for XSCE, which as per advice > requires the 13.1.0 release as starting point. > > > > I downloaded the 13.1.0 files as per > > > > http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Release_notes/13.1.0#XO-1.5 > > > > 31036o1.zd > > 31036o1.zd.zsp.fs1.zip > > > > Copied to a newly formatted 1GB USB stick, and checked the zd file md5sum > matched > > Renamed the zip to fs1.zip > > > > Tried it: > > > > Fails as per attached. Renaming the fs1.zip as fs.zip makes no difference. > > > > Tried on a 2GB stick, also reformatted. No luck. Firmware seems OK. > > > > Something I am missing about the 2GB version of the XO-1.5 ??? > > > > David Leeming > > > > From: George Hunt [mailto:georgejh...@gmail.com] > > Sent: Friday, 14 June 2013 8:41 p.m. > To: David Farning > Cc: David Leeming; Jerry Vonau; server-devel > Subject: Re: [Server-devel] Testing XSCE 3 on XO 1.5 2GB os855 > > > > There were kernel problems with 11.3.1 which kept us from getting the XO-1.5 > to become an XSCE. It was only with the 13.1.0 release, that we were able > to get the network adapters to work properly after a reboot. > > > > So I'm afraid that everyone will save a lot of time, and pain, in the long > run, if the install procedure is followed exactly. > (http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Holt/XS_Community_Edition/0.3/Installing) > > > > We were not able to test adequately the offline install for subsequent XSCE > installations to have it be part of the 0.3 release. But for situations > where internet access is slow, and expensive, it is possible to use a USB > stick to transfer the rpm packages contained in the /var/yum/cache from the > first XSCE to the next one, and greatly speed up the install process. (And > if you leave a USB stick in the XSCE, during the first install, it is our > intention, and design, that the /var/yum/cache will be copied to that USB > stick during the install process on that first machine -- and then used > automatically on a subsequent install) > > > > George > > > > On Thu, Jun 13, 2013 at 10:31 PM, David Farning > wrote: > > Hmm, that is an interesting point that we kind of took for granted. > > Our goal with the 'reference' hardware and software is to provide a > known set of stuff which 'just works.' While other hardware, software, > and features might work... they have not been tested. > > Maybe george or jerry have a good answer for you. > > At the risk of carbon dating myself... I grew up in the era where my > nerdy friends and I drooled over the pages of 'Computer Shopper' for a > 9.6 kbit/s modem. Auto Resume for stalled downloads was a life saver:) > > Now, for simplicity, our testing involves reflashing everything to get > back to a known state. As you point out, that is probably not the best > assumption for low bandwidth areas. > > On Thu, Jun 13, 2013 at 8:36 PM, David Leeming > wrote: >> Sorry just realised the XO is only installed with 11.3.1 (os855) >> >> >> >> However, is it still possible to work around? It’s not easy or cheap to >> download the os file. >> >> >> >> David >> >> >> >> From: David Leeming [mailto:da...@leeming-consulting.com] >> Sent: Friday, 14 June 2013 12:28 p.m. >> To: 'server-devel' >> Subject: Testing XSCE 3 on XO 1.5 2GB os855 >> >> >> >> Testing XSCE 3 on XO 1.5 2GB os855 >> >> >> >> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Holt/XS_Community_Edition/0.3/Installing >> >> >> >> I get as far as step 13, after the SD card (I am testing with an 8GB card) >> successfully configures. >> >> >> >> When I enter “bootstrap-xo” is replies >> >> >> >> Not an XO please run ‘xs-config’ >> >> >> >> Tried to do that but >> >> >> >> xs-config: command not found >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> David Leeming >> >> Solomon Islands >> >> >> >> >> ___ >> Server-devel mailing list >> Server-devel@lists.laptop.org >> http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel >> > > > > -- > David Farning > Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com > > -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] Testing XSCE 3 on XO 1.5 2GB os855
Sorry. I was not clear. I was blending your good 'customer requirement' into a team discussion that started months ago about stable vs development code and documentation :) All the documentation for 0.4 (devel/unstable) is available at http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Holt/XS_Community_Edition/0.4 . I meant to suggest that we add the USB install information as a clause to http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Holt/XS_Community_Edition/0.4/Installing . That way, the information would be publically available to lead users like you without implying that it is guaranteed to work. Welcome to the bleeding edge. On Fri, Jun 14, 2013 at 7:14 PM, David Leeming wrote: > OK ... but can you give me a preview, I will test it and give feedback > > David > > > -Original Message- > From: David Farning [mailto:dfarn...@activitycentral.com] > Sent: Saturday, 15 June 2013 10:34 a.m. > To: David Leeming > Cc: George Hunt; Jerry Vonau; server-devel > Subject: Re: [Server-devel] Testing XSCE 3 on XO 1.5 2GB os855 > > Let's add it to the 0.4 install section since it has not passed anna's > QA for 0.3. > > Seem reasonable? > > On Fri, Jun 14, 2013 at 5:10 PM, David Leeming > wrote: >> Hi George >> >> >> >> It’s a great job the XSCE team has done and good thinking on the offline >> install. >> >> >> >> – would it be possible to add step by step instructions on using the yum >> cache for a subsequent offline install, to the wiki please? >> >> >> >> David >> >> >> >> From: George Hunt [mailto:georgejh...@gmail.com] >> Sent: Friday, 14 June 2013 8:41 p.m. >> To: David Farning >> Cc: David Leeming; Jerry Vonau; server-devel >> Subject: Re: [Server-devel] Testing XSCE 3 on XO 1.5 2GB os855 >> >> >> >> There were kernel problems with 11.3.1 which kept us from getting the XO-1.5 >> to become an XSCE. It was only with the 13.1.0 release, that we were able >> to get the network adapters to work properly after a reboot. >> >> >> >> So I'm afraid that everyone will save a lot of time, and pain, in the long >> run, if the install procedure is followed exactly. >> (http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Holt/XS_Community_Edition/0.3/Installing) >> >> >> >> We were not able to test adequately the offline install for subsequent XSCE >> installations to have it be part of the 0.3 release. But for situations >> where internet access is slow, and expensive, it is possible to use a USB >> stick to transfer the rpm packages contained in the /var/yum/cache from the >> first XSCE to the next one, and greatly speed up the install process. (And >> if you leave a USB stick in the XSCE, during the first install, it is our >> intention, and design, that the /var/yum/cache will be copied to that USB >> stick during the install process on that first machine -- and then used >> automatically on a subsequent install) >> >> >> >> George >> >> >> >> On Thu, Jun 13, 2013 at 10:31 PM, David Farning >> wrote: >> >> Hmm, that is an interesting point that we kind of took for granted. >> >> Our goal with the 'reference' hardware and software is to provide a >> known set of stuff which 'just works.' While other hardware, software, >> and features might work... they have not been tested. >> >> Maybe george or jerry have a good answer for you. >> >> At the risk of carbon dating myself... I grew up in the era where my >> nerdy friends and I drooled over the pages of 'Computer Shopper' for a >> 9.6 kbit/s modem. Auto Resume for stalled downloads was a life saver:) >> >> Now, for simplicity, our testing involves reflashing everything to get >> back to a known state. As you point out, that is probably not the best >> assumption for low bandwidth areas. >> >> On Thu, Jun 13, 2013 at 8:36 PM, David Leeming >> wrote: >>> Sorry just realised the XO is only installed with 11.3.1 (os855) >>> >>> >>> >>> However, is it still possible to work around? It’s not easy or cheap to >>> download the os file. >>> >>> >>> >>> David >>> >>> >>> >>> From: David Leeming [mailto:da...@leeming-consulting.com] >>> Sent: Friday, 14 June 2013 12:28 p.m. >>> To: 'server-devel' >>> Subject: Testing XSCE 3 on XO 1.5 2GB os855 >>> >>> >>> >>> Testing XSCE 3 on XO 1.5 2GB os855 >>> >>> >>> >>> http://wiki.laptop.org/
Re: [Server-devel] Testing XSCE 3 on XO 1.5 2GB os855
Let's add it to the 0.4 install section since it has not passed anna's QA for 0.3. Seem reasonable? On Fri, Jun 14, 2013 at 5:10 PM, David Leeming wrote: > Hi George > > > > It’s a great job the XSCE team has done and good thinking on the offline > install. > > > > – would it be possible to add step by step instructions on using the yum > cache for a subsequent offline install, to the wiki please? > > > > David > > > > From: George Hunt [mailto:georgejh...@gmail.com] > Sent: Friday, 14 June 2013 8:41 p.m. > To: David Farning > Cc: David Leeming; Jerry Vonau; server-devel > Subject: Re: [Server-devel] Testing XSCE 3 on XO 1.5 2GB os855 > > > > There were kernel problems with 11.3.1 which kept us from getting the XO-1.5 > to become an XSCE. It was only with the 13.1.0 release, that we were able > to get the network adapters to work properly after a reboot. > > > > So I'm afraid that everyone will save a lot of time, and pain, in the long > run, if the install procedure is followed exactly. > (http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Holt/XS_Community_Edition/0.3/Installing) > > > > We were not able to test adequately the offline install for subsequent XSCE > installations to have it be part of the 0.3 release. But for situations > where internet access is slow, and expensive, it is possible to use a USB > stick to transfer the rpm packages contained in the /var/yum/cache from the > first XSCE to the next one, and greatly speed up the install process. (And > if you leave a USB stick in the XSCE, during the first install, it is our > intention, and design, that the /var/yum/cache will be copied to that USB > stick during the install process on that first machine -- and then used > automatically on a subsequent install) > > > > George > > > > On Thu, Jun 13, 2013 at 10:31 PM, David Farning > wrote: > > Hmm, that is an interesting point that we kind of took for granted. > > Our goal with the 'reference' hardware and software is to provide a > known set of stuff which 'just works.' While other hardware, software, > and features might work... they have not been tested. > > Maybe george or jerry have a good answer for you. > > At the risk of carbon dating myself... I grew up in the era where my > nerdy friends and I drooled over the pages of 'Computer Shopper' for a > 9.6 kbit/s modem. Auto Resume for stalled downloads was a life saver:) > > Now, for simplicity, our testing involves reflashing everything to get > back to a known state. As you point out, that is probably not the best > assumption for low bandwidth areas. > > On Thu, Jun 13, 2013 at 8:36 PM, David Leeming > wrote: >> Sorry just realised the XO is only installed with 11.3.1 (os855) >> >> >> >> However, is it still possible to work around? It’s not easy or cheap to >> download the os file. >> >> >> >> David >> >> >> >> From: David Leeming [mailto:da...@leeming-consulting.com] >> Sent: Friday, 14 June 2013 12:28 p.m. >> To: 'server-devel' >> Subject: Testing XSCE 3 on XO 1.5 2GB os855 >> >> >> >> Testing XSCE 3 on XO 1.5 2GB os855 >> >> >> >> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Holt/XS_Community_Edition/0.3/Installing >> >> >> >> I get as far as step 13, after the SD card (I am testing with an 8GB card) >> successfully configures. >> >> >> >> When I enter “bootstrap-xo” is replies >> >> >> >> Not an XO please run ‘xs-config’ >> >> >> >> Tried to do that but >> >> >> >> xs-config: command not found >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> David Leeming >> >> Solomon Islands >> >> >> >> >> ___ >> Server-devel mailing list >> Server-devel@lists.laptop.org >> http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel >> > > > > -- > David Farning > Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com > > -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] Testing XSCE 3 on XO 1.5 2GB os855
Hmm, that is an interesting point that we kind of took for granted. Our goal with the 'reference' hardware and software is to provide a known set of stuff which 'just works.' While other hardware, software, and features might work... they have not been tested. Maybe george or jerry have a good answer for you. At the risk of carbon dating myself... I grew up in the era where my nerdy friends and I drooled over the pages of 'Computer Shopper' for a 9.6 kbit/s modem. Auto Resume for stalled downloads was a life saver:) Now, for simplicity, our testing involves reflashing everything to get back to a known state. As you point out, that is probably not the best assumption for low bandwidth areas. On Thu, Jun 13, 2013 at 8:36 PM, David Leeming wrote: > Sorry just realised the XO is only installed with 11.3.1 (os855) > > > > However, is it still possible to work around? It’s not easy or cheap to > download the os file. > > > > David > > > > From: David Leeming [mailto:da...@leeming-consulting.com] > Sent: Friday, 14 June 2013 12:28 p.m. > To: 'server-devel' > Subject: Testing XSCE 3 on XO 1.5 2GB os855 > > > > Testing XSCE 3 on XO 1.5 2GB os855 > > > > http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Holt/XS_Community_Edition/0.3/Installing > > > > I get as far as step 13, after the SD card (I am testing with an 8GB card) > successfully configures. > > > > When I enter “bootstrap-xo” is replies > > > > Not an XO please run ‘xs-config’ > > > > Tried to do that but > > > > xs-config: command not found > > > > > > > > David Leeming > > Solomon Islands > > > > > ___ > Server-devel mailing list > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] ANNOUNCEMENT XSCE 0.3 Final Release
On Tue, Jun 11, 2013 at 9:36 PM, David Leeming wrote: > This is very exciting. I am just starting on a 200 XO 1.5 deployment in > Solomon Islands and will give this a whirl. > > ** ** > > We have XO 1.5s with only 2GB onboard. Is that enough? > Yes, XO 1.5s with 2GB are enough to provide the basic intra school connectivity and internet access for an entire school. > I have seen the wiki pages and will work on that but if there are any > tips, I will be watching this list, of course I will give my feedback too. > > > ** ** > > I particularly want to use the 30GB of content that the Pacific islands > jointly collected together (mostly OERs). The way we did this on the XS 0.7 > was to put the content folders in /library and set up aliases in html.conf > and then add links “to resource or website” on the Moodle pages. Can I > assume I can do the same with XSCE 0.3 using a 32GB or 64GB SDRAM card? > External storage gets a bit more tricky... but not much :) SDcards should 'just work' with XSCE 0.3. On installation the XSCE will auto detect the SD card and make that space available. George, Jerry, and Tim are still sorting out the external hard drive issues. I think they "work" in 0.3. Because you can get unexpected results if the usb connection is bumped and disconnected at unfortunate times, it did not make it to 'tested.' ** > > To install, is it possible to down the image and install with a flash > drive? Then I can get the download from one of the few places here where we > can get a decent download speed, and install more than one at my leisure. > > > ** > Then recommend install process is at http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Holt/XS_Community_Edition/0.3/Installing . Jerry is working on offline install... Again I think it works, just not tested enough to be considered 'release quality' for 0.3. My prefered install method is to run a XSCE as part of my work network. Then when I do installs, the necessary files are stored on the school server squid cache. The first one is slow, but the rest are pretty snappy :) Dave > *David Leeming* > > Solomon Islands > > ** ** > > *From:* server-devel-boun...@lists.laptop.org [mailto: > server-devel-boun...@lists.laptop.org] *On Behalf Of *George Hunt > *Sent:* Friday, 7 June 2013 11:07 a.m. > > *To:* Community Support Volunteers -- who help respond to help AT > laptop.org > *Cc:* Support Gangsters; server-devel; Testing; IAEP SugarLabs; > de...@laptop.org > *Subject:* [Server-devel] ANNOUNCEMENT XSCE 0.3 Final Release > > ** ** > > After three months of hard work and three weeks of working out the > kinks in the release process, XSCE 0.3 is ready for its final release. *** > * > > ** ** > > We went conservative this release. Emphasis on stability meant less time > for new features. > > ** ** > > * XSCE now runs on the XO-1.5,XO-1.75 and XO-4. > > * Modular Architecture: cleanly integrate extendable services. > > * XSCE runs on the XOs' current OS 13.1.0 (we discovered some wrinkles > with 13.2.0 which push its use off to the next release) > > * Moodle is Back! > > * Content filtering via openDNS.com > > * Script for formatting of SD cards, and integration into system for > content storage and memory extending swap file (does not work on XO4's)*** > * > > ** ** > > > > Grab an XO-1.5, XO-1.75 or a XO-4 to give XSCE 0.3 give a whirl: > > ** ** > > http://schoolserver.org/0.3 > > ** ** > > If you are just getting started with XSCE we suggest using the instruction > at http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Holt/XS_Community_Edition/0.3/Installingto > install your first server. > > > ** ** > > Once you are through the install, a good second step is to work your new > server though it’s paces by doing the smoke test at > http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Holt/XS_Community_Edition/0.3/Testing > > ** ** > > Monster thanks to everyone who spent months of springtime work -- > traveling days from quite different parts of North America to make this > community product real. > > ** ** > > George Hunt > > > ___ > support-gang mailing list > support-g...@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/support-gang > > ** ** > > ___ > Server-devel mailing list > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > > -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] Specific server hardware needs.
On Mon, Jun 10, 2013 at 9:38 AM, Tony Anderson wrote: > Hi, > > The Trim-slice model H (with room for a 2.5" hard drive) looks like a good > candidate for a low power school server (e.g. for running from a 12v > battery). The Trim-slice AC adapter delivers 12v@1.5 - a good sign. Agreed. The ability to power these things from a 'car battery' is critical. I used the term car battery loosely to mean any locally sourced 12v power source. In my limited experience, the cell phone has been a game changer in developing nations. Because of the need/desire to recharge cell phones. Local entrepreneurs have sprung up everywhere to provide the ability to recharge those phones. Most of those solutions involve some sort of 12V battery or bank or batteries plus charging system. Things like UPSs give me pause because they are not as widely available or widely under. The Trim-slice also has a SD card slot. This could be valuable because > it would let the device be booted from the SD card and install the XS > via a USB port (USB drive or hard drive) from a tar ball, for example. > > Currently I do the install in two steps: XS and XC. > > The XS install loads XS (or XSCE). > > The XC install (using the usbmount script) installs the > content (e.g. Moodle courses, Learn courses, library, internet in a box). > This is also a way to install packages not included in XS such as Django > and Mediawiki. > > The first is typically done with a USB drive and the second with an > external USB hard drive (content currently exceeds 64GB and should grow > significantly this summer). > > Tony > > Using the SD card could give several benefits: > > SD card supports SSH allowing (finally) for headless (in the field) install > > Install XS to hard drive as image eliminating issues with making bootable > USB drive > > Install update without repartitioning system and destroying content > > It might also be possible to use the SD card as a 'rescue disk'. Most > common case is DHCP does > not init and so no network connection to school server is possible.This > would at least allow look at logs to see what went wrong. > Thanks for the use scenarios. Dave > Checking this out is one of my summer projects. > > Tony > > -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] [support-gang] ANNOUNCEMENT XSCE 0.3 Final Release
T.K., Can you ping me off list with your specific needs. I'll try to make sure your needs are meet in the next couple of releases. I have tried pinging you off list... but get get bounce notices On Thu, Jun 6, 2013 at 9:05 PM, wrote: > Good news indeed and my appreciation to all the hard work the XSCE team > have put into. > > I recently installed R2 on SD a card for XO 1.75 (512 Mib) with 3 APs. It > seems to be working fine with 30 XO-1s connected via different AP. > Registration went well, ejabberdctl displayed registered users, moodle > work, backup work. So I am a happy end-user waiting to see it deployed in > the wild soon! > > T.K. Kang > > > > >-Original Message- > >From: George Hunt [mailto:georgejh...@gmail.com] > >Sent: Friday, June 7, 2013 08:07 AM > >To: 'Community Support Volunteers -- who help respond to help AT > laptop.org' > >Cc: 'Support Gangsters', 'server-devel', 'Testing', 'IAEP SugarLabs', > de...@laptop.org > >Subject: [support-gang] ANNOUNCEMENT XSCE 0.3 Final Release > > > >After three months of hard work and three weeks of working out the > >kinks in the release process, XSCE 0.3 is ready for its final release. > > > >We went conservative this release. Emphasis on stability meant less time > >for new features. > > > > > >* XSCE now runs on the XO-1.5,XO-1.75 and XO-4. > > > >* Modular Architecture: cleanly integrate extendable services. > > > >* XSCE runs on the XOs' current OS 13.1.0 (we discovered some wrinkles > with > >13.2.0 which push its use off to the next release) > > > >* Moodle is Back! > > > >* Content filtering via openDNS.com > > > >* Script for formatting of SD cards, and integration into system for > >content storage and memory extending swap file (does not work on XO4's) > > > > > > > >Grab an XO-1.5, XO-1.75 or a XO-4 to give XSCE 0.3 give a whirl: > > > >http://schoolserver.org/0.3 > > > >If you are just getting started with XSCE we suggest using the instruction > >at > http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Holt/XS_Community_Edition/0.3/Installingto > >install your first server. > > > >Once you are through the install, a good second step is to work your new > >server though it’s paces by doing the smoke test at > >http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Holt/XS_Community_Edition/0.3/Testing > > > > > >Monster thanks to everyone who spent months of springtime work -- > traveling > >days from quite different parts of North America to make this community > >product real. > > > >George Hunt > > > >___ > >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 > -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] Pathagar
On Wed, Jun 5, 2013 at 12:17 PM, Sameer Verma wrote: > On Wed, Jun 5, 2013 at 1:42 AM, Tony Anderson > wrote: > > Hi, > > > > When I looked at Pathagar originally, it only worked when connected to > the > > internet. Has this changed? > > > > It works on any interface, as long as you can get to it from the XO or > any other laptop. The books are preloaded within Pathagar and the > onboard sqlite database + django powers the rest. The OPDS catalog and > pages are available via a browser or via ReadBooks activity. The ones > we sent to Madagascar last week are on Marvell DreamPlugs running WLAN > side, disconnected from the Internet. Whenever someone does connect > the DreamPlug (via Ethernet) to the Internet in Madagascar, it sets up > a OpenVPN connection for us to be able to get back in and push > book/media updates via rsync. > > You can try it out by grabing a VM here: > http://www.olpcsf.org/pathagar > > The VM expects to get an IP address via DHCP over a bridged interface. > > > What can Pathagar store? Is it limited to pdfs? As I remember, it created > > database entries with extensive (library standard) cataloging > information. > > It can store any file format, I suppose. I've tried audio and video > successfully. Minimal entries are the file itself, title, and author, > I think. You can add a whole bunch of other info if available. These > are: description, tags, language, publisher, rights ,ISBN, etc. If I understood Seth Woodworth correctly, he intends to emphasize books in the short to midterm. This will enable him to focus on an awesome bookserver rather than get bogged down in full blown digital library. This allow curation teams, either deployment or remote, to start working a curation best practices. Phase two hopefully in Q3 2013, probably in Q1 2014, will focus on the broader issue of a 'digital library.' It will be useful to have the experience of running an end to end (curation to delivery) bookserver under our belts before we tackle the larger problem of 'digital library.' We would love to build on your experience with e-pustakalaya as we look at the issues around a digital library. > Is that still required? In many cases, that information is not easily > > available (e.g. multimedia items). > > > Not required. Optional. > > cheers, > Sameer > > > Tony > > ___ > Server-devel mailing list > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] Re: A Path to Pathagar.
This is where things get fun and interesting! We have tried to set Pathagar, Internet-in-a-Box, and other services up for community success on XSCE: 1. Loosely coupled -- The plugin structure means that Pathagar and IIAB need to know very little about XSCE and nothing about each other. 2. COTS -- Commercial off-the-shelf. Both projects are primarily developed outside of the XSCE project by independent groups. This reduces the development and maintenance on XSCE community members. 3. Complementary -- In this phase it appears that IIAB excels at 'the scrape.' IIAB collects large amounts of data from the wild internet and makes it available offline. The Pathagar projects looks like it will focus on tightly curated collections for specific deployments. 4. Competitive -- Even though they start by working on opposite ends of problem space, they overlap. Hopefully, by building on these principles we can nurture/encourage both project to thrive on their own and as components of XSCE. I'm curious how Pathagar may be applicable to our Internet-in-a-Box ( http://internet-in-a-box.org). Can it scale to the 40,000 epub books in Project Gutenberg? thanks, Braddock Gaskill On 06/04/2013 01:46 PM, David Farning wrote: One of the additions to XSCE 0.3 is the ability to add services to XSCE without having an intimate knowledge of the entire server. Our first real test of this is the inclusion of Pathagar as a bookserver. For the last three releases the XSCE project has focused on the basics: 1. Network connectivity within the classroom. 2. Internet access were available. 3. Modular structure. This has been the boring framework stuff which will enable the fun user facing stuff like Pathagar to work. Pathagar is a simple bookserver. In this case, simple means rugged and maintainable. Pathagar has three purposes; browse, search and download digital books from a server. In the basic use case a librarian or curator places digital books in a directory on the server. Students can then browse, search and download from their web browser or bookreader software. Technically, most of the pieces are in place: 1. I believe the XSCE needs a bit more work handle external storage. (Not barfing if the USB connection is bumped.) 2. Pathagar is fully functional. The remaining steps will be to: 1. Validate Fedora packaging. 2. Create the glue code to add Pathagar to XSCE is a plugin. 3. Validate loosely coordinated release. 4. Test, test, test. Technically this seems pretty straight forward. The more open ended issues is curating content. A book server with no books is as useful as school server which doesn't serve. -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing listServer-devel@lists.laptop.orghttp://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
[Server-devel] A Path to Pathagar.
One of the additions to XSCE 0.3 is the ability to add services to XSCE without having an intimate knowledge of the entire server. Our first real test of this is the inclusion of Pathagar as a bookserver. For the last three releases the XSCE project has focused on the basics: 1. Network connectivity within the classroom. 2. Internet access were available. 3. Modular structure. This has been the boring framework stuff which will enable the fun user facing stuff like Pathagar to work. Pathagar is a simple bookserver. In this case, simple means rugged and maintainable. Pathagar has three purposes; browse, search and download digital books from a server. In the basic use case a librarian or curator places digital books in a directory on the server. Students can then browse, search and download from their web browser or bookreader software. Technically, most of the pieces are in place: 1. I believe the XSCE needs a bit more work handle external storage. (Not barfing if the USB connection is bumped.) 2. Pathagar is fully functional. The remaining steps will be to: 1. Validate Fedora packaging. 2. Create the glue code to add Pathagar to XSCE is a plugin. 3. Validate loosely coordinated release. 4. Test, test, test. Technically this seems pretty straight forward. The more open ended issues is curating content. A book server with no books is as useful as school server which doesn't serve. -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] 12 Volt power system for School Servers.
Thanks guys, I'll start playing tonight. On Wed, May 29, 2013 at 5:48 PM, Sameer Verma wrote: > On Wed, May 29, 2013 at 3:26 PM, James Cameron wrote: > > On Wed, May 29, 2013 at 04:51:47PM -0500, David Farning wrote: > >> Any thoughts on powering the AP? > > > > They are all different. > > > > Yep. The one we use in Bhagmalpur (India) and in Jamaica is the > Ubiquiti Picostation2 unit that runs off a PoE injector. Ours run off > 110/220V AC, but an AP that can run over 48V PoE can use a DC-to-DC > PoE unit to power it from a 12V battery source. > > cheers, > Sameer > > > First, select an AP that says it has a 12V input. > > > > I would record the voltage without load emitted by the power supply > > supplied by the manufacturer. This is a known maximum voltage that > > the AP can take. > > > > Then I would record the voltage on load. This is a known minimum > > voltage. > > > > Then I would record the input voltage specifications of the access > > point using the manufacturer's documentation. This is usually a > > typical voltage, but sometimes they include a maximum or minimum. If > > there was no documentation, I'd ask them, though perhaps with no great > > expectation of success. > > > > Taking the minimum and maximum of those three values, I'd compare them > > to the lead-acid battery charge cycle operating range of 10V to 15V. > > > > If there remains any doubt (e.g. they haven't specified a maximum), I > > would attach the AP to a variable power supply and gradually ramp it > > up to 15V, checking for sudden drop of current (a blown fuse), or > > excessive operating heat. > > > > Once I'm happy, I would cut the cable as far from the device as > > possible, and reterminate it there. Before cutting, I would discharge > > the power supply capacitors ... saves wear and tear on wire cutters. > > > > If the AP was USB powered Wifi dongle, the problem goes away. > > > > -- > > James Cameron > > http://quozl.linux.org.au/ > > ___ > > Server-devel mailing list > > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > > > > > -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] 12 Volt power system for School Servers.
Thanks james, Any thoughts on powering the AP? On Wed, May 29, 2013 at 4:45 PM, James Cameron wrote: > On Wed, May 29, 2013 at 04:38:06PM -0500, Jerry Vonau wrote: > > Is the inverter really needed for a XO? The step-down transformer used > > on the XO puts out 13.5v but the XOs only need 11 volts to charge[1]. > > Therefore I believe you could run and/or charge the XOs directly from a > > 12v source like a storage battery, perhaps though a regulator. I just > > don't want to cut the cord off of a working power supply to find > > out. > > Cut the cord about 20cm from the power supply, and fit a screw > terminal, so the cord can be reassembled if needed. > > Yes, the XO will safely run direct from any 12V lead-acid storage > battery. The battery will not permit the voltage to exceed what the > XO can accept. > > (It isn't technically a step-down transformer, but a switch-mode power > supply, but no matter.) > > -- > James Cameron > http://quozl.linux.org.au/ > -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] 12 Volt power system for School Servers.
The piece I am looking at is reducing the losses between the battery and the server/AP. Several systems have a 12V Battery which is inverted to 120AC which is then transformed back to low voltage DC for input to the server/AP. That doesn't seem very efficient. Dave On Wed, May 29, 2013 at 3:29 PM, Sameer Verma wrote: > On Wed, May 29, 2013 at 1:03 PM, David Farning > wrote: > > Tony could you share more information about your work on 12 Volt power > > supplies for School Servers? > > > > Whenever I see a School Server setup containing a 12V Battery, an > inverter, > > a power strip, and a couple of 120V to 12V power supplies to provide > power > > for the server and the AP... my eyes start to tear up:( > > > > The situation I am looking at has power part of the day so we can > recharge > > the battery. To keep things simple we would like to use a Trimslice or > XO-4 > > and off the shelf AP. > > > > Ideally we would like to have 'kit' that contained everything except that > > battery that can be set up and tested before arriving at the deployment. > > > > Thanks > > > > -- > > David Farning > > Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com > > > > ___ > > Server-devel mailing list > > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > > > > What about an off-the-shelf SoHo UPS unit? > > cheers, > Sameer > -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
[Server-devel] 12 Volt power system for School Servers.
Tony could you share more information about your work on 12 Volt power supplies for School Servers? Whenever I see a School Server setup containing a 12V Battery, an inverter, a power strip, and a couple of 120V to 12V power supplies to provide power for the server and the AP... my eyes start to tear up:( The situation I am looking at has power part of the day so we can recharge the battery. To keep things simple we would like to use a Trimslice or XO-4 and off the shelf AP. Ideally we would like to have 'kit' that contained everything except that battery that can be set up and tested before arriving at the deployment. Thanks -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] XSCE 0.3
XSCE:( Could you help with this. > >>NEW IN 0.4 -- Service: Internet in Box > Purpose: Provide offline content > Provider: ??? > [edit] Future Features and Objectives > > I hope to have the opportunity to work with 'Internet in a Box' this > summer. Possibly, XS could be installed on the Seagate device. Possibly, > the content on the Seagate could be added to the school server. > +1 We are working with braddock on this. He has done some very clever work! The seagate device does not have the processor or memory to handle the XSCE load. Hopefully we can help braddock provide IIAB on XSCE within the next three months. > >>Content curation (beyond dumping stuff into Apache directories) > I am not sure I understand what is meant here. Certainly the deployment is > responsible for curating the content on the school server. > This one of the edges we are exploring. I tend to lean towards your point of view that content is the deployments side of the problem But there are tools we can provide to make that curation easier. > Khan Academy > > Currently installed at the schools I am servicing, including the > exercises. There are 40 topics for primary school (through pre-algebra). > There is some difficulties. The videos can be converted to ogv at > considerable expense in computer time (ffmpeg2theora). Alternatively, mp4 > and mp3 capability can be added to the XOs. The videos and exercises are > licensed under Creative Commons. However, the student profile is not. This > means an alternative must be developed. > > [edit] Future services > > Please consider adding features and objectives to this list if you feel > they should be included in a future release. If you consider the feature > important and are willing and able to do the necessary work please sign > your name to take responsibility for that service. > > Note: Daniel Drake has provided an effective mechanism to add capabilities > to the server via 'usbmount'. MediaWiki can be added by a simple script > (the only tricky part is adapting to pgsql). Wiki4Schools is also > available. Django was added in the same way. > > There are some capabilities that would be very desirable: > > 1. Email. This requires an email client on the XO (there have been some > attempts to build such a activity, e.g. Gmail.activity). The email system > should operate locally among the registered XOs as well as batch-forward > and receive email via usb key from a local internet cafe or from a periodic > connection via gsm. The system should also provide mailing lists (e.g. > school computer club). > > 2. Printer. The ability to attach a printer to the school server. XOs > should be able to put printable items in a print queue. The school > administration should be able to select which items are to be printed (ink > and paper cost $). Having print drivers on the XO should not be required. > > 3. Portable Journal. In the Lesotho schools, there are not enough XOs for > one to be permanently assigned to a student or teacher. Even in a true OLPC > environment, laptops at home will be used by family members. > There should be a login facility to identify users. Separate datastores > should be kept for each user. The datastore backup should backup up by > user, not serial-number. The Journal should enable a logged-in user to load > his/her Journal from the school server (metadata) and documents as needed. > This facility should certainly support changing laptop assignment (e.g. > when the user's laptop needs repair). > > 4. Wiki collaboration. The school server in general assumes that it is > provided by an external deployment and that it will not be modified by the > clients (except for the Journal). There should be a means for students and > teachers to create collaborative documents, Wiki-style. > Perhaps this can be done by setting up a local wiki in mediawiki. Perhaps, > something like Tiddly-wiki or etherpad would be useful. > > The school server provides services. There can never be a definitive > specification of those services. At least, the above are my thoughts at the > moment. Thanks for the feedback. Would you mind installing 0.3 on a trimeslice or x86 piece of hardware and providing more feedback on issues you face? You time spent on the coalface makes you feedback particularly valuable to us. thanks -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
[Server-devel] Inviting your suggestions for XSCE 0.4
As many of you know, there has been a growing interest in expanding the School Server project. The dedicated and loyal volunteers from the School Server Community Edition [1] have been working hard to turn this interest into a deployable implementation. Over the last couple of months the project has been quietly focusing on the basics: 1. A stable, extensible code base. 2. A stable, reproducible release process. 3. Establishing mutually beneficial relationships with up and down streams. In light of all the turbulence in the ecosystem, the XSCE project made the conscious decision to keep communication tight. As a project, we now feel we are mature enough to operate more openly in the ecosystem. Let's be honest, the server-devel list is not for the faint of heart. :) As a starting point, I would like to encourage interested people to look at the Project Specification [2] to see if it looks like XSCE will meet their School Sever needs. The Project Specification is not necessarily a definitive document about what XSCE 0.4 is or what it will include. It is a focus point around which all of us will various goals can agree are important and achievable with our existing time and resources. Please let us know either on this thread or by editing the wiki what you think is important and what you are will to work on. 1. http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Holt/XS_Community_Edition 2. http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Holt/XS_Community_Edition/0.4/Project_Specifications Dave -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] XS Community Edition 0.3 (Release Candidate 1)
On Mon, May 20, 2013 at 4:29 AM, wrote: > Some XSCE Release 1 testing outcomes. Some happy news. > > 1. Registration went OK for 12.1, 13.1 on XO-1.75, Soas-Fedora17 and > Dextrose3 (XO-1) > > 2. Autologin works for all of them into Moodle > (http://schoolserver.local/moodle). > > 3. /usr/bin/ds-backup.sh works for 12.1, 13.1 (new patch applied). New files > seen in the /library/users/ > > 4. Not sure what is needed for SoAS (is there a ds-backup.sh file?) or > Dextrose3 (Bld 96 Dextrose International). In Dextrose always get Failed > Error - Call Process: [None] when I click on the Journal Backup/Restore > commands. This might be related to fedora only allowing SU to ping. Jerry or george might have a better idea of that issue. > 5. As usual clicking on the "backup" on Moodle gives the "This user has no > backup data yet (or data compatbility) ". Will this ever work ? Restore will probably land in 0.4. However the degree of moodle and backup/restore integration is still an open question. Thanks for testing and the valuable feedback. >>-Original Message- >>From: David Farning [mailto:dfarn...@activitycentral.com] >>Sent: Monday, May 20, 2013 02:49 PM >>To: tkk...@nurturingasia.com >>Cc: 'Adam Holt', 'server-devel' >>Subject: Re: [Server-devel] XS Community Edition 0.3 (Release Candidate 1) >> >>Do you have one of the early 1.75 models? I get a similar install >>glitch on one of my early 1.75s. Somewhere near the end of the install >>the screen goes blank if I haven't poked the touchpad lately. >> >>Would you mind filing a bug about the moodle login at >>https://sugardextrose.org/projects/xsce/issues ? >> >>It will be our first public bug reported to the project :) After hours >>and hours working late into the night and talking to each other We >>will finally have feedback from a potential user! >> >> >>On Mon, May 20, 2013 at 1:36 AM, wrote: >>> Great work. I installed the XSCE on a Class 10 SD card today to run on a >>> XO1.75. Still get a blank screen towards the end of the installation. >>> Connection seems working well so far. Manage to connect a bunch of XO to >>> test. Tested two registration and was able to autologin to Moodle on OS >>> 12.1.0 but not on a 13.1.0. >>> >>> Thanks for all the hardwork. Looking forward to new features. >>> >>>>-Original Message- >>>>From: Adam Holt [mailto:h...@laptop.org] >>>>Sent: Thursday, May 16, 2013 11:48 AM >>>>To: server-devel@lists.laptop.org, i...@lists.sugarlabs.org, >>>>test...@lists.laptop.org, de...@laptop.org, support-g...@laptop.org >>>>Subject: [Server-devel] XS Community Edition 0.3 (Release Candidate 1) >>>> >>>>A big thank you to anyone who can test RC1, almost three months after >>>>XSCE 0.2 -- we now have big changes for all to try out with the >>>>imminent XSCE 0.3: >>>> >>>> * XSCE runs on XOs' brand new OLPC OS 13.1.0, >>>> thanks to XSCE's fast migration from Fedora 17 to 18 these past weeks >>>> * XSCE now runs on XO-4 and XO-1.5, in addition to the its XO-1.75 >>>> origins--with x86 & x64 testing just now beginning in earnest. >>>> Highly experimental XO-1 functionality now proven, tho NOT advised! >>>> * Auto-recognition and mounting of USB hard drives >>>> * Modular Architecture: cleanly integrate extendable services, >>>> perhaps soon including http://internet-in-a-box.org >>>> successfully tested this wkd: http://schoolserver.org/0.3/IIAB >>>> * Full offline installs possible going forward: >>>> set up your own USB memory stick installer. >>>> Compare To: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OS_Builder >>>> * Moodle is Back! >>>> * Content filtering via openDNS.com and dansguardian.org >>>> >>>>So grab an old XO-1.5 or similar and give XSCE 0.3 RC1 give these >>>>earnest/sleep-deprived volunteers' offering a whirl: >>>> >>>> http://schoolserver.org/0.3 >>>> >>>>Many people would LOVE to hear your feedback testing the above before >>>>final release just a couple weeks away! Til then, these little guys >>>>rock (TM, iLoveMyXO.com !) Monster thanks to the folks whose >>>>months of springtime work went into this imminent accomplishment-- >>>>traveling days from quite different parts of North America to make >>>>this communi
Re: [Server-devel] XS Community Edition 0.3 (Release Candidate 1)
Do you have one of the early 1.75 models? I get a similar install glitch on one of my early 1.75s. Somewhere near the end of the install the screen goes blank if I haven't poked the touchpad lately. Would you mind filing a bug about the moodle login at https://sugardextrose.org/projects/xsce/issues ? It will be our first public bug reported to the project :) After hours and hours working late into the night and talking to each other We will finally have feedback from a potential user! On Mon, May 20, 2013 at 1:36 AM, wrote: > Great work. I installed the XSCE on a Class 10 SD card today to run on a > XO1.75. Still get a blank screen towards the end of the installation. > Connection seems working well so far. Manage to connect a bunch of XO to > test. Tested two registration and was able to autologin to Moodle on OS > 12.1.0 but not on a 13.1.0. > > Thanks for all the hardwork. Looking forward to new features. > >>-Original Message- >>From: Adam Holt [mailto:h...@laptop.org] >>Sent: Thursday, May 16, 2013 11:48 AM >>To: server-devel@lists.laptop.org, i...@lists.sugarlabs.org, >>test...@lists.laptop.org, de...@laptop.org, support-g...@laptop.org >>Subject: [Server-devel] XS Community Edition 0.3 (Release Candidate 1) >> >>A big thank you to anyone who can test RC1, almost three months after >>XSCE 0.2 -- we now have big changes for all to try out with the >>imminent XSCE 0.3: >> >> * XSCE runs on XOs' brand new OLPC OS 13.1.0, >> thanks to XSCE's fast migration from Fedora 17 to 18 these past weeks >> * XSCE now runs on XO-4 and XO-1.5, in addition to the its XO-1.75 >> origins--with x86 & x64 testing just now beginning in earnest. >> Highly experimental XO-1 functionality now proven, tho NOT advised! >> * Auto-recognition and mounting of USB hard drives >> * Modular Architecture: cleanly integrate extendable services, >> perhaps soon including http://internet-in-a-box.org >> successfully tested this wkd: http://schoolserver.org/0.3/IIAB >> * Full offline installs possible going forward: >> set up your own USB memory stick installer. >> Compare To: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OS_Builder >> * Moodle is Back! >> * Content filtering via openDNS.com and dansguardian.org >> >>So grab an old XO-1.5 or similar and give XSCE 0.3 RC1 give these >>earnest/sleep-deprived volunteers' offering a whirl: >> >> http://schoolserver.org/0.3 >> >>Many people would LOVE to hear your feedback testing the above before >>final release just a couple weeks away! Til then, these little guys >>rock (TM, iLoveMyXO.com !) Monster thanks to the folks whose >>months of springtime work went into this imminent accomplishment-- >>traveling days from quite different parts of North America to make >>this community product real. >> >>With photos for those who missed Toronto's hard-driving volunteer >>sprint in person: http://haitiDreams.org and http://planet.laptop.org >>Finally, read more about this humble little community all contributors >>are welcome to join at: >> >> http://schoolserver.org >> >>Lastly. for the real art contest? We could really use a logo/design >>if any artistically-inclined volunteer can contribute visual >>inspiration(s) -- embracing the Open Education Movement we hope >>will be unleashed by "offline cloud" schoolserver-like technologies! >> >>-- >>Helps kids everywhere map their world, at http://olpcMAP.net >> >>___ >>Server-devel mailing list >>Server-devel@lists.laptop.org >>http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel >> > > > ___ > Server-devel mailing list > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] help us finalize XS Community Edition version 0.3
On Sat, May 11, 2013 at 9:20 PM, wrote: > Great to see the hive of activity to get this out stable and usable with > features. I tried two installation on a XO 1.75 and they went smoothly - not > sure why on 2 occassions the XOs went "blank/dark" before reaching final > stage that installation is successful. I believe that it is related to power management. > Would try XO 1.0 and 1.5 and 1.75 (with a fast SD card instead) later. Don't > have XO-4 for testing :-( > > Any good suggestion as to what external USB would fit well for external > storage as I am getting one 1TB soon? Any USB hard drive should work Jerry is currently working on it. The logic to detect and use the hard drive as available space for core services is not yet complete. Hopefully tomorrow. > Also what about supporting plug & play AP access with a USB Wireless N USB > Adaptor? I had a RPi with 16G Khan Academy and wireless assess on a cheap > Adaptor is a breeze. Would love to have less wires - minus the USB-Ethernet > adaptor and cables into an external AP. Ideally this will be possible. Due to our limited resource we are focusing on the know and well understood platforms of XO-1.75, XO-4, XO-1.5, XO-1. for 0.3. Hopefully for 0.4 RPi will be an option. The best way to make hardware happen is to send a few (or a few buck) to volunteers to purchase and develop/test on your hardware of choice :) > Pity I could not join for chat. My best wishes to you all hackers! > > Cheers > >>-Original Message- >>From: Holt [mailto:h...@laptop.org] >>Sent: Sunday, May 12, 2013 04:17 AM >>To: 'XS Devel', 'Testing', 'Support Gangsters' >>Subject: Re: [Server-devel] help us finalize XS Community Edition version 0.3 >> >>On 5/11/2013 1:40 PM, Richard A. Smith wrote: >>> On 05/10/2013 05:10 PM, Holt wrote: >>> >>>> Now we're getting towards the halfway point of our community's 4th Hack >>>> Sprint outside Toronto here ( photos @ >>>> http://haitidreams.wordpress.com/2013/05/09/school-server-community-edition-toronto-hack-sprint-begins/ >>>> >>>> ) hoping for testers across XO-1 (maybe!), XO-1.5, XO-1.75 and XO-4 -- >>>> as things become much more reliable in coming weeks. >>> >>> I've got XO-4s. I can test with. I'll be happy to try it if things >>> are far enough along. >> >>Thanks Richard and All joining our community calls today from several >>continents: >> >>While many XSCE installs have worked on XO-1.75 and XO-4 today, rigorous >>testing is precisely what we need! Start here and please tell us your >>own needs en route: >> >> http://schoolserver.org/0.3 >> >>Caveat: XO-1 and XO-1.5 installs definitely now work "in the lab" (with >>some rough edges on XO-1 naturally) but truthfullly can't be supported >>until more testers hopefully appear =) >> >>Great news is we're currently ahead of scheduled in our projected >>timeline here: >> >> May 8th to 13 Sprint Toronto >> May 13 Feature Freeze and alpha release >> May 19 beta release >> May 26 Final release >> >>/Huge thanks to the many talented volunteers making the big trek >>traveling multiple days to reach Toronto from around North America!!/ >> >>-- >>Help kids everywhere map their world, at http://olpcMAP.net ! >> >> > > > ___ > Server-devel mailing list > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] Re: ds-backup
This brings up the interesting issue of basing the XS-CE on a long term release. I have trying to sit on my hands for these discussion to see how they play out. I am pulled between two sides Stability -- Servers need to be inherently stable. Especially when we work at the scale that exists in large deployment. This seems to implies that something like CentOS would be the preferred OS. The added benefit is that we don't expend too many of our limited resources chasing upstream. New Hardware -- The other side of the coin is the desire to run on new hardware such as the XO4 or RaspberryPI. One of the ways long term releases achieve stability is letting new ideas and new drivers 'bake' in frequent release OS's like fedora. I wish I had a good answer to this. Dave On Wed, Apr 17, 2013 at 5:00 AM, George Hunt wrote: > Your analysis conforms with my experience. When I tried to carry mod_python > over into FC18, it conflicted with apache. I didn't spend much time thinking > about carrying apache along. > > I'm sort of looking forward to debugging my new version of ds-backup server, > which uses mod_wsgi. It seems like a relatively localized change. > > George > > > On Tue, Apr 16, 2013 at 6:24 PM, Daniel Drake wrote: >> >> On Fri, Apr 5, 2013 at 3:16 PM, George Hunt wrote: >> > Hi Daniel, >> > >> > I noticed that you were working on ds-backup recently. I was trying to >> > get >> > XSCE running on fc18, and encountered the issue of fedora dropping >> > mod-python (see https://fedorahosted.org/rel-eng/ticket/5165). >> > >> > Is it ok to just carry the fc17 version along in our repo, and try to >> > see if >> > it just works, or should we set a goal of rewriting to mod_wsgi? >> >> Carrying along an old mod_python might be tricky, I think F18 has a >> new apache version with some incompatibilities. >> >> I would port it to wsgi. >> >> Daniel > > -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] XS Community Edition 0.3 sprint in Toronto May 8-13
More information on XS-CE sprint is available at http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Holt/XS_Community_Edition/0.3 . The project specification is available at http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Holt/XS_Community_Edition/0.3/Project_Specifications provide some expectations about what is realistic to expect given the size and expericen of the current team. If you think the specifica is missing critical features please let and us know so that we can work your contributions into this or future releases. The road map is available at http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Holt/XS_Community_Edition/0.3/Road_Map . If you are interested in participating please consider joining for our weekly conference call or at the face to face sprint in Toronto. On Thu, Apr 4, 2013 at 5:05 PM, Holt wrote: > FYI our http://schoolserver.org community will be meeting as we do bimonthly > near Toronto May 8-13, this time finalizing XSCE version 0.3, which we hope > will enter code freeze / testing on Monday May 13th. > > The focus is active software engineering contributors and testers -- with > details evolving in coming weeks here: > > http://schoolserver.org > > If you'd like to become an active contributor to this project, we invite you > to contribute on the above mailing lists in any way you can, and then to > join our weekly Thursday evening voice calls, thanks! > > -- > Help kids everywhere map their world, at http://olpcMAP.net ! > -- David Farning Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] [OLPC-AU] Host AP on XO-1.75 and XO-3
On Wed, Oct 5, 2011 at 7:09 AM, Kevin Gordon wrote: > > > On Wed, Oct 5, 2011 at 4:25 AM, Peter Robinson wrote: >> >> On Wed, Oct 5, 2011 at 8:51 AM, Sridhar Dhanapalan >> wrote: >> > Just wondering whether the XO-1.75 and XO-3 will be capable of hosting >> > a wireless network. >> > >> > I'm asking because we are interested in using an XO as a lightweight XS >> > server. >> >> The XO 1.75 uses the exact same wifi module as the 1.5 so the >> functionality is the same, and so you'll be able to on the 1.75, >> there's still discussion on the OS for the 3.0 but then I'm not sure >> how usable a tablet would be as a server anyway. > > If I could be so bold as to posit to the community: I'm not sure whether > the request as stated, and answer as given, is actually the case, in an > out-of-the box, especially if you have a mixed XO environment. If by > acting as an AP, you mean appearing on the neighbourhood view as an AP, and > not a peer, and then providing a shared internet connection, in my > experience, that really isn't provided by a vanilla install of the XO > software, even on the 1.5. Please see http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Sugar_Server_Kit for more information on the software that will be running on the school/classroom server. The Sugar Server Kit modularized the existing OLPC-XS and provides a community level 'tool kit' for creating a school or classroom level servers. The Sugar Server Kit " Provide a split between the community level project (Sugar Server Kit) and any number of downstream solutions based on the community project. This should stimulate the downstream community to contribute to this upstream community project, facilitating reuse of its experience in all other downstreams; Treat the community project as a collection of useful tools, created and supported by community contributors, that might be composed into a final deployment solution on purpose, i.e., Sugar Server Kit is not an OS or a final solution, but rather a bunch of tools that might be launched on any major GNU/Linux distribution at the deployment level. And because some of these tools might be implemented in several ways, it should make the acceptance process of new features by upstream more flexible; The whole system should be as reliable as possible. Thus, the community project will provide a decent testing environment (several levels of automatic and human driven tests at the top level), which might be used not only for Sugar Server Kit itself, but for deployment solutions as well. " david > Once all the XO buddies (XO 1 and 1.5) atttach to a 'real' AP, all machines > on that AP can see each other, and get out to the Internet through the AP's > running as a router. In the other case, in a mixed XO1 and XO1.5 > environment where everyone attaches to a single XO 1.5 on the ad-hoc > network, without some custom routing entries, I can't see it providing a > shared internet connection. Not to say it cant be done, but I haven't found > it to work that way out of the box. > > So, I guess it depends on what you mean by 'using an XO as a lightweight XS > server', and whether you will install your own O/S and a subset of the > existing XS code on the 1.75, pretty much like you would have too to on > the1.5 to get it to act like a real AP and router and server. Putting a > wireless router an AP in the middle with a default route to another XO on a > separate subnet running some XS server code that in turn connects out maybe > the USB ethernet port to the WAN might work. Without some real router > protocols active, hairpinning issues will also arise if you try to just hook > back to the same subnet. > > So bottom line (unless I'm way out of the loop in ancient history - which > sometimes happens) , is that from what Peter is saying, if you already have > an acceptable infrastucture which is currently working on an XO 1.5, then > there is no reason for it not to work on a 1.75. However it would be my > prediction that if you were hoping to have a vanilla XO 1.75 now run as a > WAP, that may still not be as simple as you want. > > Cheers > > KG > > > > > >> >> Peter >> ___ >> Devel mailing list >> de...@lists.laptop.org >> http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/devel > > > ___ > OLPC-AU mailing list > olpc...@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/olpc-au > > ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] [Dextrose] [Sugar-devel] Sugar Server project initiation announce
> -Original Message- > From: Martin Langhoff [mailto:martin.langh...@gmail.com] > Sent: Friday, June 10, 2011 11:46 PM > To: David Farning > Cc: Aleksey Lim; server-devel@lists.laptop.org; sugar-de...@lists.sugarlabs.org; > olpc...@lists.laptop.org; dextr...@lists.sugarlabs.org > Subject: Re: [Dextrose] [Sugar-devel] Sugar Server project initiation announce > > On Fri, Jun 10, 2011 at 10:44 PM, David Farning > wrote: > > You are 100% correct in these criticisms and concerns about Activity > > Central. We are a new company working in a new market. Failures and > mistakes are inevitable. > > If you have been hurt by those mistakes, I apologize and accept full > > responsibility for them. > > Hi David! Look -- thanks for being so frank and open. Past it the past, and I've > made mistakes aplenty myself. What I was trying to say > was: you seem to be doing the same thing again. Like now. I mean -- today. > > How 'bout taking a slightly different tack? You just posted last week about cookie > licking, which if you think about it... that perhaps applies to those big Ubuntu > announcements last year for example. > Perhaps could apply to this server thing -- we don't know yet. As I said, I frankly > hope I am wrong. > > Anyway -- of course there may be business reasons for your forking. Happens. > > It's just that on the "working with the existing project", the score isn't looking too > good. I mean -- Aleksey subscribed to the xs-devel list, and his first message there > was the opener of this thread. > > Classic. Based on Aleksey's past history of making good technical decisions, producing good implementations based on his designs, and his ability to work effectively with the existing community, I believe that what he produces will be a net gain for the Sugar/olpc ecosystem. As such, AC has given him the freedom to spend the next 6 months working on the server project. The technical decisions of how Aleksey solves the problem are separate from the business decisions of where Activity Central allocates its developer resources david ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] [Dextrose] [Sugar-devel] Sugar Server project initiation announce
> -Original Message- > From: dextrose-boun...@lists.sugarlabs.org [mailto:dextrose- > boun...@lists.sugarlabs.org] On Behalf Of Martin Langhoff > Sent: Friday, June 10, 2011 1:09 PM > To: Aleksey Lim > Cc: server-devel@lists.laptop.org; sugar-de...@lists.sugarlabs.org; olpc- > a...@lists.laptop.org; dextr...@lists.sugarlabs.org > Subject: Re: [Dextrose] [Sugar-devel] Sugar Server project initiation announce > > On Thu, Jun 9, 2011 at 1:51 PM, Aleksey Lim wrote: > > In fact, the project started three weeks ago but for now some of its > > core purposes became more clear, i.e., ready for announcing. > > You guys are *weird*. > > And you fork after a long track record of promises -- in private and in public - > - of working on the XS. Promises that were never followed up -- plenty of "cookie > licking" if you want. Did anything ever happen with the plans announced at > https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-sugarteam/2010- > October/002451.html You are 100% correct in these criticisms and concerns about Activity Central. We are a new company working in a new market. Failures and mistakes are inevitable. If you have been hurt by those mistakes, I apologize and accept full responsibility for them. As a company and as a member of the ecosystem we are going to make mistakes. In a proprietary company these failures happen safely behind closed doors in the R&D department. In a company that participates openly in an community project these failures will happen publicly -- often painfully so. That is just the nature of the business. There is a very good chance that for each Dextrose there will be 10 Ubuntu Sugar Remixes. david ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
[Server-devel] Activity Central Hiring Sugar Activity Developer
Activity Central is hiring one (1) Sugar Activity Developer. The primary responsibility of this developer will be to work with the Activity Central Activities Team to fix bugs and and add new features as requested by Sugar/OLPC deployments. -- About Activity Central -- Activity Central provides service and support plus custom development for Sugar and OLPC deployments by focusing on the Feedback, Fix, Finished product cycle. This position requires the developer to be physically locate near an existing deployment for a minimum of one (1) year before being eligible to work remotely. In lieu of resume please send links to two (2) mailing list threads in which you discussed how to implement a bug fix or feature request and two (2) links to upstream OLPC or Sugar commits you implemented. The Feedback, Fix, Finished product cycle is the process of: 1. Working with the deployment to solicit feedback on software bugs and feature requests. 2. Working with the Dextrose team to prioritize and implement the requested bug fixes and features. 3a. Working with Deployment and Dextrose team to distribute periodic software updates which include the new fixes and features across the deployment. 3b. Working with the upstream Sugar and OLPC developers to merge the requested fixes and features upstream as needed. Please send these links to or additional questions to dfarn...@activitycentral.com david ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
[Server-devel] Modularizing the school server
Over the past couple of months Activity Central has be looking at the possibility of puppetizing school server setup. The primary reason I support puppet as a installation and maintenance system is it eliminates either/or decisions. One person can solve a problem using one approach and someone else can solve the problem using a different approach. At Install time the customer(the deployment) can chose which solution he prefers for his particular needs. Thus the deployment admin can easily assemble an infrastructure (to meet their needs) from set of building blocks. This is the basic concept behind kernel device drivers, drupal and moodle modules, and distribution packages. The downside is that this modular type of systems is less effective for a single organization such as OLPC or AC to develop and support. It only becomes cost effective as the number of contributors increase. _A_ solution. The solution that I would like AC pursue is creating and testing a Deployment Management System. Initially, the DMS would consist of a puppet master and set of puppet modules which dynamically build a school server which is compatible with the XS0.[6|7]. Just like with drupal or moodle, there would be a core XS which could be the focus of OLPC's development efforts. Activity Central could focus on the puppet master and common non-core puppet modules. Deployments could easily submit their customizations as puppet modules. david ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
[Server-devel] Adding puppet to the school server.
Hey all, I just wanted to give everyone a heads up that Activity Central [1] is going to start working on a Dextrose Server project. For a little background, Dextrose [2] is Activity Central's primary product. Dextrose is based on upstream OLPC OS and Sugar. Most of what we do is a is a patch set on top of OLPC's repositories. These patches are submitted upstream for acceptance or rejection. The primary benefit of this is that it changes the emphasis of the development model from discussing how fixes or features _should_ be implemented to reviewing how a patch _solved_ a particular problem. Our initial effort will be to create puppet modules to enable deployments to remotely maintain and configure school servers. >From a schools point of view, a School Server is a black box which provides various services including: 1. security -- 2. proxy -- 3. backup -- 4. collaboration -- Our initial goal will be create puppet modules to setup and maintain these key services. As a matter of work flow all of our work will be available as patches to upstream XS.6 andor XS.7. davidA 1. http://activitycentral.com/ 2. http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Dextrose 3. http://www.puppetlabs.com/ ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] The old xs-livecd is the new olpc-xs-builder
On Thu, Jan 20, 2011 at 2:45 PM, Martin Langhoff wrote: > The XS build tools have not used the livecd toolchain for a long time > -- so the name is not appropriate. Time for a rename (and repo reorg). > > While not as modular and elegant as olpc-os-builder, we do have a > collection of tools and configs that, operated correctly, build XS > isos for installation. This can be useful to prepare a custom > auto-intalling iso with preconfigured settings. > > http://dev.laptop.org/git/projects/olpc-xs-builder > > I've updated wiki links to the old repo, and added a stub > http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XS_Builder > Would it be sane and possible to extend olpc-os-builder to build XS isos? I ask because nearly every deployment that uses school servers modifies them. Extending olpc-os-builder would result in up front developer effort, but would result in a reduction of learning for deployment personal. I am not asking you to do it. Just wondering if it would sane and possible:) david ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] XS-0.7 plans -- your thoughts please...
On Wed, Jan 19, 2011 at 10:38 AM, Martin Langhoff wrote: > On Tue, Jan 18, 2011 at 2:53 PM, Jerry Vonau wrote: >> Anaconda will not automatically find the old install if its older than >> release-2, you will need to pass upgradeany at the boot prompt if you go >> with F14. > > Good point -- thanks for the hint! We'll pass it then :-) > >> So your going to port to F14 then RHEL6/CentOS6 and maintain the rpms >> for all three? I have been tracking own the situation at CentOS. A couple of months ago there were a series of articles out their death... which were greatly exaggerated. Over all CentOS development is on track. OS6 is projected to be 2-3 months behind schedule. Red Hat release RHEL 5.6 at nearly the same time as RHEL 6. Most of the CentOS development is focused on 5.6. after 5.6 is release they will shift emphasis to 6.0 david > Probably not. The port-to-F14 is what I am doing to start moving -- > unlikely to be a real release unless CentOS6 never happens. > >> Think the biggest issue I've seen is trying to configure an XS for a >> pre-existing lan using a single interface. > > Thanks -- in my list > http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Martinlanghoff/XS_0.7_plan :-) > > > > m > -- > martin.langh...@gmail.com > mar...@laptop.org -- School Server Architect > - ask interesting questions > - don't get distracted with shiny stuff - working code first > - http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Martinlanghoff > ___ > Server-devel mailing list > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] [Sugar-devel] Results of today's Jabber Testing
Thanks for the advice. We will be going to do some more tests this morning. I think we will spend a while learning about the tools which you and martin mentioned then run another debug session. david On Wed, Aug 12, 2009 at 9:00 AM, Dave Bauer wrote: > > > On Tue, Aug 11, 2009 at 9:39 PM, Martin Langhoff > wrote: >> >> On Tue, Aug 11, 2009 at 8:33 PM, Caroline >> Meeks wrote: >> > I worked with the RIT contingent and Dave Farning today to do some >> > collaboration testing. >> > We tested with 8 computers on a rarely used dev XS system hosted by >> > Solution >> > Grove. >> >> Interesting! >> >> Your report is a bit confusing so I will >> >> - you had no problems connecting 8 users to a vanilla XS running some >> 0.6d, right? >> - but later on jabber.s.o you had problems with 29 users... >> >> Is that correct? >> >> What sw is jabber.s.o running? Does it deviate in any way from a >> recent XS 0.6? Could network problems explain part of the problem? > > jabber.sl.o is XS 0.5.2 stock install. It has 2GB of ram. Both xsdev and > jabber.sl.o are virtual machines on the same network in the same rack. >> >> What did ejabberdctl connected-users say at the points when users were >> appearing/disappearing? Did ejabberd see them come and go? Or did it >> think they were connected all the time? > > connected-users reported the correct number, so when they were disconnecting > and connectng, it was changing the reported number of connected-users. >> >> These are very basic questions -- when doing this testing, you'll want >> someone looking at the jabber server, dumping connected-users and >> asking the Sugar users to run `olpc-xos` to compare. > > > We were using the Analyze activity to compare. On the 0.6 server it matched. > I was watching the server and Analyze at te same time. >> >> In fact a time-series of captures of `olpc-xos` on each Sugar / XO >> client and `ejabberd connected-users` on the XS, plus a verbose log >> from ejabberd would tell you a lot. > > olpc-xos command is not installed on SoaS. Maybe we can add that. Using > analyze we can see the real-time connection but I don't see any way to > capture the data historically. > > Dave >> >> cheers, >> >> >> >> m >> -- >> martin.langh...@gmail.com >> mar...@laptop.org -- School Server Architect >> - ask interesting questions >> - don't get distracted with shiny stuff - working code first >> - http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Martinlanghoff >> ___ >> Sugar-devel mailing list >> sugar-de...@lists.sugarlabs.org >> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/sugar-devel > > > > -- > Dave Bauer > d...@solutiongrove.com > http://www.solutiongrove.com > > > > ___ > Sugar-devel mailing list > sugar-de...@lists.sugarlabs.org > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/sugar-devel > > ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] [Sugar-devel] [IAEP] collaboration testing session
David, Can you try to use the Solutions Groovy jabber server? Caroline and Dave are putting some very helpful resources behind cleaning up the server. david(The other one) On Fri, Jun 5, 2009 at 7:37 AM, Caroline Meeks wrote: > Hi David, > > Will you be using the server hosted by Solution Grove/Zill? We would be > very happy if you did. > > We have seen mysterious spikes in resource usage that is not correlated to > the number of users connected. I am suspicious that some of the activities > use too many resources when they are shared. I'd like to set it up so that > someone on your team has access to what is going on on the server so you can > try to correlate any spikes to specific activities. > > Thanks, > Caroline > > On Fri, Jun 5, 2009 at 12:09 AM, David Van Assche > wrote: >> >> Hi folks, >> We are having a collaborative sugar testing session next week Wednesday >> 10th June at 20:00 UTC (That is 4 pm EDT, 3pm EST, 2 pm CST, 1 pm MST, and >> 12 pm PST, most of Europe that will be 9 pm, 8 pm for the UK) >> >> So far we have 5 people signed up, but more are welcome as we really want >> to see how collaboration works on many activities where it isn't quite >> obvious. We will be taking notes and storing log files of the sessions, and >> will suggest ways in which the activity in question might be more >> collaborative, or may need less of it (who knows :-) >> >> We will be testing the activities that come preinstalled on the openSUSE >> sugar images, but we'd like to test various distribution methods (virtual >> appliance, cd, usb, hd) and various distros (at least Fedora SoaS, openSUSE >> sugar, Mandriva or Caixa Magica) I dont believe 0.82 images are compatible >> with 0.84 for collaboration, so am afraid this is for 0.84 only... Please >> post your willingness to participate so we have an idea on who/how many will >> be collaborating. We also need a volunteer to take notes, and a volunteer to >> store logs files. There will of course be a transcript of the irc session >> too (we will meet at #sugar-collaboration) We forsee this taking between 1 >> and 2 hours... >> >> Here is the list of activities we will be testing, so make sure you have >> them installed if you plan to take part (not all have collaborative >> abilities, and for those that don't it can be a brainstorming session on >> whether/how we can make them collaborative: >> >> sugar-finance >> sugar-flipsticks-activity >> sugar-freecell >> sugar-imageviewer >> sugar-implode >> sugar-infoslicer >> sugar-jigsaw-puzzle-activity >> sugar-joke-machine-activity >> sugar-jukebox >> sugar-labyrinth >> sugar-maze >> sugar-memorize >> sugar-moon >> sugar-paint-activity >> sugar-pippy >> sugar-playgo >> sugar-read >> sugar-readetexts-activity >> sugar-record >> sugar-slider-puzzle-activity >> sugar-speak >> sugar-storybuilder >> sugar-tamtam-common >> sugar-tamtam-edit >> sugar-tamtam-jam >> sugar-tamtam-mini >> sugar-tamtam-synthlab >> sugar-analyze >> sugar-turtleart >> sugar-typing-turtle >> sugar-viewslides >> sugar-write >> sugar-browse >> sugar-irc >> sugar-calculate >> sugar-xomail (sugar-sweetmail) >> sugar-cartoonbuilder >> sugar-clock >> sugar-colors >> sugar-connect >> sugar-drgeo-activity >> xoEditor >> sugar-evince >> sugar-fiftytwo >> sugar-chat >> sugar-terminal >> sugar-journal >> sugar-physics >> sugar-library >> sugar-poll >> sugar-tuxpaint >> >> kind Regards, >> David (nubae) Van Assche >> www.nubae.com >> >> >> ___ >> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) >> i...@lists.sugarlabs.org >> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep > > > > -- > Caroline Meeks > Solution Grove > carol...@solutiongrove.com > > 617-500-3488 - Office > 505-213-3268 - Fax > > ___ > Sugar-devel mailing list > sugar-de...@lists.sugarlabs.org > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/sugar-devel > > ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] What's cooking inthe XS pot -- 2008-11-05
On Thu, Nov 6, 2008 at 3:25 PM, Martin Langhoff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote: > On Wed, Nov 5, 2008 at 3:31 PM, David Farning <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: > > Do you think xs will be stable enough to do a server related book sprint > at > > Fedora/OLPC/Sugar (FOS)con? > > Is that mid January 09? I think so. GrekDK is setting it up. > I'd say 0.6 will be out by then, and should be > a reasonable target to start documenting. Some parts will be more > "stable" (and worthwhile to document) than others, but that's to be > expected :-) That would be great. Let's tentatively plan on a XS/SugarServer booksprint for FOScon. thanks david > > cheers, > > > > > m > -- > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- School Server Architect > - ask interesting questions > - don't get distracted with shiny stuff - working code first > - http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Martinlanghoff > ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] help with small/first world XS deployment issues requested
On Sun, Oct 19, 2008 at 1:36 AM, Bill Bogstad <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > There are a number of XO deployments possible in the Boston metro > area sometime next spring. My understanding is that OLPC does NOT > want to run these deployments, but is interested in having them happen > so there are deployments local to the Cambridge office for test > purposes. As a result, the local XO users group (OLPC_Boston) has > been asked to help out. As my background is in system administration, > I offered to look into possible XS server deployments at the same > time. Even though I've been on server-devel since June; I'm still not > sure to what extent an XS would be useful in these circumstances. > Bill, at Sugar Labs we are working on taking the olpc server technologies beyond the xs:) We would greatly appreciate your help. I have forward this message to Iaep. A good place to start contributing is http://sugarlabs.org/go/DeploymentTeamthe deployment team is doing some good work with small scale deployments. thanks david > > As I see it, at this point an XS provides: > > 1. XO backup service (ds-backup) > 2. Activation service? (probably not needed since XOs will be G1G1) > 3. Support for > 20 networked XOs (ejabberd?) > 4. Moodle server (not clear what this means in terms of funcionallity) > > Is that correct? Is much going to change by January? For a > deployment of say 20-30 XOs in one location, does it even make sense > to have an XS? > > Another issue is that reusing available resources (pre-existing > wired/wireless hardware, dhcp/dns/web proxy/filtering services) would > be very helpful. Even if pre-existing services are inferior to what > an XS might provide, for political reasons in a small deployment, it > is probably better fit into a framework with which local IT > personnel are comfortable. Unfortunately, my impression is that the > current XS images are somewhat brittle in terms of assuming they > control all of the networking services and as well as requiring > specific IP numbering of various interfaces, control of DNS/DHCP/NAT > routing/etc. > > I understand the need to provide turn-key software for locations > where there isn't anyone who understands networking. However, I find > myself in the situation where even though I know about netmasks, DNS A > records, etc.; I have no idea how much of the higher level > infrastructure on the XS requires leaving things as they are. For > example, can I have an XS with a single Ethernet interface? I think I > saw something in a config file somewhere that suggested this (doing > DHCP on the Internet facing interface), but I can't find any mention > of this anywhere on the wiki. What if I want DHCP/DNS to be handled > by something other then the XS, but do what the other services? Given > the rapid pace of development, it's hard to tell from the wiki pages > what works/used to work/was never implemented/is an idea for the > future/etc. > > I apologize if the above is confused/confusing. Unfortunately, that's > the way I feel at this point. I've got this big ball of string I'm > trying to untangle and I have no idea where to start. Any suggestions > how to get a handle on this would be greatly appreciated. > > Thanks, > Bill Bogstad > ___ > Server-devel mailing list > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] Offline moodle notes in moodle.org
John, Would you mind forwarding me your notes regard your discussions with google. I am starting a similar discussion with google on behalf of Sugar Labs. I think that we can leverage the availability of sugar in developed nations to offset the cost of creating the services that OLPC is looking for in their markets. thanks David On 10/14/2008, 15:08, John Watlington ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote:This discussion should move to [EMAIL PROTECTED], as it refers to software running on the laptop, not the server. Some context for my comment: I had told them that we were working with schools that were completely offline (although with servers). The problem might have been a mismatch with their business model more than a mismatch of technologies. I'm looking for the name/address of the software architect I was speaking to. But, SJ already brought up this question on devel back in February, and cc'ed a gears developer (attached). cheers, wad > From: "Samuel Klein" > Date: February 16, 2008 1:21:36 PM EST > To: "edward baafi" , "OLPC Devel" > > Cc: Ben Lisbakken , Luke Closs > , Marco Pesenti Gritti , > Dan Bricklin > Subject: Re: using the browser as an activity platform : pyxpcom / > hulahop / Gears > > The core use here is being able to use the browser as activity > platform -- letting web developers good at JS code and test on most > any platform, and develop something that can be a first-class activity > within Sugar. One example is Dan's javascript spreadsheet, anothe ris > a dynamic library (see for instance > http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Dynamic_library), another is an existing web > service online that one might want to run locally. > > In addition to pyxpcom, let me add Google Gears as a useful piece of > this platform, especially when offering local use of popular online > tools. Off the top of my head, MediaWiki, MindMeister, I copy Ben > Lisbakken, a gears maintainer, who reports that there is a Gears patch > to make it work without extension support... Ben, I'll also introduce > you to marcopg separately. ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
