New XO Keyboard

finally giving up on hacking the old "sticky keys" keyboard.

found online supplier for OLPC parts:

XOExplosion.com

they seemed legit; and take paypal, so filled out the online form to order a new one.

<$20

Keyboard arrived Friday!

(was away this weekend)

will try to replace... this week?

here's how...

wiki
or video:

KPC in Canada...

Picked up yet another computer:

a shuttle KPC.
This was a full system from a local shop, all I did was plug it in
celeron E1200 (dual core)
1 Gig Ram
80 gig HD

came with Fedora 8 pre-installed.
I've kept it running that.

Comments:

• Hooked up our Quickcam PRO 9000; needed to add the extra module to support that, since Fedora 8 didn't support that out of the box.
• is a bit noiser that I'd hoped.  Have found similar comments on the web; their solutions was to mount an external, larger fan, and disable the internal one; may also do this
• main uses: my OGG collection (didn't have MP3 support by default, due to being Fedora, so am moving to OGG, from MP3)
• web surfing/flash
• looking at video from our digital cameras:  again had to add codecs, due to Fedora (here I relented and put some on, since modifying the default from the camera is currently difficult)
• 
  
  
  
  

Skype voice on OLPC

got the current skype_static-2.0.0.72 running voice only mode on the OLPC.

notes:
the missing xscreensaver library was a bit hard to find;

running from a USB flash drive, don't yet have an SD card;

looked at postings on getting the video running;

is similar to my K6, so may work...

Skype and QuickCam Pro 9000 on K6 (puppy 3.01)

Skype is running and able to use the quickcam pro 9000 on puppy linux 3.01

on a K6 450!

let's see how annoying it is to use...

loaded the quick cam drivers and the uvcvideo pets

qc-usb-messenger-1.7-k2.6.21.7.pet
qc-usb-0.6.5-k2.6.21.7.pet
uvcvideo_20070706-k2.6.21.7.pet

had to modprobe them in the correct order, or else you get odd errors about missing stuff...

Notes:
1)xawtv does not seem to pick it up, still need to tweak it
2)skype didn't pick up the microphone on the camera... still need to figure that out...

nvidia on inspiron 8200 and ubuntu hardy

Section "Device"
   Identifier     "Configured Video Device"
   Driver         "nvidia"
   option         "UseDisplayDevice" "DFP"
EndSection

needed the option to use the laptop's "Digital Flat Panel" (?DFP?) otherwise just get a black screen

live.yahoo.com via live CD

very cool

my http://live.yahoo.com/geektown2008/ site works via ubuntu live CD and
my logitech usb camera

does need flash 9 (annoying, so x86 only) but still shows potential..

tuxpaint: make nopango

TuxPaint, latest compiled almost perfectly on the iMac

two notes:

the pango libraries didn't seem quite right, had to exclude via

make nopango

after trying it out, it runs fine, but the screensaver doesn't work...

not good if the kids leave it running all day;

need to update the SDL libs, .9 installed, tuxpaint wants .12

squeaky iMac

picked up the binary squeak-vm 3.8 for ppc linux (latest is 3.9)

runs ok;

odd that the latest on the squeak site didn't have a ppc linux build :(

may need to start compiling more; perhaps put gentoo on the iMac ?

python msn libraries

have msn working with olpc.

using default text mode client.

now need some time to figure how to connect to the chat activity..

Building ppc_pine

pine rpm and debs were x86

had to build for iMac

command:
./build SSLDIR=/usr SSLINCLUDE=/usr/include/openssl
SSLCERTS=/etc/ssl/certs SSLKEYS=/etc/ssl/private slx

TOTEM (media player) on OLPC

TOTEM works from commandline !

ok, not sugar -ized but is there.

found the cbc ogg stream links, typed them in and they work!

also transferred a few oggs from the iMac (Raffi)

now all I need is to figure out python and create an "activity" so totem
is on the bottom of the screen for the kids.

now, is an external hard drive, or usb key sticking out the side too
clunky?

do I need to purchase an SD card?

or perhaps just nfs mount my linux share?

hmmmm...

linux video chat

install amsn and libsnack2 from universe;

then our webcam works with grampa on the x86

(I assume karen also)

the chat works on the iMac, but get odd artifacts on the webcam.

in theory this will work on the olpc, but didn't try...

Pine blogging

Trying out blog entries from pine.

Since this is an old system;
even Opera is a bit sluggish for quick notes;

so have setup pine to work with gmail...

so why not blogger as well?

test
test test

----

Setting up Adult screen/keys on OLPC

ok, now how do I work on the OLPC?

using Xming on windows, or just X on my linux machines (which have adult style keyboards)

I go to the terminal activity and export DISPLAY=myhost:0.0

then xterm
that works.  Also lets me give the laptop back to Tara;)

Have not added passwords or setup system so I can ssh into it directly...

Got firefox 2.0.0.11 running, with my own local copy of the older libraries I had on another system.

also "mc"

should I put Perl and gcc on it?
that may be overkill, I think I'll use my other linux system to compile, and just make sure I use the correct flags.

Now need to find a good python game site...

head 2 head: olpc vs iMac edubuntu

cold day here, so stayed indoors for some inside activities...
had both systems running; Rohan on iMac, Tara on olpc

Rohan running gcompris and tuxpaint;

Tara playing with video and making movies, and painting.

I'd say it came out a draw; Tara did want to play with the iMac, and Rohan did like the olpc.

today's fun:
animations and paint
(on both)

Truly Tara's OLPC

ok, found the sugar-control-panel command

so now the laptop does say "tara" and is red and pink themed.

Tara really liked the turtle art, but I didn't help her as much as she would have liked (Rohan needed to brush his teeth)

also found out how to hook up a jabber server to get friends on the network.
tara's laptop is set to a (likely) null server, so as to keep people out.

will likely put the jabber server on the imac.

may need to update the imac; perhaps it is time to put my idle 80 gig drive in there...

OLPC panic attack #1 touchy touchpad!

ok, the kids got to see the OLPC today...

Tara immediately adopted it; Rohan seemed to accept this, so it is now "Tara's computer"

(Rohan tends to dominate the previous two, iMac and Flatscreen, due to them having his music)

first panic attack: the touchpad is broken!

or so we thought.

fiddling with it, slowly using it, twirling... all seemed to fail.

it jumped to the lower right corner without fail, whenever we tried to use it..

finally resorted to GOOGLE... found there is a "4 finger salute" to recalibrate...

and then full power cycle seems to have fixed it:

it is capacitive detector, so if you are touching it on bootup...
this can cause calibration problems...

did a full power cycle, and seems better now...

whew.

OLPC Arrived!

OLPC arrived today!

didn't let the kids see it, as I'm paranoid, and if it was a "green brick" I didn't want them to be as dissapointed as me!

so, after they fall asleep...

took it for a spin.  Connected to my wireless, browsed the web, and found "gcompris.activities.xo"

so now it has the same set of activities as the iMac, plus the new ones.

now I have to hide it, and see if it survives the pair, 4 and 6...

I  didn't get "one laptop per child" so we'll see if it gets killed tomorrow.... ;)

but hey, it is supposed to be able to withstand kids ;)

general impressions:
screen fantastic!
keyboard: really too small for me to even try to touch type, I'm back at my other system now.
wireless; works like a charm.

did drop to the command line.  Neat.

didn't stream from the cbc .ogg site by just clicking on the link :(

looks like I'll have to install something.