<div class="gmail_quote">On Dec 16, 2007 7:11 PM, Anonymous <<a href="mailto:community-support@lists.laptop.org">community-support@lists.laptop.org</a>> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
Hi - I'm glad I found this site!<br></blockquote><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>So am I. Cheers! </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
<br>I was out of town until late last night, and found my XO on my porch - so I'm just getting started. I'm feeling a little in need of an "idiot's" guide, </blockquote><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder">
</div><div><a href="http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User_guide">http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User_guide</a></div><div><a href="http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Official_OLPC_FAQ">http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Official_OLPC_FAQ</a><br class="webkit-block-placeholder">
</div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">especially considering I'm a software developer (although not in linux) and children reportedly pick up how to use the laptop rather easily
</blockquote><div> </div><div>Rule of thumb on interacting with the XO: Try. Children love to play and touch and discover. Their natural curiousity pulls them to find answers on their own by interacting with the system. It is a great way to find the depth and intrigue in this project, by digging a layer deeper than you might otherwise have.
</div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">- but, in general, I'm excited over the possiblities - and am trying to figure out how I can help.
</blockquote><div><br></div><div>Two suggestions: :)</div><div>Share your experience here, on the forums (and on the wiki, which you can edit and expand for other users: <a href="http://wiki.laptop.org/">http://wiki.laptop.org/
</a> - it has an article on any OLPC-related topic).</div><div><br></div><div>Developers can always use good, detailed bug reports, too. In playing with the system, if you run across a use case that doesn't work, or a feature that is broken, reporting it at
<a href="http://dev.laptop.org/">http://dev.laptop.org/</a> and working with them to fix it will make a better experience for everyone.</div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; ">1) What exactly is a 'mesh' network?</span></blockquote><div> </div><div><a href="http://www.laptop.org/laptop/hardware/index.shtml">http://www.laptop.org/laptop/hardware/index.shtml
</a><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>It is a type of network model (how machines talk directly and indirectly to eachother). Example: A normal network can be thought of as hub-and-spoke. A switch or network hub has computers (spokes) connected to it. To talk to one computer, it has to go to the hub and then back out the appropriate spoke.
</div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>In a mesh network, each OLPC laptop is a hub, connected to any number of nearby (within radio signal) other nearby laptops. Those laptops are also connected to other laptops. All wirelessly. With special routing software, we can have any two laptops talk to eachother, by 'hopping' between intermediate laptops.
</div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>This is a feature that makes very rural deployments (say, Nigeria) practical, because we don't need (much) dedicated network hardware: the laptops are doing the heavy lifting, not old hub/switches/routers.
</div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "> On the neighborhood view I can see all the wireless connections in the neighborhood (including mine that I haven't managed to connect with yet, but I'm trying), plus several 'mesh' networks. What are these?
</span></blockquote><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>WEP-secured networks are not currently supported.</div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>Mesh networks are created by XO laptops for various conditions. If you connect an XO to a wireless AP, it will "share" that network connection with a mesh network it creates. Other laptops could join that mesh, and connect to the internet through the first XO.
</div><div><br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">Once I figure things out (which, again, I am feeling a little 'dumb' about) - I'd be interested in helping with documentation - I've been told that I write well, and explain technical concepts in a non-technical manner.
</blockquote><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>Wonderful! We could use it. If you get a chance, try out the XoIRC activity ( bottom of <a href="http://wiki.laptop.org/go/IRC">http://wiki.laptop.org/go/IRC
</a> ) and join the channel #olpc-content. Those are the folks writing and organizing much of the documentation and library content for OLPC. I'm sure they'd love to hear from you. :)</div></div>