Becoming involved in XO software development?

[Benjamin M. Schwartz]

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Rebecca Janine Wise wrote:
| This is a general question. I work with various Non-Profits and have become
| interested in developing for the XO. Can anyone recommend a path on how to
| become involved in some aspect of the software development side of the XO.

Sure! The best way is stop by IRC channel #olpc on Freenode.  You can also
ask questions here.

| I guess the main questions I have are:
|
| a) Is there a formal process for becoming involved or do you sort of just
| start contributing to the source for some part of the system an application?

No formal anything.  If you want to get involved, you can.

| b) What's the best way to get a feel for what's "in the box" so you can
| figure out where you'd like (and be capable) of contributing?

http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Developers/Setup has a pretty good set of
instructions on how to run a virtual XO.  You can choose from a variety of
emulators, or download packages that allow you to run the OLPC environment
as a program in your OS.

| c) Is the OLPC XO hardware (or a hardware emulator or something similar)
| available to developers?

There is.  It's called the Developers Program.  Hardware is in limited
supply, but if your project is being blocked by lack of hardware access,
OLPC may provide you with an XO.

| d) Are there any other questions I should be asking but haven't?

The 3 questions I would ask you are:
1. What would you like to work on?
2. What kind of experience do you already have?
3. What kind of experience would you like to gain?

- --Ben
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