Greg S work report for 2 Weeks ending 12/5

[Greg Smith]

General status:

Uruguay is starting an in-school pilot of 800 XOs running version 8.2. 
After successful completion of that pilot they plan to upgrade
all XOs to the new version.

9.1.0 planning is underway (http://wiki.laptop.org/go/9.1.0). 90 days 
until the release!

The focus is on deployment and maintenance. The four main areas of work are:
1 - Rebase release on Fedora 10 and make it easy to run standard Fedora 
Desktop and applications.

2 - Easier installation of secure, customized XO software images, 
focusing on activation, lease management, image customization and signing.

3 - Improved power management for longer battery life.

4 - New translations and better support for Nepali, Amharic and Chinese.

In addition, the release will include many other bug fixes and features.

***************
User links of the week (Spanish)

Jorge Drexler (http://www.jorgedrexler.com/), an Uruguayan music star,
wrote a song about Plan Ceibal (XO project in Uruguay)
http://www.pilas.net/20081201/drexler-le-canta-al-plan-ceibal/

Here's a brief, informal translation of the song:
A little square of heaven (or sky)
a window on the river.
A river made of light
a river made of light
and of birds in flight.

I want to be a navigator
by the austral heavens
I want to be a navigator
by the austral heavens
without leaving my eddy
in the shade of the Ceibal tree

Welcome fantasy
to this transparent course.
As a boat in the current
I also want to leave
my wake of poetry.

Then Drexler met with RAP Ceibal volunteers and asked parents to get
involved in the project. See:
http://www.fedaro.info/2008/12/04/drexler-convoca-a-integrarse-a-rap-ceibal/

Also posted this week, another XO inspired song out of Peru:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQiA5F6AJcQ

************
Status of goals set on 11/21
1 - Build 9.1 project page and select top high level feature requests
and layout rough schedule.

GS - Done. See: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/9.1.0 Needs a lot more detail 
on features and schedule.

2 - Define Trac usage and Trac scrub plan for 9.1

GS - Partially done. Discussed Trac usage but we need a follow up 
meeting. Scrub plan is to do a two day historical triage 12/15 and 
12/16. Details to follow.

3 - Fill in requirements definition for top 9.1 features and engage
engineers.

GS - Partially done. First pass at top four requirements written. 
Discussions with engineering underway. Still need a lead owner on top 
two items:
- Run regular Fedora window managers and applications
and
- Activation/lease/signing/image customization

4 - Update School Server documentation.

GS - Partially done. Updated main XS page 
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/School_server so that everything above 
"slightly outdated" section refers to actual features currently available.

***********
Goals for next week.

1 - Finish collection of all main features on Feature Roadmap page:
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Feature_roadmap. Stretch goal to make that a 
Semantic query with each feature having its own page.

2 - Update 9.1.0 page with a detailed list of sub-requirements. Add 
detail to the schedule and get sign off on it from engineering and QA. 
Engage engineers to get specifications and plans documented for each 
feature.

3 - Start triage of full feature roadmap to flag 9.1.0 items and 
prioritize all items.

4 - Create basic presentation on plans for 9.1.0 and run it by main 
customers and other stakeholders.

5 - Update School Server documentation with links to Readme file for 
each main feature. Comment on XS roadmap and Moodle plan.

Thanks,

Greg S