Keyboard layout: switching from Amharic <> US

[James]

On 9 Feb 2008, at 14:04, Walter Bender wrote:
> it is likely just a (simple) matter of checking your i18n-related  
> files.
Hi Walter,

Thanks for jumping in.

With Simon Schampijer's help, I have restored the i18n and keyboard  
file to (what I believe is) their initial state, but the boot problem  
persists.

> If things are so scrambled that you cannot sort them out, you can  
> always:
>
> (1) boot with the O key down to load your alternative image;

I presume you mean the O key on the game pad?  No joy:

   Release the game key to continue
   <Jingle>
   Xo logo appears, along with a red USB key, an orange floppy/screen(?)
   and a green XO logo, with four yellow dots underneath it.

   Then:

   Trying nand:\security\develop.sig
   Trying nand:\boot-alt\bootfw.zip
   Trying nand:\boot-alt\runos.zip
   Boot failed
   Use power button to power off

   And a sad smiley face.

Or (most of the time)

  Release the game key to continue
   <Jingle>
   Xo logo appears
   <Pause>
   Red USB key, an orange floppy/screen(?), a green XO logos a 4 yellow
   dots appear, along with the sad smiley, plus the text:

   Boot failed
   Powering off in 10 seconds


> (2) do an olpc-update from the console; or
> (3) reflash

Where did my comfort zone go, all of a sudden?

I'm not sure how to do an olpc-update from the console, since the XO  
has not had the chance to connect to the Internet at this point.  I  
presume that I need to follow the instructions

http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Olpc-update#Simple_Offline_Upgrade

If I understand correctly, I should type...

   olpc-update --version

... into the virtual console.  However, this command is not  
recognized.  I read on:

   If you don't even have the --version option, or if it does not say  
that you are
   using at least version 2.0 of olpc-update, you will need to upgrade  
olpc-update
   before continuing.

Catch 22.  Upgrading to olpc-update means using wget, which means  
being connected to the Internet.  Which the XO is not.


Conclusion: I need to download an image to a USB key, and boot from  
that.

I found an encouraging item at <http://chanson.livejournal.com/179947.html 
 >:

   Just copy the os653.img file to the FAT formatted USB drive,  
connect it to
   the OLPC then reboot with all the game buttons pressed.

I reformatted a USB key to MS-DOS (FAT) format.  I downloaded  
os653.img from <http://download.laptop.org/xo-1/os/official/latest/jffs2/ 
 >.  I then followed Chris Hanson's instructions (above)... and after  
more lines of Trying <this that and the other>, was gratified by  
another sad smiley.

So.  What options do I have left?  Or where have I gone wrong?

On 9 Feb 2008, at 14:55, Walter Bender wrote:
> time for a full update...
> sigh.

Where do I find the steps for this?

Thanks in advance,

James