State of Update.1, March 24, 2008

[Paul Fox]

david at lang.hm wrote:
 > On Mon, 24 Mar 2008, Michael Stone wrote:
 > 
 > > Folks,
 > >
 > > knowledge of Update.1 by updating tickets in Trac. Everyone else: get
 > > behind us, review these bugs, and help push out this release! See
 > >
 > >  http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Test_setup_for_Update.1_builds
 > >
 > > for rough-cut instructions on how to try out update.1-70x builds.
 > >
 ...
 > > Then, the bad news: in a fascinating conversation with the support-gang
 > > (yay, support-gang!), it was made plain to me that recent Update.1
 > > builds have received little or no testing by folks who aren't building
 > > them. In light of this datum, we should consider the question: "who do
 > > we want to persuade to try out U.1 and what support do they need from
 > > us?"

well, depending on the answer to that question of "who"...

 > 
 > the removal of the activities is still being sorted out. currently there 
 > is no straightforward way for a tester who previously could just do an 
 > olpc-upgrade to test the recent builds that have the activities removed.
 > 
 > there are several scripts being developed to manage the activities, but no 
 > clear direction (or directions) in this area, just lots of people who seem 
 > to be working independantly.

...i'm one of the "recent" G1G1 recipients, having only gotten my
machine in the last week or two.  while that makes me less
experienced with the hands-on workings of the laptop, it also
means i have a lot less invested in customization, and i care
less about the overall stability of the laptop at the moment.  i
suspect there are a lot of folks in my shoes -- even those who
have had G1G1 units for months, for whom the major "i'll lose my
activities" issue simply isn't that big a deal.

in addition, i've done no updates at all yet (still running 656)
partly waiting for "the dust to settle", and partly because of
the research i'll need to do to figure out how, and where, and
what to upgrade _to_.  so if trying update.1 were how i got
my feet wet, that would be an impetus.

if a "Read This and Help!" message went out on the forums
(both laptop.org and olpcnews.com) that testing was needed, with
explicit "go here, click here, or type this" instructions (the
"rough cut" instructions linked to above are too rough, imho),
i think G1G1 users would be happy to help test update.1 -- even
though, as i understand it, it isn't planned as an auto-push
until some later time.

what _would_ be needed is some minimal completion (or perhaps,
just documentation) of the pieces that david alludes to.  i.e. i
don't care if i lose all my current pre-installed activities, as
long as someone gives me a bit of direction on where to find them
again, even if it's a manual process.  (preferably it would be
_one_ manual process, and not one process per activity).

of course, this all assumes that the added burden of supporting
the G1G1 community in this effort wouldn't swamp the benefits of
having them/us involved.  i'm sure that's not a decision to
be made lightly.  :-)

paul
=---------------------
 paul fox, pgf at foxharp.boston.ma.us (arlington, ma, where it's 30.0 degrees)