[UKids] ext2 vs ext4 vs exFAT for XO content SD cards?

[Adam Holt]

Great points all around.

To give a genuine voice to innovative but non-technical grassroots
teachers, I'd very much advocate for a 1GB exFAT/NTFS/FAT32 partition (or
whatever, let's say 1% of the 64GB or 128GB or 256GB SD card) to give
streets-is-talkin local educators authentic voice, alongside neocolonial
megapublishers birthing new 21st century learning cultures.  (We ARE the
99%, so at least give us 1% of the disk :-)

Much as Daniel Drake's 2009-era http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OS_Builder is a
far better tool for national deployments, as compared to Michael Stone's
2008-era http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Customization_stick which was so
effective for community deployments during its heyday, much was also lost
(beyond just Michael Stone's paycheck ;)  As Mass Customization is never as
easy as the buzzword implies, and supporting both approaches became too
expensive for OLPC.

But both styles have their essential place (mass-production and
in-field-artisanry) so going forward I strongly hope we make a place for
both: megapublishers mass-cloned content a-la-IIAB, and equally important:
in-field customization by amateur/local true-as-can-be educators &
librarians, rise-of-the-rest folks who will rarely speak English nor
understand our documentation, let's be honest!

(Even if God Forbid teachers occasionally bootleg motivating content, using
this 1% partition of static local content, just like every interesting
teacher has done over the past half century, at the mimeograph/xerox
duplication machine...)

On Sun, Aug 16, 2015 at 9:21 PM, Jerry Vonau <me at jvonau.ca> wrote:

> I've some questions and statements.
>
> > On August 16, 2015 at 4:28 PM Ian Thomson <ithomson.nz at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >
> > Hi Adam,
> >
> > This is an excellent initiative and just what we are looking for in the
> > Pacific. We are thinking of 3 versions of the SD Card,
>
> Hi Ian,
> I'm wondering about your creation method that you plan on using, are you
> planning to create the initial SDcard then adding your content with the
> intent on cloning the configured SDcard later?
>
>
> > one each for
> > primary, secondary and TVET. We are collecting a good range of content
> > with
> > some focussed on the Pacific, but we are also looking at people creating
> > their own or adapting them to suit local conditions and adding it to the
> > pool
> >
> > BTY, have you seen the TVET equivalent of Khan?
> > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrqcaxsyK0E
> >
> > Please keep us in the loop
> >
> > Ian
> >
>
> Now to clear some misconceptions and classify some limitations.
>
>
> >
> > On 16 August 2015 at 13:05, Adam Holt <holt at laptop.org> wrote:
> >
> > > What filesystem would people recommend for ~128GB SD cards inserted
> > > into
> > > XO laptops or XSCE servers heading far afield, to insert very large
> > > (evolving?) digital libraries just like Internet-in-a-Box?
> > >
> > > Multiyear reliability for all this content would be important, but some
> > > say ext4 (slow journaled filesystems?) have their own problems on SD?
> > >
> > > Is wear-leveling of modern SD cards (Flash memory) fully taken care of
> > > by
> > > the largest manufacturers/drivers already, or should we seek out
> > > particular
> > > filesystems/drivers?  And unmount / power off carefully etc?
> > >
>
> /library contains databases and squid's cache it is going to be linux only
> period. Which type of linux filesystem is open for debate.
>
>
> > > In-country copying and eventually in-country remixing of SD cards
> > > (containing local-language, local-vid cultural jewels) would be
> > > Absolutely
> > > Wonderful -- if we can achieve that by using a filesystem that works
> > > instantly (exFAT?
> That needs added support to be useful.
>
> > > NTFS
> That should be included out of the box but speak up if you find that
> lacking in what you are using.
>
> ?) across all Windows and Mac computers ideally?  For
> > > all static content anyway, on 1 partition of several?  Accelerating
> > > dup'ing
> > > of SD cards as a bonus?!
> > >
>
> I support the reading of all filesystem types for content importing
> purposes for use within the XSCE but we can't really make use of non-linux
> filesystems within the running system without jumping through hoops(with
> lookback mounts sort of like a swapfile). We can set aside some space but
> it would be a trade-off against what is available for the system. I think
> the entire configured SDcard should be linux for the system, with content
> that has not be pre-installed be available on different physical media,
> like with activities and usbmount.
>
> Once the content is added/imported you can clone the SDcard, now there is a
> project create a cloning playbook.
>
> Now *maybe* in the future new playbooks to export data, think directory
> tree here for lets say portal for use/editing elsewhere in zip format. The
> export could go to a non-linux file system if that support is installed.
> Now the import could unzip the tree back into place, ensure the permissions
> are sane and restart the service. Or whatever data/zims/pubs/ you're
> messing with the pull request would be welcome. We have a pretty good
> handle on consuming content, we need to work through sharing the data with
> others and are open to ideas.
>
> Jerry
>
> --
> Unsung Heroes of OLPC, interviewed live @ http://unleashkids.org !
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