[OLPC India] Use of XOs for Vocational Training & Back Office Support

[Walter Bender]

Yes. A non-XO machine, so no attempt to reduce the Ubuntu footprint.
But that is why I mentioned the Fedora work that Greg Dek. has been
pushing on: a combination Fedora 9 running Sugar and a standard
desktop on the OLPC hardware.

-walter

On Thu, Oct 2, 2008 at 12:47 PM, Erik Garrison <erik at laptop.org> wrote:
> On Thu, Oct 02, 2008 at 12:39:15PM -0400, Walter Bender wrote:
>> Not sure that XP was even on the table in this discussion. Andres'
>> Debian distro is a fine option, but perhaps even more simple is the
>> GNOME desktop on the same Fedora 9 that ships with Sugar on the
>> OLPC-XO.
>>
>> FWIW, I run Sugar and GNOME on my Ubuntu distro and switch back and
>> forth at the login session all the time. It works very well.
>>
>
> Yup.  You are referring to a non-XO machine?  I believe this setup may
> require more disk space resources than are available on the XO?
>
> Erik
>
>> On Thu, Oct 2, 2008 at 11:46 AM, Erik Garrison <erik at laptop.org> wrote:
>> > On Thu, Oct 02, 2008 at 11:10:07AM -0400, Asksst at aol.com wrote:
>> >> Thanks Marc, Walter, Sameer , Ankur and others. What I gather is that
>> >> dual-boot XOs could be used in the classrooms as well as for
>> >> vocational training  & Back Office Support with attached key-board &
>> >> mouse, but performance  may be an issue.
>> >>
>> >
>> > I strongly encourage you to examine debxo, a Debian + Gnome distribution
>> > for the XO produced by Andrés Salomon, for use in your vocational
>> > training program.
>> >
>> > See: http://lists.laptop.org/pipermail/devel/2008-August/018378.html for
>> > the announcement.  The current version can be downloaded from:
>> > http://queued.mit.edu/~dilinger/debxo/ and installed on any unsecured
>> > laptop.  (The laptops must be 'unlocked' using a developer key to
>> > install a non-standard operating system.  See
>> > http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Activation_and_Developer_Keys for a
>> > description of what a developer key does).
>> >
>> > The debxo Debian + Gnome distribution will provide you with a
>> > traditional desktop environment and access to free/open source software
>> > for vocational training (word processors, spreadsheet programs, web
>> > browsers, skype, etc.).  I do not have hard numbers but I would expect
>> > the Debian distribution to be less resource-intensive than Windows XP.
>> > For instance, Windows XP does not fit on the stock internal memory and
>> > requires installation on an external SD memory card, whereas Debian
>> > doesn't.
>> >
>> > The system runs quite well on the XO.  I have been testing it on my
>> > personal XO for more than a month without any significant issues.
>> >
>> > If the use of the machines (young vs. older users) is not interleaved,
>> > you can simply wipe the machines and install one OS or the other as
>> > needed.  Dual boot is also an option but to my knowledge it has not been
>> > tested in this context.
>> >
>> > I will be happy to answer any questions you have regarding this.
>> >
>> > Best,
>> > Erik
>> >
>> >> In a message dated 9/30/2008 11:46:41 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
>> >> sverma at sfsu.edu writes:
>> >>
>> >> On Tue,  Sep 30, 2008 at 8:31 AM, Walter Bender <walter.bender at gmail.com>
>> >> wrote:
>> >> > I cannot speak for OLPC, but in general, the Sugar learning  platform
>> >> > is configurable as a session option such that a computer can  be
>> >> > switched back and forth between a conventional Linux desktop and  Sugar
>> >> > at the granularity of the login session. So yes, it would be  possible
>> >> > to support the scenario that you are  proposing.
>> >> >
>> >> > regards.
>> >> >
>> >> > -walter
>> >> >
>> >> >  --
>> >> > Walter Bender
>> >> > Sugar Labs
>> >> >  http://www.sugarlabs.org
>> >> >  _______________________________________________
>> >> > India mailing  list
>> >> > India at lists.laptop.org
>> >> >  http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/india
>> >> >
>> >>
>> >> Ah! You are proposing  using a GNOME-like environment on an XO to have
>> >> access to things like  OpenOffice, etc. but I suspect Sheel's approach
>> >> is leaning towards  "vocational" as in turn-the-handle-and-the
>> >> mill-will-produce MS Windows +  MS Office. Sheel, is this correct? Are
>> >> you thinking of specific platforms,  or are you thinking of specific
>> >> skills? If it is the latter, Walter's  suggestion will work well.
>> >> Skills for word-processing, spreadsheets, etc.  can be obtained easily
>> >> with OpenOffice on Linux on an XO, without the  overhead of an
>> >> anti-virus suite :-)
>> >>
>> >> cheers,
>> >> Sameer
>> >> --
>> >> Dr.  Sameer Verma, Ph.D.
>> >> Associate Professor of Information Systems
>> >> San  Francisco State University
>> >> San Francisco CA 94132  USA
>> >> http://verma.sfsu.edu/
>> >> http://opensource.sfsu.edu/
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> **************Looking for simple solutions to your real-life financial
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>> >
>> >> _______________________________________________
>> >> India mailing list
>> >> India at lists.laptop.org
>> >> http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/india
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Walter Bender
>> Sugar Labs
>> http://www.sugarlabs.org
>



-- 
Walter Bender
Sugar Labs
http://www.sugarlabs.org