[Localization] 8.2 Languages, Keyboards and Layouts

[Greg Smith]

Hi Sayamindu,

Great edits, I think that nails it!

I made two changes. I added with "a single translation" to the sentence 
about multiple regions. I'm trying to make it clear that all regions use 
the same text. Let me know if that doesn't work for you.

I also adjusted this sentence: "Please note that none of the 
translations are officially supported by OLPC". I hope that makes it 
more clear that neither the partially translated languages nor the more 
fully translated ones are "supported" by OLPC/

On Keyboard layouts, I'm most interested in how they change it on their 
own. I think we have the manufacturing process well understood and 
hopefully documented. The release notes info is mostly for users trying 
to adjust their language in the field.

On final test. That sounds like a good plan but I'm not sure who can do 
it effectively and sign off. Can I pass the buck to you and the list?

The turn around time may be tight. Once a very solid release candidate 
comes out it could be as quick as one week before we call it done. If 
you think its safe, you may able to sign off on an earlier release 
candidate and assume the final one didn't change. Either way, I want to 
have a plan in place ahead of time so we can call it done quickly.

Thanks,

Greg S

Sayamindu Dasgupta wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> On Thu, Sep 11, 2008 at 6:26 PM, Greg Smith <gregsmitholpc at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Hi Sayamindu and team,
>>
>> Can I get a sanity check on the documentation regarding language support
>> in 8.2?
>>
>> The relevant section of the release notes is at:
>> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Release_Notes/8.2.0#Languages_and_keyboards
>>
>> Please confirm that all of those languages listed are in the base 8.2
>> image. Can you also add the localization code e.g. mn_MN and maybe the
>> text as it would appear in the language control panel if you think that
>> would be useful.
>>
> 
> I added more detailed information  - let me know if you need anything
> else in there.
> 
>> You can use a wild card to cover and a note to cover sub-variants. e.g.
>> es_* means we support Spanish and you get the same translation for all
>> variants.
>>
>> Another helpful item (aka not critical but nice to have if someone has
>> time) here would be to link to the documentation on how to change
>> keyboard mappings. A brief explanation about what to do to change the
>> keyboard layout may go a long way towards answering support questions.
>>
> 
> I'll try to come up with a document on this. The problem is that
> changing keyboard layouts on a permanent basis requires modification
> of the manufacturing data. Do you want me to come up with the process
> for a permanent change, or do you want the process for a temporary
> change ?
> 
> 
>> BTW for my own edification, do we "automatically" change the keyboard
>> layout if we load 8.2 on an XO with a non-English keyboard?
>>
> 
> Yes. When we flash a non English XO, we have scripts (part of
> olpc-utils) which deduce the keyboard layout from the manufacturing
> data, and then write the relevant configuration file during first
> boot.
> 
> 
>> Also, please see the release check list for this release at:
>> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/ECO/8.2.0/Checklist#Test
>>
> 
> Looks OK to me (just a note: testing Amharic keyboard will require
> testing of Compose sequences as well, around 300 of them).
> 
>> We want a somewhat more rigorous test of a few key languages. Please
>> update that section of the checklist as needed and let me know what
>> final test you think we should do to "sign off" on a language in this
>> release.
> 
> Ideally, the language should be changed, and then the one hour smoke
> test should be run with the new language being active. Plus the
> keyboard layout should be tested. If the one hour smoke test is not
> viable, at least as a bare minimum,
> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/1_hour_smoke_test#Try_out_a_few_Activities
> should be run. This is because we have a history of activities not
> starting up/crashing due to problems in translations.
> 
> Thanks,
> Sayamindu
> 
> 
> 
>