[Server-devel] [IAEP] [support-gang] An Opportunity to bring vital content to the Sugar/XO world - Needs technical help.
Tim Moody
timmoody at sympatico.ca
Sun Jul 19 15:45:42 EDT 2009
I tried the EatBoom app from
http://git.sugarlabs.org/projects/eatboom/repos/mainline/blobs/master/EatBoom.swf
using Adobe Flashplayer version 10. I got to a point where it said
congratulations on passing level three, but nothing else happened, so I'm
not sure what behavior is expected or how this differs from what you
experienced with gnash.
The Adobe player supports Flash version 10, whereas according to
http://www.gnu.org/software/gnash/ gnash "supports most SWF v7 features and
some SWF v8 and v9". Version makes a big difference in Flash as Adobe
continually adds features and Action Script also goes through differenct
releases and there are often no error messages when things don't work.
To sort this out I would need more info on what environment works and what
doesn't in terms of OS and Flashplayer version.
Mention was made of a server-side exe. Flash is a client-side technology,
though it can invoke services elsewhere. A .fla is the source file, and
while these are normally edited with the Adobe IDE, there are third party
IDEs. The .fla is compiled into a .swf which is executed by the
Flashplayer. It can also be compiled into a windows .exe which runs
standalone, without the Flashplayer.
I'm not sure it makes sense to port the flash app to moodle or anything
else. Moodle supports embedded flash .swf files in html, though I've never
tried to do this with a Linux client. BTW Adobe provides a free Flashplayer
for Linux, which I think is at a later version than gnash, but it may also
require more resources.
Tim
> Message: 6
> Date: Sun, 19 Jul 2009 09:16:48 -0400
> From: Caroline Meeks <solutiongrove at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Server-devel] [IAEP] [support-gang] An Opportunity to
> bring vital content to the Sugar/XO world - Needs technical help.
> To: Caryl Bigenho <cbigenho at hotmail.com>
> Cc: IAEP SugarLabs <iaep at lists.sugarlabs.org>,
> server-devel at lists.laptop.org, Community Support Volunteers -- who
> help respond t <support-gang at lists.laptop.org>
> Message-ID:
> <b74fba2b0907190616t2b05ac31i542e47854af5d1d2 at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> I think Walter is taking the weekend off. He is doing the actual
> negotiations with IFL. I'm sure we'll hear from him on Monday with a
> definitive answer.
>
> But my definitely understanding is that IFL is going to DONATE the
> content.
> The $50 to $100 is for the hardware. People with XOs and Sugar don't need
> the hardware.
>
> I am only interested in this project if the content is free and that is my
> understanding of how its going to work. If I'm confused then I'm really
> sorry sorry.
>
> I think I've got it right though. I've worked with nonprofit education
> organizations as part of Solution Grove's work. Specifically when I worked
> with Concord Consortium part of the grant process is you have to have a
> plan
> for how what you are creating with the grant money will reach a large
> number
> of children. Concord Consortium puts pretty much everything they create
> up
> on the web open source. If organizations like Concord can say they will
> reach hundreds of thousands of kids by sugarizing their activities and
> putting it up activities.sl.o then I think they will start writing that
> into
> their proposals. Understand that this won't happen overnight. First we
> have
> to prove its a way to reach kids, then the nonprofits and granting
> organizations have to notice, then the new proposals with sugarizing have
> to
> get written, accepted, completed.
>
> So based on my experience, its a good business decision for IFL to give
> Sugar thier content for free if it means they can say on their next grant
> that the work they have done previously has reached a million kids.
>
> Also their $100 little box was innovative and cheap a couple years ago.
> One
> of the profs from Standford who works on this project spoke to one of my
> classes, his current interests are around getting educational content on
> even cheaper devices such as cell phones and used gaming devices, like the
> gameboy.
>
> Sorry not to be clearer on the fact I believe we are going to get this
> content for free with freedom to distribute.
>
> On Sat, Jul 18, 2009 at 8:17 PM, Caryl Bigenho <cbigenho at hotmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Hi Caroline,
>>
>> I agree that content is something we desperately need for Sugar and the
>> XO.
>> But, I don't quite understand your proposal. Is Innovations For Learning
>> offering us their software for free to adapt? If so, what language is it
>> in? Is the source code available?
>>
>
> We have copies of the Gnash based activities and Tomeu has gotten them
> working on Sugar.
>
> I assume they will give us the source code for the server based .exe. The
> fact its currently a .exe is not that promising for reuse.
>
>>
>>
>> Or, is this something you think our volunteer programmers should try to
>> reverse-engineer and create for Sugar and the XO?
>>
>
> Yes, or more likely for the XS. My first thought on how to approach it is
> to rewrite the server/teacher software as a Moodle plugin. But that is
> not
> the only possible approach.
>
>
>
>>
>>
>> Caryl
>>
>> ------------------------------
>> Date: Fri, 17 Jul 2009 15:27:28 -0400
>> From: caroline at solutiongrove.com
>> To: iaep at lists.sugarlabs.org; server-devel at lists.laptop.org;
>> support-gang at lists.laptop.org
>> Subject: [support-gang] An Opportunity to bring vital content to the
>> Sugar/XO world - Needs technical help.
>>
>>
>> We have an opportunity to bring a program of K-2 English Reading and Math
>> content to our Sugar users for free.
>>
>> http://www.innovationsforlearning.org/software_demo.php
>>
>> Ignore the teachermate hardware and the $100 a machine price tag. The
>> concept is we make this available for Sugar for free. So if you have XOs
>> or
>> a machines you can use with Sugar on a Stick, you can use it for free.
>>
>> If you watch the Classroom management video you'll see they have aligned
>> it
>> to major Basal Curriculum programs or it can be used without. It can
>> differentiate instruction for groups and students. This is vital
>> functionality. We need to port this to the Sugar world, probably by
>> putting
>> it on the XS, maybe as a module in Moodle.
>>
>> Tomeu has done some work on making the activities work in Sugar, but I
>> don't think anyone has looked at how we enable classroom management.
>>
>> Why I think this is important:
>>
>>
>> - When I listen to feedback from the deployments, they all talk about
>> the need for content.
>> - When I see for myself what its like to use Sugar in a school, I
>> think
>> we need an on-ramp for teachers. This program would be an easy way to
>> get
>> the teachers to start using Sugar and computers without going very far
>> outside of what they already know. Its aligned with the major
>> curriculum
>> programs they are already using. My belief is if they take the first
>> step,
>> and use Sugar, they and their students will explore further. Too much
>> technology sits in the classroom closet. This seems like it would be
>> used by
>> lots of teachers, not just the most technological ones.
>> - This could be a model for other nonprofits for how to use Sugar to
>> distribute content they have created for our age level.
>> - It would be an excellent selling point for teachers trying to bring
>> Sugar into their schools.
>>
>> Please help us find someone (or a team) who has time and skills to tackle
>> the technical challenge of porting/recreating the classroom management
>> component.
>>
>> Thanks!
>> Caroline
>>
>>
>> --
>> Caroline Meeks
>> Solution Grove
>> Caroline at SolutionGrove.com
>>
>> 617-500-3488 - Office
>> 505-213-3268 - Fax
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
>> IAEP at lists.sugarlabs.org
>> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Caroline Meeks
> Solution Grove
> Caroline at SolutionGrove.com
>
> 617-500-3488 - Office
> 505-213-3268 - Fax
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