[Server-devel] Server-devel Digest, Vol 104, Issue 6

Tony Anderson tony_anderson at usa.net
Thu Feb 11 20:29:54 EST 2016


Hi, Adam

Indeed, the devil is in the details. The Pine64 appears focused on 
implementing Ubuntu on the board. With James Cameron's Sugar on Ubuntu, 
this could
give the board an ability to run Sugar. The problem, of course, is how 
to upgrade the board to a usable laptop with keyboard and monitor (and 
WiFi, camera,
microphone, USB ports, and SD card.

This has been the observation for many years, devices like this and 
Raspberry Pi are very inexpensive until you try to add the features of 
an XO: battery,
monitor, keyboard, wifi, camera, microphone, port for usb drives, port 
for sd card, and so on. So far I have not seen a laptop comparable to 
the XO for any significantly lower price (most devices like classmate 
are almost double). The only choices I see suitable for deployment are 
tablets (e.g. Fire) or refurbished standard laptops (available for about 
$50 each in quantity). Chrome books could be another alternative.

Sadly, the refurbished option is impacted by James Cameron's insistence 
on 64-bit only. Perhaps there is someone in the Sugar community who 
could provide a 32-bit option for older laptops. The Android and Chrome 
book options are impacted by the proprietary nature of the software plus 
their design for an internet-connected environment. However, again 
perhaps there is someone in the Sugar community who could provide a 
Sugar image for the Fire or similar device.

Tony

On 02/12/2016 01:00 AM, server-devel-request at lists.laptop.org wrote:
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> Today's Topics:
>
>     1. Re: Raspberry Pi/clone(s) most ruggedizable for OLPC
>        fieldwork? (Adam Holt)
>     2. School Server Weekly Call: Thur 10AM NYC Time (Adam Holt)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Wed, 10 Feb 2016 12:31:26 -0500
> From: Adam Holt <holt at laptop.org>
> To: "Devel's in the Details" <devel at laptop.org>, "Unleash Kids!"
> 	<unleashkids at googlegroups.com>,  server-devel
> 	<server-devel at lists.laptop.org>,  "Community Support Volunteers -- who
> 	help respond to help AT laptop. org" <support-gang at lists.laptop.org>,
> 	xsce-devel <xsce-devel at googlegroups.com>,  "Stefan / Dogi Unterhauser"
> 	<stefan at unterhauser.name>
> Subject: Re: [Server-devel] Raspberry Pi/clone(s) most ruggedizable
> 	for OLPC	fieldwork?
> Message-ID:
> 	<CAHaBuGeO6kxkYJ6LvQ1yUjbnhD0Vs=+=XtUjF4XjM_EmNJuoOg at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> Thanks Peter Robinson, Paul Fox and Dogi Unterhauser for your illuminating
> 2016's evolving and very promising options-
>
> Preliminary conclusion is that we are buying a few $29 http://pine64.com
> (includes 2GB RAM) to experiment with.
>
> What is the best mailing list to discuss Fedora (or non-Fedora) firmware,
> u-boot, kernel issues for Pine64 and similar, do you know?
>
> (http://wiki.pine64.org is coming to life, which is a great start!)
>
> On Sun, Feb 7, 2016 at 10:55 AM, Adam Holt <holt at laptop.org> wrote:
>
>> On Feb 7, 2016 9:59 AM, "Peter Robinson" <pbrobinson at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> On Sun, Feb 7, 2016 at 2:07 PM, Adam Holt <holt at laptop.org> wrote:
>>>> On Feb 7, 2016 3:22 AM, "Peter Robinson" <pbrobinson at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>> things like
>>>>> the PINE64 above it has a SoC attached network but not storage.
>>>> Both SATA (real TB+ disks) and Ethernet (external Wi-Fi AP antennae)
>> are
>>>> icing-on-the-cake we will both strongly consider.
>>>>
>>>>> As is stands at the moment some of the best cheap devices for server
>>>>> style devices is AllWinner A20 devices (CubieTruck, BananaPi and
>>>>> friends) and i.MX6 devices (Wandboard, CuBox-i and friends)
>>>> Hugely helpful.
>>>>
>>>> Key criterion for offline/remote deployments: does this accept 128GB
>> MicroSD
>>>> cards, so 2016's developing world $50-100 "knowledge hotspots"
>> increasingly
>>>> now become very real?  (Aside: 256GB MicroSD cards will be part of
>> this well
>>>> before 2020, apparently beyond the capability of most of these SoC's.)
>>>>
>>>> Peter, does Fedora 24 have a shot to one day run on the "$19" Pine64
>> Plus?!
>>>> Even if it's ambiguous whether it can truly contain 2GB RAM as
>> advertised,
>>>> Pine64 claims to run up to 70C which is very promising if true.  ($15
>> Pine64
>>>> contains 512MB, and $19 "Pine64 Plus" contains 1GB RAM.  Their 2GB RAM
>> story
>>>> is very attractive, but may be marketing vaporware for now?)
>>> Yes, I've got one awaiting for me on my return to London. Kernel isn't
>>> upstream, nor is u-boot, I'm not sure how big the patches are, I'm
>>> hoping it'll all be landable in F-24.
>> Profound thanks Peter.  More strategic than Nov 8th's election: we'll
>> notify the Nobel committee ;)
>>
>>> I'm not sure why you'd want to use a
>>> 128Gb SD card over an actual SSD or HDD, the later are a lot more
>>> robust.
>> In a perfect world: HDD/SSD robustnesses IS mandatory on the high-end.  We
>> need offer both.  On the low-end dirt-poor clinics, libraries, school
>> living in crushing poverty demand $15 64G Samsung MicroSD digital
>> libraries...downloading as much knowledge (and Sugarizer) into their brains
>> before device croaks after a year--or needs a new SD card after heavy use.
>>
>> Ethics demand that we answer this request for a sub-$50 "knowledge
>> hotspot", after our reservoir of recycled XO-1.5 community servers will
>> sadly be depleted in the coming year or so.
>>
>>> There's literally 100s of possible devices that would possibly
>>> meet your needs, what would be great is a list of must haves and a
>>> list of nice to haves and from that I could give a list of possible
>>> options.
>> Top Criteria:
>> - accepts 64G and increasingly 128G MicroSD cards
>> - internal Wi-Fi runs AP mode so "knowledge hotspot" can broadcast!
>> - runs Fedora 24, if not CentOS sometime in future?
>> - sufficient horsepower to deliver dynamic content like offline-searchable
>> OpenStreetMap (2G RAM strongly preferred; 1G RAM may suffice for 2016?)
>>
>> Highly Desirable Criteria:
>> - works up to ~70C as Pine64 claims, even in high humidity??
>> - tolerates crappy electricity & frequent outages, when external battery
>> pack depleted by desperate nearby mobile phone users
>> - dust-proof case
>>
>> Icing-on-the-cake Criteria: (high-end "$100 knowledge hotspots" in larger
>> clinics/libraries/schools will kill for this!)
>> - Ethernet (100mb/s sufficient) for better Wi-Fi + antennae, mounted up
>> high?
>> - SATA (2.5 inch 9mm HDD, mountable inside dust-proof case)
>> - MicroSD card can be glued in and/or hidden to avoid excess theft.
>> MicroSD cards often surpass the value of a month's salary; tragically these
>> ARE the conditions we work in :/
>>
>> --
>> Unsung Heroes of OLPC, interviewed live @ http://unleashkids.org !
>>
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> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Wed, 10 Feb 2016 23:57:02 -0500
> From: Adam Holt <holt at laptop.org>
> To: xsce-devel <xsce-devel at googlegroups.com>,  server-devel
> 	<server-devel at lists.laptop.org>,  "Unleash Kids!"
> 	<unleashkids at googlegroups.com>,  "Community Support Volunteers -- who
> 	help respond to help AT laptop.org" <support-gang at lists.laptop.org>,
> 	iaep <iaep at lists.sugarlabs.org>
> Subject: [Server-devel] School Server Weekly Call: Thur 10AM NYC Time
> Message-ID:
> 	<CAHaBuGeZ0hjGXJ-wPrshkvGd1RSg25qebB=ehQfmthdsusaHcQ at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> Next week (Thur Feb 18) we'll focus on Ghana's successful experiences with
> Internet-in-a-Box (IIAB) and RACHEL.
>
> Butfirst this week (Thur Feb 11) we'll focus on the imminent XSCE 6.0,
> integration with hot-off-the-press IIAB 2.0 and recycling of XO-1.5
> microservers into some exciting and powerful new community roles.
>
> Thanks for adding your own agenda items in advance right here:
>
>     http://tinyurl.com/xsceminutes
>
> Hop on 10AM NYC Time's voice call if you can ~ RSVP with a phone number or
> Skype username if possible, Thanks!  Or just jump on backchannel
> #schoolserver at http://webchat.freenode.net anytime to chat, and ask to
> join the audio stream live.
>
> --
> Unsung Heroes of OLPC, interviewed live @ http://unleashkids.org
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> End of Server-devel Digest, Vol 104, Issue 6
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