<div dir="ltr">Thank you Tony for you perspective. So can we begin to look at implementation details? <div><br></div><div>Perhaps discussions about how to implement new features belong on server-devel rather than support gang. My apologies if so. But if XSCE begins to offer features that are really used and needed in the classroom, then the meaning of "support" will start changing.<br>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br></div><div class="gmail_extra">George<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Jul 9, 2013 at 10:43 AM, Tony Anderson <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:tony@olenepal.org" target="_blank">tony@olenepal.org</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex">Hi, All<br>
<br>
I am sure this is a broken record by now, but I keep hoping that there will be focus on content. I am not immediately concerned about power issues. The move from 386ISA to Arm has good potential, but the stability and functionality of XS-0.7 makes it still the software of choice. By mid-2014, the new generation of Atom may provide even lower power consumption.<br>
<br>
The IIAB (internet In a Box) now mandates a TB+ hard drive. This is viable for Atom based systems. It is also viable on the Trim-Slice H. My concern with the Trim-Slice is the 1GB memory. A server for a school of 100+ laptops probably needs more. 2GB is good, 4GB is better.<br>
<br></blockquote><div> </div><div style>There have been recent conversations with the Trimslice manufacturer, to get a version which has 2-4GB memory, quad core processor, and 2 ethernet connections.</div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex">
My urgent concerns are:<br>
<br>
1 - An effective way to organize the digital library so that kids are attracted to find items they would like to download.<br></blockquote><div><br></div><div style>We hope that we can evolve, and incorporate Pathagar for this in the short term. I've asked if there are other open source alternatives, and not gotten any viable suggestions. Seth insists that Pathagar is only going to work for books. I'd like a multimedia warehouse.</div>
<div style><br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex">
<br>
2 - Provide for a shared printer attached to the server which serv- es all of the XOs but gives the teachers and administrators control over the use of expean andible resources.<br></blockquote><div><br></div><div style>
Just looking at low hanging fruit -- What do you think of a PHP file on the XSCE web server to initiate a file upload, and using Browse Activity to extract Journal entries? We could have these uploaded files dropped into a directory where the teacher could trigger a print job. There may be a client/server interface in CUPS which lets the teacher administer, and trigger print jobs, from her own laptop.</div>
<div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex">
3 - an implementation of Puppet or similar technology to allow update of the XOs - supporting mix of XO-1 to XO-4, providing for reflash as well as updates (something like Nandblaster). This should work equally well for locked and unlocked XOs.<br>
</blockquote><div><br></div><div style>I'm not sure how to achieve these objectives. We have been exploring another package very similar to puppet, ansible, might be able to achieve the same outcomes, and be simpler to administer. Reflashing seems very different from in-place upgrading. </div>
<div style><br></div><div style>Both puppet, and ansible, require root access permissions, and a functioning operating system. If the target machine has broken software, I don't see an easy alternative than to reflash with a signed image, just to verify the hardware.</div>
<div style> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex">
<br>
4 - some way for the school server to support email, proabably a light-weight client Sugar activity and postfix or similar on the server. There needs to be a mechanism to offload pending email for the outside world to a usb drive which can be sent at a cyber cafe as well as a way to receive email at a cyber cafe for insertion into the school server queue. It would be nice if the kids could have a school-based email address but this means setting up an internet domain somewhere. Gmail would work, but I am not sure how that can be done on the LAN when not connected to the internet.<br>
</blockquote><div><br></div><div style>This need is not in my area of expertise. Sendmail is often installed by default, but is complex to configure. Does anyone have recommendations on how best to achieve this objective?</div>
<div style> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex">
<br>
5 - upgrade to Moodle 2 along with some strategy on how it could be used in the local school environment. My approach is to use it for a 'teacher's lounge', a place for teachers to find lesson plans, training materials, and a method to communicate with each other. In reality, teachers do not have time to take advantage of this. Sadly, even though Moodle is open source, there is very little open source courseware available for Moodle (one good digital photography course). Naturally, Moodle has the additional disadvantage that courseware can not be downlaoded to the XO so that students can work at home. Moodle assumes the student is online.<br>
</blockquote><div><br></div><div style>We spent a little time looking at the resources required, server horsepower, etc. and decided that moving to a more recent moodle was not an easy choice to make</div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex">
<br>
6 - support for GSM modems and wifi dongles on the school server. This is minor, but network configuration for this has to be done at the command line (no gui network manager). More important is a model for 'ET call home' for the school server. I believe in our deployments, the internet model is going to be more 'batch' jobs than online surfing. We all have experienced what happens when 100 users try to share a single DSL line. The school server will most often be using a DHCP lease from the ISP.<br>
</blockquote><div><br></div><div style>The "ET call home" need is pretty well covered by openvpn, which has been used in India, and Haiti, for remote monitoring and support. The configuration of GSM modems seems problematic, because each country, and often each provider within a country, requires different "wvdial" (the command line auto-dialer) settings. But we can provide better documentation, and simple scripts to run every hour to keep the 3g connection open, and restart the vpn (virtual Private Network) tunnel when it goes down.</div>
<div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex">
7 - default configuration of the second network port with a fixed IP address would be very handy for support. The idea would to enable an XO to connect via a ethernet cable (USB to ethernet at the XO and possibly also at the server) to do ssh for rescue. Currently, if the server cannot be accessed via the router because of DHCP problems, you have to find a monitor and keyboard to login.<br>
</blockquote><div><br></div><div><br></div><div style>The XSCE attempts to make sure that very early in the install process the lan adapter is set to the 172.18.96.1 ip address, and the default admin user is available for ssh (secure shell remote connection) , to address this issue.</div>
<div style> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex">
<br>
<br>
<br>
Frankly, the server software has been quite functional and stable since XO-0.4. Daniel Drake solved the urgent problem of being dependent on unsupported software with the move to CentOs in XS-0.7.<br>
<br></blockquote><div> </div><div style>My hope is that XSCE can approach the stability you speak of in earlier versions, (we're not there yet), but be able to combine the contributions of many minds, and many people's efforts.</div>
<div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex">
Yours,<br>
<br>
Tony<br>
<br>
<br>
On 07/09/2013 03:27 PM, <a href="mailto:support-gang-request@lists.laptop.org" target="_blank">support-gang-request@lists.<u></u>laptop.org</a> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex">
Message: 1<br>
Date: Tue, 9 Jul 2013 07:43:34 -0500<br>
From: David Farning<<a href="mailto:dfarning@activitycentral.com" target="_blank">dfarning@<u></u>activitycentral.com</a>><br>
To: server-devel<<a href="mailto:server-devel@lists.laptop.org" target="_blank">server-devel@<u></u>lists.laptop.org</a>>, "Community Support<br>
Volunteers -- who help respond to help AT <a href="http://laptop.org" target="_blank">laptop.org</a>"<br>
<<a href="mailto:support-gang@lists.laptop.org" target="_blank">support-gang@lists.laptop.org</a><u></u>><br>
Subject: [support-gang] XSCE sprint update day 0 and day 1<br>
Message-ID:<br>
<CAOGko=<a href="mailto:93csNu2__8HS9s3fAtRqwUKctcpbiYNEE3OzVn8ELo_g@mail.gmail.com" target="_blank">93csNu2__<u></u>8HS9s3fAtRqwUKctcpbiYNEE3OzVn8<u></u>ELo_g@mail.gmail.com</a>><br>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8<br>
<br>
We are safely locked away in cabin in Gimli, Manitoba (<br>
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli,_Manitoba" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/<u></u>Gimli,_Manitoba</a> )<br>
<br>
We have been going through a couple days of reflection. Sometimes<br>
painful, but always useful. It feels like many of the big technical<br>
pieces are coming together. Now, we are in that awkward adolescence<br>
phase, more than an idea... by less than a product. We are 80% done...<br>
with 80% left to go:)<br>
<br>
We are talking about where we should go and what we need to do.<br>
Navigating the fog of uncertainty.<br>
<br>
Through all this I am still pretty confident:<br>
1. George is advocating for what he needs in Haiti. - A full turnkey<br>
system from power to wireless. A typical micro-deployment.<br>
2. Jerry is advocating for what he needs in Australia. - Thousands of<br>
laptops in 100s of schools which are 1000s of kilometers apart.<br>
3. I am advocating for I think the ecosystem needs in a server<br>
appliance. Inexpensive, low power, easily maintainable, sane defaults<br>
yet configurable.<br>
4. Adam is advocating for the big picture needs of olpc....<br>
<br>
Please join us on this mailing list or IRC #schoolserver to advocate<br>
for your deployment or use case. If it feels like your voice is not<br>
being heard, patches and clearly define customers specification will<br>
have greater effect than all caps:)<br>
<br>
--<br>
David Farning<br>
Activity Central:<a href="http://www.activitycentral.com" target="_blank">http://www.<u></u>activitycentral.com</a><br>
</blockquote>
<br>
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