Hands on with the XO Sugar OS
Summary: Haven't heard much from these guys lately. This is me, not caring, while I'm on vacation.
Haven't heard much from these guys lately. This is me, not caring, while I'm on vacation. However, is the lack of news after their vaporware announcement of the next gen XO a sign of impending doom? I'll read what you think when I get back. For now, argue amongst yourselves.
Although I still haven't been able to get my hands on an XO for a serious review, thanks to the joys of VMWare, I was able to give the Sugar OS a good test drive tonight (you can download the latest image here). It took a bit of getting used to, but within about 10 minutes, I was navigating quite naturally, using the touchpad corners to bring up the "taskbar," multitasking, etc. The entire OS is based around starting and stopping "Activities," whether browsing the Web or writing a document.
Although I can't assess performance, I can say that the interface is interesting and straightforward. I also can't assess various levels at which kids can interact with their "neighborhood" (the other XOs on the network). However, this is definitely worth turning my 5-year old loose on, so I will keep testing over the next few days. For now, though, I've assembled an image gallery showing a few highlights.
My first impression? As an experienced computer user, give me Mandriva on a Classmate any day. As a kid, this just might work very well. As the application base increases, this OS will become quite a bit more useful; it is somewhat limited now in terms of educational applications compared to offerings for other Linux distributions.
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Talkback
OLPC review humour
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind.
The First approached the Elephant,
And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl:
"God bless me! but the Elephant
Is very like a WALL!"
The Second, feeling of the tusk,
Cried, "Ho, what have we here,
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me 'tis mighty clear
This wonder of an Elephant
Is very like a SPEAR!"
The Third approached the animal,
And happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
Thus boldly up and spake:
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
Is very like a SNAKE!"
The Fourth reached out an eager hand,
And felt about the knee
"What most this wondrous beast is like
Is mighty plain," quoth he:
"'Tis clear enough the Elephant
Is very like a TREE!"
The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
Said: "E'en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most;
Deny the fact who can,
This marvel of an Elephant
Is very like a FAN!"
The Sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
Than seizing on the swinging tail
That fell within his scope,
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
Is very like a ROPE!"
And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!
OT but I always liked that poem...
Science is humanity's purest example of this. I've seen "accepted fact" suddenly become questionable fiction after a momentous discovery on numerous occasions. Remember when they first discovered that Newton's "laws" didn't apply at or below the atomic level? That freaked a few people out, didn't it? Perhaps Newton's laws are simply the "tail" of a really big "elephant" we have yet to discover.
The performance is good enough, but nothing to write home about. It is a
There are three kinds of networks you can form. The first is where you just all connect to an access point. The next is when there is no access point, and you just connect directly to each other as a mesh (no Internet access). The third is when one or more are connected to an access point, and the rest are connected to these and each other through a mesh. Then, you those that are not close enough to the access point, still get access through through the mesh.
I got the first two kinds of networks working no sweat, but have been unable to figure out the third. I think you have to have a school server that identifies itself as such to be able to form the third kind of mesh. I was looking for documentation online, but could not find a good description of how to set up the third kind of network. Actually, the hope is that it will be automatic!
I did not get to the point of trying to test the feature that a laptop will continue to forward packets, even when turned off. For that, you would need three laptops separated sufficiently, so the one in the middle would be needed for the two others on the ends to communicate, and then switch of the middle one.
Well, now that we have all of these laptops in the hands of a lot of geeks, we will start creating some how-tos and examples. We also need to clean up a lot of little details to make things more automatic, such as WPA support.
To fully test and appreciate the OLPC, you need a minimum of two, preferable three.
Without apps., it doesn't really matter.
There are lots of applications for the XO, and, they can draw on all of the
But, even if you look at using Windows for 1:1 computing where devices will have limited memory and processing power, you would still have to go through the same process of creating / porting a set of applications to load on it. Really no different, but, OLPC has a huge head start.
"need to be touched up for the Sugar interface"
In a memory / CPU limited device, you can not run everything, and, you
It should be emphasized that OLPC has a huge head start with applications.
Also, you are right on about the user interface. Is ONLY for young kids,
is it any more different (from desktop)than Wii or PS3 or Xbox360 interface
I think the XO interface is pretty good, the network browser is great and the Journal is great, and zooming back and fore from the network to my friends to my PC (and programs running) to the journal makes a lot of sense when you use it.
You're right...
cad
I agree with you, the XO interface is good, but it does target younger kids
But, having said that, I would not be surprised if some of the user interface ideas for the XO end up in interfaces for adults.
I know that the hardware innovations will end up in adult computers!!!!
Sugar != OS; Sugar == GUI
You somehow linked a bunch of old talkbacks to a new article.
It's an old article
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"<a href="http://www.linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2008-01-15-002-26-RV-DT-HW" target="_blank">Hands On with the XO Sugar OS</a><br>
<font color=grey>Jan 15, 2008, 02 :30 UTC (0 Talkback[s]) (3440 reads)<br>
(Other stories by Christopher Dawson)</font>"<br>
<br>
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PS. It's all about the clicks
I think you are right, he only added a little new content to the font end.
Yes, they DO get a lot of page views on Linux stuff.
if I were a kid in a developing country
As an experienced user, it is not intuitive and easy to figure out. As a new user, it'd be just plain frustrating.
RE: Hands on with the XO Sugar OS
Sure, there are weaknesses, mistakes are being made, problems arise (and maybe some of them won't be solved), but before you criticize the endeavor (and I'm thinking that criticizing the GUI/OS/operational characteristics/design/engineering implementation/etc. from anything other than the perspective of their target "market" is in this category), I think the question is begged-
WTF(!!!)have you or your company ever done to actually benefit the world beyond what you have actually received just recompense for? WHERE IN HELL do you get the idea you have any right to limit the rest of the species to the constraints you have accepted for this technological development that just might have sufficient evolutionary impact that we might not finish the destruction of this planet we are so hell-bent on? If you find this device difficult or frustrating (I doubt very many young children do, they seem to actually enjoy learning new things) and you can't figure out how to improve on it (and remember that you have a moral commitment to do so without unjust recompense), don't you think you should perhaps JSTFU!!!?