[IAEP] SoaS Breakthrough!

[Thomas C Gilliard]

On 01/10/2012 07:06 PM, Caryl Bigenho wrote:
> Hi Ruben and All,
>
> Tom has warned me that the persistent usbs really _/are/_ persistent 
> and that eventually they fill up and fail!  Not good. That would not 
> be a problem with a Live CD as nothing is written to it. Therefore, 
> the extra usb for file storage... journal items, extra Activities and 
> the like.
>
> Again, please remember we are talking about the average non-techie 
> educator who wants to bring Sugar to their students on whatever old 
> machines they may have. While most schools do have a person in charge 
> of technology, in many cases it is a regular teacher who just knows a 
> little bit more than other teachers and has the time to do it. They 
> may get a tiny bit of training, a small stipend,  and a special 
> "title" to go with the job, but that is about it.
>
> In the real world, the latest buzz is all about using smart phones, 
> iPod touches, and all sorts of tablets with students.  Nothing wrong 
> with that, I guess, but having the Sugar Activities available would be 
> nice.... and gladly accepted... if we can make it easy to do.  Tell 
> the teachers they need a "thin client" and they may start looking for 
> a skinny student!
>
> Getting a whole school to buy into something like Sugar is a stretch. 
>  It is a battle that has to be won, one teacher at a time.  Maybe when 
> the others see it in action in some of the classrooms interest will 
> reach a level where a school wide adoption would be feasible.
>
> So enough with the cliches (sorry I used so many), I need to find out 
> how to make a Live CD to test this.  The instructions are either gone 
> or buried in the wiki (I guess that is one reason why we are 
> refreshing it).  So here is the information I need:
>
> 1) What is the most up-to-date build you folks would recommend?
 >http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Trisquel_On_A_Sugar_Toast
      Download: 
http://devel.trisquel.info/sugar/toast/iso/trisquel-sugar_5.0_i686-20111204.iso
*Install directly from the Live CD: 
http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Trisquel_On_A_Sugar_Toast#Install_To_4_GB_USB-stick
   (This is a full install; not a live install with persistence)
*VirtualBox appliance Just import into VirtualBox for OSX on your MAC:
http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Emulator_image_files/Trisquel#File:Trisquel_icon.png_Trisquel-5.0-sugar

 >SoaS_v6_Pineapple
      
http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Community/Distributions/Fedora-SoaS#SoaS_v6_Pineapple
  *Use "liveinst" command in a sugar root terminal to install to a 4 GB 
USB (formatted ext4 no swap)
     Download: 
http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/alt/spins/linux/releases/16/Spins/i686/Fedora-16-i686-Live-SoaS.iso
>  Where can I find the instructions for making the Live CD?
* Wiki Instructions: http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Downloads

*Burning a Live CD from an .iso on a MAC      This works tg jan 10 2012
Click on the CD.iso ( trisquel-sugar_5.0_i686-20111204.iso) Downloaded 
to the desktop
  Right click: Open with DiskImageMounter.app
  Open: Applications/Utilities/Diskutility.app
  Click on Mounted (trisquel-sugar_5.0_i686-20111204.iso) in Disk Utility
  Insert Unused CD in Mac Slot
  Click on "Burn" on top bar - (burns and verifies Live CD)
This Live CD boots on a PC and a MAC

*How to boot the trisquel-sugar_5.0_i686-20111204 live CD on your Mac
  Insert the CD
  Shutdown The Mac
  Press Power button and hold the OPTION key down until a windows CD is 
displayed to the right of the MAC harddrive
  Use ==> arrow key to select the windows CD and hit enter.
  CD Boots
*Problems:
  Very Slow compared to a VirtualBox appliance
  No internet connection on CD - VirtualBox works fine
  CD ejects on shutdown of sugar cannot insert it soon enough to boot 
with option key

Better to use the CD in a PC

*I recommend a VirtualBox Install for a Mac
VirtualBox: 
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/server-storage/virtualbox/downloads/index.html

*Here is a complete listing of available appliances (Just import the 2 
files; after downloading them)
http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Sugar_Creation_Kit#All_Prebuilt_VirtualBox_Appliances
> 3) Would it be better to put it onto a DVD since the price is so 
> similar these days?
It does not matter the file size is much smaller than a CD. But older 
PC's may not handle a DVD
>
> 4) What type of CD or DVD works best on a wide variety of intel 
> computers (PC and Mac)? (Brand, R, RW or ???)
>
> 5) Can the Live CD be easily cloned with a DVD Rewriter?  (I will 
> probably want to make at least 100 copies)
>
Use the CD/DVD burner on your machine. It will duplicate one at a time. 
see section above: Burning a Live CD from an .iso on a MAC
I have no experience in DVD rewriters....
> 6) What other things I haven't thought of should I know?
>
> 7) Anyone want to stand by to give advice if I get stuck? (Skype call 
> or irc if you must... I do not type well)
>
Glad to help by e-mail; cell phone or IRC #sugar.

Regards

Tom Gilliard
> Thanks,
> Caryl
>
> > Date: Wed, 11 Jan 2012 03:21:37 +0100
> > From: ruben at gnu.org
> > To: cbigenho at hotmail.com
> > CC: iaep at lists.sugarlabs.org; testing at lists.laptop.org; 
> support-gang at laptop.org
> > Subject: Re: [IAEP] SoaS Breakthrough!
> >
> >
> > > I called Tom Gilliard today during his ski vacation (oops!) to get
> > > some help prepping for showing SoaS at SCaLE 10X Jan 20-22. After we
> > > talked about several things I told him I had a "wild idea" that I
> > > thought the average non-techie teacher could handle. Why not run
> > > SoaS from a Live CD and then save all the files you want to keep on a
> > > separate usb stick? This could include additional Activities
> > > downloaded from the Sugar Labs website that don't "live" on the Live
> > > CD.
> >
> > This should work out of the box in TOAST -without extra activities-,
> > you just need to format the usb drive in ext2(-4) and label it home-rw.
> > Then, if you have it plugged during the live cd boot, it will be mounted
> > as /home and keep any user changes, downloads, activities, journal...
> >
> > In any case, how is that an improvement over having both the system and
> > the home in the usb as usually?
> >
> > > IMHO this could really be a breakthrough for getting Sugar into
> > > classrooms that can't get XOs.
> >
> > I think live usb systems are nice for some tasks, but not for serious
> > deployments. The live usb persistence methods can -and do- fail,
> > specially if you don't shut the system down properly, as impatient kids
> > tend to do.
> >
> > The method I think would be a breakthrough for a school is to use a thin
> > client environment. One server is enough to run a typical school, you
> > only need to manage one standard GNU/Linux computer, the clients need
> > no software or configuration, and they can keep whatever they already
> > have in their hard drives untouched and usable. Also all the students
> > data are in an easy to backup spot, installing an activity in the server
> > makes it available for everyone instantly, and you can also combine it
> > with class management software like iTALC.
>
>
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