[Sugar-devel] SoAS Testing with XS

[Caroline Meeks]

To follow up on an off list discussion with Martin.

The OLPC use case assumes top down support. OLPC perfers to sell in bulk to
Governments.

Sugar on a Stick complements this with a bottom up approach.  Thus our use
case is how can we support a teacher with some computers in their room but
perhaps not even the administrative password to their computers and no
support from central IT.  Also we want to support schools that have a
computer lab, but again no support from central IT.  Our goal is that early
adopter teachers, perhaps with geek parental support, can try and prove the
worth of Sugar and it will then be adopted more widely in that school
district.

So in our use case we can't get any entries into the existing DNS.

We realize this is not the use case that the XS was designed for but we
believe it to be an interesting and important use case so we are exploring
what we can do.

Specifically for the GPA

We have 18 computers. Wired to the internet, we don't know the details.  We
are trying to bring in another computer, install the XS for it and put it
beside the existing computers.

For this summer we would be thrilled if we could get the computer lab
collaborating in anyway and see three paths that might lead us to success.


   1. Fix Jabber collaboration - We have a mysterious bug (that is also
   being worked on in parallel) that keeps dropping the connection to the
   externally hosted Jabber Server (jabber.sl.org) and we wondered if a
   local XS would work better.
   2. Fix Salut collaboration - We also have a bug that other wired
   computers also running Salut only see each other occasionally.
   3. Get a local XS working and hope that it dosn't have the same bug that
   kills the external jabber connection


Basically current behavior is maddeningly random.  To me Solid collaboration
would mean we had 3 working options to choose from and a UI that let me set
which one I wanted to use and let me see which one a specific machine was
using.

Thanks!

On Tue, Jul 7, 2009 at 10:34 AM, Greg Smith <gregsmithpm at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi Caroline et al,
>
> That helps. I noted four possible network configuration here:
> http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Sugar_on_a_Stick/Goals#Solid_Collaboration
>
> I have to warn you that this is very hard area. It reminds me of
> trying to catch minnows in Herring Pond with my son. You scoop the
> bucket in to a school of them but they always slip away by the time
> you pull it out of the water.
>
> Here's one of my previous attempts to snare the slippery fish:
> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/9.1.0_Collaboration_Requirements
>
> That said, taking out the wireless variable will really help!
>
> How about we write down a set of use cases from user, GUI interaction
> level. These can turn in to test cases.
>
> Here's one basic one:
>
> Environment:
> - 10 or fewer Sugar computers collaborating locally on a LAN no server
> (case 1 from Goals page).
> - LAN includes Hub (no switch?)
>
> Use case:
> - All computers boot up (any configurations/setting needed?)
> - All computers see each other in the network neighborhood
> - One computer starts the chat activity
> - Other computers see the chat in the network neighborhood and join
> - All 10 can chat at the same time.
>
> What other details is that case missing? SW version numbers and computer
> HW?
>
> If we write down a few simple cases which we can reproduce quickly
> that will help.
>
> To support the server cases, I think we need two test servers (one for
> in school and one on internet). We also need 1 - 3 adventurous sys
> admins to help manage them. I'll ask around but I don't know anyone
> for sure.
>
> Anyone on the list want to help?
>
> Doesn't have to be local to Boston but we could use ~10 hours/week and
> experience locking down/protecting public servers. The high level goal
> is to have test beds in support of GPA. Caroline is in charge of
> interaction with the school IT department and anything actually in the
> school. The additional servers and admins are to mirror that, run
> tests and validate configurations as needed. Sort of a tier two plus
> bleeding edge type support.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Greg S
>
> ****************************
> >
> > Caroline,
>
>
> The long term goal is that students at GPA can collaborate with each other
> from school and home.  Thus long term we need a Jabber server and a machine
> connected to the internet.  We could host it at Solution Grove or
> physically
> locate it at the school. I think learning about the tradeoffs between these
> approaches is one of our goals for the pilot.
>
> For this summer if we got collaboration working locally in the Computer
> Room
> we'd have a better experience then the current no collaboration.  We have
> an
> extra computer we can use as an XS. I'll need to buy/scavange another
> network card.
>
> Does that help?
>
> Thanks,
> Caroline
>
> >
> >
> > Can you confirm the target implementation for GPA is SoAS computers
> > collaborating with each other via Jabber?
> >
> > There are so many sub-components to this section of SW that we will
> > need your help to focus on the right area.
> >
> > Will the Jabber server be in the school or over a WAN to a public
> > (internet IP addressable) place?
> >
> > I'll try to document your answers on the Wiki.
> >
> > HTHs.
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
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>



-- 
Caroline Meeks
Solution Grove
Caroline at SolutionGrove.com

617-500-3488 - Office
505-213-3268 - Fax
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