[Sugar-devel] [PATCH] Display build number at Name Page

[Daniel Drake]

On 15 June 2011 16:01, Esteban Bordón <ebordon at plan.ceibal.edu.uy> wrote:
> This patch show the build number in the name page for first boot (see
> attached file). It's very useful to test the correct massive flashing for
> technical team.

I have a lot of experience handing out laptops to our target first
time users (young children, often in places with little access to
computers), and this screen is their first interaction with the
laptop.

It may sound excessive and a little unbelievable, but this first step
really is a very challenging and stressful experience for everyone
involved. This screen must be kept as simple as possible.

For example, in Ethiopia, with all laptops strictly turned off, the
teacher explained (in the local language, of course) what the first
steps with the laptop are - write your name, pick your colour. At the
same time, I drew the screens on the blackboard. We then ran through
this in person, and the teacher used me as an example. She asked for
my name, which I told her, then wrote in the "Name:" box that we had
drawn on the board. Simple? Most children in that class turned on the
laptop having not really understood their own teacher, and wrote
"Daniel" in the name box.

Or in Nicaragua, where a very young girl looking very blankly and
nervously at the screen, eventually found enough courage to talk to
the odd foreigner in front of her and finally responded to my
question: "What's your name?". Maria. "How do you spell it?"
m-a-r-i-a. "Can you see the M key on the laptop?". Yes - she points at
it. "Ok, now press it with your finger."  She looked blankly for a
while and said "I...can't"

I have a lot more experiences like this. Even the next steps are
difficult where children don't understand that they have to move the
mouse to the "Next" button before clicking, or they don't understand
why the click was necessary (isn't pointing at the button with the
mouse enough?).

So while I can see some value in a quick communication of the
installed software version details for a small proportion of people
involved, I think displaying it in this form would just add to the
huge amount of confusion that our target users experience when they
first receive their laptop.

Instead, I would suggest that it be made available by a keypress for
the technically inclined. This is already the case (Ctrl+Alt+F2). But
if that really is insufficient then perhaps it could be temporarily
shown on the Sugar naming screen while Ctrl+Shift are held down, or
something like that.

Daniel