[Sugar-devel] [HARMONIC] Harmonic Distribution 0.3 development release

[Aleksey Lim]

New development release of Harmonic Distribution[1] which
consists of Sweets Distribution[2] (packages with base software)
and Sugar Network[3] (content delivering/sharing system).

This release still is not ready for testing deployment scenario
in the field (as was assumed) because deployment oriented infra
is not yet setup (See TODO section).

== General improvements ==

* Factory repository supports Fedora-11 (might be still in use in
  the field). So, it is possible to install Sweets Distribution
  packages using regular installation procedure[4] on XOs shipped
  with Fedora-11 and start using Sugar-0.94 (in parallel with original
  one) with Sugar Network integration.

* Sugar Network client side code was tuned to speed up Sugar Shell
  start on XO-1 laptops.

* There is a testing server launched on one of Sugar Labs servers. Its
  content will be preserved between Harmonic Distribution releases and
  consists of (thanks to Thomas C Gilliard who sorted out ASLO
  activities) only pure python activities (that don't have external
  to Glucose dependencies) to simplify Sugar Network testing process.
  If "Connect to master server" option was chosen in Sweets
  Distribution Control Panel section, Shell will connect to this server.
  The API url of new server is, http://api-testing.network.sugarlabs.org/.

* The "Mejorar Sistema" component was renamed to webui and is intended
  to be a Web interface to Sugar Network content. Right now, it behaves
  as a local Web application but server side launch (at least launching
  on school servers) will be supported later.

* Nevertheless, public Sugar Network WebUI server was launched on
  http://network-testing.sugarlabs.org/ in demo mode. It points to the
  same content as Sugar Shell (after selecting "Connect to
  master server"). Since its is a demo server, all visitors behave
  on behalf of "demo" user and can only populate feedback resources.

== Sugar Network WebUI improvements ==

* Create reviews for contexts
* Search widget now features autocomplete
* Redesigned Resources Type Bar
* 3 aditional resources for each context on Grid view were included
* Size / Parameters adjustments for text boxes
* "New resource" interaction has been redesigned
* Dates and authors for interactions have been included
* Support for 800x600 screen resolution
* Support en and es UI localization (these strings will appear on
  translate.sugarlabs.org to continue translation process)
* Switch between server and local contexts (Sugar Network button in
  toolbar)

== Sugar Network server improvements ==

* Server keeps information about poster's language. So, after supporting
  on client side, it will be possible to have the same Sugar Network
  entity translated into several languages.

* The contexts' "author" property contains nicknames of users instead
  of GUIDs. Thus, it is possible to type a query (in client's search bar)
  like "author:me" (the rest of possible prefixes can be found on
  objects diagram for Context resource[7]).

== Try the release ==

Follow regular Sweets Distribution instructions to setup Factory
repository and start using it on supported platforms[5]:

    http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Sweets_Distribution#Installation
    http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Sweets_Distribution#Usage

Right after installation, Sugar Network integration will be disabled, to
enable it:

    http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Platform_Team/Sweets_Distribution/Factory/Features#Sugar_Network_integration

In addition, there are XO images created within the Hexokinase[6]
project. Follow the instructions to flash the images:

    http://pe.sugarlabs.org/go/Proyecto_Piloto_Hexoquinasa/Install

There is a tutorial that is being populated by Thomas C Gilliard:

    http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Sugar_Network/Tutorial

For features and possible issues, consult Sweets Distribution Factory pages:

    http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Platform_Team/Sweets_Distribution/Factory/Issues
    http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Platform_Team/Sweets_Distribution/Factory/Features

== TODO ==

0.4 release is intended to be ready for testing deployment scenario:

    http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Platform_Team/Harmonic_Distribution/1.0/Todo#0.4

And is being planed for the end of June.

== Credits ==

* Peruvian community that supports this work. Especially by exposing the real need
  in such kind projects and help with making deployment (of Harmonic Distribution
  based project[2]) possible.
* World wide community members who donated funds to make full time
  working possible.
* People from mailing lists and IRC channels who are helping in
  development process.


[1] http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Platform_Team/Harmonic_Distribution
[2] http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Sweets_Distribution
[3] http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Sugar_Network
[4] http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Sweets_Distribution#Installation
[5] http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Platform_Team/Harmonic_Distribution/Supported_platforms#Map
[6] http://pe.sugarlabs.org/go/Proyecto_Piloto_Hexoquinasa
[7] http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Platform_Team/Sugar_Network/Objects_model