[Sugar-devel] Vision

[James Cameron]

I don't have the network resources to prepare and upload images on
speculation.

On Thu, Apr 21, 2016 at 09:58:31AM +0800, Tony Anderson wrote:
> James
> 
> If you have an image you want tested that can be installed on an SD
> card for the XO-1, I'll make the time. Since the XO-1 has an early
> version installed,
> it should be possible to measure time for various operations. I
> probably won't realistically be able to devote time until mid-May.
> 
> I generally advise teachers to have the students close the lid
> rather than shutdown between lessons. I also show them the frame and
> the number of running activities. Many impatient kids will have 10
> or more instances running. So restoring the throttle we once had
> would be very helpful - possibly more than swap.
> 
> The Apple II was very successful in schools - anyone want to compare
> its performance with an XO-1? Generally, students at deployments did
> not buy the XO and do not have any other computer available. Here in
> the Philippines, smartphones and tablet are common. However, in
> Rwanda, the Nokia still reigns.
> 
> Most importantly, the XO gives the students a chance to learn that
> they can make the computer do what they want it to do and not just
> accept what they are given.
> 
> Tony
> 
> On 04/21/2016 06:27 AM, James Cameron wrote:
> >On Wed, Apr 20, 2016 at 05:22:21PM -0400, Dave Crossland wrote:
> >>On 20 April 2016 at 16:46, James Cameron <[1]quozl at laptop.org> wrote:
> >>
> >>     the performance ratio between our low-cost
> >>     low-power hardware and the competition was already evident on Fedora
> >>     Linux; it didn't need Windows to expose it
> >>
> >>Sorry if this is an obvious question, but, can anything done to make
> >>Sugar feel faster on XO-1s today?
> >Yes, and I've been doing some of that in the past few months.  With
> >13.2.7 you have my latest work, which added swap and removed several
> >animations.
> >
> >Adding swap has mostly removed memory pressure.  Under memory
> >pressure, activity startup is roughly doubled, as the CPU spends time
> >thrashing in the memory management.  Disadvantage is higher power cost
> >and possibly decreased Flash endurance, although the endurance of a
> >set of heavily used XO-1 has shown no sign of the deterioration
> >expected by now.
> >
> >Removing animations has allowed CPU cycles to be better spent on
> >responsiveness.  At one stage we had 50/50 competition between the
> >activity launch animation and the starting activity.  Instrumenting
> >the frame and transition box animations showed there was enough time
> >for only one or two intermediate animation states before the final
> >state; which turned out to the cost of handling the function key
> >release event.  Some of these changes are not in Sugar master yet, but
> >in an OLPC branch; one such was proposed, but immediately closed with
> >appeal to process;
> >
> >	https://github.com/sugarlabs/sugar/pull/619
> >
> >As for what to do next; ideas are welcome, but here's a few;
> >
> >- profiling, of startup, of interactive response, (i've used xdotool
> >   for interactive response tests),
> >
> >- upgrade Gtk3, and GObject, to fix the memory leaks,
> >
> >- record metrics of response, deidentify, aggregate, and report.
> >
> >Although at this stage the interest in XO-1 should have degraded as
> >the units have degraded, and any return on investment is doubtful.
> >
> >Plenty of people left who whinge about XO-1, but ask them to test a
> >patch or release and no response.
> >
> >So it's more about people wanting their rainbow pooing unicorns.
> >Unrealistic expectations, polarised framing, denial, and consequent
> >unwillingness to be involved.
> >
> >>[...]
> 
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-- 
James Cameron
http://quozl.netrek.org/