[Sugar-devel] The future of Sugar on XO-1s

[Sam P.]

On 30 May 2016 12:36:37 PM AEST, Dave Crossland <dave at lab6.com> wrote:
>Hi
>
>I want to return to this older thread because of James Cameron's
>comment in
>https://github.com/sugarlabs/sugar/pull/688#issuecomment-222393275 :
>
>On the assumption that Sugar Labs is dropping support for XO-1, I'll
>close
>this pull request. Thanks for your time!
>
>
>But I understood from Tony and Adam in this thread that Sugar Labs
>_should_
>keep support for the XO-1 as a goal. Adam said,
>
>In Haiti XO-1s will be dominant across many schools for years and year
>to
>come.  Similar to Tony's description, but these typically will be using
>32GB SD cards -- thankfully these are incredibly affordable. The
>resilience/repairability of the XO-1 laptops is the absolutely
>fascinating
>part.
>
>
>I think this goal is wise because it ensures that Sugar runs well on
>the
>cheapest computers - like the $10 getchip.com/pages/pocketchip and $5
>https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/raspberry-pi-zero - and ensures
>performance is only better on later XO models and 'regular'
>desktops/laptops.

Making sure sugar runs well on slow computers is an important goal.  Android runs fast on everything, and it has tonnes of pretty animations even.  Making sugar fast on every device doesn't limit us at all - let's keep on doing it.

Supporting XO1s is more than just performance though.  XOs don't run normal, up to date versions of fedora.  This means we must keep workarounds and redundant code to support ancient library versions.  This is the biggest issue with maintaining support - XOs aren't "normal" commodity hardware.

>
>I edited https://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Vision_proposal_2016 to reflect
>this.
>
>Cheers
>Dave
>
>
>On 5 April 2016 at 17:04, James Cameron <quozl at laptop.org> wrote:
>
>> On Tue, Apr 05, 2016 at 07:37:45AM -0400, Dave Crossland wrote:
>> >
>> > Hi James
>> >
>> > On 1 April 2016 at 15:06, James Cameron <[1]quozl at laptop.org>
>wrote:
>> >
>> >     Let me spin you a tail.
>> >
>> >     The myth of forward human development doesn't apply to
>software.
>> >
>> >     This is a parade of people, several walking abreast, beside a
>slow
>> >     moving flat bed truck, all holding on to a ribbon.
>> >
>> >     The truck is the world, and the internet as it stands.
>> >
>> >     The first person, next to the truck, are our learners or users.
>> >
>> >     The second person is Sugar Labs; with our activities, and
>Sugar.
>> >
>> >     The third person is distributions of Linux, like Fedora and
>Ubuntu,
>> >
>> >     The fourth person are the hardware vendors, like commodity
>suppliers
>> >     or OLPC.
>> >
>> >     The fifth person are the Linux kernel developers.
>> >
>> >     As the procession walks beside the truck, the ribbon is not
>always
>> >     straight.
>> >
>> >     Some people walk faster than others.  Some let go of the ribbon
>and
>> >     others take their place.
>> >
>> >     I'm glad you're here, you're bringing a new perspective.
>> >
>> >     But the ribbon is actually toilet paper, so the pressure to
>keep up,
>> >     while real, doesn't get felt, instead the paper breaks.
>> >
>> >     Do not target a rapidly diminishing enthusiastic group, or the
>future
>> >     users will suffer.
>> >
>> > I'm sorry, I didn't fully understand you here at the last line. You
>had
>> said
>> > earlier,
>> >
>> > >     for the future of Sugar Labs, they should be concentrating on
>> > >     later designs than one from 2007 that is no longer available
>and
>> > >     rapidly dying from old age.
>> >
>> > So you mean, it would be unwise for Sugar Lab's
>vision/mission/strategy
>> for the
>> > next 3-5 years to focus on supporting the rapidly diminishing (yet
>> > enthusiastic) group of XO owners, and focus on the future users who
>are
>> not XO
>> > owners?
>>
>> You might target this group of XO-1 owners and become a closed
>> community into which all communications are judged against
>suitability
>> for the majority (which would then be XO-1 owners).
>>
>> It would feel good!  [warning, sarcasm in this paragraph]
>>
>> I'm loath to battle the laws of physics, 'cause I know who wins.
>>
>> --
>> James Cameron
>> http://quozl.netrek.org/
>>

-- 
Sent from my phone. Please excuse my brevity.