[Sugar-devel] A show of excitement and source of motivation for everyone here

[Sumit Srivastava]

Just came across this one-year-old comment of mine on a YouTube video
titled "The Coolest Netbook You’ve Forgotten About: The OLPC XO-1" when
someone commented on my comment about 2 hours ago. [Link to the video:
https://youtu.be/UPP4ClRmVik]

I thought that I'd share it all of you on the mailing list since it shows
that people are still excited to hear about the cool stuff that the people
here have built and the impact you're delivering each and every day. All of
you are awesome!

Sharing the whole YouTube comment transcript here, without any editing:




Sumit Srivastava
1 year ago
Hi, I'm from SugarLabs, the organisation that makes the software that OLPC
laptops (and a lot more devices) run on.

Happy to answer any questions. Please ask.

Likes: 132


generic Josh number 96
generic Josh number 96
1 year ago
Do you know if the display is switching modes with the greyscale thing?
Very curious how the screen works

Likes: 9


Alex
Alex
1 year ago
Have the laptops been upgraded over the years or have they stayed with the
same exact hardware as initially? Eg bigger storage, Ram, a touchscreen,
etc?

Likes: 3


Sumit Srivastava
Sumit Srivastava
1 year ago
@generic Josh number 96 I have a better resource for you to read up on this
display:
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Display

It serves a good intro to the OLPC display.

Likes: 11


Sumit Srivastava
Sumit Srivastava
1 year ago
@generic Josh number 96 Thanks for asking.

A kernel configuration file is used to select colour or grayscale
mode in the driver, and thus the display controller ASIC.  This is in
the kernel sources.

The keyboard shim detects brightness control keys and manages the
backlight power.  When the backlight is turned off, the grayscale mode
is enabled.  When the backlight is turned on, the grayscale mode is
disabled.  This is in the keyboard shim sources.

On the XO-1.75 and XO-4 models, a reverse biased red LED in the same
SMT package as the green storage LED is used as an ambient light
sensor.  The power management daemon (powerd) detects high ambient
light and turns off the backlight and turns on the grayscale mode.
The backlight is turned off to save power, and increase running time
on battery.  This is in the powerd sources.

However, without any change to backlight brightness or mode switching,
full sunlight does appear as greyscale, because the human eye can't
discern the small amount of colour emitted by the backlight compared
to the large amount of white light reflected from the sun.

Likes: 26


Sumit Srivastava
Sumit Srivastava
1 year ago
@Alex  The hardware has been regularly updated with release of newer models.

For example, XO-4 (the latest one) has a touchscreen variant and improved
hardware.

Likes: 10


Alex
Alex
1 year ago
What engine is the SugarXO browser based on?

Likes: 1


Sumit Srivastava
Sumit Srivastava
1 year ago
@Alex The simple browser also called browse activity is implemented using
HulaHop library and uses Gecko rendering engine(same as Firefox). Other
browsers available for XO laptops are Opera and Firefox. :)

Likes: 6


Alex
Alex
1 year ago
@Sumit Srivastava Really??? Opera and Firefox can run on these laptops???
I'm impressed!

Likes: 1


Sumit Srivastava
Sumit Srivastava
1 year ago
@Alex these laptops are not underpowered, they're just aimed at children
who want to learn, and appropriately capable to do so. :)

Likes: 7


velleda
velleda
1 year ago
Exactly why do you need a developer key to boot things other than official
OS builds, and why does it take 24 hours to get one?

Likes: 3


Sumit Srivastava
Sumit Srivastava
1 year ago
@velleda because this was designed with security and antitheft in mind, and
it's pretty secure, along with being fun to play with.

Likes: 4


Sumit Srivastava
Sumit Srivastava
1 year ago
@velleda also, thank you for asking. Here's a link to your question, if you
want to read a long explanation:
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Developer_key_philosophy

Likes: 4


TheSola10
TheSola10
1 year ago
Would it be interesting to switch OLPC to Silverblue/OSTree for increased
reliability and less required maintenance?



Sumit Srivastava
Sumit Srivastava
1 year ago
@TheSola10 Sugar OS is designed specifically with young children in mind.
All our decisions, designs, usability considerations are made with that
thing in mind. I don't think any other organisation would want to do that
with OS.

Likes: Likes: 5


James Livesey
James Livesey
1 year ago
@NiggaNig420 TOONZ They're giving their best efforts to help. They may or
may not be part of Sugar Labs (and in their defence it's hard to verify),
but they are providing people with helpful answers, so please don't be so
rude!

Likes: 13


Kintaro oe
Kintaro oe
1 year ago
any way to unlock the bios? me and my father tried to install xp countless
times but the bios didnt allow us to, it would make my childhood dream
finally complete

Likes: 2


Sumit Srivastava
Sumit Srivastava
1 year ago
@Kintaro oe    yes, you can install other operating systems using developer
key.
Instructions to request a developer key are at:
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Activation_and_developer_keys#Getting_a_developer_key

Likes: 2


James Livesey
James Livesey
1 year ago (edited)
@NiggaNig420 TOONZ It appears to me that you are racist; however I do
respect that people can have their own opinions in certain situations. Your
'evidence' that you have provided may be falsely representing the groups in
question, and they may only be a minority. They may not be the
representatives of their race, religion or nationality, and in fact it
appears that there are so many Indians, Pakistanis and Asians that are
brilliant, valued and talented individuals that we should be glad to have
on Earth. Please don't prejudice, it's a bad quality to have!


Life lesson over! 😁

Likes: 9


Kintaro oe
Kintaro oe
1 year ago
@Sumit Srivastava thanks

Likes: Likes: 1


BitterJames
BitterJames
1 year ago
@James Livesey literally nobody cares.



James Livesey
James Livesey
1 year ago
@BitterJames Except for the other 7 likers


Hi another person called James

Likes: 5


RiotOne
RiotOne
1 year ago
Sumit Im not sure that I know you... What is your IRC name and development
branch?



Peachy’s Here!
Peachy’s Here!
1 year ago
Sumit Srivastava! How do Transreflective Displays work?



Sumit Srivastava
Sumit Srivastava
1 year ago
@RiotOne IRC: sum2it
Development branch: SugarLabs- musicblocks

Likes: 1


Sumit Srivastava
Sumit Srivastava
1 year ago
@Peachy’s Here! transreflective displays can be imagined as an e ink
display with a backlight. Not really an accurate description but would be
easier to grasp the concept.

Likes: 1


anonfilly
anonfilly
1 year ago
Is the project still alive?

Likes: 2


Sumit Srivastava
Sumit Srivastava
1 year ago
@anonfilly Yes, SugarLabs is still alive and growing. Impacts over 3
million kids in the world.



KOTYAR0
KOTYAR0
1 year ago
You do a great help to the world.

How are you getting paid for your work, who makes your budget?



Sumit Srivastava
Sumit Srivastava
1 year ago
@KOTYAR0 Thank you! We don't get paid. It's all volunteers who want to
provide the best educational tools to children, for free.

Likes: 1


Linuxuser95
Highlighted reply
Linuxuser95
2 hours ago
Id like to know how Windows XP or 7 Worked with the OLPC


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