[Sugar-devel] FAQ on Sugarizer

[James Cameron]

On Wed, May 16, 2018 at 10:27:59PM +0200, Lionel Laské wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> I've read on a recent sugar-meeting questions regarding Sugarizer
> packaging.
> Because I've just released version 1.0,

Thanks for the reminder; I've rebased the Sugar Labs clone of your
Sugarizer repository.

> I think it's the right time to build a Sugarizer FAQ.  I'm answering
> below on questions asked during this meeting but I will be please to
> add to this future FAQ all questions you're interested to ask. Don't
> be shy :-)

My remaining question at the end of my mail.

> Who is responsible of the packaging of Sugarizer ? Who choose
> activities distributed inside Sugarizer ?
> 
> I'm choosing all activities integrated into the Sugarizer package.
> 
> It's an editorial choice. It's also a way to simplify use of
> Sugarizer by non technical guys.
> 
> Finally it's a way to ensure a good quality: I spent lot of time
> before each release to test each activity on each supported platform
> (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, EDGE, Android, iOS, ChromeOS, Windows 10).

Thanks.  This is the same strategy I use for OLPC OS on Fedora and
Ubuntu, and for Sugar Live Build.  The results are;

- completeness,

- complementary activities, due to careful selection,

- reduced software defects distributed, due to full testing.

I've done this because the individual activity model only worked
when there was a feedback path from the end-user to an activity
maintainer.  Without activity maintainers, I've had to take most of
that role myself.  Without feedback, fatal bugs have gone undetected
for months to years at a time.

> BTW all deployment is free to change (add/remove) activities
> packaged in Sugarizer - see below.
> 
>  
> 
> Is it possible to change activities package into Sugarizer ?
> 
> Because each activities has it's own directory in Sugarizer, It's
> easy to change the packaging. See here:
> https://github.com/llaske/Sugarizer# activities for more.
> 
> On Sugarizer application (Android, iOS, Windows 10) it's not
> possible to install/remove dynamically a new activity. It's today a
> technical limitation: all downloads must be sandboxed.

Thanks for confirming that.  One of my customers was under the
impression that activities could be downloaded and installed within
Sugarizer, but I was sure it wasn't a supported deployment model.

Another customer liked the idea of a child _not_ being allowed to
download unauthorised activities, akin to not allowing wireless on
Sugar, or providing boundary router blocking at a school.  Some of
the schools I've worked with have such filtering that they may as well
not be considered as connected to the internet.  ;-)

> So to change packaging for Sugarizer application, you will need to
> rebuild the Cordova package. See here:
> https://github.com/llaske/Sugarizer#build-application-for-android-ios-or-windows-10
> for more.
> 
> Note also than Sugarizer Server Dashboard allow each deployment to
> choose favorite activities (on the home view by default). Just click
> on Activities button and change favorite state in the dashboard. You
> could also change activities order.
> 
>  
> 
> Is the Sugarizer library close to matching the Sugar activities library ?
> 
> Sugar activities library is very huge: I've counted more than 1000
> activities.

But as we have seen from Tony, very few of them work; now a two-digit
number.

> It's difficult to imagine to port all activities: activities should
> be rewritten (no direct translation from Python/Gtk to
> JavaScript/HTML). Plus, not all are really used on the field.
> 
> So my porting strategy was:
> 
>   ● G1G1 activities: Record, Calculate, Memory, Chat, Maze, Paint,
>     Speak, Moon, Clock, Physics, Abacus,  Turtle, Scratch, Etoys,
>     Pippy (Jappy), …
>   ● Most used activities in deployment: Fototoon, Labyrinth, Tuxmath
>     (Tank Operation), …
>   ● Activity asked by OLPC France deployments: Video Viewer (Khan
>     Academy, Canope), Shared Notes, QRCode, …
>   ● Other activities proposed by contributors: Gears, ColorMyWorld,
>     Game Of Life, …
> 
> I'm hearing from you to adapt priority and to port some specific
> activities that could be useful on the field.

Thanks for following up on the meeting questions.  I've two more.

1.  for Sugar activities that are written in JavaScript/HTML, yours is
a hostile fork; unilateral, without consultation, and without code
changes shared between the forks after the split.  We could be adding
Sugarizer's activities to Sugar, and this would benefit both Sugar and
Sugarizer; more eyes on code, more users of the activities.  What are
your plans on this aspect?

2.  schools who have chosen to use Linux have no download option for
Sugarizer; why is that?  Are you expecting those schools to use Sugar
instead?

> 
> Best regards.
> 
>        Lionel.

-- 
James Cameron
http://quozl.netrek.org/