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

[Tony Anderson]

AFIK, the Government of Rwanda annual fiscal year begins July 1. Some 
one may have access to the records, but there are probably 1000 XO-1s 
deployed there. Does any one have an idea of the cost of 1000 32GB SD 
cards? Perhaps, that could be added to the MinEduc budget. The cost to 
deploy the SD cards in Rwanda is, of course, not negligible.

Tony

On 04/08/2016 09:43 AM, Dave Crossland wrote:
> Hi Adam!
>
> On 1 April 2016 at 01:24, Adam Holt <holt at laptop.org 
> <mailto:holt at laptop.org>> wrote:
>
>     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.
>
>
> What is the typical price the XO-1 units you are prepping for Haiti? 
> Cost of postage + 32Gb SD card + repair (volunteered labor?) + 
> distribution to Haiti?
>
>     The resilience/repairability of the XO-1 laptops is the absolutely
>     fascinating part. Regardless if historians of technology will look
>     down their noses from the Rich West's / Rich East's de facto
>     preference for one-upmanship (throwaway cute gadgets).  Or
>     conversely if they will look back from Poor/Southern Nations' de
>     facto environmentalism/repair principles -- purposefully
>     appropriating and re-appropriating a technologies beyond their
>     intended use.
>
>
> I think idea of the extra screws in the lids was a good one :)
>
>     Generally if the mouse issue is solved on early XO-1 laptops
>     (where early 2007/2008 touchpads were overly annoyingly erratic)
>     then these laptops continue to long outlast their projected
>     5-year-lifespan -- if the culture of learning & electricity are
>     real -- not just adding a USB mouse!  I was one of several who did
>     not believe in 2007 that a 5-year-lifespan was at all feasible. 
>     But I turned out to be completely wrong.  And then some~
>
>
> Having played with an XO-1 more over the last weekend than I did when 
> I got one in 2008, I must say that I think the interaction with the XO 
> in eBook reader mode seems an interesting opportunity. A non-pointer 
> based computer could still have a lot of life in it.
>
> You later said,
>
>     Repair of keyboards/ears and occasional screens is of course also
>     an issue when usage is very physical among those who won't give
>     kin(esth)etic learning a break, as every librarian for the last
>     hundred years has known ;-)
>
>
> I also wonder what can be done with a XO-1 without ears, or without 
> keyboards :D
>
>
>
> The 5 year lifespan idea is interesting!
>
> Later in the thread Tony said,
>
>     It will be difficult, but essential for the community to find
>     people who are willing to take on the challenge of maintaining
>     and, where possible, expanding the educational experience that the
>     XO can offer. 
>
> Okay, sure, but for how many years does this make sense for XO-1s? I 
> think probably another 10. That is to say, the actual lifespan of the 
> XO-1 product is not 5 years but 20, that we are now at year 10, and 
> there's another 10 years to go.
>
> I'm pretty happy with that as an answer to my original question: 
> "sunset planning" for Sugar on XO-1s means figuring out a plan for 
> keeping all the XO-1s out there useful for _something_ for another 10 
> years.
>
> This planning has to be done in the context is what is expected to 
> happen in the next 10 years. RMS has categorically given up on 
> thinking about what might be about to happen, and refuses to answer 
> speculative questions about the future publicly because it is a sure 
> way to look foolish. But I don't mind looking foolish, so I'll say 
> that what I think is about to happen in the next 10 years :)
>
> A lot of the people in the global south are going to get access to 
> cheap solar electricity, cheap Android computing devices, and some 
> degree of cheap network connectivity.
>
> I think this will happen because, as the rate of profit continues to 
> fall, then, to try to survive, all state capitals will seek to create 
> the kind of pervasive mass surveillance now enjoyed by the richer 
> states; and whereas the larger asian states have rejected support from 
> western big-capitalist mass advertisers (great firewall blocks in 
> China for a while, zero rate stuff recently in India) the poorer 
> states will welcome them (or their eastern counterparts.) Anyway, my 
> point is not to rabbit hole on historical materialist futurology :)
>
> What about the other XO models? I expect they also have a 20 year 
> useful life. When were the last big purchases of XO-4s?
>
> Are Peru and Uruguay still buying XO-4s for each year's new school 
> pupils? Given what I can peek at from relatively recent videos of 
> schools in those countries, it seems they are not.
>
> So, another prediction from me that is probably wrong: OLPC will not 
> produce another hardware design.
>
> Does anyone know why the "XO Infinity" became the "Infinity"?
>
>
>     As usual the real challenges are far more social than technical:
>     deliberate right-sizing of content/activity planning for the
>     community in question (we are building a more content-rich version
>     of HaitiOS from Sugar 0.108 and OLPC OS 13.2.7) while aligning
>     peer-mentoring with adult-mentoring, and of course pressure from
>     national testing around Grade 6-or-so in almost every country. 
>     These mammoths-in-the-room epic challenges keep eternally popping
>     up for a reason (and sometimes even getting answered!!) Human
>     Patterns across most all developing world communities, on all
>     continents.
>
> I see no problem with national testing. If kids are well educated, 
> they can pass such tests without much preparation :)
>
>     PS Dave, read through http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Reuse_checklist if
>     you want to do a time-lapse overhaul refurb like
>     http://youtu.be/daVDrGsaDME
>
>
> Great video :) I'll focus on software for now, but this kind of 
> checklist is awesome :D
>
>     -- we even got the security guards involved in helping us out in
>     such physical repair/upgrades in a restaurant in Haiti less than 2
>     week ago -- works far better than Miss/Mister Universe posters I
>     guarantee it :}
>
>
> :D
>
>
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