Difference between revisions of "Sugar on a Stick"

Revision as of 21:51, 24 May 2010

HowTo [ID# 52453]

What is Sugar on a Stick?

Sugar on a Stick is a Fedora-based operating system featuring the award-winning Sugar Learning Platform and designed to fit on an ordinary USB thumbdrive ("stick"). Learn more about the project and the principles behind it at our main user-facing Spin webpage.

Want to use Sugar on a Stick?

If you'd like to try out Sugar on a Stick, check out the main Sugar on a Stick Spin Page - it's where our software downloads, usage instructions, and support information lives. After you've tried out Sugar on a Stick, we hope you'll come back here and join our community of contributors to help us make the next release even better.

Want to contribute to Sugar on a Stick?

You're in the right place! This page is a contributors portal to the project, and contains everything you need to get started in becoming part of the Sugar on a Stick community.

New contributors start here!

Welcome! We're excited that you want to help us bring the Sugar Learning Platform to chlidren around the world. No prior experience with computers or educational technology is required - in fact, we actively encourage a diversity of backgrounds, ages, and perspectives. See the Joining Sugar on a Stick page for instructions on how to get started. You may also want to check out the Sugar on a Stick project page on OpenHatch, or attend one of our Sugar on a Stick meetings.

What can you do?

There are three main ways you can contribute to the Sugar on a Stick community. We work closely with our upstreams, Sugar Labs and the Fedora Project.

Get Activities on the Stick

We're always looking for help with all aspects of the Sugar on a Stick release process. Here are a few things you can do:

Test Sugar on a Stick and help us find bugs and think of ways the project could be better. When you find a bug or think of an enhancement, file a ticket! No technical experience required.
Help make it easier for others to test Sugar on a Stick by writing test cases. If you've run a test case, you can write a test case.
Fix a bug or add a feature to an existing Activity, or to sugar-core itself. See How to fix an Activity bug and How to fix a sugar-core bug to get started. Basic Python programming skills - or the desire to learn - are all that's needed.
Package Sugar Activities for Fedora. If you're a Fedora Packager or want to become one, help in this area is something we desperately need - it's a trickier thing to learn, but rewarding once you get the hang of it.
Review Activities for inclusion in the build - check submitted Activities against our SoaS Activity Criteria and help us choose what gets included in the next release! No prior experience needed - we do reviews during our weekly meetings and will teach you how.

Get Sticks into Schools

Deployments all over the world need many different types of help as they work through the Sugar on a Stick deployment process - we need help building resources for all deployments to use, supporting those deployments, and helping new deployments start, as well as gathering stories and feedback from deployments so that we can make the next version of Sugar on a Stick even better.

Some things you can do to help:

"It's a wiki: Edit away!" is often said in open source communities. Almost nothing is set in stone and can't be undone. So if you've got ideas how to make instructions clearer and more accessible to our users, just go for it!
We produce official documentation such as the Creation Kit or the Customization Guide. If you've an idea how to make them better, why don't you jump in and create a patch? Creating these nifty text files is simple - instructions live in the Documentation SOP.
Interested in starting a deployment or helping a specific one (with anything from pedagogical design to technical support to funding logistics)? Introduce yourself on the deployment lists for Sugar Labs and One Laptop Per Child and we'll get you connected with some teachers on the ground.
We're looking for some people to help us assemble tools for our support team to use. Email the Sugar on a Stick mailing list if you're interested.

Get Contributors

Contributors are the lifeblood of the Sugar on a Stick community - we work hard to bring a playful mindset of teaching, learning, and meaningful work to the children we aim to reach, and we aim to keep that mindset in our own work and community as well. Welcoming and teaching new contributors or all types, building the resources they need, and teaching them how to empower others in their turn is one of the most important things you can do; it is everyone's responsibility to help build our community, one person at a time.

Some things you can do:

Edit this page and Joining Sugar on a Stick. Is there something we could do to make the "getting started" process easier? You don't have to ask permission to edit; just do it!
Help us fill in our remaining task-starter pages: Sugar on a Stick release process, How to fix an Activity bug, How to fix a sugar-core bug, and Sugar on a Stick deployment process/
Point out starter tasks on OpenHatch - fill in questions and ideas for beginner jobs, and point newcomers towards them.
Watch for introductions on the mailing list, and send welcome emails to new contributors (copy the list, so we can see what advice a newcomer has gotten so far).
Hang out with us on IRC: #sugar. This is the place where users join when using IRC Activity. Help them past initial trouble and provide instant help!

What's happening?

Meetings

We have weekly meetings on IRC - see Sugar on a Stick meetings for more information, including logs from past meetings. Attending a meeting is a great way for newcomers to get started.

Release schedule

Our release schedule is based on the Fedora release schedule. We are currently working on the release of v.3.0 Mirabelle, scheduled for release on May 25, 2010. The next Sugar on a Stick version will be based on the Fedora 14 release schedule.

The schedule below is a draft and has not yet been approved. It will be discussed after the Mirabelle release.

2010-05-25	Sugar on a Stick v.3.0 Mirabelle released
2010-05-25	Planning & Development Begins
2010-07-27	Feature Freeze (all features have to be approved and in a satisfying state.)
2010-08-03	Alpha Change deadline (all changes will have to be pushed by this time. pending submissions are insufficient.)
2010-08-17	Alpha Release
2010-09-07	Beta Change deadline (all changes will have to be pushed by this time. pending submissions are insufficient.)
2010-09-21	Beta Release
2010-10-12	Final Freeze (all changes have to be pushed. no further changes permitted.)
2010-10-14	Compose Release Candidate
2010-10-26	Sugar on a Stick v.4.0 Final Release

Contributor stories

To find out what other contributors are doing, check out Planet Sugar Labs, where contributors to Sugar Labs and the Sugar on a Stick project aggregate their blogs. You can also add your own blog to the Planet.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-<noinclude>{{ Translations | [[Sugar_on_a_Stick|english]] &#124; [[Sugar_on_a_Stick/lang-es|español]] &#124; [[Sugar_on_a_Stick/lang-fr|français]]}}{{TeamHeader|Sugar on a Stick|home=Project Home|xbgColor=ffe792|join_label=Get Involved}}
+<noinclude>{{ Translations | [[Sugar_on_a_Stick|english]] &#124; [[Sugar_on_a_Stick/lang-es|español]] &#124; [[Sugar_on_a_Stick/lang-fr|français]]}}
 [[Category:Project]]
-[[Category:Live USB]]</noinclude>
+[[Category:Live USB]]
+[[Category:Sugar on a Stick]]
+</noinclude>
+== What is Sugar on a Stick? ==
-{{/Pancake page}}
+{|
+|-
+| style="border: 0; border-width: 0; width: 350px;" | [[Image:SugaronastickMirabelle.png |300px|left]]
+| style="border: 0; border-width: 0;" | [http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Sugar_on_a_Stick Sugar on a Stick] is a [http://fedoraproject.org Fedora-based] operating system featuring the award-winning [http://sugarlabs.org Sugar Learning Platform] and designed to fit on an ordinary USB thumbdrive ("stick"). Learn more about [http://spins.fedoraproject.org/soas/#home the project] and the [http://spins.fedoraproject.org/soas/#about principles] behind it at our [http://spins.fedoraproject.org/soas main user-facing Spin webpage].
+|}
+=== Want to use Sugar on a Stick? ===
-{{TOCright}}
+{|
-== Introduction ==
+|-
-Sugar on a Stick (SoaS) enables children to reclaim computers. SoaS aims to make it easy for children, parents, or local deployers to provide each student with a small device (USB stick or thumbdrive) that can starts any computer with the student's personalized Sugar environment.  We would like to see [[Sugar]]'s presence, journal, and clarity principles usable on any machine &mdash; at school, at home, and anywhere there is a suitable computing device. Sugar on a Stick starts up ("boots") the host computer directly, without touching the hard disk; however, it may be necessary to adjust the computer's settings to look for a USB device before the hard disk.
+| style="border: 0; border-width: 0; width: 350px;" | [[Image:Cici-maze.jpg |300px|left]]
+| style="border: 0; border-width: 0;" |
+If you'd like to try out Sugar on a Stick, check out the main [http://spins.fedoraproject.org/soas Sugar on a Stick Spin Page] - it's where our software downloads, usage instructions, and support information lives. After you've tried out Sugar on a Stick, we hope you'll come back here and join our community of contributors to help us make the next release even better.
+|}
-{| border="0"
+=== Want to contribute to Sugar on a Stick? ===
-|[[Image:Soas-1.png|180px|link=0.86/Notes]]
-|
+{|
-'''What exactly is on the Stick?''': The Sugar Learning Platform and Sugar Activities for children over Fedora GNU/Linux.  Taking advantage of [[wikipedia:Live USB|Live USB]] technology, it's possible to store everything you need to run Sugar on a single, [[wikipedia:USB flash drive|USB flash memory stick]].  Compressed file systems are used to save space, and [[LiveOS image|persistent overlay]] files are used to save changes to the system and the learner's work. See our [[Sugar on a Stick/Resources| '''resources page''']] to learn about different component configurations we are designing to offer the option to use [[wikipedia:Virtual machine|virtual machines]] on existing computers to host Sugar from a portable Stick and save the [[Human Interface Guidelines/The Laptop Experience/The Journal|Sugar Journal]] (the learner's work) and personal settings on the Stick for use at another workstation - for example, a computer in the home.
+|-
+| style="border: 0; border-width: 0; width: 350px;" | [[Image:SoaS-contributors.jpg |300px|left]]
+| style="border: 0; border-width: 0;" |
+You're in the right place! This page is a contributors portal to the project, and contains everything you need to get started in becoming part of the Sugar on a Stick community.
 |}
-== Project Principles ==
+== New contributors start here! ==
-* ''Portability'' - One's Sugar environment, saved Activities, and Journal are available wherever one has access to suitable computing devices, at home, school, library, clubhouse in order to permit resumable, extended, and deep exploration of concepts and phenomena.
-* ''Customizability'' - Deployments, as well as users, can build their own SoaS easily.
-* ''Deployability'' - SoaS is easy to deploy, both for individual sticks and for multiple-instances deployed in computer labs.
-'''Would you like to help?''' ...this is entirely a volunteer-run effort. Please [[/Getting Involved| get involved]]!
+Welcome! We're excited that you want to help us bring the Sugar Learning Platform to chlidren around the world. No prior experience with computers or educational technology is required - in fact, we actively encourage a diversity of backgrounds, ages, and perspectives. See the [[Joining Sugar on a Stick]] page for instructions on how to get started. You may also want to check out the [http://openhatch.org/+projects/Sugar%20on%20a%20Stick Sugar on a Stick project page] on [http://openhatch.org OpenHatch], or attend one of our [[Sugar on a Stick meetings]].
-== Getting Sugar on a Stick ==
+== What can you do? ==
-* [[Sugar on a Stick/Mirabelle]] is nearing its release on 25 May 2010.<br>It is quite stable, and may be downloaded from the [[File:Soas-mirabelle-logo.png|120px|link=http://alt.fedoraproject.org/pub/alt/nightly-composes/soas/]] [http://alt.fedoraproject.org/pub/alt/nightly-composes/soas/ Nightly builds] site.<br>Please see the instructions at [[Sugar on a Stick/Beta]]. The release candidate images will be released on the [http://alt.fedoraproject.org/pub/alt/stage/13.RC2/Spins/ Fedora F13 Spins RC images] location once they are built.
+There are three main ways you can contribute to the Sugar on a Stick community. We work closely with our upstreams, [http://sugarlabs.org Sugar Labs] and [http://fedoraproject.org the Fedora Project].
-* [[Sugar on a Stick/Blueberry]] was released on 03 December 2009.
-* [[Sugar on a Stick/Strawberry]] was released on 22 June 2009.
-Developers and testers can help us debug Beta test builds. See [[Sugar on a Stick/Beta]].
+=== Get Activities on the Stick ===
-Please let us know how it goes. You can always [[Sugar on a Stick/Contacts| get in touch]] with us!
+{|
+|-
+| style="border: 0; border-width: 0;" |
-== E-Books ==
+We're always looking for help with all aspects of the [[Sugar on a Stick release process]]. Here are a few things you can do:
-For licensing reasons, Sugar on a Stick does not contain e-books with NC (noncommercial) licensing. To get teachers and parents started with finding, downloading, and reading e-books with Sugar, see our [[Sugar on a Stick/E-Books| E-Books page]].
+* [[Sugar on a Stick QA|Test Sugar on a Stick]] and help us find bugs and think of ways the project could be better. When you find a bug or think of an enhancement, [[How to file a ticket|file a ticket!]] ''No technical experience required.''
+* Help make it easier for others to test Sugar on a Stick by writing [[Sugar on a Stick QA#Test cases|test cases]]. ''If you've run a test case, you can write a test case.''
+* [http://bugs.sugarlabs.org Fix a bug or add a feature] to an existing Activity, or to [[Development Team|sugar-core itself]]. See [[How to fix an Activity bug]] and [[How to fix a sugar-core bug]] to get started. ''Basic Python programming skills - or the desire to learn - are all that's needed.''
+* [https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Sugar_Activities Package Sugar Activities for Fedora]. ''If you're a [https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/PackageMaintainers/Join Fedora Packager] or want to become one, help in this area is something we desperately need - it's a trickier thing to learn, but rewarding once you get the hang of it.''
+* [[Sugar on a Stick release process#Review|Review Activities for inclusion in the build]] - check submitted Activities against our [[SoaS Activity Criteria]] and help us choose what gets included in the next release! ''No prior experience needed - we do reviews during our [[Sugar on a Stick meetings|weekly meetings]] and will teach you how.''
-== More information ==
+| style="border: 0; border-width: 0; width: 150px;" |[[Image:SoaS-netbook-1.jpg|150px|right]][[Image:SoaS-netbook-2.jpg|150px|right]][[Image:SoaS-netbook-3.jpg|150px|right]]
+|}
-For general questions, please see the [[/FAQ|Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page for Sugar on a Stick]]. You can learn more from [http://www.xconomy.com/boston/2009/02/05/sugar-beyond-the-xo-laptop-walter-bender-on-olpc-sucrose-084-and-sugar-on-a-stick/ Walter Bender's interview with Xconomy], [http://www.olpcnews.com/software/sugar/sugar_on_a_stick_netbooks.html Wayan Vota's video] and [http://www.flickr.com/photos/curiouslee/sets/72157613785006745/ Mike Lee's pictures].
+=== Get Sticks into Schools ===
-== Problems? ==
+{|
+|-
+| style="border: 0; border-width: 0; width: 250px;" | [[Image:Cici-stick.jpg |200px|left]]
+| style="border: 0; border-width: 0;" |
+Deployments all over the world need many different types of help as they work through the [[Sugar on a Stick deployment process]] - we need help building resources for all deployments to use, supporting those deployments, and helping new deployments start, as well as gathering stories and feedback from deployments so that we can make the next version of Sugar on a Stick even better.
-Please file bug reports in [http://bugs.sugarlabs.org The Sugar on a Stick bug tracker].
+Some things you can do to help:
-* Here are [[BugSquad/Bug Report|some instructions for using the bug tracker]].
-* This link will [https://bugs.sugarlabs.org/query?component=SoaS&status=accepted&status=assigned&status=new&status=reopened query the database for all tickets designated with the SoaS component/tag].
-* You must [https://bugs.sugarlabs.org/register register an account] to enter new bugs.
-* This link will take you to a [http://bugs.sugarlabs.org/newticket?component=SoaS new bug/ticket form for SoaS] (once you are logged in).
-Sugar developers can often be found in IRC at irc.freenode.net, channel #sugar
+* ''"It's a wiki: Edit away!"'' is often said in open source communities. Almost nothing is set in stone and can't be undone. So if you've got ideas how to make instructions clearer and more accessible to our users, just go for it!
+* We produce official documentation such as the [http://download.sugarlabs.org/soas/docs/creation-kit/ Creation Kit] or the [http://download.sugarlabs.org/soas/docs/customization-guide/ Customization Guide]. If you've an idea how to make them better, why don't you jump in and create a patch? Creating these nifty text files is simple - instructions live in the [[Sugar_on_a_Stick/Documentation_SOP|Documentation SOP]].
+* Interested in starting a deployment or helping a specific one (with anything from pedagogical design to technical support to funding logistics)? Introduce yourself on the deployment lists for [http://lists.sugarlabs.org/ Sugar Labs] and [http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/ One Laptop Per Child] and we'll get you connected with some teachers on the ground.
+* We're looking for some people to help us assemble tools for our support team to use. Email the [http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/soas Sugar on a Stick mailing list] if you're interested.
+|}
-Or, send e-mail to feedback AT sugarlabs DOT org.
+=== Get Contributors ===
-See the '''Get Help!''' section of the [[Sugar_on_a_Stick/Blueberry|Blueberry release notes page]] for further information.
+{|
+|-
+| style="border: 0; border-width: 0;" |
-== Related work ==
+Contributors are the lifeblood of the Sugar on a Stick community - we work hard to bring a playful mindset of teaching, learning, and meaningful work to the children we aim to reach, and we aim to keep that mindset in our own work and community as well. Welcoming and teaching new contributors or all types, building the resources they need, and teaching them how to empower others in their turn is one of the most important things you can do; it is ''everyone's'' responsibility to help build our community, one person at a time.
+Some things you can do:
+* Edit this page and [[Joining Sugar on a Stick]]. Is there something we could do to make the "getting started" process easier? You don't have to ask permission to edit; just do it!
+* Help us fill in our remaining task-starter pages: [[Sugar on a Stick release process]], [[How to fix an Activity bug]], [[How to fix a sugar-core bug]], and [[Sugar on a Stick deployment process]]/
+* [http://openhatch.org/+projects/Sugar%20on%20a%20Stick Point out starter tasks on OpenHatch] - fill in questions and ideas for beginner jobs, and point newcomers towards them.
+* [http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/soas Watch for introductions on the mailing list], and send welcome emails to new contributors (copy the list, so we can see what advice a newcomer has gotten so far).
+* Hang out with us on IRC: [http://webchat.freenode.net?channels=sugar #sugar]. This is the place where users join when using [http://activities.sugarlabs.org/en-US/sugar/addon/4029 IRC Activity]. Help them past initial trouble and provide instant help!
+| style="border: 0; border-width: 0; width: 200px;" |[[Image:Cici-netbook.jpg|200px|right]]
+|}
+== What's happening? ==
+=== Meetings ===
+We have weekly meetings on IRC - see [[Sugar on a Stick meetings]] for more information, including logs from past meetings. Attending a meeting is a great way for newcomers to get started.
+=== Release schedule ===
+Our release schedule is based on the [https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Releases/Schedule Fedora release schedule]. We are currently working on the release of v.3.0 Mirabelle, scheduled for release on '''May 25, 2010'''. The next Sugar on a Stick version will be based on the [https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Releases/14/Schedule Fedora 14 release schedule].
+'''The schedule below is a draft and has not yet been approved. It will be discussed after the Mirabelle release.'''
+{|border="1" cellspacing="0" width="100%"
+|-
+|rowspan="2"| 2010-05-25 || Sugar on a Stick v.3.0 Mirabelle released
+|-
+| Planning & Development Begins
+|-
+| 2010-07-27    || Feature Freeze (all features have to be ''approved'' and in a satisfying state.)
+|-
+| 2010-08-03    || Alpha Change deadline (all changes will have to be ''pushed'' by this time. pending submissions are insufficient.)
+|-
+| 2010-08-17 || Alpha Release
+|-
+| 2010-09-07 || Beta Change deadline (all changes will have to be ''pushed'' by this time. pending submissions are insufficient.)
+|-
+| 2010-09-21 || Beta Release
+|-
+| 2010-10-12 || Final Freeze (all changes have to be ''pushed''. no further changes permitted.)
+|-
+| 2010-10-14  || Compose Release Candidate
+|-
+| 2010-10-26  || Sugar on a Stick v.4.0 Final Release
+|-
+|}
-See these other [[:Category:Live USB|portable Sugar distributions]] that share some of these goals.
+=== Contributor stories ===
-<div class="NavFrame collapsed"><div class="NavHead">'''Subpage index''' </div><div class="NavContent">{{Special:PrefixIndex/{{PAGENAME}}/}}</div></div>
+To find out what other contributors are doing, check out [http://planet.sugarlabs.org Planet Sugar Labs], where contributors to Sugar Labs and the Sugar on a Stick project aggregate their blogs. You can also [[Sysadmin/Planet syndication request|add your own blog to the Planet]].