Getting Started

About Sugar

Sugar is a different desktop environment to what is normally used in Windows, OS X or other Linux distributions. It is conceived as a tool to allow kids to learn interactively. The first thing that a child sees, therefore, is not a hard disk or a trash can — it’s the other kids in the “neighborhood.” Programs and Applications are called Activities, many of which allow for collaboration between users who are connected to each other by Wifi or through a Jabber network. Sugar developers are encouraged to write activities with collaborative elements that are automatically enabled.

Sugar is developed in Python and runs on Linux Kernel 2.6.22 and the Fedora 7 base environment.

Getting started

You can explore the Sugar interface in the Getting Started guide.

There are three ways to connect to the Internet:

• wireless access point (WiFi hotspot);
• “School Server” mesh network; or
• “simple” mesh network, which lets you collaborate directly with other XOs.

You make your connection from the Neighborhood view. Your current connection status is shown on the Home view. (The XO was designed for wireless access because in the developing world, wireless is actually the fastest, most reliable, and least expensive way to connect.)

Step 1: Go to the Neighborhood view

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Go to the Neighborhood view to connect to an access point. The Neighborhood view is accessed by pressing the round key with eight dots, found in the upper-left corner of the keyboard.

Step 2: Choose an access point

Networks (access points) are represented by circles on the Neighborhood view. Networks can be identified by hovering over the circles: an access point is identified by its name (ESSID); a mesh-portal point is identified by its channel number (1, 6, or 11). You can also search for an access point by name in the search bar at the top of the page.

Signal strength is indicated by the fill-level of the circle. The color of the circle is based upon the name of the access point. Networks that are locked are identified by a badge.

Step 3: Activate a connection

To activate your network connection, click once inside the circle that corresponds to your chosen access point. (To “click”, press once on the left-hand touchpad button—the button with the × symbol at the front of the touchpad.) While the XO is trying to establish the connection, the inside of the circle will blink. Once the connection is established, the outside of the circle will turn white. If for some reason the connection failed, the circle will stop blinking. Sometimes it is necessary to try several times before the connection is established

If the access point requires a key, you will be prompted. Note that different types of access points require different types of keys: be sure to select the correct type from the pull-down menu that is presented. Some access points (such as the Apple Extreme®) will only work with a hexadecimal value. If you have a password or passphrase, go to Hex Converter to get the hex key. Also, with the Apple Extreme you need to set “shared key”. Most other access points prefer the “open key” setting when using WEP.

Currently, we do not support WPA-enabled WiFi access points; we anticipate including WPA support in early 2008.

Step 4: Checking the connection

Go to the Home View—by using the key with one circle found in the upper-left corner of the keyboard—to check your connection. By hovering over the circle icon, you will find details about your connection status.

If you don't specify a network, Sugar will attempt to join a simple mesh network, enabling you to collaborate with other Sugar users, but not access the Internet.

For more information about connecting, please see the Support page in the OLPC wiki.