Difference between revisions of "Sugar on a Stick/FAQ"

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Frequently Asked Questions about Sugar on a Stick

Post questions here for the Sugar on a Stick project team.

See the Sugar Labs community FAQ for more answers.

What is it?

Sugar on a Stick is, in essence, a Sugar Labs project to design, distribute, and deploy the Sugar Learning Platform software on inexpensive USB and SD flash storage devices, which people can easily carry from home to school to library to clubhouse to boot or run on any computing device for seamless continuation of their learning Activities and collaborations.

Is it - learning games, homework help, search engines?

Sugar on a Stick provides a consistent, child friendly environment with learning games, software for music, graphics, text, and software creation, a calculator and physics modeling Activities, an Internet browser and chat programs, an electronic book reader, and a tool for teachers to select and package web-based content for students for offline exploration. Additional learning software is available for download in the Sugar Activity Library. The software on the portable memory device allows students to have the same learning tools at school and at home. The teacher can use it to assign homework, but it does not in itself provide homework help. The web browser can be used as a search engine.

What do I have to obtain to make it work?

The software can be run on must personal computer systems, but at this point, Sugar on a Stick in-school deployment is in Beta testing stage. After learning from its first pilot deployment at a school in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, we would welcome other pilot deployments, but this is still technology in its early stages. At this stage, one might need a technical person who can interface with the Sugar community to make it work. Re: Sugar on a Stick/TODO

You will also need at least a 2 GB stick for each student. If updates or large activities will be installed, however, a 4-GB or larger stick is recommended.

How much does each stick cost?

(Note that Sugar Labs does not sell hardware, software, or services.) Check your local computer store for prices. Right now, it's about $8 USD for a 2 GB stick. To deploy on a large scale, you will also need either very dedicated volunteers or a bulk copy device. We are using one from NeXcopy that retails for about $1200. You should also budget for some USB stick loss. See this page section for a commercial source of USB sticks or SD cards with Sugar on a Stick installed.

Can I try some of it out?

The full software package can be downloaded from Sugar on a Stick/Downloads. You can use this download to install Sugar on a Stick onto a USB flash memory drive and test it out.

Is it the whole Sugar Learning Platform?

Not entirely. You will need a computer to run Sugar on a Stick, and for school deployments, you will also want an administrator's computer for the School Server. We refer to the Sugar Learning Platform as platform because it is a complete software environment for learning. The server software is free, but also in a Beta testing phase. The School Server does not need to be high powered: a $500 to $1000 server hardware budget should be sufficient for a pilot program.

Current versions of the Sugar on a Stick software package have a basic set of learning software, and is designed to be customized by the learning team to provide the specific learning tools appropriate for a given setting.

Is it an effective learning tool?

Please see the first question on this FAQ, Government FAQ.

What answers can you provide to common questions about deployments?

Please see this FAQ list, Government FAQ, prepared for common questions from governmental officials.

What hardware is it known to work on and what are the known hardware-related bugs?

computer	comments
OLPC-XO-1	Works (but doesn't support all XO features, such as power management, special keys)
Intel Classmate	Works great on the Magellan version
HP Compaq 6715b	Works great
Acer Aspire One	Works great; no access to SD slot in sugar
Toshiba Satellite	Works great; boots very quickly
IBM Thinkpad X60	Works great
IBM Thinkpad T43	Works great
IBM Thinkpad Transnote 2675	Boots from CD; no network, touchscreen, graphics pad, or sound
Eee PC 900A	Works great
Dell Latitude 600	No network due to proprietary driver
Dell Latitude 610	Network with Intel Pro Wireless works
Dell Latitude 630	Wired and wireless networking works
EeePC1000HE	No Wireless ; Wired works, use VMPlayer for wireless

Please add your results to the table above.

Do all the activities (including collaboration) work reliably on SoaS these days?

Collaboration on SoaS is as robust as collaboration anywhere. Sugar 0.88, 0.90, 0.92 (SoaS Mirabelle, Mango Lassi, & Coconut) have progressively improved on this front, although there remain collaboration issues with particular Activities, networks, and server versions.

There are some Network Manager issues that need to be worked out in general regarding Sugar on non-OLPC kernels, but these are issues of connectivity.

We saw some problems at FOSSVT with some laptops and netbooks accessing wireless, while others worked great.

As you pointed out development is going very quickly right now. As we take this out into the world we are finding and fixing bugs. Our main goal right now is to get volunteers to help us do this and keep track of what hardware is working.

Does SoaS allow for power-management to kick in on netbooks?

Yes, but currently not the special OLPC XO-1 features.

Are there networking or audio issues?

AFAIK, any audio problems were fixed in the Beta release. There is a discussion upstream about the best way to handle csound support in Fedora.

We had found some issues with connectivity with a small number of machines--this seems to be a Fedora issue, not a Sugar issue, and is being worked on upstream.

How do I set the keyboard map for a non-US keyboard?

Hover the pointer or right click the Learner icon

in the Home view, and then click on the 'My Settings' item on the pop-up menu.

Sugar on a Stick uses by default the English (USA) keyboard layout.
From the My Settings control panel you will see a 'Keyboard' control tool that will allow you to change the default keyboard layout.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-<noinclude>{{GoogleTrans-en | es =show | bg =show | zh-CN =show | zh-TW =show | hr =show | cs =show | da =show | nl =show | fi =show | fr =show | de =show | el =show | hi =show | it =show | ja =show | ko =show | no =show | pl =show | pt =show | ro =show | ru =show | sv =show }}{{TeamHeader|Sugar on a Stick|home=Project Home|xbgColor=ffe792|join_label=Get Involved}}
+<noinclude>{{TeamHeader|Sugar on a Stick|home=Project Home|xbgColor=ffe792|join_label=Get Involved}}
-<big>Frequently Asked Questions about Sugar on a Stick</big>
+[[Category:FAQ]]
+<big>'''Frequently Asked Questions about Sugar on a Stick'''</big>
 </noinclude>
 : '''[[Talk:Sugar on a Stick/FAQ | Post questions here]]''' for the [[Sugar on a Stick]] project team.
 <div class="visualClear"></div>
+<noinclude>
-===What do I have to get to make it work===
+See the Sugar Labs community [[Sugar Labs/FAQ|FAQ]] for more answers.
+</noinclude>
-At this point Sugar on a Stick is in Beta starting its first pilot at a school in Boston. We would welcome other pilots, but this is still technology in its early stages. You will need a technical person who can interface with the Sugar community to make it work.
+===What is it?===
+: [[Sugar on a Stick/Essence|Sugar on a Stick is, in essence]], a [[Sugar Labs]] project to design, distribute, and deploy the [[What is Sugar?|Sugar Learning Platform]] ''software'' on inexpensive USB and SD flash storage devices, which people can easily ''carry from home to school to library to clubhouse to boot or run on any computing device'' for seamless continuation of their learning Activities and collaborations.
+===Is it - learning games, homework help, search engines?===
+: Sugar on a Stick provides a consistent, child friendly environment with learning games, software for music, graphics, text, and software creation, a calculator and physics modeling Activities, an Internet browser and chat programs, an electronic book reader, and a tool for teachers to select and package web-based content for students for offline exploration.  Additional learning software is available for download in the [http://activities.sugarlabs.org Sugar Activity Library]. The software on the portable memory device allows students to have the same learning tools at school and at home. The teacher can use it to assign homework, but it does not in itself provide homework help. The web browser can be used as a search engine.
+===What do I have to obtain to make it work?===
+: The software can be run on must personal computer systems, but at this point, Sugar on a Stick in-school deployment is in Beta testing stage.  After learning from its first [[Gardner Pilot Academy|pilot deployment]] at a school in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, we would welcome other pilot deployments, but this is still technology in its early stages. At this stage, one might need a technical person who can interface with the Sugar community to make it work. Re: [[Sugar on a Stick/TODO]]
+: You will also need at least a 2 GB stick for each student.  If updates or large activities will be installed, however, a 4-GB or larger stick is recommended.
 ===How much does each stick cost?===
-You will need a 1 or 2 GB stick for each student.  Check your local computer store for prices. Right now its about $8. To deploy on a large scale you will also need either very dedicated volunteers or a bulk copy device.  We are using one from NeXcopy that retails for about $1200.  You should also budget for some USB stick loss.
+: (Note that Sugar Labs does not sell hardware, software, or services.) Check your local computer store for prices. Right now, it's about $8 USD for a 2 GB stick. To deploy on a large scale, you will also need either very dedicated volunteers or a bulk copy device.  We are using one from NeXcopy that retails for about $1200.  You should also budget for some USB stick loss. See this [[Sugar_Creation_Kit#Commercial_source_of_SoaS-loaded_media | page section]] for a commercial source of USB sticks or SD cards with Sugar on a Stick installed.
+===Can I try some of it out?===
+: The full software package can be downloaded from [[Sugar on a Stick/Downloads]]. You can use this download to install Sugar on a Stick onto a USB flash memory drive and test it out.
-===Do you have a space where there is information in a concise, easy to digest format?===
+===Is it the whole Sugar Learning Platform?===
-:'''I don't have a tremendous amount of time to float around your website.'''
-===Can I try some of it out?===
+: Not entirely.  You will need a computer to run Sugar on a Stick, and for school deployments, you will also want an administrator's computer for the [[olpc:School server|School Server]].  We refer to the Sugar Learning Platform as platform because it is a complete software environment for learning.  The server software is free, but also in a Beta testing phase.  The School Server does not need to be high powered: a $500 to $1000 server hardware budget should be sufficient for a pilot program.
-[[Get Sugar]]
-===Is the platform another cost?===
+: Current versions of the Sugar on a Stick software package have a basic set of learning software, and is designed to be customized by the learning team to provide the specific learning tools appropriate for a given setting.
-===Is it learning games, homework help, search engines?===
+===Is it an effective learning tool?===
-===Is running the SoaS Beta on a netbook a real alternative to XOs with Build 767 when it comes to classroom settings?===
+: Please see the first question on this FAQ, [[Government FAQ]].
-:It is still in Beta and we feel very strongly about not overselling it. However, it is an alternative to consider today if you are an early adopter and you set a realistic roll-out plan. It is Beta software so I would set the expectation that the teacher/school would want to pick out which hardware they want, pick out which activities they want to start with and test those and work closely with the community.
+===What answers can you provide to common questions about deployments?===
-:The technical results and the excitement of the educators at FOSSVT was encouranging. Based on discussions at FOSSVT and others who have posted, we are confident that Sugar will be in classroom use on netbooks and on existing computer labs in Q3 2009.
+: Please see this FAQ list, [[Government FAQ]], prepared for common questions from governmental officials.
-===What hardware is it known to work on and what are the known hardware releated bugs?===
+===What hardware is it known to work on and what are the known hardware-related bugs?===
 {| border=1
@@ Line 39: / Line 54: @@
 |HP Compaq 6715b||Works great
 |-
-|Acer Aspire One||Works
+|Acer Aspire One||Works great; no access to SD slot in sugar
 |-
 |Toshiba Satellite||Works great; boots very quickly
@@ Line 46: / Line 61: @@
 |-
 |IBM Thinkpad T43||Works great
+|-
+|IBM Thinkpad Transnote 2675||Boots from CD; no network, touchscreen, graphics pad, or sound
 |-
 |Eee PC 900A||Works great
@@ Line 52: / Line 69: @@
 |-
 |Dell Latitude 610||Network with Intel Pro Wireless works
+|-
+|Dell Latitude 630||Wired and wireless networking works
+|-
+|EeePC1000HE||No Wireless ; Wired works, use VMPlayer for wireless
 |}
 :Please add your results to the table above.
-===Have the resolution issues, which used to be a major issue w/ running Sugar on a non-XO, been solved?===
+===Do all the activities (including collaboration) work reliably on SoaS these days?===
-:While not every activity has been modified, most now accommodate variable screen sizes. All of the activities at http://activities.sugarlabs.org work at variable sizes and resolutions as far as I know.
+:Collaboration on SoaS is as robust as collaboration anywhere. Sugar 0.88, 0.90, 0.92 (SoaS Mirabelle, Mango Lassi, & Coconut) have progressively improved on this front, although there remain collaboration issues with particular Activities, networks, and server versions.
-====What about font sizes?====
+:There are some Network Manager issues that need to be worked out in general regarding Sugar on non-OLPC kernels, but these are issues of connectivity.
-:This is also fixed in Sucrose 0.84
-===Do all the activities (incl. collaboration) work reliably on SoaS these days?===
+:We saw some problems at FOSSVT with some laptops and netbooks accessing wireless, while others worked great.
-:Collaboration on SoaS is as robust as collaboration anywhere. (There is a Google Summer of Code project that will be addressing one general issue of collaboration robustness--this will be relevant to SoaS and non-SoaS deployments.)
-:There are some Network Manager issues that need to be worked out in general regarding Sugar on non-OLPC kernels, but this impacts connectivity, not collaboration.
-:We saw some issues at FOSSVT on some laptops and netbooks accessing wireless, others worked great.
 :As you pointed out development is going very quickly right now.  As we take this out into the world we are finding and fixing bugs.  Our main goal right now is to get volunteers to help us do this and keep track of what hardware is working.
 ===Does SoaS allow for power-management to kick in on netbooks?===
-:Yes, but currently not the special OLPC XO features.
+:Yes, but currently not the special OLPC XO-1 features.
-===What exactly are the networking and audio issues that Walter described in yesterday's Sugar-Digest?===
-:AFAIK, the audio problems are fixed in the new Beta.
-:We have found some issues with connectivity with a small number of machines--this seems to be a Fedora issue, not a Sugar issue, and is being worked on upstream.
-===Does Sugar on a Stick work on the OLPC XO Hardware===
+===Are there networking or audio issues?===
-:For the OLPC XO hardware, we are targeting F12 as the timeframe for a general release. In the meantime, on that hardware, we recommend the 80X series of builds from OLPC.  But by all means, please test SoaS on your XO hardware (you'll need a [[olpc:Activation and developer keys|developer key]]); see [[Sugar on a Stick/Installation/OLPC]] and give us feedback.
+:AFAIK, any audio problems were fixed in the Beta release. There is a discussion upstream about the best way to handle csound support in Fedora.
+:We had found some issues with connectivity with a small number of machines--this seems to be a Fedora issue, not a Sugar issue, and is being worked on upstream.
-[[Category:FAQ]]
+===How do I set the keyboard map for a non-US keyboard?===
+: Hover the pointer or right click the Learner icon[[File:learner.svg|link=|bottom]]in the Home view, and then click on the [[olpc:Sugar_Control_Panel#Access_the_interface|'My Settings' item on the pop-up menu]].
+:* Sugar on a Stick uses by default the ''English (USA)'' keyboard layout.
+:*: From the My Settings control panel you will see a 'Keyboard' control tool that will allow you to change the default keyboard layout.