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Line 5: − + − Scott has been working on a module, [http://git.sugarlabs.org/~cscott/turtleart/cscott-gtk3/blobs/gtk3/util/gtkcompat.py gtkcompat.py], that holds the promise of making that transition less painful than we had previously thought. By including this module, we hope to be able to support both GTK-2 and GTK-3 from the same codebase, making activity maintenance easier. Once we have it working for Turtle Blocks, I'll experiment with it on the other activities that I maintain.+ − 2. Scott has [http://cscott.net/junk/ta-broadway.png a compelling demo] of one reason we are moving to GTK-3: Sugar activities running in a browser. This is just one of many reasons for this effort. See [[Features/GTK3]] for a more detailed discussion.+ − [[File:TAGear.png|right|300px|link=Activities/TurtleArt/Plugins#Physics]]+ − 3. While I wasn't wrestling with Cairo, I let me self get distracted by another Turtle Blocks project that had been on my mind for quite some time. I wrote a new plugin for a Physics palette. This palette lets you create Box2d databases to be used with the Physics activity. You can use Turtle Blocks to create precision models. I also expose a number of Box2d object attributes that are not available with the standard Physics activity, including: density, friction, restitution (bounciness), variable torque and speed for motors, and filled polygonal objects. Details can be found on the [[Activities/TurtleArt/Plugins#Physics|Turtle Blocks plugin page]]. − Tony has written detailed instructions on [[Activities/TurtleArt/Plugins#How_to_install_a_plugin|how to install a Turtle Blocks plugin]]. But I find the mechanism too clumbsy for the typical user. I am tempted to create Turtle Physics as a separate activity. Please let me know what you think of the idea. Meanwhile, a decent plugin mechanism is sorely needed. − + − − === In the community === − − 5. Only a few days left to announce your candidacy (See [[Oversight_Board/2011-2012-candidates#Candidates|candidate list]]) for one of the SLOB positions coming up for election later this month. It is important that we have a plurality of voices on the oversight board, so if you feel you represent a constituency within the community that is not being heard, please consider running for one of the open positions. − − 6. Sugar Camp in Peru is this week (18-19 November). Details are available at http://sugarcamp.somosazucar.org. − − 7. Hilaire Fernandes has prepared some [http://blog.ofset.org/hilaire/index.php?post/2011/11/12/English-video-tutorial English-language video tutorials] on DrGeo features. DrGeo is a powerful geometry engine written in Etoys. − − === Tech Talk === − − 8. Peter Robinson has announced the release of [[Sugar on a Stick]] Version 6 (codename Pineapple). It is available for both i686 and x86_64 platforms and it features [[0.94/Notes|Sugar 0.94.1]] on a base of [http://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/Fedora/16/html/Release_Notes/index.html Fedora 16]. It includes a lot of new and updated Activities as well as improved support for booting on Apple Intel-based devices. Download from http://spins.fedoraproject.org/soas − − 9. Anish Mangal has announced the availability of an Alpha release of Dextose 3 for testing. For XO-1 hardware, please download from http://download.sugarlabs.org/dextrose/testing/dx3/xo1/dx3g055.img
Sugar Labs/Current Events (view source)
Revision as of 14:58, 19 November 2011
, 14:58, 19 November 2011→Sugar Digest
== Sugar Digest ==
== Sugar Digest ==
1. I spent most of this week on Turtle Blocks. With the help of Ben Berg and Scott Ananian I managed to get the Cairo graphics conversion finished (Tip of the hat to Alan Aguiar, Tony Forster, and Guzman Trindad for help testing). It seems to run well, even on XO-1 hardware and quality of the graphics is markedly improved, i.e., no more jagged lines. New features include the ability to rotate text and images. I documented the process of [[Features/GTK3/Porting#Going_from_Drawable_to_Cairo|converting to Cairo]] as this is something we'll have to do with all of our activities as we make the transition from GTK-2 to GTK-3.
1. The Learning Team held a discussion about the Portfolio activity this week, which prompted me to make some enhancements. One request was the ability to export your portfolio to a PDF file. It turns out that Cairo supports a PDF surface, making it really easy to export PDF. So one nice by product of moving Sugar activities to Cairo graphics -- which is a necessary step in our migration to GTK3 -- is that it will be much easier to enable activities to export files to the Journal for printing. The other feature I added was the ability to make voice annotations on each page in your portfolio. These voice notes are played back when the portfolio is viewed. They are also saved went the contents are exported to HTML. Alas, PDF does not support audio, as far as I know. Please try [[Activities/Portfolio|Portfolio]] and give me feedback as to how I can improve it.
2. Monday is the deadline for new feature proposals for Sugar 0.96. There are a number of proposals that have already been submitted (See [[Features]]). Gonzalo Godiard and I have aggregated a number of proposals concerning the Journal in a [[Features/Journal_features_for_0.96|collector page]]. These proposed features are a result of the past month of discussion with the Learning Team. Additional feedback on these and all of the new-feature proposal is most welcome. Please add to the discussion on the "Talk" page of each individual proposal.
3. I mentioned last week that I wrote a plugin for Turtle Blocks that adds a palette for creating models for the Physics activity. (Physics uses a 2D engine called [http://box2d.org/ Box2D].) I've made a few additions this week, including a block that creates a gear. Building a simple machine should be a bit easier than trying to use the tools exposed by Physics. Of course, there are limits to what one can do with a simple. Working directly with sensors may be a more productive approach. But I have to say, it is really fun to create Box2D models in Turtle Blocks. (See [[Activities/TurtleArt#Plugins]] for more details on how to load the plugin and run it.)
It is difficult to strike a balance between giving the student a tool and giving the student the skills to make tools. I've wrestled with this quite a bit in Turtle Art over the years. Lately, I am leaning more towards exposing more functionality in the form of predefined blocks than asking that these blocks be built by the user. For example, I recently added blocks for getting mouse x,y coordinates, whereas before, I shipped Python code that could be loaded by the user to accomplish the same thing. Of course, View Source is still available. But where to draw the line is not obvious, at least to me.
4. The Learning Team discussion about Journal enhancements in support of assessment continue. Gonzalo Odiard and I have put together a [[Features/Journal_features_for_0.96|feature page]] as a collection point for these ideas. Please comment as work is beginning on many of these ideas.
4. Cherry Withers pointed out Mr Steve's Exploratorium Blog earlier this week, but I thought it merited mentioning it again (See http://mrstevesscience.blogspot.com/2011_06_01_archive.html).
=== Sugar Labs ===
=== Sugar Labs ===