Walter: Created page with "==Sugar on Raspberry Pi== === About Me === What is your name? My name is Rishabh Thaney and I am a 2nd year undergraduate student at Bharati Vidyapeeth's College of Engineeri..."

2017-05-17T19:51:05Z

Created page with "==Sugar on Raspberry Pi== === About Me === What is your name? My name is Rishabh Thaney and I am a 2nd year undergraduate student at Bharati Vidyapeeth's College of Engineeri..."

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==Sugar on Raspberry Pi==

=== About Me ===
What is your name?
My name is Rishabh Thaney and I am a 2nd year undergraduate student at
Bharati Vidyapeeth's College of Engineering, New Delhi, India.

What is your email address?
My email address is rishabhthaney@gmail.com

What is your Sugar Labs wiki username?
My Sugar Labs wiki username is Rishabh42

What is your IRC nickname on irc.freenode.net?
My IRC nickname is Rishabh42

What is your first language? (We have mentors who speak multiple
languages and can match you with one of them if you'd prefer.)
My first language of communication is English and I am also fluent in Hindi.

Where are you located, and what hours (UTC) do you tend to work?
(We also try to match mentors by general time zone if possible.)
I am located in New Delhi, India and my time zone is Indian Standard Time (UTC
+ 5:30). I am planning to work from 6:00 to 14:00 (UTC) but my timings are
flexible. I'm very excited to work on this project during the summer and I can
surely manage my time and be active when the mentors are available.

Have you participated in an open-source project before? If so, please
send us URLs to your profile pages for those projects, or some other
demonstration of the work that you have done in open-source. If not,
why do you want to work on an open-source project this summer?
I am new to the world of open-source. The whole idea of working with
developers all across the world and developing software that millions of people
can use and contribute to has always fascinated me.

I've been using Sugar since the past couple of months and I'm truly
mesmerized by the work being done over here. Sugar labs gave me a deeper
understanding about the technological advances in education and I believe that
contributing to an open-source project under Sugar Labs would consequently
improve the quality of education and as a result more people will be educated.
As far as my involvement with an open-source project is concerned, I have
reported a critical bug that I found in the browse activity, the whole bug report
can be found here: https://github.com/sugarlabs/browse-activity/issues/48

I also have 2 open-source repositories on Github which have the MIT opensource
license. These are listed as follows:
* Defend My Castle game for Sugar:
Earlier I was working on developing an activity using PyGame for Sugar, and
the link to my project is:
https://github.com/Rishabh42/DMC-Sugar-Activity.git
* Solutions of the programming assignments of the Andrew Ng machine
learning course:
This repository contains my solutions to the programming assignments of the
course which I successfully completed:
https://github.com/Rishabh42/Machine-Learning-Stanford-Exercises

=== About your project ===
We are looking for projects that will enhance the Sugar Learning Platform.
Please consider how your project will have impact on children learning.

What is the name of your project?
The name of my project is Sugar on Raspberry Pi.

Describe your project in 10-20 sentences. What are you making? Who
are you making it for, and why do they need it? What technologies
(programming languages, etc.) will you be using?

Project Description:
The Raspberry Pi is a system on chip (SoC) computer that can be used for a variety of
projects and has been heralded as a great boon to education due to its low cost, flexibility
and simplicity. The Raspberry Pi provides a very robust platform for educational institutions
to incorporate new technologies in education especially when teaching children how to
program and it is because of this functionality of the Pi that it has seen widespread
adoption in schools. It would be a marvelous idea if we could get Sugar to run on the
Raspberry Pi as it would provide students and teachers with an intuitive and interactive
learning environment.

Aim of the project:
The aim of the project is to make Sugar run perfectly on the Raspberry Pi like it does on
the XO laptops and to create an image of Sugar which is suitable for inclusion on the
Raspberry Pi download page.

I've installed Sugar on my Raspberry Pi 3 and it seems to work pretty well except some
features which are in need of essential development.

Project Goals and Tasks:
The goals and tasks of the project have been listed as follows:

Goals:
# Make a Raspbian image of the Sugar desktop environment which can be flashed on the SD card of the Raspberry Pi. An “image” in this case is an array of data blocks for a micro SD card which will contain a partition table, a boot and root filesystem specifically designed for the Raspberry Pi.
# Document the whole process and publish a script showing how others can make the image themselves.
# Ensure all the activities work well or are removed from the image.
# List the Raspbian Sugar desktop image on Raspberry Pi Foundation's downloads page.

Tasks:
# Write scripts to build a Raspbian Sugar desktop image, and document how to do it
# Upload the scripts to github and call for others to reproduce the script and record results
# Publish the build to the mailing list and the Wiki page so that other members of the community can test, and record results
# Figure out a way to list the image on Raspberry Pi foundation's download page.
# Talk to Debian developers (Jonas, Sebastian) to ensure that my work is included in their task.
# Fix the following list of activities:
* Browse(Debian bug #848840)

<code>
Browse activity fails to start and shell.log displayed the following errors:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/bin/sugar-activity", line 220, in <module>
main()
File "/usr/bin/sugar-activity", line 164, in main
module = __import__(module_name)
File "/usr/share/sugar/activities/Browse.activity/webactivity.py", line 52, in <module>
from collabwrapper.collabwrapper import CollabWrapper
ImportError: No module named collabwrapper.collabwrapper
</code>
Possible solution:
Adding an empty __init__.py file in
/usr/share/sugar/activities/Browse.activity/collabwrapper/ seemed to have
solved the problem and browse is working fine.

The main repository of the browse activity and the xo file does have this fix so
there's a good chance that the problem began after the Debian packaging of
Sucrose, therefore a newer release of the activity(Browse-201) is suggested
because then it will trigger the Debian team to package the activity again and
remove the bug as a side effect.

The following diagram shows the benefits of releasing a new version of browse:
Diagram credits: James Cameron

From the above diagram, it is quite evident that if a new release of browse is
made then there would be a cascade of positive effects but just patching the
__init__.py fix when building the image won't cause that cascade to happen.
The following screen shot shows the browse activity running on the raspberry
pi after I fixed the __int__.py file:

* Physics Physics.py doesn't run inside the Pippy activity and gives the following errors:

<code>
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/home/pi/.sugar/default/org.laptop.Pippy/tmp/physics.py", line 17, in <module>
world = physics.Elements(screen.get_size())
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/elements/elements.py", line 107, in __init__
self.world = box2d.b2World(self.worldAABB, self.gravity, self.doSleep)
TypeError: __init__() takes at most 3 arguments (4 given)
</code>

Expected result: Fix the code of physics.py so that it can start inside the
Pippy activity.

* Write(Debian bug #842443)
Every time the write activity starts it makes the screen flicker and the text in
the document opened inside the write activity is therefore unreadable.
The bug might be caused because of an interaction between libabiword
and libgtk.

My approach: To bisect the problem by gtk feature development; start with
known good gtk and abiword versions, then look at gtk release notes to find
what changed in the API, and consider the same changes in the abiword source
code.

* Jukebox
Jukebox fails to start and shell.log reported the following errors:

<code>
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/bin/sugar-activity", line 220, in <module>
main()
File "/usr/bin/sugar-activity", line 164, in main
module = __import__(module_name)
File "/usr/share/sugar/activities/Jukebox.activity/activity.py", line 51, in
<module>
from player import GstPlayer
File "/usr/bin/player.py", line 14, in <module>
from PIL import Image, ImageTk
ImportError: cannot import name ImageTk
</code>

Possible causes: According to what I have understood, the activity fails inside a package
called pillow on an import, even though the activity clearly does not import pillow. In
addition to that, pillow installs /usr/bin/player which is a python script and the activity has a
player.py file in the bundle. The import player should use bundle source, but it instead
uses a /usr/bin file which could be caused because the activity was using an incorrect
python path.

Expected result: sugar-toolkit-gtk3 in git already has the fix, so my work will be
to ensure that the fix reaches the image and jukebox can start.

Stretch goals:
# Add turtleblocks or measure activity in Sucrose.
# Make a demo video about the activities being used on the Raspberry pi.

What is the timeline for development of your project? The Summer of
Code work period is from mid-May to mid-August; tell us what you will
be working on each week. (As the summer goes on, you and your
mentor will adjust your schedule, but it's good to have a plan at the
beginning so you have an idea of where you're headed.) Note that you
should probably plan to have something "working and 90% done" by
the midterm evaluation (end of June); the last steps always take
longer than you think, and we will consider canceling projects which
are not mostly working by then.

Following is the timeline that I plan to follow:
=== Days Task ===
4th May to 29th May
* Community Bonding Period
* Get thorough with the code base of Sucrose(Though I already have
some experience)
* Gain insight on the code bases of Browse, physics.py, Write,
jukebox activities
* Interact with the mentors and other community members and
devise a suitable plan to fix the activities.

30th May to 5th June
* (Exam week in college)
* Talk to Debian developers (Jonas, Sebastian) to ensure that my
work is included in their task.
* Discuss the different tools and techniques used to make raspbian
images and also find an efficient way to build Sucrose.

6th June to 12th June
* Start working on the browse activity.
* Fix the bugs in it's code base and prepare a new release(browse-201)

13th June to 14th June
* Send in patches for review by the mentors.
* Make sure that the activity is working fine

15th June to 22nd June
* Start writing scripts to build a Raspbian Sugar desktop image for
RPi, and document how to do it.

22nd June to 23rd June
* Upload the scripts to github and call for others to reproduce the
script and record results
* Publish the build to the mailing list and the Wiki page so that other
members of the community can test, and record results

24th June to 26th June
* Prepare for phase 1 evaluations, re-evaluate the submitted patches
and update the documentation.
* Browse activity should be working and the first build image of
Sugar should be completed by phase 1 evaluation

26th June to 30th June
* Phase 1 evaluation

1st July to 8th July
* Review the changes to be made in the image build based on the
feedback from the community.
* Start working on physics.py
* Make sure that the code of physics is running inside pippy.

9th July to 10th July
* Send patches for review by the community

11th July to 18th July
* Start working on the jukebox activity
* Ensure that the sugar-toolkit-gtk3 fix reaches the image and jukebox can
start.

19th July to 20th July
* Send patches for review by the community

21st July to 23rd July
* Prepare for phase 2 evaluations, re-evaluate the submitted patches
and update the documentation.
* Include jukebox activity and physics.py in the build image of
Sucrose

24th July to 28th July
* Phase 2 evaluation
* Buffer period

29th July to 5th August
* Start working on the write activity
* Test to confirm that the write activity is fixed

6th August to 7th August
* Send patches for review by the community.

8th August to 12th August
* Include write activity in the build image of Sucrose.

13th August to 16th August
* Reach out to the Raspberry Pi Foundation and figure out a way with
them to list the image on their page

17th August to 20th August
* Update the documentation and the wiki page.
* Test the build image to ensure that everything is working perfectly.
* Add comments that will help further development
* Work on completing the stretch goals

21st August to 29th August
* Final week evaluation

Convince us, in 5-15 sentences, that you will be able to successfully
complete your project in the timeline you have described. This is
usually where people describe their past experiences, credentials,
prior projects, schoolwork, and that sort of thing, but be creative. Link
to prior work or other resources as relevant.

I am familiar with the code base of Sugar since I've been using it and have also
been interacting with the community since the past month. I have discussed
some of the Sugar activity problems and image build methods on IRC with other people in
the Sugar community who helped me develop a clear understanding of the goals
and tasks of the project and now I know exactly what needs to be developed
and how. During my college summer break this year, I have no other
commitments apart from GSOC so there won't be any obstacles regarding my
availability and the goals I aim to accomplish within the stipulated time.
Moreover, I have already started working on this project and have also found a
fix for the browse activity, in addition to that I had also reported a critical bug
in the browse activity which was preventing it from installing the activities
downloaded from the Sugar activity store.
The link to that report is:
https://github.com/sugarlabs/browse-activity/issues/48

* I was also working on developing an activity for Sugar earlier and have
clearly understood how the activities work on the platform. This is an
ongoing project and the link for the same is here:
https://github.com/Rishabh42/DMC-Sugar-Activity.git

Past experience & credentials :
* Slide game: A simple slide game made using python, link of the project
is: https://github.com/Rishabh42/Slide-game
* Defend my Castle: A tower defense game made using the PyGame
library in python. Link of the project is:
https://github.com/Rishabh42/Defend-My-Castle
* Tic Tac Toe game for android: Made a simple Tic Tac Toe game for
Android during my freshman year in college, the link of the project is:
https://github.com/Rishabh42/TicTacToe-Android-
* Web crawler: A python script which can extract data from the desired
web page, it was made using the beautifulsoup library in python. Link of
the project is: https://github.com/Rishabh42/WebCrawler
* Machine Learning course(Andrew Ng): Successfully completed the
Andrew Ng machine learning course on coursera. My answers to the
programming assignments of the course can be found here:
https://github.com/Rishabh42/Machine-Learning-Stanford-ExercisesYou
and the community

If your project is successfully completed, what will its impact be on
the Sugar Labs community? Give 3 answers, each 1-3 paragraphs in
length. The first one should be yours. The other two should be
answers from members of the Sugar Labs community, at least one of
whom should be a Sugar Labs GSoC mentor. Provide email contact
information for non-GSoC mentors.

My answer:
The purpose of the project “Sugar on Raspberry Pi” is to provide a more
economical option as compared to the XO laptop and OLPC's NL3, since a single
Raspberry Pi unit costs around $40 as opposed to the price of a single XO
laptop which costs around $200. It is quite evident that the price difference
between the two is quite large and switching to the Raspberry Pi will
significantly reduce the costs of the organization using it, even if you include
the cost of keyboards, mice and displays that will be attached to the Pi. It will
also provide a more efficient way of using Sugar on displays like a monitor as it
has a small form factor compared to a CPU which, as a result, will save more
desk space.

Walter Bender's answer:
Raspberry PI is a rapidly growing community and especially popular within the "maker
movement". A solid and easy-to-install version of Sugar would be a nice fit as we share
many of the same pedagogical values. This project presents a great opportunity to expand
our community of users and contributors.

In addition to the responses I got from the members of the Sugar Labs community, I
have also received a response from Mr. James Cameron which is as follows:
Work on this project has the potential to benefit owners of Raspberry Pi hardware, users of
Debian, and users of Ubuntu. Of slightly lower benefit will be upstreamed fixes that are
applicable to users of Fedora, SoaS, and Trisquel. For the Sugar Labs community the
project will provide critical interactions and a sense of common purpose. For OLPC, fixes
to activities will benefit our product offering, and the availability of a ready-made image for
Raspberry Pi will increase awareness of the Sugar Learning Environment in the wider
education community.

Disclosure: James Cameron works for OLPC Inc, which uses Sugar in their products.
Email ID: quozl@laptop.org

What will you do if you get stuck on your project and your mentor isn't
around?
In such situation , I will first try to solve the problem by searching on web for
suitable solutions. If this doesn't work, then I will contact other developers on
the IRC channel and also post on the mailing list. From my past experience, I
have noticed that the members of community are quite responsive and I'm
sure that they will be able to help me out. I'm also in contact with a couple of
people who work on open-source projects and some who are also Raspberry Pi
enthusiasts like me, so I can reach out to them and I'm pretty sure that they
will help me out.

How do you propose you will be keeping the community informed of
your progress and any problems or questions you might have over the
course of the project?
I am planning on maintaining a blog regarding the project where I will post
updates of the progress, obstacles being faced and their solutions. As far as
daily progress is concerned, I will keep my mentors informed of my progress by
sending them links and any other useful updates over mail or on IRC if they are
online. I will also keep the community informed by giving them updates over
IRC and the mailing list about the milestones I achieve. This project also
requires me to engage with other open-source communities like Debian project
and the Raspbian project which I also plan to do over IRC and mail.

===Miscellaneous===
We want to make sure that you can set up a development environment before
the summer starts. Please do one of the following:
Send us a link to a screen shot of your Sugar development
environment with the following modification: when you hover over the
XO-person icon in the middle of Home view, the drop-down text should
have your email in place of "logout".

Describe a great learning experience you had as a child.
When I was in school, I used to actively participate in technology and science
related competitions. Once, my teacher told me about an inter school game
making competition 3 days before the final date of submission and even
though it was quite late to start coding the game from scratch and finishing it, I
still didn't give up and tried my best to make the game and successfully
submitted it. Even though I didn't win that competition but the whole journey of
making that game helped me unearth my passion for coding and taught me
how to stay calm and focused under stressful situations.

Summer of Code/Rishabh Thaney - Revision history

Walter: Created page with "==Sugar on Raspberry Pi== === About Me === What is your name? My name is Rishabh Thaney and I am a 2nd year undergraduate student at Bharati Vidyapeeth's College of Engineeri..."