Sugar Labs

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See the Sugar Labs community [[Sugar Labs/FAQ|FAQ]] for more answers.
See the Sugar Labs community [[Sugar Labs/FAQ|FAQ]] for more answers.
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===What 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?===
===What do I have to obtain to make it work?===


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===How much does each stick cost?===
===How much does each stick cost?===
: (Note that Sugar Labs does not sell hardware, software, or services.) You will need at minimum a 1-GB stick for each student.  Check your local computer store for prices. Right now, it's about $8 USD. 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.) You will need at minimum a 1-GB stick for each student.  Check your local computer store for prices. Right now, it's about $8 USD. 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.
===Do you have a space where there is information in a concise, easy to digest format?===
:'''I don't have a tremendous amount of time to float around your website.'''
: This FAQ would attempt to meet that need. If something is missing or unclear, please edit this page or post a new question on the accompanying [[Talk:Sugar on a Stick/FAQ | comment/question page]].


===Can I try some of it out?===
===Can I try some of it out?===
: The full software package can be downloaded from [[Sugar on a Stick/Strawberry]]. You can use this download to install Sugar on a Stick onto a USB flash memory drive and test it out.
: The full software package can be downloaded from [[Sugar on a Stick/Strawberry]]. You can use this download to install Sugar on a Stick onto a USB flash memory drive and test it out.


===Is the platform another cost?===
===Is it the whole Sugar Learning Platform?===
 
: We refer to the Sugar Learning Platform as platform because it is a complete software environment for learning.  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]]. 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.
 
===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.
: No.  We refer to the Sugar Learning Platform as platform because it is a complete software environment for learning.  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]]. 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.


===Is it an effective learning tool?===
===Is it an effective learning tool?===
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: Please see this FAQ list, [[Government FAQ]], prepared for common questions from governmental officials.
: Please see this FAQ list, [[Government FAQ]], prepared for common questions from governmental officials.
===Is running the SoaS Beta on a netbook a real alternative to XOs with Build 767 when it comes to classroom settings?===
: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.
: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.


===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 releated bugs?===
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===Does SoaS allow for power-management to kick in on netbooks?===
===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.


===Are there networking or audio issues?===
===Are there networking or audio issues?===
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: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.
: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.
===Does Sugar on a Stick work on the OLPC XO-1 hardware?===
:For the OLPC XO hardware, we are targeting F12 as the time frame 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-1 hardware (you'll need a [[olpc:Activation and developer keys|developer key]]); see [[Sugar on a Stick/Installation/OLPC]] and give us feedback.


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