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| | == Sugar Digest == | | == Sugar Digest == |
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| − | 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. |
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| − | 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. 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. |
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| − | 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.
| + | 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.) |
| | | | |
| − | [[File:TAGear.png|right|300px|link=Activities/TurtleArt/Plugins#Physics]]
| + | 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. |
| − | 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.
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| − | 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). |
| − | | |
| − | === In the community ===
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| − | | |
| − | 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.
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| − | | |
| − | 6. Sugar Camp in Peru is this week (18-19 November). Details are available at http://sugarcamp.somosazucar.org.
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| − | | |
| − | 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.
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| − | | |
| − | === Tech Talk ===
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| − | | |
| − | 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
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| − | | |
| − | 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
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| | | | |
| | === Sugar Labs === | | === Sugar Labs === |
What's new
This page is updated each week (usually on Monday morning) with notes from the Sugar Labs community. (The digest is also sent to the community-news at sugarlabs.org list, blogged at walterbender.org, and archived here.) If you would like to contribute, please send email to walter at sugarlabs.org by the weekend. (Also visit planet.sugarlabs.org.)
Sugar Digest
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 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 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 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. 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
Gary Martin has generated SOMs from the past few weeks of discussion on the IAEP mailing list.
2011 Nov 5th - Nov 11 (80 emails)
Visit our planet for more updates about Sugar and Sugar deployments.
An archive of this digest is available.
Planet
The Sugar Labs Planet is found here.
Sugar in the news
| 18 Oct 2011 |
BDU – Robotics in Uruguay (video)
|
| 11 Aug 2011 |
Berlin.de – Gewinner des Berliner Landeswettbewerbs zu Open Source stehen fest
|
| 25 Jul 2011 |
CCC Classic – Garmin-sugarlabs development cycling team at Crit starting line
|
| 25 Jul 2011 |
CCC Classic – Garmin-sugarlabs development cycling team after Crit
|
| 13 Apr 2011 |
framablog – L'expérience Sugar Labs préfigure-t-elle une révolution éducative du XXIe siècle?
|
| 05 Apr 2011 |
Businesswire – The Government of Peru Expands the One Laptop Per Child Program with Local Manufacturing
|
| 31 Jan 2011 |
Sundance – A Day in the Life – Peru
|
| 01 Dec 2010 |
velonation – Sugar Labs to back Garmin-Cervelo’s development team in unique arrangement
|
| 28 Oct 2010 |
UCR – Nuevas tecnologías deben estar al alcance de todos los niños y niñas
|
| 05 Oct 2010 |
xconomy – One Ecosystem per Child
|
| 08 Sep 2010 |
FLOSS Weekly – Sugar Labs
|
| 09 Aug 2010 |
ABC digital – Indicadores constatan el impacto positivo en el aprendizaje de niños
|
| 23 Jun 2010 |
ABC digital – Xo para todas las escuelas de Caacupé
|
| 21 Jun 2010 |
La Nacion – “Buscamos que los niños no solo usen softwares, sino que puedan crear uno”
|
| 20 Jun 2010 |
UltimaHora.com – La laptop une a padres, alumnos y docentes
|
| 15 Jun 2010 |
The H – OLPC XO-1.5 software updated
|
| 10 Jun 2010 |
engadget – Sugar on a Stick hits 3.0, teaches us about a new kind of fruit
|
| 27 May 2010 |
Pro Linux DE – Sugar on a Stick v3 freigegeben (German)
|
| 27 May 2010 |
NY Times – One Laptop Per Child Project Works With Marvell to Produce a $100 Tablet
|
| 27 May 2010 |
PC World – OLPC Rules out Windows for XO-3
|
| 03 May 2010 |
WXXI: Mixed Media – Interview with Walter Bender (audio)
|
| 03 May 2010 |
Linux Magazine – OLPC Computers for Palestinian Refugee Children
|
| 14 Apr 2010 |
National Science Foundation – XO Laptops Inspire Learning In Birmingham, Alabama (video)
|
| 02 Apr 2010 |
|
| 15 Mar 2010 |
nbc13.com – Birmingham City students opt to spend spring break in class, XO computer camps (video)
|
| 18 Feb 2010 |
LWN – Karma targets easier creation of educational software
|
| 05 Feb 2010 |
iprofesional – La PC barata de Negroponte desembarca en la Argentina para pelear contra Intel
|
| 14 Jan 2010 |
AALF – Open Systems for Broader Change
|
| 03 Jan 2010 |
Educacion 2.0 – PLAN CEIBAL, El Libro
|
| 14 Dec 2009 |
xconomy – Sugar gets sweeter
|
| 10 Dec 2009 |
Ars Technica – Sugar software environment gets sweeter with version 2
|
| 09 Dec 2009 |
Wired – New Sugar on a Stick Brings Much Needed Improvements
|
| 08 Dec 2009 |
engadget – Sugar on a Stick OS goes to 2.0, gets Blueberry coating and creamy Fedora 12 center (video)
|
| 07 Dec 2009 |
Teleread.org – Sugar on a Stick: What it means for e-books and education
|
| 27 Nov 2009 |
CNET Japan – 「コードを見せて、もっと良くなるよ」と言える子どもが生まれる--Sugar Labsが描く未来
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| 16 Nov 2009 |
zanichelli – software libero a scuola
|
| 12 Nov 2009 |
opensuse.org – openSUSE 11.2 Released
|
| 07 Nov 2009 |
My Broadband News – Mandriva 2010 packs a punch [and Sugar]
|
| 06 Nov 2009 |
GhanaWeb – Open education and an IT-enabled economic growth in Ghana: Musings of a dutiful citizen
|
| 26 Oct 2009 |
Linux Magazine ES – Software Libre como apoyo al aprendizaje
|
| 09 Oct 2009 |
interdisciplines – OLPC and Sugar: mobility through the community
|
| 08 Oct 2009 |
IBM developerWorks – 10 important Linux developments everyone should know about
|
| 01 Oct 2009 |
OLPC France – Interview Walter Bender au SugarCamp
|
| 25 Sep 2009 |
The Inquirer – One Laptop per Child marches on
|
| 18 Sep 2009 |
Groklaw – The Role of Free Software in Education
|
| 18 Sep 2009 |
Reuters – Sugar Labs and Free Software Foundation Celebrate Software Freedom Day
|
| 17 Sep 2009 |
ICTDev.org – Dream Again with One Laptop per Child
|
| 26 Aug 2009 |
Latinux – Azúcar en una memoria USB
|
| 03 Aug 2009 |
Wired: Geek Dad – Inventing a New Paradigm: SugarLabs and the Sugar UI
|
| 30 Jul 2009 |
Zanichelli – Sugar on a Stick: imparare insieme
|
| 23 Jul 2009 |
Everything USB – RecycleUSB.com - Donate your Flash Drives for a Good Cause
|
| 22 Jul 2009 |
OLPC France – Sugar : mauvaise presse et mise au point
|
| 13 Jul 2009 |
Spiegel Online – Das zuckersüße Leichtbau-Linux
|
| 07 Jul 2009 |
ComputerWorldUK – Gran Canaria Desktop Summit: a Study in Contrasts
|
| 06 Jul 2009 |
Windows Forest – USBメモリなどから“OLPC”用のOSを利用できる「Sugar on a Stick」が無償公開
|
| 02 Jul 2009 |
Howard County Library – Sugar on a Stick
|
| 27 Jun 2009 |
Deutschlandfunk – Süßes für die Kleinen: Sugar ist Linux speziell für Kinder (in Deutsch)
|
| 26 Jun 2009 |
EduTech – Sugar on a stick, and other delectables (praise for the lowly USB drive)
|
| 26 Jun 2009 |
Ars Technica – Sugar on a Stick brings sweet taste of Linux to classrooms
|
| 24 Jun 2009 |
BBC – OLPC software to power aging PCs
|
| 24 Jun 2009 |
Technology Review – $100 Laptop Becomes a $5 PC
|
| 15 Jun 2009 |
TechSavvyKids – Episode 10 FOSSVT: Sugar on a Stick (audio)
|
| 10 Jun 2009 |
LWN.net – Sugar moves from the shadow of OLPC
|
| 27 May 2009 |
LWN.net – Activities and the move to context-oriented desktops (subscriber link)
|
| 27 May 2009 |
Business Wire – Dailymotion Launches Support for Open Video Formats and Video HTML Tag
|
| 01 May 2009 |
Guysoft – Nokia N810 Running OLPC Sugar
|
| 29 Apr 2009 |
El Mercurio – Así se vivió la fiesta del software libre
|
| 27 Apr 2009 |
ostatic – Sugar on a Stick: Good for Kids' Minds (and School Budgets)
|
| 25 Apr 2009 |
Free Software Magazine – The Bittersweet Facts about OLPC and Sugar
|
| 24 Apr 2009 |
Ars Technica – First taste: Sugar on a Stick learning platform
|
| 22 Apr 2009 |
Betanews – Beta of Live USB Sugar OS opens
|
| 27 Mar 2009 |
Mass High Tech – Google promotes summer open-source internships
|
| 18 Mar 2009 |
Metropolis – A Good Argument
|
| 16 Mar 2009 |
Laptop Magazine – Sugar Labs’ New Version of Sugar Learning Platform Is Netbook and PC Ready
|
| 16 Mar 2009 |
Market Watch – Sugar Labs Nonprofit Announces New Version of Sugar Learning Platform for Children, Runs on Netbooks and PCs
|
| 14 Feb 2009 |
OLPC Learning Club – DC – Learning Learning on a Stick
|
| 05 Feb 2009 |
xconomy – Sugar Beyond the XO Laptop: Walter Bender on OLPC, Sucrose 0.84, and “Sugar on a Stick”
|
| 26 Jan 2009 |
Linus Magazine – Sugar Defies OLPC Cutbacks
|
| 19 Jan 2009 |
Feeding the Penguins – The status of Sugar, post-OLPC
|
| 16 Jan 2009 |
OLPC News – Sugar on Acer Aspire One & Thin Client via LTSP
|
| 12 Jan 2009 |
Bill Kerr – thoughts about olpc cutbacks
|
| 07 Jan 2009 |
Ars Technica – OLPC downsizes half of its staff, cuts Sugar development
|
| 06 Jan 2009 |
OLPC News – An Inside Look at how Microsoft got XP on the XO
|
| 30 Dec 2008 |
OLPC News – Sugar Labs Status at Six Months
|
| 22 Dec 2008 |
The GNOME Project – Sugar Labs, the nonprofit behind the OLPC software, is joining the GNOME Foundation
|
| 16 Dec 2008 |
Feeding the Penguins – Sugar git repository change
|
| 14 Dec 2008 |
NPR – Laptop Deal Links Rural Peru To Opportunity, Risk (Part 2)
|
| 13 Dec 2008 |
NPR – Laptops May Change The Way Rural Peru Learns (Part 1)
|
| 09 Dec 2008 |
SFC – Sugar Labs joins Conservancy
|
| 31 Oct 2008 |
Linux Devices – An OLPC dilemma: Linux or Windows?
|
| 10 Oct 2008 |
Feeding the Penguin – Sugar on Ubuntu
|
| 21 Sep 2008 |
Groklaw – Interview with Walter Bender of Sugar Labs
|
| 17 Sep 2008 |
Bill Kerr – Sugar Labs
|
| 16 Sep 2008 |
Open Source – Sugar everywhere
|
| 28 Aug 2008 |
OLPC News – An answer to Walter Bender's question 22
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| 20 Aug 2008 |
OLPC News – Sugarize it: Intel Classmate 2
|
| 08 Aug 2008 |
Investor's Business Daily – 'Learning' Vs. Laptop Was Issue
|
| 06 Aug 2008 |
OLPC News – Twenty-three Questions on Technology and Education
|
| 18 Jul 2008 |
Bill Kerr – evaluating Sugar in the developed world
|
| 28 Jun 2008 |
OLPC News – A Cutting Edge Sugar User Interface Demo
|
| 18 Jun 2008 |
PC World – OLPC Spin-off Developing UI for Intel's Classmate PC
|
| 17 Jun 2008 |
Datamation – If Business Succeeds with GNU/Linux, Why Not OLPC?
|
| 11 Jun 2008 |
LinuxInsider – The Sweetness of Collaborative Learning
|
| 06 Jun 2008 |
Bill Kerr – untangling Free, Sugar, and Constructionism
|
| 06 Jun 2008 |
Open Education – Walter Bender Discusses Sugar Labs Foundation
|
| 06 Jun 2008 |
BusinessWeek – OLPC: The Educational Philosophy Controversy
|
| 05 Jun 2008 |
Code Culture – The Distraction Machine
|
| 05 Jun 2008 |
BusinessWeek – OLPC: The Open-Source Controversy
|
| 27 May 2008 |
The New York Times – Why Walter Bender Left One Laptop Per Child
|
| 26 May 2008 |
Ars Technica – OLPC software maker splits from X0 hardware, goes solo
|
| 22 May 2008 |
BetaNews – Linux start-up Sugar Labs in informal talks with four laptop makers
|
| 16 May 2008 |
OSTATIC – OLPC's Open Source Sugar Platform Aims for New Hardware
|
| 16 May 2008 |
PCWorld – Bender Forms Group to Promote OLPC's Sugar UI
|
| 16 May 2008 |
MHT – Bender jumps from OLPC, founds Sugar Labs
|
| 16 May 2008 |
News.com – Sugar Labs will make OLPC interface available for Eee PC, others
|
| 16 May 2008 |
Feeding the Peguins – The future of Sugar
|
| 16 May 2008 |
Sugar list – A few thoughts on SugarLabs
|
| 16 May 2008 |
xconomy – Bender Creates Sugar Labs—New Foundation to Adapt OLPC’s Laptop Interface for Other Machines
|
| 16 May 2008 |
BBC – '$100 laptop' platform moves on
|
| 15 May 2008 |
OLPC wiki – Dual-boot XO Claim: OLPC will not work to port Sugar to Windows.
|
| 16 May 2008 |
Softpedia – Bender Launches Sugar Labs for Better Development of OLPC's Sugar UI
|
Press releases
See our Press Page
