Sweets Distribution

Harmonic Distribution version cycle: | 1.0 | Factory |

Summary

This is a set of repositories with native packages that compose Basic software of Harmonic Distribution effort.

Sweets Distributions packages form two major parts:

Sweets Desktop
Sucrose, desktop environment of Sugar Learning Platform;
Sweets Server
Server Kit components to create school servers to support Sugar Learning Platform.

This is a special, Sugar only, distribution. These are the key points that make the Sweets Distribution different from other Distributions:

The Sweets Distribution is formed as a 3rd party repository, i.e., it is not a complete GNU/Linux distribution;
It supports several GNU/Linux distributions, and their releases, at the same time;
Packages from these repositories do not interfere with the rest of the system, e.g., it is possible to use Sugar from the Sweets Distribution and Sugar from official repositories at the same time.

Repositories

Sweets Distribution provides several repositories:

0.94
Repository with stable Sucrose-0.94 packages;
0.88
Repository with stable Sucrose-0.88 packages;
Factory
Packages in development stage.

Repositories are accessible for all Supported platforms.

Installation

The installation occurs in two phases:

add one of Sweets Distribution repositories to local system;
install packages from added Sweets Distribution repository.

Add repository

Experienced users might follow manual instructions to add Sweets Distribution repositories to the system.

For easy attaching Sweets Distribution repositories, use sweets-distribution command.

If sweets-distribution is not yet installed, type the following commands in terminal:

wget ftp://download.sugarlabs.org/packages/sweets-distribution.sh
sudo sh sweets-distribution.sh

To get the status information about currently selected and all available repositories:

sweets-distribution status

To add chosen, here Factory, repository in the system

sudo sweets-distribution select Factory

Install packages

When the sweets-distribution select command finishes, the local system will be aware of the Sweets Distribution repository and it will be possible to install packages.

In the regular way, from the local system*, install one of the following packages:

In Terminal *:

The full packages list from Sweets Desktop;

apt-get install sweets-desktop

Only the Sugar Shell.

apt-get install sweets-sugar

sweets-desktop
The full packages list from Sweets Desktop;
sweets-sugar
Only the Sugar Shell.

Sometimes, it may be required to downgrade packages while switching to another repository. The easy way to do so is with the sync command:

sudo sweets-distribution sync

Most of the Sweets Distribution packages will be placed in the /opt/sweets directory; thus, it will be possible to use Sugar from the Sweets Distribution and from official packages at the same time.

Usage

Below are instructions on how to use the Sweets Distribution after installing packages.

Sweets Desktop session

If sweets-desktop package was installed, it will be possible to log in to a Sweets Desktop session:

On an XO laptop (only for Factory repository). From within an original Sugar session, go to the Control Panel and select the Sweets Distribution component, then enable the Sweets Desktop is default Sugar session switch. Switching back is accomplished the same way.
On regular desktops. Choose the Sweets Desktop session type in login manager.

Run Sugar in a window

To run Sugar in a window without logging out from the current desktop environment, select the Education/Sugar application menu item or enter the following command in a terminal:

sweets-sugar-emulator

Sugar Activities

For stable 0.94 and 0.88 repositories, the following points are assumed:

Fructose activities need to be used only from Sweets Distribution packages, at least for ones that have external dependencies, i.e., they should not be upgraded from the Activity Library;
The rest of activities need to be handled manually, e.g., manual installing missed dependencies.

The Factory repository should bring different design solutions for handling Sugar Activities. That will make the whole Sugar Activities related experience more reliable and smooth.

Experimental features

Caution
Factory repository is not intended for regular usage. It exists only for testing purposes.

To try the development version, use the Factory repository. The Factory repository provides the most recent development version of Harmonic Distribution features.

Testing

Latest Test results for Sweets Distribution on various platforms, such as Ubuntu, Trisquel, and Fedora 14.
Older Test results for Sweets Distribution on Ubuntu.

Feedback

Submit your bug report or feature request.
Subscribe to the sugar-devel mailing list and email with the subject prefixed with [SWEETS].
Ask your question on IRC channels, #sugar (not logged) or #sugar-newbies (logged).