User:Inkyfingers/Getting Started(1)
This page is under active construction at this time. Please check back shortly for updated information.
--Inkyfingers 04:51, 19 November 2011 (EST) Hope to finish early December.
Explore it
Once you have successfully launched Sugar on a Stick, you should explore the Sugar Learning Platform.
Do try running Sugar on more than one machine, so you can enjoy its collaboration features.
Here is the user guide.
- The Sugar Learners' manual
view now:
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available as: or  128 pages, 8.3 MBytes (for saving or printing).
The manual needs to be updated to include information regarding Sugar-on-a-Stick. |
Configuration
- Sugar on a Stick uses by default the English (USA) keyboard layout.
- If you need to change this, you need to right click the
Learner icon and click on 'My Settings' - From the My Settings control panel you will see a 'Keyboard' control tool that will allow you to change the default keyboard layout.
- If you need to change this, you need to right click the
- Explore the other configuration changes that you may make on this panel.
- It is interesting to explore the changes you can make in 'Frame'.
Connecting to the Internet
Connecting to the Internet is something that somewhat falls between the cracks of Sugar and the computer it's running on.
On the XO laptop, there are three ways to connect to the Internet:
- Wireless access point (Wi-Fi hotspot);
- “School Server” mesh network; or
- “simple” mesh network, which lets you collaborate directly with other XOs running Sugar.
From a conventional laptop running Sugar, connecting through an access point works. (Mesh support is becoming available on more machines.) Depending upon which Jabber server you are connected to, you'll see different collections of "neighbors" in the Neighborhood View.
Read the Connecting to the Internet page for detailed instructions.
Getting Productive
Look Around
Browse
Browse (now starting to be referred to as Surf) is a simple Web application.
Find the Floss manual here http://en.flossmanuals.net/browse/index/
It includes Gnash, the GNU Flash movie player.
I believe a Totem plugin is included. Need to add an appropriate explanation!
You could do a quick test that your sound and video are working correctly by visiting this link (be back here in max 2 minutes, please), http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Media_of_the_day
This link is an excellent introduction to Sugar. If it is not in your first language, all the better, you can concentrate more on watching!
The Journal
The Journal activity is an automated diary of everything you do. See The Journal for the Sugar manual chapter.
Memorize
The game memorize is about finding matching pairs. A pair can consist of any multimedia object. At the moment these are images, sounds and text but this could be extended to animations or movie snippets as well. Which pairs do match is up to the creator of the game. Memorize is actually more than just a predefined game you can play, it allows you to create new games yourself as well. At present the home page for Memorize is with OLPC
Record
The Record activity provides a simple way for children to take pictures, view slide shows, and record video and audio—all content that can be shared.
Turtle Art
Turtle Art lets children program a Logo “turtle” to draw colorful and complex artwork.
You might like to watch this video clip, http://olpc.dailymotion.com/video/xa71j3_to-square_creation read Activities/TurtleArt#Getting_Started then jump right in.
- Note you can expect this clip to work in Sugar, but may be blocked to other browsers.
Later, make sure to go back to the manual, [Turtle Art] and the home page Activities/TurtleArt.
There are some nice tutorials here Turtle Art tutorials by Tony Forster and Mokurai.
Write
Write is a basic text editing application featuring straightforward tools and a simple interface.
Etoys
Etoys is ...
- an educational tool for teaching children powerful ideas in compelling ways
- a media-rich authoring environment and visual programming system
- a free software program that works on almost all personal computers
This activity is the Sugar version of Etoys, which is compatible with the versions running on Linux, Mac, and Windows.
When you open Etoys the splash on lower right is the launcher for tutorials and demos. The ? in top left corner links to a large range of help diagrams.
More at the homepage: http://squeakland.org/
Pippy
Pippy is a simple and fun introduction to programming in Python, the dynamic programming language underlying much of the software on the laptop.
The home page for Pippy at OLPC
More to explore
Have you noticed? When you are thinking how to you work this? the first place to look is the homepage of the activity. They are listed here Category:Activities. If you do not find what you need, try the developer pages - Activities
Downloads
Along with the applications built into Sugar there is an ever-growing array of downloadable content and built-in access to popular Web-based applications. This includes Google applications, SimCity, GCompris (a suite of award-winning educational software for children), and hundreds of other applications. There are currently thousands of software developers around the world developing content for the Sugar and OLPC .
To download and install a new activity:
- start the Activity Browse - or called Surf,
- go to http://activities.sugarlabs.org/en-US/sugar/ webpage, (or the link which comes up for you, when you click the Activities link, third from left on the colored navigation bar along the top of this page.)
- search for a new activity,
- say you chose Listen and Spell 2
- click on the Download Now button under the title to download Listen and Spell 2
- Wait for the download to complete - watch for the countdown,
- open the Journal activity
- “resume” the downloaded activity from the Journal entry; the new activity should both launch and install on your taskbar.
TamTam
TamTamMini for the very young
TamTamJam is the music performance activity. Sounds are played by striking individual keys on the keyboard
TamTamEdit a colorful and intuitive graphical interface to create, modify and organise notes on five virtual “tracks”
SynthLab is an advanced application for those who are ready to venture into sophisticated sound design.
still to research for best links:
Chat
The Chat activity provides a simple environment for discussion, whether it is between two individuals or an entire classroom.
Measure
Measure is a tool that allows children to explore and learn by connecting and observing physical phenomena and real-world events. With it, children can measure and log data and create graphs.
NewsReader
The NewsReader activity provides an interface for viewing news (RSS) feeds.
Draw
The Draw activity provides a canvas for a child or a group of children to express themselves creatively. Children can draw free-form images with a paintbrush and pencil, and use the dedicated toolbar to play and experiment with shapes. Text support, image import functionality, and an interactive placement system give children limitless ways to explore their creativity.
Distance
You can measure the distance between two laptops by measuring the length of time it takes for sound to travel between them. Along with the measure and record activities, there are many ways to use the laptop to explore the physical environment.
Read an eBook
The laptop has a built-in eBook reader: the display rotates 180 degrees around and folds down on the keyboard, which enables you to hold the laptop like a book to read. The screen folds over the keyboard and the screen rotates, enabling you to read a book while holding the handle. Read your favorite book on the laptop while sitting outdoors in the sunlight.
Calculate
Calculate provides a generic calculator with a simple, straightforward interface. It is designed to be intuitive and readable enough for even the youngest children to use, while also supporting more complicated mathematics.
Activity Manuals and Tutorials
You will find the range of Floss Activity manuals here, look under OLPC / Sugar
Manuals in .pdf
This is a link to a .pdf manual for the Activity Record. When you click on the link you have the opportunity to download the file. Click the download link and the file will start to download. When the download is complete the file will be in your Journal. Provided you have the Activity Read successfully installed, the .pdf file will open when you click on it. You should note that the Activity Read, is known not to work, at present, on Sugar On a Stick.
Sugar Labs video clips at OLPC
A collection of video clips which should be viewable in the Sugar Activity, Browse.
Three final words.
Feedback
- Sugar Labs is an all volunteer-run organization that depends on the feedback and participation of Learners (our community).
- See Get involved,
- Submit bugs, &
- Request features
- all on the sidebar of every wiki page.