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<noinclude>{{Translations}}{{GoogleTrans-en}}{{TeamHeader|Development Team|roadmap_link={{Upcoming Stable Release}}/Roadmap}}{{TOCright}}</noinclude>[[Category:Release Notes]]

<noinclude>{{ Translations | [[0.88/Notes|english]] }}{{TeamHeader|Development Team|roadmap_link={{Upcoming Stable Release}}/Roadmap}}</noinclude>[[Category:Release Notes]]

 

 

= Sucrose 0.88 Release Notes =

= Sucrose 0.88 Release Notes =

== Introduction ==

== Introduction ==

[[Taxonomy#Sucrose:_The_interface.2C_plus_a_set_of_demonstration_activities|Sucrose]] 0.88 is the latest version of the Sugar learning platform, consisting of [[Taxonomy#Glucose:_The_base_Sugar_environment|Glucose]], the base system environment; and [[Taxonomy#Fructose:_The_set_of_demonstration_activities|Fructose]], a set of demonstration activities.

This might be the sweetest Easter egg ever!

Sucrose is released every six months. Each new release contains new features, improvements, bug fixes, and translations. Sucrose 0.88 continues this tradition and is our fourth well-planned release to date.

The new shining version of the sweet learning environment is available. Many people from all over the world have been working together over the last six months to make this tooth breaker possible. 0.88 is the latest version of Sugar, consisting of [[Taxonomy#Glucose:_The_base_Sugar_environment|Glucose]], the base system environment; and [[Taxonomy#Fructose:_The_set_of_demonstration_activities|Fructose]], a set of demonstration activities. This new release contains many new features, performance and code improvements, bug fixes, and translations.

You can learn more about Sugar itself by studying the [[What_is_Sugar%3F|Sugar definition]] or by reading the [http://www.sugarlabs.org/index.php?template=page&page=learners comic strip] about the learning platform from Dongyun Lee. Even better, why not [[Downloads|try Sugar]] today?

You can learn more about Sugar itself by studying the [[What_is_Sugar%3F|Sugar definition]] or by reading the [http://www.sugarlabs.org/index.php?template=page&page=learners comic strip] about the learning platform from ''Dongyun Lee''. Even better, why not [[Downloads|try Sugar]] today?

== What is new for users ==

== What is new for users ==

=== Connect to the Internet using a GSM modem ===

=== Connect to the Internet using a GSM modem ===

You can use a GSM modem with Sugar to connect to the Internet. GSM modems are often found in mobile phones but there are also standalone modems that can be connected over USB to a computer. When a GSM modem is attached to the computer, a device is added to the Sugar Frame from which you can connect to the Internet. The settings for the connection—such as service provider and password—can be made from the Sugar Control Panel. This [[Features/3G_Support | feature]] provides Sugar learners with more ways to access the Internet.  

You can use a GSM modem with Sugar to connect to the Internet. GSM modems are often found in mobile phones but there are also standalone modems that can be connected over USB to a computer. When a GSM modem is attached to the computer, a device is added to the Sugar Frame from which you can connect to the Internet. The settings for the connection—such as service provider and password—can be configured from the Sugar Control Panel. This [[Features/3G_Support | feature]] provides Sugar learners with more ways to access the Internet.  

Developers and educators from [http://www.ceibal.edu.uy/ Plan Ceibal] and [http://www.paraguayeduca.org/ Paraguay Educa] worked together to add the GSM feature to Sugar. Thanks to [[User:Tomeu |  ''Tomeu Vizoso'']] for introducing the new upstream contributors to the development process.

Developers and educators from [http://www.ceibal.edu.uy/ Plan Ceibal] and [http://www.paraguayeduca.org/ Paraguay Educa] worked together to add the GSM feature to Sugar. Thanks to [[User:Tomeu |  ''Tomeu Vizoso'']] for introducing the new upstream contributors to the development process.

[[Image:3G_Device.png|thumb|none|800px|The 3G-device icon]]

[[Image:3G_Device.png|thumb|none|800px|Sugar Frame device for the GSM modem.]]

[[Image:3G_CP_select.png|thumb|none|800px|The 3G control-panel icon]]  

[[Image:3G_CP_select.png|thumb|none|800px|The Control Panel GSM modem section.]]  

[[Image:3G_CP.png|thumb|none|800px|The 3G control-panel section]]

[[Image:3G_CP.png|thumb|none|800px|The Control Panel section to set the connection settings.]]

=== A message is displayed when an activity fails to start ===

=== Better feedback during activity startup ===

In previous versions of Sugar there was no feedback to distinguish between an activity that failed to start and an activity that is slow to launch. Furthermore, stopping an activity that failed to start was not possible from the user interface. This feature displays a message when an activity fails to start with a button to allow to stop the activity.

In previous versions of Sugar there was no feedback to distinguish between an activity that failed to start and an activity that is slow to launch. Furthermore, stopping an activity that failed to start was not possible from the user interface. This feature displays a message when an activity fails to start with a button to allow to stop the activity.

[[Image:Activity_fails_to_start.png|thumb|none|800px|Display message when an activity fails to start]]

[[Image:Activity_fails_to_start.png|thumb|none|800px|A message is displayed when an activity fails to start.]]

Thanks to [[User:Wade | ''Wade Brainerd'']] and [[User:Alsroot | ''Aleksey Lim'']] for developing this enhancement which is a great start to make developing inside of Sugar more pleasant and which provides better feedback in the activity starting period.

Thanks to [[User:Wade | ''Wade Brainerd'']] and [[User:Alsroot | ''Aleksey Lim'']] for developing this enhancement which is a great start to make developing inside of Sugar more pleasant and which provides better feedback in the activity starting period.

4. Further PDF files are opened using Read by default.

4. Further PDF files are opened using Read by default.

Thanks to [[User:Alsroot | ''Aleksey Lim'']] for developing this enhancement.

Thanks to [[User:Alsroot | ''Aleksey Lim'']] for developing this nice enhancement to an every day workflow.

=== Synchronize changes made to a Journal entry ===

=== Synchronize changes made to a Journal entry ===

There has been an issue with synchronizing changes made to a Journal entry for a long time (already since Sugar 0.84) described in ticket {{Bug|1358}}. When editing a Journal entry (e.g. changing the entry name or the description) while the activity was still open the changes where deleted when closing the activity. This leaded to data loss when learners reflected about their work in the Journal and hadn't closed the activity first. The patch has already been backported to Sugar 0.84, too.  

A long-standing issue with synchronizing changes made to a Journal—originally reported in Sugar 0.84 as described in ticket {{Bug|1358}}—has been fixed. Edits to a Journal entry (e.g. changing the entry name or the description) while an activity is still open were lost when the activity was closed. The patch has also been backported to Sugar 0.84.

Thanks to the team of the ''[[Planetarium]] Sugar Pilot'' for fixing this long outstanding issue.

Thanks to the team of the ''[[Planetarium]] Sugar Pilot'' for fixing this bug.

=== Sugar Activities ===

=== Sugar Activities ===

While we bundle a small subset of the Sugar Activities within Sucrose, most the Activity "activity" can be tracked by visiting [http://activities.sugarlabs.org the Sugar Activity portal].  

While we bundle a small subset of the Sugar Activities within Sucrose, most of the Activity "activity" can be tracked by visiting [http://activities.sugarlabs.org the Sugar Activity Library].  

We have recently surpassed ''2.5-million'' Sugar Activity downloads! There are ''hundreds of activities'' available for download in a variety of categories!  

We have recently surpassed ''2.5-million'' Sugar Activity downloads! There are ''hundreds of activities'' available for download in a variety of categories!  

[http://activities.sugarlabs.org/en-US/sugar/browse/type:1/cat:all?sort=newest Recent additions] include:

[http://activities.sugarlabs.org/en-US/sugar/browse/type:1/cat:all?sort=newest Recent additions] include:

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{| border=1 cellpadding=3 style="border: 1px solid white; border-collapse: collapse; background: #e3e4e5;"

=== Customize the Sugar font size ===

=== Customize the Sugar font size ===

This [[Features/Font_configuration | Feature]] adds the possibility for distributors and deployers to customize the Sugar font size. The proposed solution is one similar to the solutions used in other desktop environments like [http://gnome.org/ GNOME] and [http://kde.org KDE]: allow customization of the base font size used across the entire desktop platform. This is another important step to bring Sugar more in-line with the desktop world and distributors like [http://laptop.org OLPC] will be able to select font sizes without ugly hacks. In Sugar 0.90 there will be a new control panel section that users will be able to customize font size to suit their needs, too.

This [[Features/Font_configuration | Feature]] adds the possibility for distributors and deployers to customize the Sugar font size. The proposed solution is one similar to the solutions used in other desktop environments like [http://gnome.org/ GNOME] and [http://kde.org KDE]: allow customization of the base font size used across the entire desktop platform. This is another important step to bring Sugar more in-line with the desktop world and distributors like [http://laptop.org OLPC] will be able to select font sizes without ugly hacks. The size of the Sugar font can be set using the GConf key ''/schemas/desktop/sugar/font/default_size'' which is set to ''10'' by default. The Font face can be set using the GConf key ''/schemas/desktop/sugar/font/default_face'' which is set to ''Sans Serif'' by default. In Sugar 0.90 there will be a new control panel section that users will be able to customize the font size to suit their needs, too.  

=== Update an activity translation independently of the Sugar release process ===

In general the translation process is tightly coupled with the release workflow. In order to get the latest translations for a particular activity, deployments need either to wait for the activity maintainer to provide a new release or to use the language-pack mechanism, which is distribution specific (and at its best an ugly hack). The [[Features/Enhanced_Gettext | Enhanced Gettext Feature]] adds an extra search path for the translation files of Sugar activities. This allows deployments to add and update activity translations independently of the release process. The alternate search path can be configured using the [http://projects.gnome.org/gconf/ GConf configuration system].

 

=== Better translation updates  ===

In general the translation process is tightly coupled with the release workflow. In order to get the latest translations for a particular activity, deployments need either to wait for the activity maintainer to provide a new release or to use the language-pack mechanism, which is distribution specific (and at its best an ugly hack). The [[Features/Enhanced_Gettext | Enhanced Gettext Feature]] adds an extra search path for the translation files of Sugar activities. This allows deployments to add and update activity translations independently of the release process. The alternate search path can be configured using the [http://projects.gnome.org/gconf/ GConf configuration system]. The GConf key is ''/schemas/desktop/sugar/i18n/langpackdir'' which is unset by default.

With this feature it should be easier for deployments who rely on a small translator team to accomplish their job since they no longer need to keep pace with the Sugar release cycle. Furthermore, we hope to alleviate activity maintainers from the burden of making a new release whenever a new translation becomes available.

With this feature it should be easier for deployments who rely on a small translator team to accomplish their job since they no longer need to keep pace with the Sugar release cycle. Furthermore, we hope to alleviate activity maintainers from the burden of making a new release whenever a new translation becomes available.

=== Making the name input screen optional ===

=== Making the name input screen optional ===

An option has been added to enable the "enter your name" screen which is displayed when you use Sugar for the first time. The screen is only needed in live environments e.g. [[Sugar_on_a_Stick | Sugar on a Stick]]. If Sugar is ran in an installed to disk environment, the user will need to provide a name and password to start the session, so asking for a name again is not needed. In those cases Sugar will use the name provided by the existing UNIX account. The name input screen can be disabled using the [http://projects.gnome.org/gconf/ GConf configuration system]. The GConf key is ''/schemas/desktop/sugar/user/default_nick'', the screen is disabled by default and will use the UNIX account name. Set the key to ''disabled'' to display the screen on Sugar startup.

An option has been added to enable the "enter your name" screen which is displayed when you use Sugar for the first time. The screen is only needed in live environments e.g. [[Sugar_on_a_Stick | Sugar on a Stick]]. If Sugar is ran in an installed to disk environment, the user will need to provide a name and password to start the session, so asking for a name again is not needed. In those cases Sugar will use the name provided by the existing UNIX account. The name input screen can be disabled using the [http://projects.gnome.org/gconf/ GConf configuration system]. The GConf key is ''/schemas/desktop/sugar/user/default_nick'', the screen is disabled by default and will use the UNIX account name. Set the key to ''disabled'' to display the screen on Sugar startup.

== What's new for developers ==

== What's new for developers ==

=== Widgets ===

=== Widgets ===

=== API ===

=== API ===

The datastore API has been cleaned up. The dbus_helpers have been killed and all the functionality has been moved to one module ''datastore''. There has been an extensive effort to complete the documentation from this module, too. Furthermore the toolkit has been seen another round of cleanups using [http://www.logilab.org/857 pylint] and to convey the [http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0008/ PEP 8] Style Guide.

* use sugar.datastore.* instead of direct DBus access #1197

* Add signal listener functionality to the DS #1197 (silbe)

* Cleaned up the datastore API

    - killed the dbus_helpers, moved that to the datastore.py

    - added documentation

=== Dependencies ===

=== Dependencies ===

=== Activity Authors guidelines ===

=== Activity Authors guidelines ===

== What's new for packagers ==

== What's new for packagers ==

If you want to package sugar for your favourite distribution or just want to examine sugar's lovely code ;) you can find all the source code of each module at the links below.  

If you want to package sugar for your favourite distribution or just want to examine sugar's lovely code ;) you can find all the source code of each module at the links below.  

=== Glucose ===

=== Core modules (Glucose) ===

* [http://download.sugarlabs.org/sources/sucrose/glucose/sugar-toolkit/sugar-toolkit-0.88.0.tar.bz2 sugar-toolkit 0.88.0]

* [http://download.sugarlabs.org/sources/sucrose/glucose/sugar-toolkit/sugar-toolkit-0.88.0.tar.bz2 sugar-toolkit 0.88.0]

* [http://download.sugarlabs.org/sources/sucrose/glucose/sugar/sugar-0.88.0.tar.bz2 sugar 0.88.0]

* [http://download.sugarlabs.org/sources/sucrose/glucose/sugar/sugar-0.88.0.tar.bz2 sugar 0.88.0]

== Looking Forward to 0.90 ==

== Looking Forward to 0.90 ==

Planning of the next release cycle has started at [[0.90/Roadmap]]. One of the most interesting goals is the [[Development_Team/Collaboration_Refactoring | refactoring of Collaboration]] on which Tomeu and the [http://collabora.co.uk/ Collabora team] are working on.

Planning of the next release cycle has started at [[0.90/Roadmap]]. One of the most interesting goals is the [[Development_Team/Collaboration_Refactoring | refactoring of Collaboration]] on which Tomeu Vizoso and the [http://collabora.co.uk/ Collabora team] are working on. Furthermore we hope to finally land Sascha Silbe's work on versions in the datastore and [http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/0.88/Feature_List#Features_delayed_to_0.90 the Features that missed the 0.88 release].

== Credits ==

== Credits ==

Many people contributed to this release indirectly, including testing, documentation, translation, contributing to the Wiki, outreach to education and developer communities. On behalf of the community, we give our warmest thanks to the developers and contributors who made this Sugar release possible.

Many people contributed to this release indirectly, including testing, documentation, translation, contributing to the Wiki, outreach to education and developer communities. On behalf of the community, we give our warmest thanks to the developers and contributors who made this Sugar release possible.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

* the ''release team'' and [[Development_Team | ''Development team'']] for coordinating those efforts.