Changes

<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_CP.png|thumb|none|800px|The Control Panel section to set the connection settings.]]

[[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.

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 nice 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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Thanks to ''Daniel Drake'' for developing this Feature which is a huge improvement for customizing Sugar.

Thanks to ''Daniel Drake'' for developing this Feature which is a huge improvement for customizing Sugar.

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

=== 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.

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.

=== Activity Authors guidelines ===

=== Activity Authors guidelines ===

There are still many activities that do not use the new activity Toolbars introduced in 0.86. We encourage the switch to use the new Toolbars as there have been huge improvements in usability (e.g. stopping an activity).

There are still many activities that do not use the new activity toolbars introduced in 0.86. We encourage the switch to use the new toolbars as there have been huge improvements in usability (e.g. stopping an activity).

 

Jim Simmons has written a guide to writing Sugar Activities (Please see [http://en.flossmanuals.net/ActivitiesGuideSugar/Introduction Make your own Sugar Activities!]) which details how to convert your activity to the new toolbars without compromising performance on old Sugar systems.

== 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]

We want to especially thank:

We want to especially thank:

* the ''Infrastructure team'' which does all this great work in the background without the development would not be possible at all,

* the [[Infrastructure_Team |  ''Infrastructure team'']] which does all this great work in the background without which the development would not be possible at all,

 

* the ''deployments'' that provide the development team with feedback from the field,

* the ''deployments'' that provide the development team with feedback from the fields,

* the [[Design_Team |  ''Design team'']] which guided the design of features with UI changes or impact on the workflow,

* the ''Design team'' which helps to work on features with UI changes or impact on the workflow,

* the [[Translation_Team |  ''Translation team'']] which makes sure that Sugar is enjoyable in the local languages of our users,

* the ''developers'' that submit patches for new features and bug fixes,

* the ''developers'' that submit patches for new features and bug fixes,

* the ''packagers'' which provide distributions with new Sugar packages,

* the ''packagers'' which provide distributions with new Sugar packages,

* the ''Soas team'' for providing as during the development cycle with a Sugar version to test with,

* the [[Sugar_on_a_Stick | ''SoaS team'']] for providing during the development cycle a Sugar version to test with,

* the ''testers'' for finding the small and bigger issues,

* the ''testers'' for finding the small and bigger issues,

* the ''release team'' and ''development team'' for coordinating those efforts.

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