User:Inkyfingers/Getting Started(0)

About Sugar

Sugar is a desktop environment that is an alternative to the ones typically used in Microsoft Windows, Apple's OS X, or GNU/Linux operating systems. It is conceived as a platform upon which children "learn through doing" with Sugar Activities. The platform provides mechanisms for collaboration, reflection, and exploration. Sugar Activities cover a broad range of applications: browsing, drawing, composing, writing, programming, etc.

The Sugar desktop has multiple full-screen views: a Home view from which Activities are launched; a Neighborhood view where learners can connect to each other through a Jabber network; a Journal view, which can be used as a lab notebook; and the Activity view, where Sugar Activities are run.

Sugar Activities have no Save menu: everything is saved automatically. Sugar support self discovery: while the interface uses very little text, additional information is revealed when the user hovers over icons.

Sugar is Free Software. It is developed in Python and runs on a GNU/Linux Kernel, originally from the Fedora Project, and now from a variety of GNU/Linux distributions.

For an overview of the technical components composing a Sugar system see the Sugar System Stack.

Getting Sugar

Sugar on a Stick

Sugar on a Stick is the easiest way to get Sugar. The introductory page provides details of the process, which is also summarized below.

If you are a Windows user with no Linux experience, you'll find that creating a Sugar on a Stick is no more complicated than making a purchase on Ebay! Have a look at the Fedora program you will use: https://fedorahosted.org/liveusb-creator/

Hardware requirements

Before you download, you need to know if you will use the 64Bit version. If your computer says on the box or documentation that it is 64Bit, you may use the 64bit download version of Sugar called "x86_64". I think it is safe to say that PCs above Pentium 2 (commenced production end 1995) and meeting the specification below should run the "i686" version.

You will need to ensure the computer you plan to use is capable of booting from USB.

On older machines you will probably need to make a change in the BIOS (see your computer's hardware documentation). Change Boot Order, so that Boot from USB comes before Boot from Hard Drive. Many newer computers detect the USB device as a hard drive, see http://www.pendrivelinux.com/usb-bios-boot-options/

From http://fedoraproject.org/en/get-fedora we see these minimum requirements for the current distribution, Fedora 16.

A 400MHz or faster processor

At least 768 MB memory (RAM), 1 GB recommended for best performance.

The minimum size of your USB flash drive is 2GB.

Ready to Download

If you are happy you have covered the above, you are ready to install Sugar on a flash drive, referring to Downloads

Boot If all has worked, you will shutdown your PC. With the newly written USB stick in a USB port, restart the PC.

Please Explore Sugar and take it out into your community

There are two further pages in the Getting Started set.

Once you boot your new stick, Getting Started/Explore

If you can take Sugar out into your school or community, Getting Started/Presentation

I need more information

The Sugar on a Stick project currently comprises 75 pages or sub-pages. It is most unlikely that I have achieved an accurate precis!

You might chose to read Sugar on a Stick/Pineapple, LiveOS image,

Sugar on a Stick/Installation, Sugar on a Stick/Boot,

Sugar_on_a_Stick/Mac, Sugar_on_a_Stick/Windows

and Sugar-on-a-Stick Creation Guide.

Release notes

Release notes for Sugar 0.121 are available here.

Sugar platform release version cycle: | 0.82 | 0.84 | 0.86 | 0.88 | 0.90 | 0.92 | 0.94 | 0.96 | 0.98 | 0.100 | 0.102 | 0.104 | 0.106 | 0.108 | 0.110 | 0.112 |

Other resources

There is an introductory overview of The Sugar Learning Platform at http://www.sugarlabs.org/. You can also reach this site from the navigation bar along the top of this page, by clicking the tab labeled "web" at the far left hand end.

Notice this set of pages also includes a sitemap.

This project, Sugar Creation Kit provides Sugar resources on a DVD, useful where there is limited internet access.

Part Two is the on-line version.

This can be used to customize your own Sugar Creation Kit DVD's contents:

How to make your own custom Sugar-Creation_Kit.iso file

ASLOxo is a DVD .iso full of activities in .xo form for drag drop install to sugar

Buy vs Build

Note: If this is going to be your first attempt at running Sugar, you may take the advice "buy rather than build". For purchase information for Sugar pre-installed on a bootable USB flash drive, see Sugar Creation Kit#Commercial source of SoaS-loaded media.

Not that I want to discourage people from buying, but I am not 100% sure about this paragraph. It seems that making the USB key is the (relatively) easy part. Configuring the bias for launch is the hard part. (The other hard part is sorting out from all the choices which version to run -- which would not be made any easier if you purchase.) --Walter 09:26, 2 December 2011 (EST)

I would like to include a paragraph discussing older versions. Why would one choose not to use the latest version? --Inkyfingers 09:38, 2 December 2011 (EST)

Older SoaS versions may be more compatible with some activities or XO-1;XO-1.5 software. See:Activity_Test_Results (this has NOT been updated lately)

Good point, but a newcomer can find that out later, perhaps this needs to be better documented ;). My question stands. --Inkyfingers 08:53, 3 December 2011 (EST)