[IIAB] IRC Meeting Log on XO testing 2013-08-03

[John Kim]

Hi folks,

Here's the log from a meeting on IRC at #sgvhak last Saturday.  I got to 
talk to Anna and discussed about getting an XO or two for myself. 
Braddock and Chris briefly stopped by as well.

Date: 08/03/13

Time: 07:15pm - 08:25pm


<annabham> Most of my XO-1s are in various states.  We had some spare 
parts and a few months ago I asked Tyler to put me together as many 
fully functional ones as he could

<annabham> Like some of my screens have a dead gray line running down 
the side

<annabham> Or the spacebar is missing on the keyboard

<annabham> OMG, you would not believe how kids just pluck these keys off 
the membrane keyboard

<kotux> Is it that easy to do it?

<kotux> haha, kids are kids.

<annabham> Kids in Bham took terrible care of their XOs.  One of my 
favorite stories was about screen breakage.  A kid was under a pecan 
tree with his XO and it was the handiest thing to crack nuts with

<annabham> It's not easy for an adult to rip keys off the keyboard 
because it wouldn't occur to us to do something like that intentionally

<kotux> And I thought the Macbook Air was meant to cut fruits.

<kotux> The kids need to learn about handling such devices.

<annabham> I still don't understand how some of the damage happened

<kotux> I haven't seen any use of XOs here in LA.  I wish the public 
elementary schools somehow implemented them.

<annabham> That was a huge issue in the classroom as more and more kids 
broke their XOs.  It wasn't 1:1 anymore

<annabham> The XOs were "free" but the parts for repair were not

<annabham> And screen replacement was $100

<kotux> 1:1?

* kotux gasp

<annabham> One to one, as in One laptop per child

<annabham> There was also an issue with bullies smashing other kids XOs 
or throwing them in  puddles

<annabham> I got a call asking about the XO's dollar value because one 
family sued another family over the destruction of an XO in small claims 
court

<annabham> Which is an issue in small claims court, you have to have a 
replacement value.  You can't just say, "look on ebay"

<kotux> right.  Wow, what measures do the folks at OLPC plan to take on 
such issues?  Have they been discussed yet?

<annabham> The deployment in Bham failed, so I guess it's not an issue 
anymore

<annabham> Kids in 3rd world countries take a lot better care of their stuff

<kotux> Just for clarification, where is Bham exactly?

<annabham> Birmingham Alabama?

<kotux> ahh

<annabham> You might have read about it in history class

<kotux> Yup

<kotux> the 60s

<annabham> 1963 in particular, it's the 50th anniversary of the Civil 
Rights Movement here

<kotux> whoa congrats!

<kotux> I mean to all Americans

<annabham> I'm not old enough to have lived through it

<annabham> But it's not that far in the past.  I'll be out and about and 
see a little old black lady and think, "Wow, she actually had to go 
through everyday indignities like separate water fountains and restrooms"

<kotux> I too honor the prejudiced that have coped and survived. Anyway 
back to OLPC: so far I have been using the Fedora 18 and Debian jessy 
for testing.  I still have yet to report on Jessie.  As for the pc 
units, I'll get started on the proposal.  Should I request both a XO-1 
and XO4 unit?

<annabham> I'm not sure what the situation is with the XO4.  I do know 
that Unleash Kids will be selling them very soon

<annabham> They're still trying to determine prices, but the numbers 
floating around have been pricey.  Think $400 and up depending on the 
kit you get

<annabham> With discounts for contributors

<annabham> So I'd go ahead and request an XO-1, since IIAB's XO-1 is 
technically on loan and y'all should have one of your own.

<kotux> But I should wait on the XO4?

<annabham> I would also suggest that you hold off on the "send" button 
until Braddock reviews the request

<kotux> ok, I will do that.

<annabham> Yes, I'd wait on the XO4.  Details on getting one will be 
coming out very soon

<annabham> But there's probably a few XO-1s floating around for contributors

<annabham> As far as I know, anyway.  Remember, I'm not formally 
associated with OLPC and most of what I know is rumor and gossip

<annabham> It's not a bad idea for y'all to have two XOs to test how the 
Browse activity collaborates with IIAB

<annabham> That needs to be part of the test plan, come to think of it

<kotux> 2 XO-1s?

<annabham> "Hey, I just found this awesome book/wikipedia article and 
want to share it with my friends!"

<annabham> Braddock said IIAB has an XO-1 on loan from Carol Bigenho

<annabham> He also said he was going to lend it to you

<annabham> That was in an email

<kotux> Oh sweet!

<annabham> I thought you were copied on that

<annabham> Anyway, I'll walk you through updating it to 13.2.0-13

<annabham> There are instructions on the wiki, but just in case you feel 
timid about it

<annabham> At this point I must have flashed XOs over a thousand times 
and that is not an exaggeration

<annabham> Oh, that's what we call installing/updating the XO's OS. 
  "Flashing."

<kotux> wow.  Sorry, I was a little slow there.  By the way, I don't own 
an XO-1 just yet.

<annabham> It's really cool, you can totally bork up an XO and be back 
"factory fresh" in about 5 mins

<annabham> My joke is that if you haven't rendered your XO unbootable 
yet, you're not trying hard enough

<kotux> HAHA

<annabham> I think the only way you can really, truly bork an XO is if 
you're updating the firmware and while that's going on, you pull the 
power cord and remove the battery

<dock9> Hi Anna, hi john.

<annabham> Oh, hi Braddock

<annabham> We were just gossiping a bit

<dock9> still trying to get the baby to sleep, but wanted to say hi

<kotux> hi dock9

<annabham> John would like to request an XO-1 from the contributor's program

<annabham> We might want to touch base with Adam Holt on that

<dock9> kotux, I was hoping you could take a deeper look at the Fedora 
18 issues.  I believe we may be running into an SE Linux issue or other 
permission issue.  I looked at it some today.

<dock9> Well, I have an XO-1 I will get John.

<annabham> dock9, To answer your question on #schoolserver, no, the XSCE 
does not have SELinux enabled

<dock9> anna, okay, that is good.

<kotux> Kotux, tell me what you want to me to do, and I'll get started.

<kotux> dock9

<kotux> lol, sorry

<annabham> It's annoying, every time I install Fedora, if I want to do 
something useful as far as networking goes, I disable SELinux

<annabham> If I recall, all you have to do is edit a config file and set 
SELinux from enabled to disabled

<dock9> kotux, your /var/log/httpd/error_log contained an exception 
stating that the IIAB could not find 
/knowledge/modules/wikipedia-kiwix/library.xml.  I cannot reproduce that 
error on my Fedora 18 install.  But I do get an SELinux error when 
trying to access that file.

<dock9> The SELinux error is in /var/log/messages

<kotux> ok

<dock9> I'll have to get this to you via e-mail the baby is not 
cooperating at the moment...

<dock9> bbiab

<annabham> I think I remember hearing that SELinux was designed by the NSA

<kotux> ok, dock9, do you think I would need two XOs?

* cjl (~chatzilla at c-98-204-202-184.hsd1.md.comcast.net) has joined #sgvhak

<annabham> 2 XOs is vital to have if you want to test collaboration

<cjl> annabham: hallo

<kotux> hi cjl

<annabham> Or if you just have one XO, you can join my XS jabber server 
and we can test collaboration that way

<cjl> If you need XOs for testing, apply to the Contributor's program

<annabham> cjl, Oh, your nick is very familiar, who is this again?

<cjl> Sugar Labs Translation Team Coordinator

<annabham> cjl, kotux was looking into that

<kotux> Yeah, Braddock has one for me, and I could use another one.

<cjl> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Contributors_program

<kotux> annabham, what if I do both testing via jabber server AND use 
another XO?

<cjl> Adam Holt runs it and he is very keen on IAAB, should not be a hassle.

<annabham> If an XO is on a jabber server it won't see any other XOs 
except the ones on that server.  Even if they're connected to the same LAN

* cjl also long time OLPC Support Gang member

<annabham> I'm on the support gang email list, but mostly just lurk. 
  From what I see in the IRC channel, y'all have the patience of saints

<cjl> :-)

<annabham> I know the testing focus, mine at least, will be on XOs, but 
as part of the XSCE project, one of our goals is to be device agnostic

<kotux> annabham, I would like to learn about flashing once I have an XO 
ready to go

<annabham> I have a couple of Android tablets, an eink Kindle and (just 
ordered last night because it was only $89 with free shipping) will soon 
have a Kindle Fire

<cjl> kotux: reflashing an XO is easy

<annabham> kotux, If you have a spare USB drive, you're good to go once 
you have your hands on an XO.  And I can walk you through it.  Not 
because you need help, it's very easy, just to calm your nerves

<annabham> I remember my first XO.  The Birmingham mayor's assistant 
gave it to me and wrote "Property of Birmingham Mayor's office" in the 
battery compartment

<annabham> Boy, was I nervous with that thing

<cjl> Mine was a G1G1 machine

<annabham> That mayor, Larry Langford, is in prison now, BTW

<cjl> my latest is an XO-4 I got from the Boston guys for testing L10n

<annabham> The XO4 is awesome!  Holt gave me one

<kotux> annabham, I'll be getting going now; later, let's discuss what 
sort of manual testcases we want to create. I want to hear from Braddock 
on some direction and we can proceed from there. Is that alright?

<annabham> Sure.  Also, can the test dataset be sorted out to accomodate 
the IIAB changes?

<kotux> I'm not the person to ask about this. dock9 can help; I would 
like to know too

<kotux> ok I'll be going now.  Nice talking to you annabham; let's 
schedule another time to continue later.

<annabham> Ok, send me an email and we can catch up next week


John Kim

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