List of improvements in XO-AU builds, 2010-2011¶

• List of improvements in XO-AU builds, 2010-2011
  • General improvements
  • Easier to flash and upgrade
  • Improvements to hardware handling
  • Improved collaboration experience
  • Network/Internet improvements
  • Localisation
  • improved support for external keyboards
  • Journal improvements
  • Protections from user confusion/damage
  • New activities
  • Upgraded activities
  • GNOME
  • System updates
  • OLPC release notes

This is an list of some of the main improvements in the XO-AU OS releases over what our XO-1.5s got pre-installed from the factory in early 2010. Because there were a multitude of different builds deployed (as of July 2011), I am just listing the improvements between the oldest one out there (os64) and our XO-AU 10.1.3-au3. The builds in between will have subsets of these improvements.

This list is intended more for end users, so it doesn't include much technical detail. It also includes improvements from OLPC.

Improvements that have been written by or received input/customisation from OLPC Australia have been marked with an Australian flag: . Many of these appeared first in or are exclusive to XO-AU OS releases.

General improvements¶

• designed with Australian schools in mind, including activities
• compatible with our online course and training
• works with new NT Schools proxy (to get on Internet)
• more supportable
• better reliability
• consistency of software and configuration across all XOs (if they are all flashed with the same build)

Easier to flash and upgrade¶

• the XO-AU USB, a 'software toolkit' that can be used to easily flash XOs and also assist in recovery, repair and support scenarios
• improvements to make flashing easier and more secure
• can flash many XOs at once with NANDblaster
• activities can be updated online through Software Update

Improvements to hardware handling¶

• fixes to prevent XO overheating and sustaining permanent damage
• USB2VGA adapter support
• better power management and handling/reporting of battery life
• faster graphics
• screen rotate button works
• camera works better

Improved collaboration experience¶

• ad-hoc networks are now handled more transparently, rather than requiring one XO to explicitly create the network
• files can be transferred directly between XOs on the network

Network/Internet improvements¶

• network and proxy settings can be edited from within Sugar, without needing to switch to GNOME
• proxy settings are are shared between Sugar and GNOME (this also means that activities like Software Update and Get Books will now work)
• better support for Adobe Flash content, with the inclusion of Adobe Flash player
• USB 3G modems can now be used

Localisation¶

• Australian English has been set across Sugar, GNOME, Firefox and other software
• metric units of measurement are now default
• the default time zone is now Darwin (previous releases used GMT/UTC)
• XOs can get their time from the network (ntp), providing greater accuracy

improved support for external keyboards¶

• F1-F4 changes views (Neighbourhood/Friends/Home/Activity)
• F5 switches to the journal
• F6 shows the frame
• F11/F12 controls volume (also, volume controls on most keyboards work)
• right Alt behaves as AltGr
• Windows key acts as Hand/Grab (hold this button and move on the track pad to scroll)
• detail: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_English_Keyboard

Journal improvements¶

• better handling of USB drives
• previews for downloaded images

Protections from user confusion/damage¶

• default activities are protected from removal
• Sugar activities are hidden from GNOME
• invalid GNOME Panel settings are reverted on restart
• if you enable/disable wireless in Sugar, it will show in GNOME, and vice versa

New activities¶

• activities have been included based on usefulness to Australian schools — see our Software Update repository
• journals can be backed up and restored with the new Backup/Restore activities
• 'paint' music on-screen with Musicpainter (latest version improves reliability)
• Image Thumbnail allows all images on an XO to be easily browsed
• Screencast allows the contents of the screen to be recorded as video

Upgraded activities¶

• Browse has better reliability, tabs, a home button and a busy cursor (also needed to get online properly with new NT Schools proxies)
• Record handles video more smoothly
• Speak now has an english_rp (English Received Pronunciation) voice, which models an Australian accent more closely than the default
• Distance activity reports more accurately
• the full Turtle Art is now included (we had Turtle Art Mini in 10.1.3-au1)
• lots of improvements to Paint
• scrolling improvements in Read, including support for the directional pad
• faster Wikipedia activity; removal of Spanish version
• Scratch better supports the camera, journal and LEGO WeDo kits
• many other upgrades and improvements

GNOME¶

• the OLPC Library page is now the home page for Firefox, allowing Firefox to access the installed XOL content libraries
• camorama has been added to allow still photographs to be taken with the camera
• a screenshot capture tool is now available
• record video of the screen with gtk-recordmydesktop
• Windows (CIFS/SMB) network files shares can be accessed from GNOME
• removed GNOME Keyring password prompt
• software can be installed graphically from GNOME with the "Add/Remove Software" application
• printing is possible to printers that have been shared over the network with IPP

System updates¶

• included most recent system updates from upstream
• updates are now sourced from OLPC AU download servers

OLPC release notes¶

This list includes improvements from OLPC:

• http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Release_notes/10.1.3
• http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Release_notes/10.1.2
• http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Release_notes/10.1.2
• http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Release_notes/10.1.1
• http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Release_notes/10.1.0