Clarifs below~ On Sun, Mar 6, 2016 at 11:51 AM, Adam Holt <h...@laptop.org> wrote:
> In Haiti many teachers and kids would prefer the time was set correctly on > their XO-1 laptops, no matter if the time is off by a couple minutes. So > they could really use a script that creates the following /boot/olpc.fth, > writing it out to an attached USB stick: > > \ Open Firmware > select /rtc decimal 0 0 0 1 1 1804 set-time > \ Optionally unlock XO > disable-security > > Then the teacher/operator can walk around the room to fix all XO's clocks > (refreshing the USB time as often as she/he wants). Of course not every > day can be Haitian Independence Day (Jan 1 1804!) so what the script should > really do is create a timestamp 1 minute into the future, filling out those > 6 numbers above correctly. > > The untrained operator (teacher typically) will then move the USB stick to > the XO(s) in need, to set their RTC's (real-time-clocks). Some ambitious > teachers will want to do this every month/semester it appears, to > sanitize/harmonize all clocks in their classroom/school as much as possible! > > Any recommended approaches to getting the UX clean, so that such untrained > operator have a visual confirmation that the USB stick has been updated > with a proper time-stamp, and (perhaps just as important??) the stick > mounted+unmounted effortlessly without too much risk, when this USB stick > is recreated hundreds of times within 1 day? A non-confusing command line > script can work, that says basically 2 things: > > - PLEASE INSERT A USB STICK > - USB STICK READY: REMOVE IT NOW! > > The less keyboard activity required from the teacher the better. But I'm > tempted by command syntax as follows: > usb-timestamper <minute*s*-into-the-future> > Such that running "/bin/usb-timestamper 5" would create USB sticks > timestamped 5 minutes into the future. The default should be 1 minute into > the future, so running "/bin/usb-timestamper" would be equivalent to > "/bin/usb-timestamper 1". > > Conclusion: am just looking for general suggestions from everyone as we > cook up something simple! > We do not want to rely on networking or mesh At All. KISS (key it simple/stupid) at the firmware level allows the teacher/operator to move thru the classroom quite rapidly, fixing the time on each XO laptop as often as s/he wants. 2 examples scenarios, showing how this will be used: 1. Teacher/operator may choose to run "usb-timestamper 10" once as s/he enters each classroom, if she wants to timestamp the USB stick 10min into the future, and then apply this rapidly to all 50 XO's in a classroom/lab over the coming 20minutes. Works great ifs/he does not care that the XO's clocks are off by +/- 10min! 2. Or if teacher/operator is perfectionist, then usb-timestamper (interactive command-line program) can be left running on hir own XO laptop that s/he carries around the room -- updating the USB stick repeatedly while walking around the classroom -- such that each of that room's 50 XO laptops has an almost-exact clock, accurate within a minute or so. > > in this case, as USB sticks are the most reliable and quick approach in > this case. > > Clarif: I will of course train the teacher/operator to set the clock > correctly on their own XO-1, which will typically be running OLPC OS 13.2.7 > -- so that all these "offline-NTP sticks" are created based on a reasonably > accurate baseline timestamp :) > > -- > Unsung Heroes of OLPC, interviewed live @ http://unleashkids.org ! > -- Unsung Heroes of OLPC, interviewed live @ http://unleashkids.org !
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