Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] "Raspbian reserves 4% of all disk space"

[Samuel Greenfeld]

The default threshold probably was 5%, and intentional.

This buffer is meant to allow the root user to use & recover the system if
it is nearly full.  So if this file system has any system purpose and is
not purely for the digital library, you probably want the 5% there.

It also allows the filesystem to have some breathing room for
defragmentation as well as not fragmenting files in the first place.



On Sat, Aug 19, 2017 at 9:16 PM, Adam Holt  wrote:

> ...for exactly what is unclear, on headless RPi's in remote areas
> especially.  Does someone know more about how this reserve disk threshold
> works?  Can it possibly help an untrained operator, in a highly offline
> community, when SD-card-as-primary-disk hits that threshold?
>
> Certainly WordPress, X Windows (and no doubt others) silently fail upon
> reaching this threshold, rendering the entire system useless, from the
> perspective of a low-skill owner-operator (as is the most common case in
> the developing world).
>
> So huge thanks to Tim Moody (with George Hunt's assistance) who changed
> this threshold from 4% to 1% as follows:
>
>tune2fs -m 1 /dev/mmcblk0p2
>
> As can be viewed with the "du" (disk usage) command.  The challenge is
> that SD-based digital libraries are Almost Always nearly full, by design,
> when remote educators ask (and deserve) all the best possible materials.
> Nor do we want to discourage constructionist activities that will
> occasionally gobble up a bit of SD/disk!
>
> So More Generally: how exactly might this 4% threshold (pick your favorite
> percentage, no matter) materially help remote owner-operators, not steeped
> in Linux Skillz?  As so many things start failing together when Raspbian SD
> card "disks" reach that reserve threshold — such that most remote/offline
> educators and owner-operators will simply stop using their RPi3 digital
> library at that point — particularly if it's headless :(
>
> Suggestions from anyone?!
>
> *In principle a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distant_Early_Warning_Line
>  saves lives, but
> if Raspbian/Internet-in-a-Box/Etc do not have a GUI-or-similar alert to
> signal approaching disk-full danger & facilitate the needed "disk" cleanup,
> is this counterproductive, worst case perhaps creating a false sense of
> security among implementers?*
>
> *(If so wasting impoverished citizens' prescious SD card funds to no
> benefit, or worse giving them a false sense security around RPi reliability
> alongside implementers?)*
>
___
Server-devel mailing list
Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel

Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] Proposal | SIP VoIP server on XSCE

[Samuel Greenfeld]

The downside to SIP is that if you leave a SIP server open on the Internet
which allows calls without authenticated registration (even by accident)
you will find dozens of systems trying to proxy long-distance &
international telephone calls through it.  If they can get through,
thousands of dollars of those calls may be billed to you.

SIP also has some firewall issues, although those can be mitigated with
proxies, a STUN server, and the proper configuration.

IAX2 historically has been meant to be an "Inter-Asterisk" server trunking
protocol, not something for individual clients.

On Fri, Oct 14, 2016 at 8:55 PM, Anish Mangal  wrote:

> This looks interesting, but I would prefer to stick with SIP
>
> Reason:
> 1. It is extremely scalable from running on tiny openWRT routers to big
> servers
> 2. It is supported by a large number of free/open clients on ALL
> platforms. There is also a webRTC socket for it.
>
> The only current drawback of Kamailio right now, is there dont seem to be
> ootb rpms available for arm. If there is a SIP server out there with ARM
> packages, would love to test it, or otherwise - compile kamailio for ARM
>
>
> On Sat, Oct 15, 2016 at 6:08 AM, Joel Steres 
> wrote:
>
>> Does webrtc fit your use case? http://peerjs.com is one.
>>
>> On Oct 14, 2016 5:12 PM, "Anish Mangal"  wrote:
>>
>>> Following from:
>>> http://www.en.voipforo.com/IAX/IAXvsSIP.php
>>>
>>> *If SIP is using a server* signaling messages always pass through the
>>> server but *audio messages (RTP flow) can travel end to end without
>>> passing through the server. In IAX, signaling and data must pass always
>>> through IAX server. *This increases the bandwidth need by the IAX
>>> servers when there are many simultaneous calls.
>>>
>>>
>>> This is a big drawback of IAX it seems, especially in a mesh setup,
>>> where in many cases, the available bandwidth between clients may be higher
>>> via direct node routes compared with the bandwidth via the server route. It
>>> seems SIP will utilize the network more efficiently in a mesh topology.
>>>
>>> Yesterday we were testing this on the server, and two nodes with three
>>> client. The data was being sent directly client -- node -- node -- client,
>>> and virtually no bandwidth was being used on the server. :)
>>>
>>> On Sat, Oct 15, 2016 at 5:07 AM, Anish Mangal  wrote:
>>>
 Will look into IAX2. Is it supported by apps on different clients? For
 SIP, there are usually many client options available on various platforms.

 On Fri, Oct 14, 2016 at 9:22 PM, Sameer Verma  wrote:

> What server/service are you using? Look at IAX2 as well. Usually IAX2
> does better on networks because unlike SIP, session initiation and voice
> call happen on the same port.
>
> Sameer
>
> On Oct 14, 2016 4:48 AM, "Anish Mangal"  wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> A SIP server on the XSCE will allow for VOIP services (audio, video,
>> text). There are numerous SIP clients on various platforms so it seems a
>> good protocol and standard to build upon.
>>
>> I have already included a SIP server in the upcoming deployment of
>> XSCE and mesh in Spiti, north India.
>>
>> Thoughts?
>>
>> Best,
>> Anish
>>
>>
>>


 --
 Anish



>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Anish
>>>
>>>
>>>
>
>
> --
> Anish
>
>
>
___
Server-devel mailing list
Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel

Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] "Gigabyte BRIX more scalable than Intel NUC"

[Samuel Greenfeld]

If you are looking at devices which include sales in the US (and
potentially other) market(s), you may find that your devices may only
accept one of a few internal Wifi NICs.

This is because the FCC certification of the device as a whole is often
done including the Wifi module.  And they only expect to offer certain Wifi
modules to customers.

Lenovo and HP historically have both done this at the BIOS level.

So if you are insisting on an all-in-one solution, your wireless NIC
choices may be limited, especially now that the FCC requires proof that 5
GHz transmitters cannot be tampered with to transmit abnormally.

But if you can accept an external wifi device you may be much better off,
especially because then you can get devices which are designed to handle
lots of clients, and not primarily be a single client itself.


On Mon, Sep 5, 2016 at 7:11 PM, Adam Holt  wrote:

> On Mon, Sep 5, 2016 at 7:07 PM, T Gillett  wrote:
>
>> Adam
>>
>> It might be useful to look around and see what wifi modules are actually
>> available to purchase.
>> You will obviously need to determine exactly what physical configuration
>> you need to get to be compatible.
>>
>> Once you know what modules are available and the chipset that is used in
>> each, then it should be fairly easy to find out which ones have good Linux
>> support.
>>
>> Then you can make an informed choice as to what modules to pursue.
>>
>> Keep in mind that these modules are mostly used in Laptops where they are
>> used almost exclusively as wifi clients rather than APs. So when you say
>> "good Linux support" what you are really looking for is "good Linux support
>> when used as an AP" which is rather different.
>>
>
> +1
>
> A somewhat general statement, but Atheros chipsets are considered to be
>> well supported in Linux for AP usage (at least from the OpenWrt experience,
>> and due to the fact that the drivers have been open sourced), so it may be
>> worth looking for them specifically. If you find a module that has a
>> specific chipset, then you can chase it up in the OpenWrt and similar
>> forums to see whether it has been used successfully.
>>
>
> +2
>
> And of course it would be worth testing the default module that comes with
>> the BRIX jsut in case there is a pleasant surprise in store.
>>
>
> +3
>
> Thanks Terry.
>
> Regards
>> Terry
>>
>> On Tue, Sep 6, 2016 at 12:25 AM, Adam Holt  wrote:
>>
>>> On Terry's recommendation to look at replaceable WiFi modules that can
>>> serve "almost 50 kids", my current interest is to explore the $279.99
>>> Gigabyte BRIX GB-BSi3H-6100:
>>>
>>> http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=5691
>>>
>>> If we go with the above CPU/chassis -- or anything similar folks
>>> recommend -- which WiFi module (PCIe M.2 presumably) to consider for
>>> maximum community support isn't an easy question of course: any
>>> recommendations for Linux support?
>>>
>>> Bluetooth 4.2 Low Energy support would be an Optional Bonus, as we have
>>> a long-term desire to provide teacher smartphones' full control over their
>>> "personal" school server.
>>>
>>> PS the above unit comes with an "Intel® Dual Band Wireless-AC 3165"
>>> which we'll throw out as nec!  Or perhaps it suffices among the smallest
>>> installations, with only 12 simultaneous WiFi connections?
>>>
>>> Thanks to anybody who can contribute to this R discussion/evaluation,
>>> as Intel NUC's soldered-down internal WiFi (likewise limited to 12 WiFi
>>> connections) has in the end become too constricting~
>>>
>>> --
>>> Unsung Heroes of OLPC, interviewed live @ http://unleashkids.org !
>>>
>>
___
Server-devel mailing list
Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel

Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] Internet-in-a-Box endorsed by McDonald's Australia!

[Samuel Greenfeld]

Be careful what you say, especially with a corporation known to highly
protect its name with lawyers.

Usage of the same device is not necessarily an endorsement.

I know someone with Intel NUCs all over their house, but they run Windows
10 :)


On Sat, Mar 26, 2016 at 1:32 PM, Adam Holt  wrote:

> Anyway here's a strange but real vote of confidence, that the Intel NUC
> hardware we ended up using across so many schools worldwide, is
> interestingly the same that's used by McDonald's point-of-sale (cash
> register) devices in Australia:
>
> https://twitter.com/wizdude/status/675229262371270656
>
> PS we're very hopeful that Pine64.com and RPi3 will stabilize with 64-bit
> kernels & clean firmware for offline applications in 2016, such that Not
> Everyone has to spend $200++ on a resilient high-end school server at long
> last!
>
___
Server-devel mailing list
Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel

Re: [Server-devel] [UKids] Lightning kills underground Ethernet too; PoE wiring/voltages non-trivial!

[Samuel Greenfeld]

On Tue, Jan 12, 2016 at 4:55 AM, John Gilmore  wrote:

> The cheapest of those fiber-enabled switches still cost about US$300
> the last time I looked.  The GBICs cost about $50 to $100 at best.
> The fiber cable itself is finicky and ideally you would buy it from a
> supplier who will cut it to the right length and put the right
> connectors on it for you (because doing this in the field requires
> custom equipment, trained personnel, and is slightly hazardous with
> tiny bits of glass fiber that can get under your skin).  Fiber cables
> can't be bent as much as cat5 cables (or the glass fibers inside
> break) so you have to take some care installing them.  Unfortunately
> there are no standards for fiber connectors, or rather there are
> dozens, so you'd have to pick one connector type (e.g. "LC"
> connectors) and get the cable and the SFP that have those connectors.
> There are half a dozen 1000Base-something standards for fiber
> ethernet, too, for different kinds of fiber cables and different
> distances, so you have to specify which standard your SFP's will use.
> You may need a pair of cheap attenuators too, if your fiber run is
> short (to reduce the intensity of the light in the fiber).  Compared
> to just getting cat5e or cat6 cables and plugging them into a cheap
> and standard switch, fiber is much more complicated and expensive.
>

It depends on the port count and how managed it is.

Netgear has at least one semi-fancy switch (8 port PoE+2 port SFP) for
$150.  But being a PoE switch, it comes with a pretty hefty (24 or 48 Volt
IIRC) power supply.

SMC appears to have a similar switch without POE available for ~$110 on
Amazon.

I only have experience with the Netgear switch.  Third party GBICs can run
$25-$50 each depending on the manufacturer & source.



> > > Cables routed inside of walls/vents/etc. also often have to be one of
> a
> > > few special types for fire safety and other reasons.
>
> These are called "plenum rated".  Their special property is that when
> they burn (e.g. when the building catches fire), they don't release
> toxic gases that will hurt the people/kids who are breathing the air
> nearby.
>

I am aware of plenum rated; but I've also seen terms like "riser rated"
(not as strict as plenum?) and similar tossed about.

In all cases installation should be done in accordance with the local
building codes, if there is such a thing in the area.
___
Server-devel mailing list
Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel

Re: [Server-devel] [UKids] Lightning kills underground Ethernet too; PoE wiring/voltages non-trivial!

[Samuel Greenfeld]

If you are going to use any cable outdoors or where it may be exposed to
the elements, getting cable rated for the desired outdoor use may be as
important as its speed rating.  You don't want the cables getting water in
them, causing interesting shorts and ground currents.

Cables routed inside of walls/vents/etc. also often have to be one of a few
special types for fire safety and other reasons.

Note that these cables types are not as flexible as the cords running into
your computer, so make sure not to bend them too hard.


If you can afford it, it might be worth splurging for a few Ethernet
switches which support fiber connections.  That way there is no electrical
link on the data line between buildings.



On Mon, Jan 11, 2016 at 11:05 PM, Adam Holt  wrote:

> Just a quick digest below for microdeployments -- some summary excerpts
> for those who missed both interesting/longer discussions today:
>
>- Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) might seem like magic cure (when
>installing Wi-Fi Access Points across classrooms not having nearby
>electrical outlets) but PoE is tough to get installed properly, as Tim has
>discovered!
>- Burying Ethernet cabling in a shallow trench between nearby
>buildings seems rather popular "to the garage" (quite a number of personal
>experiences are documented online) however this does NOT eliminate the
>lightning problem.  What kind of trenching/equipment mitigates lightning
>risks and to what degree seems to be open for debate across different web
>sites (if you don't have El Chapo's tunneling team on your side, avoid
>these risks using underground fiber or directional wireless/repeaters
>instead ;)
>
>
> From: Anish Mangal 
> Date: Mon, Jan 11, 2016 at 10:32 PM
> Subject: Re: [XSCE] RE: [UKids] Ethernet Cable
> To: xsce-devel 
>
> Interesting insight Terry.
>
> FWIW, I did some rough testing of a homemade cantenna a couple of months
> ago. (Rough, because it was not a perfect Line of Sight)
>
> http://people.sugarlabs.org/anish/IMG_20150910_222141.jpg
>
> The measured gain over a omni 5dbm antennas was around 7-8 dbm, which
> would put the overall gain at about 12-13 dbm. Not bad for a tin can
> antenna made essentially from spare parts :)
>
> In theory, two of these could form a pretty stable link over a kilometre
> or so.
>
>
> -- Forwarded message --
> From: T Gillett 
> Date: Mon, Jan 11, 2016 at 10:29 PM
> Subject: Re: [XSCE] RE: [UKids] Ethernet Cable
> To: xsce-devel 
>
> Underground cabling doesn't add a lot of protection against lightning
> strike as George has related.
>
> One problem is that when a lightning strike occurs, there are large ground
> currents flowing from the point of the strike outwards.
>
> This produces voltage differences between different points on the ground -
> the further apart, the greater the voltage.
>
> If you stand at one point, you experience no problem. But if you straddle
> two points some distance apart, then you are in trouble.
>
> If you introduce a copper cable between two distant points, when a strike
> occurs you will see a large voltage between the end of that cable and local
> ground (to which the equipment is essentially connected). And your gas
> arrestors just try to tie it all together and so carry the current in the
> copper conductor.
>
> The voltages and currents produced in lightning strikes are truly awe
> inspiring.
>
> This is just one mechanism of failure that occurs. A lightning strike is
> really like a bomb going off. You can describe what happens in general
> terms, but the detail is extremely variable and difficult to predict with
> any certainty.
>
> Prevention is generally considered the best strategy.
>
> On Tue, Jan 12, 2016 at 1:18 PM, Adam Holt  wrote:
> On Mon, Jan 11, 2016 at 10:14 PM, T Gillett  wrote:
>
>> Long network cable runs are a magnet for lightning problems, particularly
>> if they are run between buildings.
>> And no amount of expensive protection equipment will save you from a
>> nearby strike.
>>
>> General guideline for lightning prone areas is to keep network cables
>> short as possible and within a single building.
>>
>> If you need to network to other buildings, consider a wireless technique.
>>
>
> Is shallow/quick trenching also viable?
> Or will rats/worms/frost destroy the cable quasi-annually?
>
> On Tue, Jan 12, 2016 at 1:08 PM, Anish Mangal  wrote:
>>
>>> fwiw, a simple google search reveals that these are prohibitively
>>> priced.
>>>
>>> http://www.blackbox.com/Store/Detail.aspx/Power-over-Ethernet-Surge-Protector-60-Volt/SP075A
>>>
>>> On Tue, Jan 12, 2016 at 8:36 AM, Anish Mangal  wrote:
>>>
 Perhaps this is slightly offtopic

 Talking to a school a few days ago up in the mountains, they had a
 lightning strike that 

Re: [Server-devel] Two (minimal) goals for a kernel for XO1.5 based upon fc22?

[Samuel Greenfeld]

Given I looked into this before with F22 Beta(*), I ran OLPC OS Builder
tonight, excluding nothing from all repositories, and let it loose.

There were a few more minor issues found with the build process.  But I
managed to build an image with the stock Fedora 4.x kernel, and primarily
F22 parts.

However the stock Fedora kernel does not have a hardcoded kernel command
line like OLPC kernels do, and trying to manually provide the command line
to boot a Fedora kernel still hung for me after OFW stated the ramdisk was
being loaded.

I may look into this a bit more before resorting back to OLPC's 3.10 kernel
and seeing what works with that.

(*) http://lists.sugarlabs.org/archive/sugar-devel/2015-April/050035.html

On Wed, May 27, 2015 at 6:28 PM, James Cameron qu...@laptop.org wrote:

 On Wed, May 27, 2015 at 06:31:28AM -0700, George Hunt wrote:
  If I set just the goals of getting keyboard input, and display output,
 what
  problems will I face trying to use defconfig_xo1.5 from [1]
 dev.laptop.org
  (x86-3.3 branch)?
 
  Does anyone have a config file that works on the XO1.5 on a Fedora
 release
  later than FC18 that I might springboard from?

 We used the olpc-3.10 branch to generate kernels for systems later
 than Fedora 18.

 --
 James Cameron
 http://quozl.linux.org.au/
 ___
 Devel mailing list
 de...@lists.laptop.org
 http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/devel

___
Server-devel mailing list
Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel

Re: [Server-devel] [UKids] Re: XOs cannot act as WiFi access points

[Samuel Greenfeld]

If I recall correctly, Android devices cannot connect to Ad-hoc networks
out-of-the-box.  There may be some third party utilities which allow
certain devices to do this with varying levels of success.

Instead, either one device is configured as an AP, or a newer-than-Adhoc
standard called WiFi Direct is used.

Android devices may also communicate amongst themselves using Bluetooth,
although creating mesh networks/Internet gateways again would require
third-party utilities.  One such utility (Open Garden) partnered with OLPC
for the XO Tablet (
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/one-laptop-per-child-partners-with-open-garden-to-grow-internet-everywhere-220497161.html
).

In general, generic Android to Android device communication was an unsolved
problem the last time I looked into this.


On Mon, Mar 16, 2015 at 10:42 PM, Adam Holt h...@laptop.org wrote:

 On Mon, Mar 16, 2015 at 10:36 PM, James Cameron qu...@laptop.org wrote:

 On Mon, Mar 16, 2015 at 09:30:30PM -0500, Jerry Vonau wrote:
  On March 16, 2015 at 9:23 PM James Cameron qu...@laptop.org wrote:
  
   There's no need to go as far as configuring as an access point when
   ad-hoc networking will work, with suitable configuration of the other
   laptops connecting to it.
 
  Has sugar addressed http://bugs.sugarlabs.org/ticket/3708?

 Why would you use Sugar?


 We'd love to keep some/any version of Sugar on the XO if possible, even if
 just so the librarian can putter.

 Important: how compatible is the XO's Ad-Hoc networking with generic
 Android tablets/phones and generic/vintage cheap laptops already out there
 in the world?  Any other low-to-medium complexity protocols we should be
 considering, for XO-1.5 and higher especially, that might plausibly sail
 with a few weeks of hacking?  (that is if a genuine WiFi hotspot brings
 more compatibility)

 Anyway: scalability's not a requirement (in this case!) as such community
 libraries are tiny, having a couple WiFi devices attached generally, rarely
 more.

 --
 Unsung Heroes of OLPC, interviewed live @ http://unleashkids.org !
 ---
 You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
 Unleash Kids group.
 To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an
 email to unleashkids+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
 For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

___
Server-devel mailing list
Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel

Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] Re: XS(CE) integration with other environments?

[Samuel Greenfeld]

No, you can't quite blame Martin for this one.

I won't go into the various people who've said it, but much of the hope
behind the XO-1, Sugar, and Schoolserver was that everyone would rally
around them as the superior solution.  Millions of XOs would be sold, and
everyone would develop Sugar applications.

In practice, this never happened.


XSCE in many ways is an improvement from the original schoolserver.  But
from what I have seen it still seems somewhat oriented towards
micro-deployments.  Or at least everyone loves talking about their
micro-deployments.

The question I am raising is if micro-deployments are enough.

A newspaper article locally republished here contained the point that
Organizations don’t die because they provide no value; they die because
they fail to provide enough value to enough people.  And although the
original source appears to be religious[*], if you substitute Judaism
with Sugar and Synagogues with Sugar Labs much of the article still
is true.

How do we get enough value into future versions of XSCE and Sugar?  How do
we convince deployments that they are worth using, and volunteers that they
are not wasting their time?

As much as technical details may be fun to argue about, I think we need to
determine the more fundamental answers.  This is more of an IAEP discussion
though than anything.

[*]
http://www.jta.org/2015/02/08/news-opinion/opinion/op-ed-are-voluntary-dues-enough-to-get-people-to-join-synagogues




On Tue, Mar 10, 2015 at 8:42 PM, Tony Anderson tony_ander...@usa.net
wrote:

 Hi,

 I can't speak to XSCE, but I have never understood the problems you cite.
 I think, try to be diplomatic, that there is problem of terminology. When
 the SLOBS talk about negotiating privatesly with a deployment, they
 apparently mean a national initiative (Uruguay, Peru, Rwanda, Australia,
 Paraguay). I think there are many of us who work with what is
 affectionately known  as micro-deployements or boutique deployments.

 In the latter context, I have never understood this problem. The Martin
 Langhoff model you describe fits the needs perfectly. Even if the school
 has a policy not to provide DHCP or whatever, the solution is to connect
 the schoolserver to that network as the WAN (and the WAN sees it as a
 device.). So far I have not run into a 'micro-deployment' where there is
 enough networking around to make that even a question. Naturally, it seems
 clear that if a deployment does not like the design of the schoolserver,
 they are free to adapt it to their needs or not use it. I don't see that we
 have any obligation to adapt to those needs (that was the idea, I thought,
 of Activity Central - to provide a way for deployments to obtain technical
 resources to adapt the community products to their needs).

 My own project is to provide a 1TB hard drive with all of the relevant
 software and content to set up a complete deployment (at one school). It is
 assumed that this deployment does not have regular access to the internet
 and needs to access that content from the school server. The deployment
 model is exactly as you describe.
 WIthin that constraint, the goal is to allow the deployment to prepare
 routers, XOs, and the schoolserver with support from someone familiar with
 computers but not necessarily with the command line. Some command line use
 is essential (I haven't found a way around) and the instructions assume
 that the installation is done from an XO (assuming a deployment has those).
 The devil is in the details, and these seem as endless as a visit to Hell.

 Tony



 On 03/11/2015 03:02 AM, Samuel Greenfeld wrote:

 You are taking my remarks a bit out of context, although it is hard for
 me to tiptoe around explaining things while trying not to insult anyone.

 From the schoolserver perspective, schoolservers as originally
 implemented were meant to be an all-in-one system.  They provide DHCP for
 the laptops, act as the Internet gateway, provide anti-theft  backup
 services, etc.

 Sugar  XOs have hardcoded logic expecting the schoolserver to be called
 schoolserver.  Schoolservers are also expected to have certain hardcoded
 IP addresses in case an XO runs into anti-theft problems, etc.

 But in larger networks/school districts, I have seen schoolservers
 installed into networks where they are not allowed to control DHCP.  They
 often were not the Internet gateway, and local policies might not allow
 them to be called schoolserver.  Occasionally the schoolserver isn't even
 in the same building as the XOs, and may be on a completely different
 subnet.

 This is a whole concept I once called Sugar for the Enterprise {school
 district} but I don't know if that is worth pursuing at this time.


 XSCE is interesting in that it supports things like Internet-in-a-box
 which are not XO specific.  And from what I've seen, the XSCE community may
 in some ways be more active than the Sugar community.

 But it is unclear to me what features the XSCE community

Re: [Server-devel] XS(CE) integration with other environments?

[Samuel Greenfeld]

You are taking my remarks a bit out of context, although it is hard for me
to tiptoe around explaining things while trying not to insult anyone.

From the schoolserver perspective, schoolservers as originally implemented
were meant to be an all-in-one system.  They provide DHCP for the laptops,
act as the Internet gateway, provide anti-theft  backup services, etc.

Sugar  XOs have hardcoded logic expecting the schoolserver to be called
schoolserver.  Schoolservers are also expected to have certain hardcoded
IP addresses in case an XO runs into anti-theft problems, etc.

But in larger networks/school districts, I have seen schoolservers
installed into networks where they are not allowed to control DHCP.  They
often were not the Internet gateway, and local policies might not allow
them to be called schoolserver.  Occasionally the schoolserver isn't even
in the same building as the XOs, and may be on a completely different
subnet.

This is a whole concept I once called Sugar for the Enterprise {school
district} but I don't know if that is worth pursuing at this time.


XSCE is interesting in that it supports things like Internet-in-a-box which
are not XO specific.  And from what I've seen, the XSCE community may in
some ways be more active than the Sugar community.

But it is unclear to me what features the XSCE community is implementing to
support deployments other than those they are directly involved with, or
what the feedback loop is there.


On Tue, Mar 10, 2015 at 2:16 PM, Adam Holt h...@laptop.org wrote:

 Can someone further explain Sam Greenfeld's suggestion below from
 http://lists.sugarlabs.org/archive/iaep/2015-March/017279.html ?  No
 obligation, but if there are common requests missing from XSCE  similar,
 let's understand them:

 The XO/Sugar/Schoolserver combination was originally promoted as a
 complete solution which could be used independently without anything else.

 But in practice, there is a need to integrate with other solutions.  Sugar
 may be a great educational environment but there is a need to tie it into
 existing schools and curriculums.  OLPC had educators on staff looking into
 this problem, but I don't think we have that luxury.

 As an example, the same kludge hacks kept being made over and over to
 integrate Sugar  XOs into environments where the schoolserver might not
 control the network, proxy authentication/802.1x networks were used, etc.
 For some reason this functionality never made it upstream.

___
Server-devel mailing list
Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel

Re: [Server-devel] Fixing the Shellshocker bash exploit on the old FC9 based XS 0.6

[Samuel Greenfeld]

XS 0.7 school servers are based on CentOS 6.x, which still gets security
updates.

So you can log onto your XS 0.7 schoolserver as root, and yum update bash
to get the latest version.

Note that there is talk that the first fix may not be complete, so you may
have to update bash twice.


On Thu, Sep 25, 2014 at 7:04 PM, Anna ascho...@gmail.com wrote:

 The patch that fixes the shellshocker exploit isn't, from the best that
 I can tell, going to be released for Fedora versions older than 17.

 I just patched my XS 0.6 with this:

 curl -k https://shellshocker.net/fixbash | sh

 You'll need to be able to compile, I'm not sure of any other specific
 requirements since I installed the Development Tools group on this box a
 long time ago.

 You can find more information here:  https://shellshocker.net/

 Anna Schoolfield
 Birmingham

 ___
 Server-devel mailing list
 Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
 http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel


___
Server-devel mailing list
Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel

Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] CentOS 7.0 Released, 3 years after CentOS 6.0

[Samuel Greenfeld]

It probably will not be that hard for someone familiar with OLPC OS builder
to port it to CentOS 7 and make a release.  CentOS 7 is a close cousin of
Fedora builds which already have been used for XO releases.

Possibly a more interesting question is which version of Sugar will make it
into EPEL[*] for RHEL/CentOS 7.  EPEL 6 still has Sugar 0.88.

[*] https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/EPEL



On Sun, Jul 20, 2014 at 4:49 PM, Adam Holt h...@laptop.org wrote:

 On Sun, Jul 20, 2014 at 4:41 PM, Sameer Verma sve...@sfsu.edu wrote:

 On Jul 20, 2014 11:57 AM, Anish Mangal anis...@umich.edu wrote:
  When I had checked the release notes a few days ago, there wasn't any
 ARM support, at least officially.

 Keeping that constraint in mind, it may still be worthwhile to try out
 the build process on CentOS 7. I didn't get much success on CentOS 6.X.

 It may also be worthwhile to explore the portability of the
 ansible-driven install process on Debian for ARM.

 FWIW project leader's release announcement (at planet.centos.org etc) say:

 Coming Soon. We are currently working to extend the portfolio of content
 we deliver for a major release. In the past its only been iso media and
 install tree’s, but with CentOS-7 we are also going to deliver...As a part
 of the expanded Core efforts, we are also going to attempt to deliver a
 CentOS-7 release for 32bit x86, ARM and PowerPC in the coming months.

 Similarly he wrote in March:

ARM32 build effort on CentOS-7beta ( and ongoing ). We’ll see you on
 the Arm-Dev mailing list
http://karan.org/blog/2014/03/26/the-arm-plan-for-centos/

___
Server-devel mailing list
Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel

Re: [Server-devel] Install python applications in a virtualenv without, system wide packages using wheel binary package format

[Samuel Greenfeld]

From the end user's perspective, what virtualenv does is rewrite the Python
path  environment so a series of custom-created directories are always
tried first.  It then optionally looks at the system python path for other
modules.

The one time I had to use virtualenv it did not solve problems with
libraries that needed to compile machine-specific code.  It might be
possible to use pip with prepackaged binaries, but the project I was using
it with did not offer the option.


Packaging admittedly is a bit over my head.  But the more XSCE deviates
from being directly packagable in a Linux Distribution, the more work it is
going to take to maintain this path.

I think it would be worthwhile to look at the Linux Terminal Server Project
(www.ltsp.org) and see how they packaged their system so that it was
accepted into several distributions.  The LTSP project interfaces with a
lot of components (DHCP, X Server, etc.) and has been around since 1999, so
they have experience doing the kind of tweaks XSCE also needs to make.





On Mon, Dec 16, 2013 at 1:53 PM, Miguel González 
migonzal...@activitycentral.com wrote:

 On Mon, Dec 16, 2013 at 6:16 PM, Braddock bradd...@braddock.com wrote:
  -BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-
  Hash: SHA1
 
  If this can be made to work it would certainly make things easier for
  us at Internet-in-a-Box.
 

 Quick test in XO-4 using the following script, it seems it works perfectly:

 mkdir iiab
 cd iiab
 virtualenv venv
 source venv/bin/activate
 pip install --use-wheel --no-index
 --find-links=http://xsce.activitycentral.com/wheelhouse/
 'backports.lzma=0.0.2' 'SQLAlchemy=0.8.2' 'markupsafe'
 pip install Internet-in-a-Box
 iiab-server
 ...
 werkzeug -- 192.168.0.3 - - [16/Dec/2013 18:40:19] GET /iiab/ HTTP/1.1
 200 -

 I'm attaching the full log.

 I plan to do more testing. I think we could use this method for latter
 XSCE versions.

  Currently we have to build and distribute Fedora rpms just for XSCE,
  including for a couple third party packages which have binary
  dependencies and have proven a pain.
 
  We already maintain pipy pip packages and use them for all of our own
  IIAB appliance deployments.
 
  However, a virtualenv is not really meant as a distribution format and
  has some downsides.  You will have to install the pip on every
  architecture you support, and I do not believe they are relocatable so
  they have to be in the same absolute path, and they may have system
  library dependencies which won't automatically be resolved like with
 RPMs.
 
  Given the fragility and dependency hell of the RPM method though, I
  think it is worthwhile to switch to virtualenvs.
 
  - -braddock
 
 
  From: Miguel Gonz?lez migonzal...@activitycentral.com
 
  I want to share with you my proposed approach to install Python
  web application in XSCE.
 
 
  The idea is to install them into a Python virtual environment
  isolated from the system wide packages installed.
 
  -BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-
  Version: GnuPG v1.4.11 (GNU/Linux)
  Comment: Using GnuPG with Thunderbird - http://www.enigmail.net/
 
  iQEcBAEBAgAGBQJSrzWJAAoJEHWLR/DQzlZu2i8H/iuxZPLPnu60JzE4UiqpDo3v
  sPxqJgOjSA/lNj/icpl1EY0AaPUgcUWIOnmF2loYSMwR6AfzUbLH35OuPfXVZ8cY
  +3eSbT+BnqiQiV+vpsVJQ7NFYipICetldzN4jlhGLgFpVCRgwvDaQCLrgw0MY67y
  6xmkI+e4g01i4q4DLA8+jEtlDGeVYWdTmcugka4a/w9UDKIBIfmZ2LCsZq/XoZxB
  p895BjYHWk/RSYGC3GC8o1pmXksUIMzf211Lkw3aunXD5G9+tW1ozSktcMEDxAlr
  DAXDduyOemEzLa5o1KdMsMbq9ENpBegY3ekejL9ftaN1uyebXVXDD/t32roAVD8=
  =9YGH
  -END PGP SIGNATURE-
  ___
  Server-devel mailing list
  Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
  http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel

 --
 Miguel González
 Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com

 ___
 Server-devel mailing list
 Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
 http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel


___
Server-devel mailing list
Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel

Re: [Server-devel] Can XSCE benefit a tablet deployment?

[Samuel Greenfeld]

On Mon, Dec 2, 2013 at 9:42 AM, George Hunt georgejh...@gmail.com wrote:

 This is a branch off of the thread Does XSCE need a new home?, and
 stimulated by James Cameron's comments quoted where  in part:

 The XO tablet is rebranded Vivitar. On Amazon, besides the XO Tablet,
 there is also a lower cost/capability tablet introduced as a Camelo.  I
 purchased one. Looked at it's End User Licensing Agreement. Under the 
 DCMA(Digital Millennium Copyright Act), it is illegal to reverse engineer or
 repurpose hardware that has proprietary material, without the express
 consent of the manufacturer.  I contacted the Vivitar customer support
 for the Camelo, and asked that they tell me how to unlock the boot loader
 -- that I liked their proprietary material, but I preferred to load other
 software which was not covered by their license. They refused.


You asked the wrong question, and are making a few incorrect assumptions.

The XO Tablet EULA states that its software contains open source components
which require source code distribution.  If you own a XO Tablet and ask for
this you may get much of what you need to get the Android kernel up and
running.

Prior to leaving OLPC I did some of the source code review in anticipation
of such requests.

My impression from OLPC-SF however, is that no one really knows how to or
is interested in doing the low-level development work required to take the
open source components from that point to a working OS.

I would not know if any AOSP-related projects have tried to work with
Vivitar tablets.

---
SJG
___
Server-devel mailing list
Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel

Re: [Server-devel] Feedback: Problems with XSCE

[Samuel Greenfeld]

Apart from on a flat network, we are not going to solve the problem of
working on corporate-style school networks using Avahi.  That presumes
you can get multicast support working across the desired region.

The equivalent for larger networks would be DNS service records, presuming
you can get permission to create them.

Without going into whom is doing what, I personally know that Sugar is
being used:

   - On networks where DHCP is controlled by centralized IT.
   - Where the schoolserver's DNS name has to match an existing naming
   scheme.
   - Where there is no DNS hierarchy, so computers at every school are
   named like computer-xyz.example.edu
   - Where various forms of wireless authentication (PSK, 802.11x, etc.)
   are required for wireless access, and the students are not supposed to know
   the password.

   - Where the schoolserver is required to be in the School District's
   central datacenter.
   - Where a single schoolserver has to support more than one school.
   - Where a single network IP address range is used by multiple schools
   spaced several miles apart.

Some might think that these are insane network setups.  But when you get
into larger organizations things like this become the norm.

Teaching Sugar to use these sorts of resources instead of a hardcoded name
should not be that hard.  The catch is there are a lot of historical places
which independently have hardcoded this name.

I may toss out some design proposals on Sugar-devel later this weekend to
address some of these.  I think the basics should be simple enough to be
GCI tasks.


On Fri, Nov 29, 2013 at 7:48 AM, Jerry Vonau jvo...@shaw.ca wrote:

 I agree that deployment on preexisting networks has not really been given
 any attention given the long standing issues that have been ticketed in the
 past[1][2]. I like the idea of using avahi to advertise the
 schoolserver's services offered, just need to address the sugar
 side[3][4]. The changes would entail both a change to the server side and
 the sugar client side, that is outside of the scope of just schoolserver
 and is part of sugar-land.

 I don't think the documentation of the XSCE is any better or worse than
 what is provided for the XS-0.7 but there is always room for improvement.

 Jerry


 1. http://dev.laptop.org/ticket/11775
 2. http://dev.laptop.org/ticket/12156
 3. http://dev.laptop.org/ticket/8499
 4. http://bugs.sugarlabs.org/ticket/1976

 - Original Message -
 From: Samuel Greenfeld sam...@greenfeld.org
 To: James Cameron qu...@laptop.org, Anish Mangal 
 an...@activitycentral.com, server-devel server-devel@lists.laptop.org
 Sent: Friday, 29 November, 2013 4:10:03 AM
 Subject: Re: [Server-devel] Feedback: Problems with XSCE






 I think you need to be careful how you phrase that -- you just half
 implied that all laptop.org hosting is going away. There has been a fair
 amount of fear that resources may suddenly disappear, and I have been
 concerned about fragmentation where hosting of resources ends up all over
 the place.


 If there is a perceived need to migrate resources then that should be made
 clear, as others have already offered potential alternative hosting. But
 there needs to be coordination.


 Focusing on the Deployment side, I would tend to agree with John's
 comments as well.

 Both Sugar and the Schoolserver have been historically focused on being
 their own ecosystem. This has never changed, yet Sugar and the XS are often
 offered for use where existing DHCP, DNS, and other services already exist.


 Due to local policies, you may not be allowed to name your schoolserver
 schoolserver. You may have to support 802.11x network authentication,
 etc. It is possible to kludge these but the solutions are not elegant.


 If the Sugar and XSCE communities feel that the enterprise/first-world
 use case is a desired scenario where Sugar, IIAB, and/or Moodle may only be
 a part of a school's network instead of the primary role, then this
 specifically needs to be targeted.

 ---

 SJG





 On Fri, Nov 29, 2013 at 3:33 AM, James Cameron  qu...@laptop.org  wrote:


 I agree with John. Every point in his documentation section should be
 handled. Especially the point about wiki.laptop.org , which has so
 many distracting links on the navigation bar that we are all used to,
 but which new people become lost in.

 With regard to forums, the type that Google Groups has where they can
 also be received in mail may suffice.



 On Fri, Nov 29, 2013 at 11:44:33AM +0530, Anish Mangal wrote:
  Hi,
 
  I would like to share this blog post from John Ellis with the XSCE
 community:
  John is a high school student who is trying to setup XSCE in his
 class/school
  under the supervision of his teacher Jeff Elkner.
 
  http://johnmichaelffs.blogspot.in/2013/11/problems-with-xsce.html
 
  Some of the stuff he points out certainly makes a lot of sense to me, I
 think
  the core underling message is to make XSCE more approachable to the end
 user

Re: [Server-devel] Does XSCE need a new Home?

[Samuel Greenfeld]

 server clone piggy
 backing on the Association's message and brand. The question becomes,
 will the Association endorse XSCE as a successor or upstream to
 OLPC-XS or will it continue to live in the bowels of the wiki.

 Going it alone. This would be pretty straight forward. Getting a cheap
 VM somewhere or piggybacking on a larger project is possiable.
 Although it can be a lot of work and mean jumping though hops.  The
 questions becomes, do XSCE have the ability to thrive on it's own.
 There are about a dozen similar projects floating around in various
 states of completaion.

 Finally, there is partnering with someone with aligned goals such as
 Sugar Labs, unleash kids, or Activity Central.

 Whenever I think of the relationship between XSCE and AC, I think of a
 conversation I had years ago with Greg DeKoenigsberg (
 https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Gdk/Experience ) about the relationship
 between Fedora and Redhat. He considered Fedora's relationship to
 Redhat it's greatest strength and its greatest weakness. The financial
 support and developer resources were valuable... but there were
 strings attached.

 We would be happy to host XSCE site on the AC infrastructure. We could
 handle it the same way we do the XSCE build VM.
 http://xsce.activitycentral.com/ is an independent VM with root access
 granted to community Sysadmins. DavidR, our web and communications guy
 could assist in setting up and migrating the site.


  George
 
 
  On Fri, Nov 29, 2013 at 5:10 AM, Samuel Greenfeld sam...@greenfeld.org
 
  wrote:
 
  I think you need to be careful how you phrase that -- you just half
  implied that all laptop.org hosting is going away.  There has been a
 fair
  amount of fear that resources may suddenly disappear, and I have been
  concerned about fragmentation where hosting of resources ends up all
 over
  the place.
 
  If there is a perceived need to migrate resources then that should be
 made
  clear, as others have already offered potential alternative hosting.
  But
  there needs to be coordination.
 
 
  Focusing on the Deployment side, I would tend to agree with John's
  comments as well.
 
  Both Sugar and the Schoolserver have been historically focused on being
  their own ecosystem.  This has never changed, yet Sugar and the XS are
 often
  offered for use where existing DHCP, DNS, and other services already
 exist.
 
  Due to local policies, you may not be allowed to name your schoolserver
  schoolserver.  You may have to support 802.11x network
 authentication,
  etc.  It is possible to kludge these but the solutions are not elegant.
 
  If the Sugar and XSCE communities feel that the
 enterprise/first-world
  use case is a desired scenario where Sugar, IIAB, and/or Moodle may
 only be
  a part of a school's network instead of the primary role, then this
  specifically needs to be targeted.
 
  ---
  SJG
 
 
 
  On Fri, Nov 29, 2013 at 3:33 AM, James Cameron qu...@laptop.org
 wrote:
 
  I agree with John.  Every point in his documentation section should be
  handled.  Especially the point about wiki.laptop.org, which has so
  many distracting links on the navigation bar that we are all used to,
  but which new people become lost in.
 
  With regard to forums, the type that Google Groups has where they can
  also be received in mail may suffice.
 
  On Fri, Nov 29, 2013 at 11:44:33AM +0530, Anish Mangal wrote:
   Hi,
  
   I would like to share this blog post from John Ellis with the XSCE
   community:
   John is a high school student who is trying to setup XSCE in his
   class/school
   under the supervision of his teacher Jeff Elkner.
  
   http://johnmichaelffs.blogspot.in/2013/11/problems-with-xsce.html
  
   Some of the stuff he points out certainly makes a lot of sense to
 me, I
   think
   the core underling message is to make XSCE more approachable to the
 end
   user
   and the advanced end-user/deployer. He has gone to some lengths to
   point out
   specific aspects which could be improved.
  
   As we think about the possibilities for XSCE-0.6, I would like to
   further the
   discussion along these topics here and/or on IRC. I think the
 project
   could do
   well listening to end users' needs for the 0.6 cycle, especially
 that
   we now
   seem to have our house in order codewise thanks to the terrific
 work by
   all the
   software hackers here :-)
  
   Thoughts?
  
   Cheers,
   Anish
  
  
  
 
   ___
   Server-devel mailing list
   Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
   http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
 
 
  --
  James Cameron
  http://quozl.linux.org.au/
  ___
  Server-devel mailing list
  Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
  http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
 
 
 
  ___
  Server-devel mailing list
  Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
  http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel

Re: [Server-devel] [XSCE] Fwd: [support-gang] XO tablet can not connect to XSCE server

[Samuel Greenfeld]

Two comments on this:

   1. It is possible that Android is looking for the DNS search path
   provided by DHCP that tells a client what suffixes to try.  Looking at the
   git repository the XSCE DHCP server may not currently supply this.

   I will look into this a bit when I get the chance.  The fix if necessary
   would be trivial.

   2. https://github.com/XSCE/xsce/blob/master/vars/default_vars.yml seems
   to imply that the default domain suffix is .local

   That is a definite potential bug.  While .local is reserved for local
   use, multicast DNS clients effectively have taken over this domain to the
   point that older networks which have .local DNS entries have run into a lot
   of problems.

   A network I used to use was like this so I've seen random failures to
   resolve things firsthand.

   See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.local for more information, although I
   do not know of an alternative good practice besides leasing a public DNS
   domain name that you know will never be used.




On Sat, Nov 9, 2013 at 6:45 PM, Anna ascho...@gmail.com wrote:

 If I'm having trouble with connectivity on a client, I'll try to go to
 http://172.18.96.1 in the Browse Activity and see if it resolves.  It
 usually does, even if http://schoolserver doesn't because something's
 borked up.  Here's the ifconfig of an ethernet wifi dongle connected to an
 AP:

 eth1: flags=4163UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST  mtu 1500
 inet 172.18.96.1  netmask 255.255.224.0  broadcast 172.18.127.255
 inet6 fe80::21c:49ff:fe01:427  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x20link
 ether 00:1c:49:01:04:27  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
 RX packets 4  bytes 649 (649.0 B)
 RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
 TX packets 0  bytes 6549 (6.3 KiB)
 TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

 I booted up an XSCE I had been testing with recently and an XO-1 client to
 test with.  Yep, http://schoolserver and http://schoolserver.localresolved 
 from the client.
 http://172.18.96.1 goes to the portal page, too, of course.

 Then I physically unplugged my regular AP so the XSCE wouldn't have any
 internet.  And http://schoolserver and http://schoolserver.local resolved
 on the XO-1 client.  Wanted to just make sure that was the case.

 But what about an Android tablet?  I barged into Tyler's office and pried
 the Kindle Fire out of his hands (literally, he was playing Angry Birds),
 connected the Fire's wifi to the XSCE, and it got 172.18.100.208.  Opened
 the Fire's browser and tried to go to http://schoolserver.  Hmm, page not
 found.  Then tried http://schoolserver.local.  And that worked!  It also
 accesses the Moodle login page at
 http://schoolserver.local/moodle/login/index.php.

 So there appears to be something with the Android browser that doesn't
 want to resolve http://schoolserver.  So as Curt suggested, try it with
 http://schoolserver.local and if that doesn't work, http://172.18.96.1.

 Anna



 On Sat, Nov 9, 2013 at 4:17 PM, Seth Woodworth s...@sethish.com wrote:

 I am pretty sure that 172.18.96.0 is the IP address assigned to the
 network, and not to any particular computer.
 If the network mask is 255.255.255.0 then the .0 address will never point
 to a computer or service.

 If the network mask is anything else, then I don't know what I'm talking
 about.


 On Sat, Nov 9, 2013 at 3:39 PM, Curt Thompson curtathomp...@gmail.comwrote:

  Just making sure.. have you also tried 172.18.96.1 and/or
 http://schoolserver.local ?


 On 11/9/2013 12:31 AM, Adam Holt wrote:

 From: Nathan C. Riddle nathanr...@charter.net
 Date: Sat, Nov 9, 2013 at 3:18 AM
 Subject: [support-gang] XO tablet can not connect to XSCE server
 To: Gang support-g...@laptop.org

 The XO tablet can not reach XSCE server.  Unregistered XO laptop does
 reach XSCE server (http://schoolserver or 172.18.96.0).
 The XO tablet WiFi connects and receives IP address (172.18.100.240)
 from the schoolserver using its browse or Chrome.
 Error message that applies suggest can not find DNS, i.e, can not use
 local lookup.  The XSCE is not connected to internet.

 This seems to be a restriction on the XO tablet, so this may not be an
 appropriate question to ask here.

 Was hoping that  XO tablet(s) could work in MOODLE with created login
 account (which works with PC laptop and presumedly with ipad).

 Nathan Riddle
 ___
 support-gang mailing list
 support-g...@lists.laptop.org
 http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/support-gang


 --
 Unsung Heroes of OLPC, interviewed live @ http://unleashkids.org !





___
Server-devel mailing list
Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel

Re: [Server-devel] aliases for hacking on our XSCE school server

[Samuel Greenfeld]

I know that XSCE currently does some customizations, but personally I would
prefer to see the normal installation process not modify shell aliases or
prompts unless explicitly told to.

These are more of a user preference than anything necessary for XSCE to
function. XSCE eventually should not act or install as if it is the sole
role for a computer even if that is the most common use case.

---
SJG
On Oct 27, 2013 10:59 AM, George Hunt georgejh...@gmail.com wrote:

 I recently pushed an xs profile to github that will start fine tuning the
 working environment on the XSCE Now I'm thinking that I should add and
 collect some functions and aliases which make working with ansible
 playbooks and github, easier, and require fewer keystrokes.

 So far I've thought of:
 runal = runansible $1 -- runansible-playbook with verbose diagnostic ouput
 to $1 logfile.
 gc $1 $2= git clone github.com/$1/xsce.git --depth=10 $2 -- for quickly
 getting our own testing branch down to a unit under test
 pullum = git checkout master;git pull upstream master ( might need to test
 whether the first command succeeds before executing the second)
 pushob = git push origin $1(branch)

 The following aliases are currently available - though not collected into
 one place in the profile
 sr = systemctl restart $1
 st = systemctl status $1
 vlm = less /var/log/messages
 du1 = du --max-depth=1 .
 psg = ps -e|grep $1

 I'm willing to collect everyone's ideas, test them, and update the system
 profile.

 Send me your suggestions.

 ___
 Server-devel mailing list
 Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
 http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel


___
Server-devel mailing list
Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel

Re: [Server-devel] Squid caching on the XSCE AND AP's

[Samuel Greenfeld]

Unless there are clients that are going though the router but are not going
through the schoolserver, I think this risks more harm than good.

Going back to the microprocessor analogy, the Level 2 cache usually is much
larger than the Level 1 cache, and only slightly slower.  Most community
routers using USB sticks will be much slower than a schoolserver, and will
not have the RAM to cache anywhere close to the same number of files in
memory as the schoolserver, or the storage space of a hard drive.




On Sat, Sep 14, 2013 at 9:31 PM, Anish Mangal an...@activitycentral.comwrote:

 Hi,

 I think it was Tony (please correct me if I'm wrong) who pointed out that
 network capacity in a School Server setup can be a hindrance (esp
 considering 200 kids, and 20 kids per AP).

 This weekend, I attempted to run squid on a TP-Link router. I used a USB
 drive as a storage medium, and flashed the router with the OpenWRT SECN
 firmware. The initial results seem quite promising, and I'm going to
 explore this a bit further.

 If anyone's interested in hacking on this or has thoughts/feedback, please
 chip in :-)

 Drawing a microprocessor analogy, having a L1 cache on the XSCE and an
 L2 cache on the AP, and some smart fine tuning, we could potentially make
 much more efficient use of the network capacity we have.

 This can be REALLY advantageous if someone is planning to use the SECN
 firmware in the mesh mode (no ethernet cables whatsoever). The AP's
 wouldn't have to talk to each other as often, if they all have small cache
 memories embedded in them.

 Cheers,
 Anish

 ___
 Server-devel mailing list
 Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
 http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel


___
Server-devel mailing list
Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel

Re: [Server-devel] Squid caching on the XSCE AND AP's

[Samuel Greenfeld]

I think you need to explain your proposed use case better.

If the APs are all attached to the schoolserver via Ethernet there really
is no reason for them to do any caching.  Having additional caches for this
would only complicate things and increase the number of potential points of
failure.

If these APs are effectively being small XS-relays (DHCP, Internet, etc.)
for remote sites directly connected to the Internet and the main XS only
provides leases/Moodle/etc. from a centralized site, caching on the APs
could help.

If you were running APs in a mesh mode I could see this potentially helping
or hurting.  If every AP along the way cached data those closest to the XS
could be thrashing their caches a lot.



On Sat, Sep 14, 2013 at 10:17 PM, Anish Mangal an...@activitycentral.comwrote:


 On Sat, Sep 14, 2013 at 7:08 PM, Samuel Greenfeld greenf...@laptop.orgwrote:

 Unless there are clients that are going though the router but are not
 going through the schoolserver, I think this risks more harm than good.


 The reason this can be useful is not for internet browsing, but for the
 tons of GB of content (videos, maps, wikipedia) stored locally on the XS.


 Going back to the microprocessor analogy, the Level 2 cache usually is
 much larger than the Level 1 cache, and only slightly slower.  Most
 community routers using USB sticks will be much slower than a schoolserver,
 and will not have the RAM to cache anywhere close to the same number of
 files in memory as the schoolserver, or the storage space of a hard drive.



 The analogy doesn't run very well, as the AP is serving 20 users while the
 XS could be serving 200 or more.




 On Sat, Sep 14, 2013 at 9:31 PM, Anish Mangal 
 an...@activitycentral.comwrote:

 Hi,

 I think it was Tony (please correct me if I'm wrong) who pointed out
 that network capacity in a School Server setup can be a hindrance (esp
 considering 200 kids, and 20 kids per AP).

 This weekend, I attempted to run squid on a TP-Link router. I used a USB
 drive as a storage medium, and flashed the router with the OpenWRT SECN
 firmware. The initial results seem quite promising, and I'm going to
 explore this a bit further.

 If anyone's interested in hacking on this or has thoughts/feedback,
 please chip in :-)

 Drawing a microprocessor analogy, having a L1 cache on the XSCE and an
 L2 cache on the AP, and some smart fine tuning, we could potentially make
 much more efficient use of the network capacity we have.

 This can be REALLY advantageous if someone is planning to use the SECN
 firmware in the mesh mode (no ethernet cables whatsoever). The AP's
 wouldn't have to talk to each other as often, if they all have small cache
 memories embedded in them.

 Cheers,
 Anish

 ___
 Server-devel mailing list
 Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
 http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel




___
Server-devel mailing list
Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel

Re: [Server-devel] XS 0.7 CentOS boot hang

[Samuel Greenfeld]

Given the XS-0.7 does not run X Windows by default, this likely is not the
problem.

You can try disabling the pseudo-graphical progress bar to get more
information.

On a system that hangs, choose to edit the default boot option before the
countdown timer finishes.  Delete the rhgb (Red Hat Graphical Boot) and
quiet parameters, and then tell Grub to let the system boot to see if the
hang point becomes obvious.



On Tue, Aug 20, 2013 at 2:36 AM, David Leeming da...@leeming-consulting.com
 wrote:

  Hi,

 ** **

 Apologies if this has been covered before.

 ** **

 I noticed that sometimes an XS 0.7 installation will hang in the boot
 screen (the advancing white shaded bar bottom of screen). I have not been
 able to fix this other than by reinstalling. I read somewhere there is a
 bug involving X11 and the fix is to boot in single user mode and delete
 xorg.conf. But tried that and it still hung but with scrolling boot text on
 the screen.

 ** **

 *David Leeming*

 Solomon Islands Rural Link
 P.O.Box 652 Honiara, Solomon Islands

 +677 7476396 (m) +677 24419 (h)

 www.rurallink.com.sb

 ** **

 ___
 Server-devel mailing list
 Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
 http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel


___
Server-devel mailing list
Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel

Re: [Server-devel] Dealing with the disruptions caused by XSCE.

[Samuel Greenfeld]

Unfortunately you chose a week to ask this question when many people are on
vacation.

I will give my personal, non-official response; however as it is wider
issue, server-devel@ likely is not the list this should be discussed on.

Recently there have been a number of cases where volunteers along with
other companies/parties have either been confused for or interfered with
official representatives of OLPC.  This is causing problems with support 
sales where the OLPC Association is trying to send one message, and the
other party, no matter what their intent, is sending another.

As a result, the mandate has come that we need to be extra clear when
volunteers and other parties are doing something versus someone actually
hired or contracted by OLPC professionally.  This is why you might have
noticed templates being added to the XSCE Wiki articles noting that it was
not something OLPC supported or created.

That being said; I welcome a discussion on how to do this.  Although it may
be desired to move purely volunteer-run items into their own area,
personally I do not think we should splinter hosting all over the place.




On Thu, Aug 8, 2013 at 3:47 AM, David Farning
dfarn...@activitycentral.comwrote:

 Over the past couple of days there have been some threads about XSCE
 and OLPC-XS which raised some interesting questions.

 The primary impetus for the project was that several of the original
 participants had struggled to deploy and adapt OLPC-XS to meet a
 specific deployments needs. The original School Server design was
 sound. We felt deployments struggled unnecessary with the monolithic
 implementation. The project could improve from a more modular
 implementation. The potential rewards or a rewrite were significant.

 However, the risks were just as significant:
 1. The project could fail for any of a million reasons. That would
 mean wasted work and pilots left with an unsupported server.
 2. The project could alienated current stakeholders. Several people
 and organizations had become experts at setting up and maintain XS
 systems. A different system would have a negative impact on the value
 of their expertise.
 3. The project would reduce the value of past investments in XS.
 Several deployments had invested significant amounts of time and money
 on their current systems. A different system would have a negative
 impact on the value of their investment.

 As the impact on of XSCE increases, the ecosystem is adapting to these
 changes by adapting, ignoring, or pushing back. These are all rational
 adaptations. Building credibility is an iterative process. The
 responsibility for building the credibility is squarely on the
 shoulders of XSCE to _prove_ that the rewards of working with the
 project are greater than the risks.

 This is all pretty straightforward stuff as described by Disruptive
 Innovation theory.

 This disruption is particularly evident in the relationship between
 XSCE and OLPC. Long term, XSCE _might_ be valuable to OLPC in their
 role as The world food bank of education. Short term. in their roles
 as a sustainable business, it is a pain in the ass. What do you say to
 a customer when they ask for features which are still in a unreleased
 version of a community project... which just showed up on their wiki
 one day.

 Now that XSCE exists and is a viable project, OLPC will have to make a
 decision; take a wait and see approach, compete with it, or
 collaborate with it.

 A first question is should the XSCE wiki remain in a username space at
 wiki.laptop.org ? Should it move to another home? Should it move to
 http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XSCE ? or should we wait 3 months and
 revisit the issue?

 --
 David Farning
 Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com
 ___
 Server-devel mailing list
 Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
 http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel

___
Server-devel mailing list
Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel

Re: [Server-devel] Server-devel Digest, Vol 76, Issue 3

[Samuel Greenfeld]

There is a need for some continued maintenance of the XS: there are known
bugs, and security patches could be required from time to time.

Just because something is not unstable does not mean that development has
to completely cease.

It is not clear to me though who will continue to do this work.



On Mon, Aug 5, 2013 at 9:34 PM, Tony Anderson t...@olenepal.org wrote:

 Hi,

 I think there is a real misunderstanding of the school server software.

 Daniel Drake updated XS-0.6 to a CentOS 6.2 base because the Fedora base
 was obsolete. There is no need for continued development of XS at this
 time, it is functional and stable.

 XSCE appears to be a substantially different development aimed, at several
 objectives:
 enable XO hardware to act as the school server
 support the ARM platform
 provide gui support for basic system administration
 modularize server functions so that deployments can pick and choose
 which capabilities to include.

 I don't think we need or want an unstable XS. The existence of CentOS
 points to the difference between server and client software development
 models.

 Tony




 On 08/05/2013 06:00 PM, 
 server-devel-request@lists.**laptop.orgserver-devel-requ...@lists.laptop.orgwrote:

 I don't see any unstable version of xs-, and I don't see any stable
 version of XSCE.  I'd like to see both.  The former would indicate
 ongoing development of xs- and the latter would indicate finalisation
 of XSCE.


 __**_
 Server-devel mailing list
 Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
 http://lists.laptop.org/**listinfo/server-develhttp://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel

___
Server-devel mailing list
Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel

Re: [Server-devel] Re-register an XO on XS schoolserver

[Samuel Greenfeld]

Older OS builds may not be able to re-register by default, but I think
resorting to the command line may be overdoing it.

I seem to recall that deleting the schoolserver name from the Network
control panel and pressing the OK (checkmark) button was enough to get
the Register item to appear again (possibly after a reboot).


On Fri, Dec 7, 2012 at 11:35 AM, Jerry Vonau jvo...@shaw.ca wrote:

 On Fri, 2012-12-07 at 13:10 +0100, vanessa ramos da cruz wrote:
  Halo,
 
 
  I am Vanessa, I am working in Angola with this project and have a
  little concern:
 
  I had a server with XS 0.6, I registered on it some XO’s just for
  tests.
  Now I have a new machine on witch I installed the XS 0.7. I want to
  register the XO's in the new Machine, but the right click register
  option disappears when a register the XO's at the first time.
 
  Can you please help me?
 
 
  I tried this on terminal to restore the right click register option:
  gconftool-2 --get /desktop/sugar/show_register
 
 
  Returned the following message:
  no value defined for:  /desktop/sugar/show_register
 
 
  Then i tried this:
  gconftool-2 --toggle /desktop/sugar/show_register
 
 
  Returned: no value found for key  /desktop/sugar/show_register
 
 
  What else can i do?
 

 Hi Vanessa

 Can you try:

 gconftool-2 -s -t string /desktop/sugar/backup_url ''

 gconftool-2 -s -t string /desktop/sugar/collaboration/jabber_server ''

 then reboot the XO.


 This appears to for me here with sugar 0.84 base installs.

 Jerry








 ___
 Server-devel mailing list
 Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
 http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel

___
Server-devel mailing list
Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel

[Server-devel] Experimental schoolserver tweaks - Moodle upgrade and alternative name support for XO builds

[Samuel Greenfeld]

I have two experimental schoolserver tweaks available for those who are
interested.

These are not officially supported, have only seen light testing, and may
break in interesting ways, so please use caution if you choose to try them
out.  Testing these with school servers or XO builds used by students may
not be advisable unless you have a good backup strategy.

Until 13.1.0 comes out, my available time to work on these is limited.


   1. The first experimental item I have is a Moodle update for
   schoolservers which upgrades Moodle from version 1.9.5 to 1.9.19.  As the
   version numbers imply, this includes a significant number of upstream
   updates and fixes.

   XO-based authentication, antitheft control, and general Moodle usage
   still seem to function after the update, but I have not done extensive
   testing.  No config.php changes are required but there are a few settings
   that may be of interest.

   A RPM packaged version of the Moodle update is available from
   http://dev.laptop.org/~greenfeld/xs/ .  The git source repository can be
   seen at http://dev.laptop.org/git/users/greenfeld/moodle/ (please note
   that the merge commit is huge).


   2. The second item I have is a kludge for olpc-os-builder which can
   create XO installation images altered to allow XOs to be used with
   schoolservers which cannot be accessed by the DNS name of schoolserver.

   There are many reasons this occurs, including but not limited to: the
   schoolserver being prohibited from controlling the network XOs are on; a
   desire for more than one school to use the same XS; a flat DNS structure
   used by more than one school; etc.

   This support appears as a set of patches to olpc-os-builder found
   attached to the enhancement ticket at http://dev.laptop.org/ticket/12156.

   Altering a schoolserver to use a DNS name other than schoolserver
   currently is messy, with lots of files requiring edits.  While I did test
   this against a XS modified to use a different name, I have not had the
   chance to write a script to automate the process.


---
SJG
___
Server-devel mailing list
Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel

Re: [Server-devel] registering an xo for second time

[Samuel Greenfeld]

If the OS/Sugar build is new enough, the Register option never disappears
from the Right click menu of the XO character in the home view, and
re-registration is possible with no editing required.

The Register option only appears on the screen which has the application
Circle/Spiral present, and not in the Network view or Friends view.  Given
shutdown  restart appear on all three screens, this is potentially a bug.

I believe 11.3.0 supports re-registration; 11.3.1  12.1.0 definitely do.
The exact ticket which enabled this behavior currently is eluding me.


On Mon, Aug 27, 2012 at 10:50 PM, Jerry Vonau jvo...@shaw.ca wrote:

 On Mon, 2012-08-27 at 15:48 +0100, vanessa ramos da cruz wrote:
   Halo!
 
 
  I am Vanessa; I am working in Angola with this project. I am new on
  the project so I have a little concern:
 
  I had a server with XS 0.6, I registered on it some XO’s just for
  tests. Now I have a new machine on witch I installed
 
  the XS 0.7. I would like to register the XO‘s on this new Machine. How
  ca I registered the few XO’s I already registered before?
 

 Try entering this from sugar's terminal activity:

 gconftool-2 --get /desktop/sugar/show_register

 If false is returned, you could try toggling that setting with:

 gconftool-2 --toggle /desktop/sugar/show_register

 Hope that restores the right-click register option to the home view for
 you.

 Jerry



 ___
 Server-devel mailing list
 Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
 http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel

___
Server-devel mailing list
Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel

Re: [Server-devel] How-to make the XS appear in the neighbourhood view of the XOs

[Samuel Greenfeld]

I have pondered this, along with enterprise (larger school) XS
installations in general.

The XS typically does not control its wifi AP, so it can only be easily
shown when when users associate to its AP.  This is not necessarily a
problem, as XOs only see each other on the same network in a similar manner.

Re-enabling the Avahi service on XS 0.7 would allow the server to be
visible to XOs running Salut, as long as they were on the same network.
(It's possible to work around this same-network limit; but that would be a
kludge.)

It then would be a matter of incorporating the XS's mDNS entry it into the
network view.

However this seems somewhat silly to do for one XS.  Several support
utilities also would have to be altered to respect Sugar's choice.
Depending how XO's are setup they might accept DNS lookups via mDNS(*); so
I might take a stab at seeing what happens when an XS advertises
schoolserver locally even though the more formal DNS system disagrees
with that.

Something else I've thought about (which would take more work) is exposing
any classes the XS knows about so students easily can Join a class that
is currently in session.  This would be especially helpful if students move
from teacher to teacher during the day and do not stay in one group.

(*) I don't see this supported on recent 11.3.1 or 12.1.0 builds; but for
some reason I'm thinking this is either a regression or intentional change.


On Sun, Jun 3, 2012 at 7:46 PM, Jerry Vonau jvo...@shaw.ca wrote:

 Hi All:

 I was thinking that since the XOs uses two different methods to display
 what is seen in the neighbourhood view, how can I make the XS appear
 when using salut? I'm thinking if that can occur then maybe we could
 advertise that this is an XS. We then could have the register to
 schoolserver menu occur at that point, in place of using hard-coded
 names that depend on dns to work. Any thoughts on the subject?

 Jerry

 ___
 Devel mailing list
 de...@lists.laptop.org
 http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/devel

___
Server-devel mailing list
Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel

Re: [Server-devel] XS 0.7 in VM

[Samuel Greenfeld]

The concerns I was told about have nothing to do with anything technical.

They are more along the lines of supporting XS users.  If someone wants to
install XS in a VM, there is often a presumption that we are experts in
their virtual server software and how it is setup, even if they want to
install a XS server for a large school in a tiny, non-preallocated image
for VMware Player on a teacher's ancient Windows laptop.  (For the record,
this is probably not a good idea.)

Deployments tend to vary widely in technical expertise.  It is much easier
for us to figure out hardware requirements without virtualization and say
install on this than to take a stab at what the minimal virtual
environment needed is for any given virtualization platform, and provide a
set of instructions on how to setup and debug that as well.

For demonstration and test purposes virtualization may work.  Having
administered a small VMware vCenter farm at my last employer, I am not
criticizing you for making the image.

But until I'm told otherwise or someone corrects my misunderstanding,
virtual images are not something OLPC wants to support at this time for
deployments.  I am just noting this for the record in case someone stumbles
upon this email thread, and thinks about using a virtualized image for
their school.


On Wed, May 2, 2012 at 5:57 PM, Sameer Verma sve...@sfsu.edu wrote:

 On Tue, May 1, 2012 at 8:20 PM, Samuel Greenfeld greenf...@laptop.org
 wrote:
  At least historically, I have been told that OLPC does not support the
 XS in
  virtual environments.
 
  This does not mean it is not possible; but officially OLPC may not be
 able
  to support such VMs.
 
  I vaguely recall the reasons for this; but as it has been a while, I will
  leave the official explanation to someone else.
 
 

 I did try to install XS 0.6 in VM, but I quickly gave up because of
 the lanbonding stuff. I'm not even sure if it could be done, but
 nevertheless I gave up. With XS 0.7's simpler networking options
 (eth0, eth1) its a lot easier to run this server in VM.

 We are planning on some training sessions for teachers in Jamaica over
 the summer, and the main effort will focus on Moodle. Moodle is used
 extensively at Univ. of the West Indies (http://ourvle.mona.uwi.edu/)
 and at e-Learning Jamaica (http://www.e-ljam.net/moodle/)  Most of the
 people in the Jamaica team are everyday users of Moodle. SF State also
 runs Moodle extensively. So Moodle is low-hanging fruit for us. The
 ability to run a local server in VM makes it a lot easier at training
 sessions where a good Internet connection may be absent. That's one of
 the motivations for creating this VM.

 As for official support business, I haven't seen much for Moodle (who
 uses Moodle?), so I hope that will improve (hint, hint).

 cheers,
 Sameer

  On Tue, May 1, 2012 at 11:01 PM, Sameer Verma sve...@sfsu.edu wrote:
 
  I've uploaded a copy of a XS 0.7 VM to dev.l.o Details are at
 
 
 https://schoolserver.wordpress.com/2012/05/01/school-server-holodeck-style/
 
  Try it out!
 
  cheers,
  Sameer
  --
  Sameer Verma, Ph.D.
  Professor, Information Systems
  San Francisco State University
  http://verma.sfsu.edu/
  http://commons.sfsu.edu/
  http://olpcsf.org/
  http://olpcjamaica.org.jm/
  ___
  Server-devel mailing list
  Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
  http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
 

___
Server-devel mailing list
Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel

Re: [Server-devel] XS 0.7 in VM

[Samuel Greenfeld]

At least historically, I have been told that OLPC does not support the XS
in virtual environments.

This does not mean it is not possible; but officially OLPC may not be able
to support such VMs.

I vaguely recall the reasons for this; but as it has been a while, I will
leave the official explanation to someone else.


On Tue, May 1, 2012 at 11:01 PM, Sameer Verma sve...@sfsu.edu wrote:

 I've uploaded a copy of a XS 0.7 VM to dev.l.o Details are at
 https://schoolserver.wordpress.com/2012/05/01/school-server-holodeck-style/

 Try it out!

 cheers,
 Sameer
 --
 Sameer Verma, Ph.D.
 Professor, Information Systems
 San Francisco State University
 http://verma.sfsu.edu/
 http://commons.sfsu.edu/
 http://olpcsf.org/
 http://olpcjamaica.org.jm/
 ___
 Server-devel mailing list
 Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
 http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel

___
Server-devel mailing list
Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel

Re: [Server-devel] 0.7 stable?

[Samuel Greenfeld]

I checked with Daniel Drake and we decided to mark XS-0.7 as stable in the
Wiki.

Thanks for letting us know.


On Mon, Apr 9, 2012 at 6:07 PM, Christoph Derndorfer 
christoph.derndor...@gmail.com wrote:

 Anyone?

 Thanks,
 Christoph


 On Thu, Mar 29, 2012 at 12:52 PM, Sameer Verma sve...@sfsu.edu wrote:

 wiki.l.o still says 0.6 is stable and 0.7 is unstable. Change?
 ___
 Server-devel mailing list
 Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
 http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel




 --
 Christoph Derndorfer

 volunteer, OLPC (Austria) [www.olpc.at]
 editor, OLPC News [www.olpcnews.com]
 contributor, TechnikBasteln [www.technikbasteln.net]

 e-mail: christ...@derndorfer.eu



 ___
 Server-devel mailing list
 Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
 http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel


___
Server-devel mailing list
Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel

Re: [Server-devel] xs-pkgs

[Samuel Greenfeld]

In our local case, the deployment purchased a supposedly RHEL-compliant
server which lacked a Linux driver for its built-in RAID controller.

This RAID controller created disk partitions which spanned the full size of
each disk drive.  These partitions appeared when the lower-level disk
controller(s) were accessed directly after the RAID controller was turned
off, and caused anaconda to die whenever it tried to figure out a
partitioning scheme with already-full disks.

Fdisk was used to delete these partitions from a Linux terminal console,
and then anaconda was happy.

The inverse situation also needs to be watched out for: If you are using a
Linux-supported hardware RAID controller, the individual disks/controllers
below it may still be accessible, and installing directly on those could
make the RAID controller unhappy.


On Fri, Mar 30, 2012 at 11:51 AM, Tim Moody timmo...@sympatico.ca wrote:

  (btw installing straight from cd never worked for me as it failed on the
 disk partitioning regardless of the options I chose)


 From a kickstart file or by hand in the installer?


 using the cd and taking the kickstart option.


 Jerry


  __**_
 Server-devel mailing list
 Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
 http://lists.laptop.org/**listinfo/server-develhttp://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel

___
Server-devel mailing list
Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel

Re: [Server-devel] A quick networking question

[Samuel Greenfeld]

The example DHCP configuration linked likely should be updated to support
multiple MAC address ranges.

In addition to the 00:17:C4 prefix mentioned in that script, newer XOs may
come with Wifi cards that have a 20:7C:8F prefix, and I'm looking at an XO
that has a 68:A3:C4 prefix.


On Tue, Feb 28, 2012 at 4:38 PM, Anna ascho...@gmail.com wrote:

 As long as the volunteers connecting with their laptops aren't familiar
 with MAC spoofing, you can tell the XS's dhcp server to only hand out IP
 addresses to XOs.  Instead of fooling with the bit about redirecting all
 http traffic for unknown clients to kittenwar.net, leave that bit out or
 redirect them to 172.18.0.1 so they can access the local XS but not get
 outside.

 Here's the writeup:

 http://lists.laptop.org/pipermail/server-devel/2011-January/005341.html

 Anyway, it's a thought.

 Anna Schoolfield
 Birmingham

 ___
 Server-devel mailing list
 Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
 http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel


___
Server-devel mailing list
Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel

Re: [Server-devel] CentOS hardware support doubts

[Samuel Greenfeld]

On Fri, Feb 3, 2012 at 9:07 AM, Daniel Drake d...@laptop.org wrote:

 I've now seen 3 failure cases - the AR8152 mentioned above, and
 another case which I only had time to do a quick boot check of
 F9/C6/F16 (F16 was the only one that recognised the onboard NIC of the
 asrock motherboard).

 Yesterday we received 10 servers based on an Intel motherboard (and 12
 more will be coming next week). F9 doesn't recognise the onboard NIC.
 C6 recognises the onboard NIC but isn't able to send/receive packets.
 F16 works fine (using e1000e driver). As these boards only have 1 PCI
 socket it is not possible to have 2 NICs (unless we resort to USB...)
 unless we move beyond C6.


It's worth noting that if you have to, there are NIC cards available with
more than one port per PCI slot.  They just tend to be rarer and as
server-grade hardware, more expensive.

Coming from a networking/ODM background, I have worked with plenty of 2-8
port e1000 NIC cards, and even 8-port tulip adapters.  Just make sure that
the PCI-E/X/etc. slot you are using has enough lanes to fit the NIC card in
the slot, and for the load a schoolserver generates you should be fine.

Historically I have seen e1000's and Broadcom Gigabit adapters in
server-grade hardware.  But given I have been out of the industry for a few
years, I don't know what companies are using nowadays.
___
Server-devel mailing list
Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel

[Server-devel] Fwd: School server links

[Samuel Greenfeld]

Forwarding to the school server list.


-- Forwarded message --
From: TONY ANDERSON tony_ander...@usa.net
Date: Sun, Oct 23, 2011 at 11:47 AM
Subject: School server links
To: olpc-soc...@googlegroups.com


As a follow-up to the school server session at OLPC SF Summit 2011, the
following are links to documentation of OLE Nepal's version of the
schoolserver:

NEXS Scripts, http://hg.olenepal.org/NEXS_scripts/
NEXS Image Builder, http://hg.olenepal.org/NEXS-image-builder/
NEXC Maint, http://hg.olenepal.org/NEXC-maint/
NEXC Scripts, http://hg.olenepal.org/NEXC_scripts/
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLE_Nepal:Procedure_to_build_NEXS_from_OLPC_XS

Tony

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
olpc-social group.
To post to this group, send email to olpc-soc...@googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
olpc-social+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/olpc-social?hl=en.
___
Server-devel mailing list
Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel

Re: [Server-devel] link to download XS software not working

[Samuel Greenfeld]

We apologize; xs-dev was recently moved to a new host from one that was
failing.

The download links should work now.

Please let us know if you find any more broken links.

---
SJG


On Sat, Oct 8, 2011 at 10:26 PM, Shaun Pickford shaun.pickf...@gmail.comwrote:

 I'm having the exact same issue. Any suggestions?

 Shaun Pickford
 shaun.pickf...@gmail.com
 Undergraduate Research Assistant in Computer Vision  Interactive Digital
 Games
 Future Computing Lab, Games + Learning Lab
 UNC Charlotte - College of Computing and Informatics
 Sent from my iPhone

 On Oct 8, 2011, at 2:14 PM, jbalc...@laptopstolesotho.org
 jbalc...@laptopstolesotho.org wrote:

  I'm trying to download the XS 0.6 software but I get an ERROR: NOT
 FOUND.
  No handler matched request to /xs/OLPC_XS_LATEST.iso
 
  I used the link:
  from- http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XS_Installing_Software
   to- http://xs-dev.laptop.org/xs/OLPC_XS_LATEST.iso
 
  I tried the XS 0.5 and 0.4 links with similar results.
 
  Can you send me the correct URL for downloading the latest XS software?
 
  Thanks,
  Janissa Balcomb
  jbalc...@laptopstolesotho.org
  Laptops to Lesotho Inc.
  www.laptopstolesotho.org
 
 
  ___
  Server-devel mailing list
  Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
  http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
 ___
 Server-devel mailing list
 Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
 http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel

___
Server-devel mailing list
Server-devel@lists.laptop.org
http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel