On Mon, Dec 02, 2013 at 09:42:46AM -0500, George Hunt 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: > > > I also disagree with the implication that the tablet is any more > > proprietary than the laptop. The mix of intellectual property is > > certainly different, but the opportunity for use is also > > different. Therefore the products shouldn't be compared at an > > intellectual property licensing level. > > > > What is very different is that the laptop was ground-breaking > > original technology, and the tablet is buy-in technology. This > > cascades into completely different community involvement models. > > > > (I don't yet see how XSCE can benefit a tablet deployment, nobody > > appears to have enumerated that.)
I note this has become the subject of this thread ... but then you went on to say: > At the SF summit, last month, Rodrigo demonstrated sugar running on > a google Nexus tablet. This was achieved by running the python/sugar > mega-package on top of the Ubuntu touch distribution. > > Is the Nexus the right hardware platform long term? Well, it's > bootloader is unlocked! And here, in my opinion, is where the > licensing becomes an issue. You lost me at this point, although I did go back and read the rest later. The digression did not address the question. > [...] > > I believe a tablet should be thought of as part of a learning > technology system, which also includes a laptop, and a school > server. The tablet is more appropriate for younger grades, and I > believe will always a more cost effective solution. Touch > keyboarding, an essential skill for upward mobility, can come with > the addition of a bluetooth keyboard, or in upper grades, a > laptop. True, but not really relevant to the subject of the thread; how can XSCE benefit a tablet deployment? > The school server is essential for both of these client interfaces > to manage media storage, limit pornography, collect usage > statistics, etc. Well, I don't see it as essential. I see it as helpful, and potentially useful. XSCE is a niche product; the niche being schools with no support from a large scalable ICT team provided by central governance. (Schools with such support will find it difficult to adopt XSCE, because centralised ICT tends to resist shadow ICT). So I tried to answer the question myself. For the research, I used the summary feature list here: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XS_Community_Edition#Our_Product And the planned feature list for XSCE 0.5 here: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XS_Community_Edition/0.5/Project_Specifications And the planned feature list for XSCE 0.6 here: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XS_Community_Edition/Features How can XSCE benefit a tablet deployment? 1. it can be an advanced home router; probably you mean the core services, like DHCP, BIND, and Jabber. 2. it can be an internet gateway; probably you mean the core service iptables, the extended services proxy server, web cache, and content filtering, 3. it can hold content, (a cache); probably you mean extended services such as web server, course manaement system, backup, book server, offline content, 4. it can hold software updates, (a cache); probably you mean activity update, olpc-update, and customisation stick. Now, a tablet learner can benefit from these things to varying degrees; - DHCP, helpful, if the wireless routers don't do it, - BIND, helpful for finding local resources, but not essential, - Jabber, not useful, - iptables, helpful, if only because the server is to be positioned in the exit path to the internet, - proxy server and web cache, potentially helpful, if a tablet can be properly configured to use it, - content filtering, as above, - content caching, useful, - software updates, not useful, unless tablet specific updates are made available. Where is the documentation for how to use an XO laptop with XSCE? A teacher must have this. Such documentation may be a basis for writing documentation on how to use a tablet with XSCE. p.s. note how the future features in 0.5 included MediaWiki and a Restore service, which are not listed in 0.6. Why is that? -- James Cameron http://quozl.linux.org.au/ _______________________________________________ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
