Date: October 12th 2009

For October, we’re back at Gallaudet University to look at a new software product for the XO-1 and an update of Sugar.

What: Family XO Mesh Meetup
When: Saturday, October 17th, 2009, 10 am to 1pm Where: Gallaudet University [map, aerial photo], Student Academic Center, **NOTE ROOM CHANGE: We are UPSTAIRS from the old meeting rooms in the basement on the first floor , in computer lab SAC 1212, Washington, D.C. 20002

We have a copy of Ondisk’s XtraOrdinary operating system which is an SD card that boots the Debian flavor of Linux. There have been other SD-based adaptations of Linux for the XO, but this is the most comprehensive to date and easily obtainable via mail order. Though all the software on the SD card is free open source, Ondisk charges $40 to cover the cost of the SD card and duplication. With this card installed, the XO becomes an adult-friendly netbook with software such as a version of Firefox, Open Office, the GIMP photo editor, Skype, Pidgin universal chat, Totem multimedia player and much more.

We will demo the product and describe some of the minor quirks discovered to date. We’re impressed with this effort and it’s a valuable contribution to the XO consumer community, especially for those who do not have time or expertise to configure Linux software.

The latest 0.86 build of Sugar will also be reviewed. I will also bring news from my trip this week to the Media Lab andOLPC Headquarters.

Please let us know in advance if you have any OLPC-related hardware or software support needs.

For live links to more info about the software mentioned, visit the blog:

http://olpclearningclub.org/