OLPC: Doomed? (Punkadyne Labs (Punkwalrus))

I hate saying this, but the last few months of news have not been good for the OLPC. First, they had horrible issues getting out the laptops they promised people in the US right around Christmas (and many still have not gotten them). Then their Chief Technology Officer, Mary Lou Jepsen, left to form her own company in January. Intel backed out, and then the CEO Nicholas Negroponte revealed early this month that he is looking for a CEO to take on the primary leadership role for the organization. Then Ivan Krstic, the director of security architecture, left this week in response to those recent changes.

Wow.

And I thought not having a working control key was bad. :( Posted in: olpc

OLPC Part 13: The big control problem (Punkadyne Labs (Punkwalrus))

One of the things I first reported about my OLPC is the fact that I couldn't type anything. A quick diagnostic showed the control key was stuck down. Jiggling it fixed it.

For a while. Sadly, this became more and more of a problem until last week when I couldn't get it to "unstick" for more than a few keystrokes. I already knew this was a bug because I saw some people report they had things stick with the left ALT and control keys before. Well, now it's my turn.

There are several workarounds. I did the BIOS test and it showed that, yes, the control key was totally jammed down. No amount of wiggling released it. The software workaround is to remap the sticky keys. The first problem will seem immediately obvious; if my control key is stuck, how can I type a new .xsession to remap the control key? If I type "cp... [whatever]" as those instructions first direct me, the OS thinks I hit "control c" [copy] "control p" [paste] and so on. So, pretty much, the keyboard is rendered useless. Attaching an external keyboard won't work either, according to some people, because it will act like the control key is pressed down as well. I will have to figure out another way to do this. I got skills. I can do this.

The problem seems to be how the spot welds were done on the spacers, and since those are sealing in a plastic shell, this may be harder than a hand-fixable item. But apparently opening up the OLPC and resetting the keyboard membrane fixes the problem at least for a while. The RMA warranty was only 30 days, and I have had the OLPC for almost 2 weeks past that.

Bummer, man. Posted in: computer , olpc , review

OLPC Part 12: My first users meeting anything since 1990 (Punkadyne Labs (Punkwalrus))

So, apart from excitement and sadness since Thursday night, I went to an OLPC Users meeting. The last time I assembled with a bunch of fellow nerds for a specific hardware platform was AtariFest in 1990 or something. Much discussion on the STacy coming out. I was a member of ARMUDIC, and got in some embarrassing (for me) flame war with Amiga enthusiasts on a dial-up BBS.

Nothing's changed. It's the same people! Okay, Georgia Weatherhead and Tom Hudson weren't there, but I mean the same type of people. I felt like an elder, because I wore a very geeky vi joke shirt and RIGHT away an emacs guy called me out on it. We almost had a "I remember punch cards and LPTs and PDP/11s..." war before I stopped. Did I *want* to look old? Some of the people there were like, 8 or 12. Seriously. Someone's Junior High class, I think, was there. And adults.

In any case, Mike Lee ran the show. He's got a lot of hats. He's head of the OLPC Learning Club - DC, blog writer for olpclearningclub.org, and his company's sponsorship liaison to the MIT Media Lab (which developed the OLPC). Nice guy. He brought all kinds of OLPC accessories, mostly of what he's been showing off on OLPC News. Curtis Cannon from Greater DC Cares was there, and spoke about some of the connections that OLPC was expected to bring. The most "ooh ahhh" that was not a foot-pumping generator was Justin Thorp talking about the involvement of the Library of Congress, bringing media to these kids.

Of, coure, the whole time anyone was speaking, I was geeking out with the laptop. There were no open WAPs, and I think even with the online presence, people were too shy to chat with me. I saw some people chatting like mad on what i think was xochat.org, but I think they had a connection to an open Linksys that, for some reason, could only be seen on that side of the room. But I am not sure because if that were the case, we'd all be sharing that wireless connection. Maybe I was doing something wrong.

Afterwards, there was some "free mingle" time which I enjoyed. I learned a lot. I had always suspected the "top row" was function keys, and now I had proof.

I hope to make the next one.
Posted in: computer , linux , olpc , olpclcdc , review , vi

OLPC Part 11: How I dealt with pop-up alert boxes, sshd, and the best thing so far: nxclient (Punkadyne Labs (Punkwalrus))

At work, and some other sites, to connect to the wireless, you get a popup that asks for a login or password. The XO browser sucks at this. Plain and simple, it doesn't block popups: it simply doesn't render them. So when you have to log in to a wireless connection or a password site that uses a simple Javascript authentication popup, you never see it. Our Juniper Netscreen 5GT at work is like this, and thus I could not get wireless access.

But I remembered that the old text browser, lynx, does popups in a very unusual way. So when I was connected at home, I did a "yum install lynx" as root, and only had to download one extra dependency. Then I tried my Linksys WAP, but sadly, that popup is password-only (even though it asks for a login and password, you just leave the login blank). Lynx didn't know how to handle "blank field," so it kept asking me, "Do you want to not use a login/password." I didn't know how to tell it, "No login, just password."

But work asks for both, and I am happy to report I got connected today.

In other news, thanks to a reader tip who answered a question I forgot about (is sshd enabled and let you log in?), it seems that not only is sshd enabled, but there is no password for root (which I knew locally via "su -"). This would make it seem as if a root login is available to anyone who connects to my system! Yikes! I could imagine at an OLPC conference where one rogue hacker... does rude things.

However, I noticed that ssh to my own IP (192.168.x.x) and to localhost (127.0.0.1), logging in as "root" a blank password gets denied. I had not tried logging in for a different system to my OLPC yet, but I figured this was the next best thing. I checked the sshd_config file, and it seems to be default "PermitRootLogin=yes," and I saw no PAM restrictions to prevent root login, the /etc/passwd file has a shell enabled, so I was at a loss as to what is blocking me, until a little research showed that "PermitEmptyPasswords" was a feature in the conf file, and the default is "no."

I am still not sure this is safe. Apparently, the build that shipped with the OLPC is okay with changing the root and olpc account password... for now... but I want to know, WHY is sshd enabled?

The chorus of angels part of this post has to be installing the NX client. It was also easy with yum.

1. Go to the NoMachine site
   
2. Download the nxclient***.i386.rpm (via wget, the XO browser did something with the file... never figured out what, I did a find / -name "*.rpm" and everything and couldn't find the damn download)
   
3. Become root
   
4. Edit your /etc/yum.conf and change "gpgcheck=0" (or you'll get an error about an unsigned key)
   
5. Do yum localinstall nxclient[blahblah].i386.rpm
   
6. Agree to the dependencies (I only had one)
   
7. After the install, get out of root with an "exit" (safer this way)
   
8. To run the NoMachine client, /usr/NX/bin/nxclient and it will launch the config setup.
   
9. You're on your own, now. If you haven't used nxclient before, well... read their documentation! :) Obviously, it would have to connected to an NX Server on a Linux box.
   

Because of this, I don't need to worry about installing much else on the OLPC; it's on my Linux box at home. Browsers, bookmarks, my image files, even IM are all via an ssh X connection this way. This is MEGA-cool!

Posted in: computer , nomachine , nx , olpc , review , ssh , wireless

OLPC Part 10: More software tests (Punkadyne Labs (Punkwalrus))

I still steal some time to work with the OLPC software. I also got a chance to let two of the Heare kids, Scarlet and the K-man, work with it. Scarlet , who is 9 (and a half) took to it very quickly. Her brother, age 6, took a little longer. SR immediately started with the Paint program which I had not actually given a strong look at yet. While I found a lot of Linux controls familiar (like the color picker), SR didn't grasp that right away. Most of the time she was drawing lines and filling them. Also, like everyone else, she found having an additional mouse to be essential.

I also tested this as a "working laptop" at Katsucon, and found the laptop to really be lacking in these kinds of features. Speed is the biggest problem, especially when switching applications. Also a mouse is even essential, and with or without a mouse, the XO Sugar frame, which is activated when you touch near corners, keeps showing up because it's kind of trigger happy. But that's like claiming a child's trike is ineffective as a hauling device; it's simply made for a different purpose and target audience. But this is for those people who think this would make a great laptop for writing a novel and browsing the web at Starbucks. Get an Asus EEE PC, or even better, save an older laptop from being tossed, load Linux, and have fun.

Make no mistake, this is more of a "toy," or a tinkerer's delight, for me. That being said, let's look at what I did with my cool-ass toy in the last week.

Turtle Art:
This reminds me of the old "Logo" program I worked with way back in 1981, and then again in 1988 when I got my AtariST. You have a figure, or a "turtle," who leaves behind little lines. You get the turtle to move and leave lines via commands, and thus draw shapes. But it's got a modern twist: the steps for the OLPC are arranged like puzzle pieces (it used to be command line only back in the day, like "forward 4; left 5; run" and so on).

I have found this to be kind of fun. The biggest issue I have is you only have two variables (Box1 and Box2). I recall my "peak" with this program was with the ST, when I made a spirograph-like series of steps. I still have not replicated this with Turtle Art, but I just got a spiral, so I am a few bored moments with the OLPC away from making one.

Speak:
This is fun, but gets old quickly. The accent is British English, so it says, "Heh-loh SCAH-Lett" instead of "Hel-lo, Scar-let." You can adjust the pitch, speed, and face. I recommend the slower speeds and lower pitch, otherwise the British English is almost indecipherable.

Some other things I did:

Using Google Mail is slow. Also the cursor does not appear in the text boxes, so you are not sure where you will start typing. Paint is extremely slow and jerky when drawing circles and squares, often making you create a square or circle bigger than you intended. I finally got my 8gb HCSD card to "stick" in the slot and not loosen itself, so it shows up upon boot.
Posted in: computer , heares , olpc , scarlet

OLPC Part 9: Good feelings (Punkadyne Labs (Punkwalrus))

Some things I have done with my OLPC recently:
- Generated more envy in various places
- Used YUM to install finch (a command-line IM client) and nmap (network scanner)

It's funny, only about half the people even know Linux among those that bought it, and it makes the scant few of us seasoned Linux admins practically look like magicians.

[thunder] BOW DOWN BEFORE THOSE WHO KNOW HOW TO USE RPM AND KNOW THE WAYS OF GCC ... MWAH HAW HAW...!

But this whole thing was part of a "Give One Get One" campaign OLPC had for a month and a half, and while delivery to the people who got one is still not that great, the "Give One," seems to be doing well. Those of us who bought early found out our OLPCs are going to Mongolia, and they recently posted photos of where they were delivered. I have to say, out of all the remote places in the world, Mongolia is one of the most fascinating to me, and I was thrilled to see they were our recipients.

Next Thursday, on the 31st, I will attend my first OLPC users meeting, the OLPC Learning Club of DC. I hope to experience some mesh networking and sharing for the first time. Posted in: computer , olpc , review

OLPC Part 8: Starbucks Envy (Punkadyne Labs (Punkwalrus))

I am at Starbucks. I was supposed to be cleaning, but I was talking with daecabhir (why did you choose an LJ name so hard to spell??)for awhile about Balticon PR, and then I started writing a comedy bit about Goth Parrots ("Polly gonna cut herself if she don't get a cracker"), but it was going nowhere fast. I got a migraine and then had to nap past it. Then I needed caffeine to clear out my head, so here I am at Starbucks.

In order to "save" my entry, I will just keep editing this entry. It's been hard to type this far. It's taken an hour. Why? Because people keep talking to me. "Oooh, is that the $100 laptop? I heard Intel quit them. I heard it was not $100! Wow, it's cool, though..." :)

I was going to upload a picture of me but Flickr is currently having database issues. I am finally using a mouse I got back when I worked at AOL. It was part of some gift pack I got when I worked Systems Operations. It's very small, and a little annoying normally, but perfect for this teeny laptop. It also has an auto-retractable cord, which is nice.

I installed SimCity and played that for a while. It works, but I couldn't get it to change speed or play sounds. Or save :( Posted in: olpc , starbucks

More on the OLPC: Part 7: So what's installed on this doohickey? (Punkadyne Labs (Punkwalrus))

The community is abuzz with the OLPCs as people finally get them. I see reviews on The OLPC News boards that seem to generally sort people like this:

- Those that haven't gotten the OLPC
- Those that have, and are bummed it's not what they expected
- Those that have, and are thrilled

And I'm the last set. This thing is still pretty cool, and I am just scratching the surface as to what it's capable of. The only thing I have "modded" so far is "Doom" game I installed (via YUM). I still have to load up Sim City. There's also a lot of other applications you can install, either via YUM or the proprietary .ox format.

There's a local DC user's group, and I think I am going to try and make their second meeting in DC this 31st (a Thursday). It will be nice to test out the networking features of the OLPC with another OLPC.

There are a bunch of packages installed on this thing, but it only fills a third of the 1gb flash drive. YUM and rpm both work on this system, since it's Fedora (Red Hat) based. Some people, after installing gcc and make, have gotten some basic compiling done already. Others have managed to get another Linux OS installed. But here's most of what comes from the basic setup (I only added prboom myself, the doom game):

ConsoleKit-0.2.1-2.fc7
ConsoleKit-libs-0.2.1-2.fc7
ConsoleKit-x11-0.2.1-2.fc7
GConf2-dbus-2.16.0-13.olpc2
MAKEDEV-3.23-1.2
NetworkManager-0.6.5-0.8.svn2925.olpc2
ORBit2-2.14.7-3.fc7
SDL-1.2.12-1.fc7
SDL_image-1.2.5-4.fc7
SDL_mixer-1.2.7-3.olpc2
SDL_net-1.2.6-2.fc6
SDL_ttf-2.0.8-2.fc6
abyssinica-fonts-1.0-1.olpc2
acl-2.2.39-6.fc7
agg-2.5-1
alsa-lib-1.0.14-3.fc7
alsa-utils-1.0.14-2.fc7
anacron-2.3-47.fc7
aspell-0.60.5-3.fc7
aspell-en-6.0-7.fc7
atk-1.18.0-1.fc7
atlas-3.6.0-11.fc6
audit-libs-1.5.6-2.fc7
avahi-0.6.20-5.olpc2
avahi-autoipd-0.6.20-5.olpc2
avahi-dnsconfd-0.6.20-5.olpc2
avahi-glib-0.6.20-5.olpc2
avahi-tools-0.6.20-5.olpc2
avahi-ui-0.6.20-5.olpc2
basesystem-8.1-1
bash-3.2-9.fc7
beecrypt-4.1.2-12
binutils-2.17.50.0.12-4
boost-1.33.1-13.fc7
bootanim-0.12-0
bootfw-q2d06-0
bzip2-1.0.4-10.fc7
bzip2-libs-1.0.4-10.fc7
cairo-1.4.10-1.fc7
chkconfig-1.3.34-1
coreutils-6.9-5.fc7
cpio-2.6-28.fc7
cpp-4.1.2-27.fc7
cracklib-2.8.9-10
cracklib-dicts-2.8.9-10
crontabs-1.10-16.fc7
cryptsetup-luks-1.0.5-4.fc7.1
csound-5.07.0-0.4.cvs20070830.olpc2
csound-python-5.07.0-0.4.cvs20070830.olpc2
cups-libs-1.2.12-7.fc7
curl-7.16.4-1.fc7
cyrus-sasl-lib-2.1.22-6
db4-4.5.20-5.fc7
dbench-3.04-6.olpc2
dbus-1.1.0-2.olpc2
dbus-glib-0.73-3.fc7
dbus-python-0.82.3-1.fc7
dbus-x11-1.1.0-2.olpc2
dejavu-lgc-fonts-2.15-1
device-mapper-1.02.17-7.fc7
device-mapper-libs-1.02.17-7.fc7
dhclient-3.0.5-40.fc7
dhcp-3.0.5-40.fc7
dmidecode-2.7-1.26.1.fc6
dmraid-1.0.0.rc14-4.fc7
e2fsprogs-1.40.2-2.fc7
e2fsprogs-libs-1.40.2-2.fc7
eject-2.1.5-5
elfutils-libelf-0.131-1.fc7
enchant-1.3.0-1.fc6
espeak-1.28-1.fc7
ethtool-5-1.fc7
etoys-2.2.1796-1
evince-olpc-0.3-1
expat-1.95.8-9
fedora-release-7-3
file-4.21-1.fc7
file-libs-4.21-1.fc7
filesystem-2.4.6-1.fc7
findutils-4.2.29-2
flac-1.2.1-1.fc7
fontconfig-2.4.2-3.fc7
fonts-arabic-2.0-5.fc7
fonts-thai-ttf-0.4.4-1olpc1.2
freedoom-0.5-2.fc7
freetype-2.3.4-3.fc7
fribidi-0.10.7-6.fc7
gamin-0.1.8-5.fc7
gawk-3.1.5-15.fc7
gdb-6.6-16.fc7
gdbm-1.8.0-27.fc7
gettext-0.16.1-9.fc7
glib2-2.12.13-1.fc7
glibc-2.6-4
glibc-common-2.6-4
gnash-0.8.1-1.olpc2
gnash-plugin-0.8.1-1.olpc2
gnome-mime-data-2.18.0-2.fc7
gnome-python2-2.18.1-3.olpc2
gnome-python2-gnomevfs-2.18.1-3.olpc2
gnome-python2-libwnck-2.18.0-1.fc7
gnome-python2-rsvg-2.18.0-1.fc7
gnome-vfs2-2.18.1-6.olpc2
gnutls-1.6.3-2.fc7
grep-2.5.1-57.fc7
gstreamer-0.10.12-1.olpc2
gstreamer-plugins-base-0.10.12-4.2.olpc2
gstreamer-plugins-good-0.10.5-7.olpc2
gstreamer-python-0.10.7-2.fc7
gstreamer-tools-0.10.12-1.olpc2
gtk2-2.10.14-3.fc7
gtk2-engines-2.10.2-2.fc7
gtksourceview2-1.90.3-3.olpc2
gzip-1.3.11-2.fc7
hal-0.5.10-0.4.20070710git.olpc2
hal-info-20070516-2.fc7
hal-libs-0.5.10-0.4.20070710git.olpc2
hicolor-icon-theme-0.10-2
hippo-canvas-0.2.24-2.olpc2
hippo-canvas-python-0.2.24-2.olpc2
hulahop-0.3-1.olpc2
hwdata-0.200-1.fc7
info-4.11-1.fc7
initscripts-8.54.1-13.olpc2
iproute-2.6.20-2.fc7
iptables-1.3.8-2.1.fc7
iptables-ipv6-1.3.8-2.1.fc7
iputils-20070202-3.fc7
ipython-0.8.1-2.fc7
iso-codes-1.0-1.fc7
kbd-1.12-22.fc7
kernel-2.6.22-20071121.7.olpc.af3dd731d18bc39
keyutils-libs-1.2-2.fc6
kpartx-0.4.7-11.fc7
krb5-libs-1.6.1-4.fc7
less-394-9.fc7
libICE-1.0.3-2.1.fc7
libIDL-0.8.8-1.fc7
libSM-1.0.2-1
libX11-1.1.3-1.git20070822.olpc2
libXTrap-1.0.0-3.1
libXau-1.0.3-1.fc7
libXaw-1.0.2-8.1
libXcomposite-0.3.1-1
libXcursor-1.1.8-1
libXdamage-1.1.1-1.fc7
libXdmcp-1.0.2-2.fc7
libXext-1.0.1-2.1
libXfixes-4.0.3-1
libXfont-1.2.9-2.fc7
libXfontcache-1.0.4-1.fc7
libXft-2.1.12-1.fc7
libXi-1.1.2-0.git.olpc2
libXinerama-1.0.2-1.fc7
libXmu-1.0.3-1.fc7
libXpm-3.5.6-1
libXrandr-1.2.0-3.fc7
libXrender-0.9.2-1.fc7
libXres-1.0.2-1.fc7
libXt-1.0.4-1.fc7
libXtst-1.0.1-3.1
libXv-1.0.3-1.fc7
libXxf86misc-1.0.1-3.1
libXxf86vm-1.0.1-3.1
libabiword-2.6.0.svn20071106-1
libabiword-plugins-2.6.0.svn20071106-1
libacl-2.2.39-6.fc7
libattr-2.4.32-3.fc7
libavc1394-0.5.3-1.fc6
libcap-1.10-29
libcdio-0.78.2-2.fc7
libcroco-0.6.1-2.1
libdaemon-0.11-2.fc7
libdhcp-1.24-4.fc7
libdhcp4client-3.0.5-40.fc7
libdhcp6client-0.10-44.fc7
libdrm-2.3.0-5.fc7
libdv-1.0.0-1.fc7
libertas-usb8388-firmware-5.110.20.p42-1.olpc2
libfontenc-1.0.4-2.fc7
libgcc-4.1.2-27.fc7
libgcrypt-1.2.4-1
libgfortran-4.1.2-27.fc7
libglade2-2.6.0-3.fc7
libgomp-4.1.2-27.fc7
libgpg-error-1.4-2
libgsf-1.14.3-4.fc7
libicu-3.6-18.fc7
libidn-0.6.8-4
libiec61883-1.1.0-1.fc7
libjpeg-6b-38.fc7
libmatchbox-1.9-3.fc7
libnl-1.0-0.10.pre5.4
libogg-1.1.3-3.fc7
liboil-0.3.12-9.fc7
libpcap-0.9.7-1.fc7
libpng-1.2.22-1.fc7
libraw1394-1.2.1-11.fc7
librsvg2-2.16.1-1.fc7
libselinux-2.0.14-10.fc7
libsepol-2.0.3-1.fc7
libshout-2.2.2-1.fc6
libsmbios-libs-0.13.10-1.fc7
libsndfile-1.0.17-2.fc7
libstdc++-4.1.2-27.fc7
libsysfs-2.1.0-1.fc7
libthai-0.1.7-5.fc7
libthai-devel-0.1.7-5.fc7
libtheora-1.0alpha8-0.3.svn13393.fc7
libtiff-3.8.2-8.fc7
libtool-ltdl-1.5.22-11.fc7
libusb-0.1.12-7.fc7
libuser-0.56.2-1
libutempter-1.1.4-3.fc6
libvolume_id-113-12.fc7
libvorbis-1.1.2-3.fc7
libwnck-2.18.3-1.fc7
libxkbfile-1.0.4-1.fc7
libxml2-2.6.29-1.fc7
libxml2-python-2.6.29-1.fc7
logrotate-3.7.5-3.1.fc7
loudmouth-1.2.3-2.fc7
lrzsz-0.12.20-22.1
ltrace-0.5-7.45svn.fc7
lvm2-2.02.24-1.fc7
mailcap-2.1.23-1.fc6
matchbox-window-manager-1.2-3.20070628svn
mcstrans-0.2.5-1.fc7
mesa-libGL-6.5.2-13.fc7
mesa-libGLU-6.5.2-13.fc7
mingetty-1.07-5.2.2
mkinitrd-6.0.9-7.1
mktemp-1.5-25.fc7
module-init-tools-3.3-0.pre11.1.0.fc7
mtd-utils-1.0.1-2.fc6
nafees-web-naskh-fonts-1.0-1.fc7
nano-2.0.3-1.fc7
nash-6.0.9-7.1
ncurses-5.6-9.20070812.fc7
net-tools-1.60-82.fc7
nspr-4.6.7-0.7.1.fc7
nss-3.11.7-0.7.2.fc7
ntp-4.2.4p2-3.fc7
numpy-1.0.3-0.1.fc7
olpc-hardware-manager-0.4.1-7.olpc2
olpc-library-common-1-8
olpc-library-core-1-8
olpc-logos-0.1-5.olpc2
olpc-utils-0.48-1.olpc2
olpccontents-1.8-0
olpcrd-0.36-0
olpcupdate-1.7-0
openldap-2.3.34-3.fc7
openssh-4.5p1-6.fc7
openssh-clients-4.5p1-6.fc7
openssh-server-4.5p1-6.fc7
openssl-0.9.8b-15.fc7
pam-0.99.7.1-5.1.fc7
pango-1.16.4-2.fc7
parted-1.8.6-4.fc7
passwd-0.74-3.fc7
pciutils-2.2.4-3.fc7
pcre-7.0-2
pixman-0.9.5-2.20070924.olpc2
pkgconfig-0.21-5.fc7
pm-utils-0.99.4-3.fc7
poppler-0.5.4-7.fc7
popt-1.10.2.2-2.fc7
portaudio-18.1-8.fc6
prboom-2.4.7-1.fc7
procps-3.2.7-16.fc7
psmisc-22.3-2.fc7
pyabiword-0.6.0.svn20071106-1
pycairo-1.4.0-1.fc7
pygame-1.7.1-14.fc7
pygobject2-2.14.0-1.fc7
pygtk2-2.10.6-1.fc7
pygtk2-libglade-2.10.6-1.fc7
pygtksourceview-1.90.3-1.fc8
python-2.5-14.fc7
python-devel-2.5-14.fc7
python-json-3.4-3.fc7
python-libs-2.5-14.fc7
python-numeric-24.2-4.fc7
python-setuptools-0.6c7-1.fc7
python-sqlite2-2.3.3-1.fc7
python-telepathy-0.14.0-1.olpc2
python-urlgrabber-3.0.0-3.fc7
radeontool-1.5-2.fc7
rainbow-0.7.4-1.olpc2
rdesktop-1.5.0-2.fc7
readline-5.2-4.fc7
rpm-4.4.2.2-2.fc7
rpm-libs-4.4.2.2-2.fc7
rpm-python-4.4.2.2-2.fc7
rsync-2.6.9-3.fc7
sed-4.1.5-7.fc7
setup-2.6.4-1.fc7
shadow-utils-4.0.18.1-15.fc7
shared-mime-info-0.20-2.fc7
speex-1.2-0.2.beta1
sqlite-3.4.2-1.fc7
squeak-vm-3.9-12olpc3
startup-notification-0.9-1.fc7
strace-4.5.16-1.fc7
sugar-0.70.3-1
sugar-artwork-0.34-0.33.20071102git.0763fefc48
sugar-base-0.1-0.6.20071113git.1a04bb7c71
sugar-datastore-0.2.2-0.40.20071114git.ea0764a9e9
sugar-presence-service-0.65-0.27.20071114git128c59c612
sysklogd-1.4.2-9.fc7
sysvinit-2.86-17
taglib-1.4-5.fc7
tar-1.15.1-28.fc7
tcp_wrappers-libs-7.6-48.fc7
tcpdump-3.9.7-1.fc7
telepathy-filesystem-0.0.1-2.fc7
telepathy-gabble-0.7.1-0.4.olpc2
telepathy-glib-0.6.1-1.olpc2
telepathy-salut-0.1.11-1.olpc2
totem-2.18.2-10
totem-mozplugin-2.18.2-10
totem-plparser-2.18.2-10
tree-1.5.0-7.fc7
tzdata-2007i-1.fc7
udev-113-12.fc7
unzip-5.52-4.fc7
usermode-1.93-1.fc7
util-linux-2.13-0.54.1.fc7
vbetool-0.7-2.fc7
vim-minimal-7.1.12-1.fc7
vixie-cron-4.1-84.fc7
vnc-4.1.2-19.fc7
vnc-libs-4.1.2-19.fc7
vte-0.16.9-1.fc7
wget-1.10.2-15.fc7
which-2.16-8
wireless-tools-28-4.fc7
wpa_supplicant-0.5.7-4.fc7
wv-1.2.4-1.fc7
xapian-bindings-python-1.0.2-1
xapian-core-libs-1.0.2-2
xkeyboard-config-1.1-5.20071009cvs.olpc2
xorg-x11-apps-7.1-4.fc7
xorg-x11-drv-amd-0.0-27.20071019.olpc2
xorg-x11-drv-cirrus-1.1.0-3.fc7
xorg-x11-drv-evdev-1.2.0-2.olpc2
xorg-x11-drv-fbdev-0.3.1-3.olpc2
xorg-x11-drv-keyboard-1.2.1-0.olpc2
xorg-x11-drv-mouse-1.2.2-0.olpc2
xorg-x11-drv-void-1.1.1-6.olpc2
xorg-x11-filesystem-7.1-2.fc6
xorg-x11-server-Xorg-1.4-7.olpc2
xorg-x11-server-utils-7.2-1.fc7
xorg-x11-twm-1.0.1-3.1
xorg-x11-utils-7.1-5.olpc2
xorg-x11-xauth-1.0.2-1.fc7
xorg-x11-xinit-1.0.2-22.fc7
xorg-x11-xkb-utils-1.0.2-3.fc7
xterm-227-1.fc7
xulrunner-1.9-0.10.a9pre.olpc2
yum-3.2.7-1.fc7
yum-metadata-parser-1.1.0-2.fc7
zlib-1.2.3-10.fc7 Posted in: computer , olpc , review

More on the OLPC: Part 6: So what's running on this thing? (Punkadyne Labs (Punkwalrus))

Glad you asked. Quite a bit, actually. More than half the time I do a "top," the load is from 0.89 - 2.00. That's pretty heavy for a little laptop, this thing is chugging away pretty hard. Some items of note:

• What is the "rainbow-daemon?" I's run on Python.
• Why is /usr/sbin/sshd running? Can I ssh into this box (will try it out when I have network).

USER      PID %CPU %MEM    VSZ   RSS TTY      STAT START   TIME COMMAND
root        1  1.1  1.7   4960  4148 ?        Ss   09:59   0:04 oatc               /init
root        2  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S<   09:59   0:00 [kthreadd]
root        3  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        SN   09:59   0:00 [ksoftirqd/0]
root        4  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S<   09:59   0:00 [watchdog/0]
root        5  0.1  0.0      0     0 ?        S<   09:59   0:00 [events/0]
root        6  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S<   09:59   0:00 [khelper]
root       47  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S<   09:59   0:00 [kblockd/0]
root       48  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S<   09:59   0:00 [ksuspend_usbd]
root       51  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S<   09:59   0:00 [khubd]
root       53  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S<   09:59   0:00 [kseriod]
root      115  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S    09:59   0:00 [pdflush]
root      116  0.1  0.0      0     0 ?        S    09:59   0:00 [pdflush]
root      117  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S<   09:59   0:00 [kswapd0]
root      118  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S<   09:59   0:00 [aio/0]
root      516  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S<   09:59   0:00 [kpsmoused]
root      559  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S<   09:59   0:00 [kmmcd]
root      618  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        Z    09:59   0:00 [init] 
root      667  9.1  0.0      0     0 ?        SN   09:59   0:38 [jffs2_gcd_mtd0]
root      670  0.0  0.2   2136   668 ?        Ss   09:59   0:00 init [5]         
root      757  0.0  0.2   2260   600 ?        S<   10:00   0:00 /sbin/udevd -d
root      876  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S<   10:00   0:00 [libertas_main]
root      877  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S<   10:00   0:00 [libertas_worker]
root     1257  0.0  0.2   1800   596 ?        Ss   10:00   0:00 syslogd -m 0
root     1260  0.0  0.1   1740   396 ?        Ss   10:00   0:00 klogd -x
dbus     1283  0.1  0.4   2960  1008 ?        Ss   10:00   0:00 dbus-daemon --system
root     1305  0.0  2.8  13664  6708 ?        Ss   10:00   0:00 /usr/bin/python /usr/sbin/rainbow-daemon --daemon
root     1320  0.0  0.3   5396   940 ?        Ss   10:00   0:00 /usr/sbin/sshd
root     1332  0.0  0.9   7564  2192 ?        Ssl  10:00   0:00 console-kit-daemon
root     1360  0.0  0.4   3300  1116 ?        Ss   10:00   0:00 crond
root     1412  0.0  0.2   1736   620 ?        SNs  10:00   0:00 anacron -s
root     1429  0.1  0.9  28740  2204 ?        Ssl  10:00   0:00 NetworkManager --pid-file=/var/run/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.pid
68       1456  0.2  1.1   4548  2636 ?        Ss   10:00   0:01 hald
root     1457  0.0  0.4   3080   968 ?        S    10:00   0:00 hald-runner
root     1480  0.0  0.4   3172  1052 ?        S    10:00   0:00 hald-addon-input: Listening on /dev/input/event0 /dev/input/event1 /dev/input/event2 /dev/input/event3
root     1485  0.0  1.4   7092  3368 ?        S    10:00   0:00 /usr/bin/python /usr/bin/olpc-hardware-manager
avahi    1518  0.0  0.5   2656  1416 ?        Ss   10:00   0:00 avahi-daemon: running [xo-10-FD-FF.local]
avahi    1519  0.0  0.1   2656   428 ?        Ss   10:00   0:00 avahi-daemon: chroot helper
root     1529  0.0  0.1   1724   460 ?        Ss   10:00   0:00 /sbin/mingetty --noclear tty1
root     1530  0.0  0.1   1728   464 tty2     Ss+  10:00   0:00 /sbin/mingetty tty2
root     1531  0.0  0.2   1740   504 ttyS0    Ss+  10:00   0:00 /sbin/agetty ttyS0 115200 vt100
root     1532  0.0  0.5   2884  1200 ?        Ss   10:00   0:00 /usr/sbin/olpc-dm
olpc     1546  0.0  0.4   2552  1064 tty1     Ss+  10:00   0:00 /bin/sh /usr/bin/startx /usr/bin/olpc-session -- -fp built-ins -wr
olpc     1563  0.0  0.3   3076   928 tty1     S+   10:00   0:00 xinit /usr/bin/olpc-session -- /usr/bin/X -fp built-ins -wr -auth /home/olpc/.serverauth.1546
root     1564  2.9  1.9   9752  4664 tty3     Ss+  10:00   0:11 /usr/bin/X :0 -fp built-ins -wr -auth /home/olpc/.serverauth.1546
olpc     1579  6.7 12.5  52412 29744 ?        Ss   10:00   0:25 python /usr/bin/sugar-shell
olpc     1587  0.1  0.4   3068  1108 ?        Ss   10:00   0:00 /bin/dbus-daemon --fork --print-pid 4 --print-address 6 --session
olpc     1588  0.0  0.2   2840   616 ?        S    10:00   0:00 dbus-launch --exit-with-session sugar-shell
olpc     1599  0.1  1.8   7928  4340 ?        S    10:00   0:00 matchbox-window-manager -use_titlebar no -theme sugar -kbdconfig /usr/share/sugar/shell/kbdconfig
olpc     1601  1.0  4.4  15012 10640 ?        S    10:00   0:03 python /usr/bin/sugar-presence-service
olpc     1603  0.0  1.1   8204  2820 ?        S    10:00   0:00 /usr/libexec/telepathy-salut
olpc     1605  0.5  3.7  13260  8816 ?        S    10:00   0:01 python /usr/bin/sugar-shell-service
olpc     1607  1.7  5.6  29516 13356 ?        Sl   10:00   0:06 python /usr/bin/datastore-service
olpc     1614  0.0  0.1   1732   384 ?        S    10:00   0:00 /bin/cat
olpc     1619  2.4  9.5  35432 22728 ?        S    10:00   0:08 python /usr/bin/sugar-activity journalactivity.JournalActivity -b org.laptop.JournalActivity -a 2f111b7bf0b09080d5903c5a0501eecf46f08250
root     1638  0.0  0.7   4996  1732 ?        S    10:01   0:00 /usr/sbin/wpa_supplicant -g /var/run/wpa_supplicant-global -ddd -t
root     1640  0.0  0.4   2360  1040 ?        S    10:01   0:00 /sbin/dhclient -d -x -sf /etc/NetworkManager/callouts/nm-dhcp-client.action -pf /var/run/dhclient-eth0.pid -lf /var/run/dhclient-eth0.lease eth0
olpc     1665  2.2  9.9  46684 23664 ?        Sl   10:02   0:06 python /usr/bin/sugar-activity terminal.TerminalActivity -s -b org.laptop.Terminal -a 31e4c46472355ea236e86069ac3c4d133d513ecc
olpc     1666  0.0  0.2   2424   628 ?        S    10:02   0:00 gnome-pty-helper
olpc     1667  0.0  0.5   2608  1396 pts/0    Ss   10:02   0:00 /bin/bash
root     1681  0.0  0.4   2868  1096 pts/0    S    10:02   0:00 su -
root     1692  0.0  0.5   2608  1388 pts/0    S    10:02   0:00 -bash
root     1722  0.0  0.3   2436   824 pts/0    R+   10:06   0:00 ps -aux

Posted in: computer , olpc , review

Taboo has something to say... (Punkadyne Labs (Punkwalrus))

moar funny pictures Posted in: cat , lolcats , olpc , taboo

More on the OLPC: Part 4: Hard core nerd technical specs (Networking) (Punkadyne Labs (Punkwalrus))

OLPC networking is pretty cool. Like most of the OLPC dogma, it's made to be used in cooperation with other OLPCs in a group setting. This is really a groupware wireless setup. The OLPCs speak to one another, and share their networking. In addition, if one gets connected to a WAP, all the OLPCs in that group share the Internet access, and the software calculates who has the strongest connection to trace a path.

This example is best shown when you have a bunch talking to one another, but as I only have one, we'll take it as a normal "laptop connected to a WAP" setting.

So I did a little dump on the networking interfaces. There are three. The output has been truncated a little.

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:17:C4:10:FD:FF  
          inet addr:192.168.220.58  Bcast:192.168.220.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::217:c4ff:fe10:fdff/64 Scope:Link
[...]

This is the main wireless, the one that connects to a WAP. In this case, it's connected to our conference room, which is useless without a login and password, but it has to assign an IP to give you a login and password. Sadly, since the OLPC browser does not support popups, I never get a prompt.

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback  
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
[...]

Loopback looks normal. No place like home.

msh0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:17:C4:10:FD:FF  
          inet addr:169.254.10.191  Bcast:169.254.255.255  Mask:255.255.0.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::217:c4ff:fe10:fdff/64 Scope:Link

The "msh" is the mesh network OLPC sets up to share connections. Did you notice the IP? Basic Networking 101 will tell you the 169.254.x.x subnet range is for APIPA: Automatic Private IP Addressing. The most common use you'll find is where Microsoft uses APIPA in instances where a DHCP server is not present. Linux does not automatically assign this, because that's not inherently safe to just assign an IP. But when a Microsoft host cannot find a DHCP server, it will assign itself an address in the 169.254 subnet range, thus allowing communications between itself and other PCs who are using APIPA:

Microsoft: "Whee! I am a network!! Anyone here? Hello? Whee!!!"

In Linux you can do this, too, but it does NOT do it automatically via dhclient or pump, so no "whee!!!" just:

Linux: [sits antisocially in a corner next to potted plant, eyes closed, with headphones, saying nothing]

Until you manually assign an address in some way.

But in THIS case, however, the msh network needs to connect to others in this subnet to do the mesh networking automatically, so... it kind of acts like a MS server looking for other servers to share a connection. I am not sure how safe this is for Linux, just having a network connection does not guarantee automatic hacker advantage in Linux, but an air sniffer among a bunch of OLPCs will see then quickly. I would imagine a malicious or curious hacker would then try to connect to other OLPCs, but I would assume that the msh module would prevent actual access to the box, unless the OLPC user recognizes the hacker as part of their group. But I wonder how this would be affected by airpwn or other spoofing?

BTW: I tested my new T-Mobile access this morning at Starbucks and connected right up to the Internet. If there had been another OLPC within range of mine, theoretically, they could also connect via my OLPC to my T-Mobile account.

BBTW: I am working on getting some good pictures of my OLPC through a coworker's digital camera. They are just for myself, and I doubt they will look different than any other OLPC photos on the web. Posted in: computer , olpc , review

More on the OLPC: Part 3: Hard core nerd technical specs (hardware) (Punkadyne Labs (Punkwalrus))

I had a lot of time to tinker with the OLPC during a terribly boring meeting. I tried to use it as a laptop to take notes, but ran into a few snags.

Well, one of the first things I noticed was my SDHC card vanished. I suspect this is because it only sees the card after boot when you put it in, and not on boot. A short test confirmed this. I was also unable to find out where my documents were saved to (other than "the Journal" section), and will have to do some research, so the report I wrote ON the OLPC one the writing experience will have to wait.

Sadly, as I wrote this, I have no wireless access, so all my stuff was done via "sneakernet" on my mini USB stick.

Disks:

First, after I inserted my SDHC card again (which took my Leatherman pliers to remove), it showed up again. I also inserted a small little USB stick I have and that auto-mounted as well for my "sneakernet". It *should* be noted that while Linux saw the USB drive, it did not show up in the Journal feature like the SDHC card did. Here's an output of df -h:

Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
mtd0                  1.0G  359M  666M  35% /
tmpfs                  35M     0   35M   0% /dev/shm
/dev/mmcblk0p1        7.7G  288K  7.7G   1% /media/0421-7271
/dev/sda1             492M   30M  463M   6% /media/KINGSTON

The item mtd0, as you can imagine, is the flash disk that machine boots off from. There is no hard drive in the traditional sense. In fact, this greatly differed from a "flash USB," as explained in this FAQ:

Flash doesn't match the description of either block or character devices. They behave similar to block device, but have differences. For example, block devices don't distinguish between write and erase operations. Therefore, a special device type to match flash characteristics was created: MTD.

Interesting. I am sure I'll read that when I run into problems.

The tmpfs is, well, tmpfs.

So now we get to my HDSC card, mmcblk0p1. This is the new device driver for the MMC (MultiMediaCard) in the later 2.6.x Linux kernels.

The sda1 is my little Kingston 512mb thumb drive (which I got for $2.50 at Giant Food before I never saw them again, I should have bought all of them). This later kept being sdb1, I suspect because the first time I didn't unmount my USB stick before pulling it out.

Memory and CPU:
I don't want to just fill this blog with dumps, so here's the highlights of the memory:

MemTotal:       237848 kB
MemFree:          5744 kB

That's 256 RAM, roughly. No swap. Highlights from the CPU:

vendor_id	: AuthenticAMD
cpu family	: 5
model		: 10
model name	: Geode(TM) Integrated Processor by AMD PCS
stepping	: 2
cpu MHz		: 430.934
cache size	: 128 KB
flags		: fpu de pse tsc msr cx8 sep pge cmov clflush mmx mmxext 3dnowext 3dnow

I have already tested an AMD Geode with my decTop and Chumby that I got to review. This processor is roughly 431mhz with a small cache, which isn't a whole lot, but it takes only a wee bit of power compared to an Intel chip of the same specs. This is part of why the battery life is 5-6 hours with heavy use, and even more in low use.

NB: I find doing "halt" from the command line does a shutdown of the OLPC, but does not actually shut off the power. I had to manually shut down the power by holding down the power button after the machine "halted."

Modules:
Here's the modules loaded after boot:

Module                  Size  Used by
sg                     33276  0 
nls_utf8                1888  3 
vfat                   12064  3 
fat                    48124  1 vfat
i2c_dev                 7268  0 
usb8xxx                18084  0 
libertas              183324  1 usb8xxx
ieee80211              32232  1 libertas
ieee80211_crypt         5664  1 ieee80211
cs5535_gpio             4740  0 
mousedev               11192  0 

I only know what some of these do. Starting with sg, which I think has something to do with the OpenGL. The cs5535 is the sound chip, but I think it handles more than that (it did on the decTop). The fat and vfat might be needed to read MMC and my thumb drive. The i2c_dev is a bus driver for Philips ARM boards. The usb and mousedev are pretty self-explanatory. The nls_utf8 has to do with the character sets, but I am not sure why it has to be a module. The 80211 are most likely the wireless, since the whole 802.xx network standard is IEEE (named because they were started in Feb of 1980, original, eh?). So let's look at a detailed dump of the PCI components. You know you want to...

00:01.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Unknown device 0028 (rev 21)
	Subsystem: National Semiconductor Corporation Unknown device 0028
	Control: I/O+ Mem- BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
	Status: Cap- 66MHz+ UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- TAbort-  MAbort- >SERR-  PERR-
	Latency: 248, Cache Line Size: 32 bytes

00:01.1 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Geode LX Video (prog-if 00 [VGA])
	Subsystem: National Semiconductor Corporation Unknown device 0030
	Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster- SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
	Status: Cap- 66MHz+ UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort-  TAbort-  MAbort- >SERR- PERR-
	Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 14
	Region 0: Memory at fd000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=8M]
	Region 1: Memory at fe000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
	Region 2: Memory at fe004000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
	Region 3: Memory at fe008000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
	Region 4: Memory at  (32-bit, non-prefetchable)

00:01.2 Entertainment encryption device: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Geode LX AES Security Block
	Subsystem: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Geode LX AES Security Block
	Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
	Status: Cap- 66MHz+ UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- TAbort- MAbort- >SERR- PERR-
	Latency: 0, Cache Line Size: 32 bytes
	Region 0: Memory at fe010000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]

00:0c.0 FLASH memory: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. Unknown device 4100 (rev 10) (prog-if 01)
	Subsystem: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. Unknown device 4100
	Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
	Status: Cap+ 66MHz+ UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- TAbort- MAbort- >SERR- PERR-
	Latency: 32 (2000ns min, 2000ns max)
	Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 11
	Region 0: Memory at fe020000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
	Capabilities: [88] Power Management version 2
		Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1- D2- AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0-,D1-,D2-,D3hot-,D3cold-)
		Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=1 PME-
	Capabilities: [9c] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit+ Queue=0/0 Enable-
		Address: 0000000000000000  Data: 0000

00:0c.1 Generic system peripheral [0805]: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. Unknown device 4101 (rev 10) (prog-if 01)
	Subsystem: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. Unknown device 4100
	Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
	Status: Cap+ 66MHz+ UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- TAbort- MAbort- >SERR- PERR-
	Latency: 32 (2000ns min, 2000ns max)
	Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 11
	Region 0: Memory at fe024000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
	Capabilities: [88] Power Management version 2
		Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1+ D2- AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0+,D1-,D2-,D3hot+,D3cold-)
		Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=1 PME-
	Capabilities: [9c] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit+ Queue=0/0 Enable-
		Address: 0000000000000000  Data: 0000

00:0c.2 Multimedia video controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. Unknown device 4102 (rev 10) (prog-if 01)
	Subsystem: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. Unknown device 4100
	Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
	Status: Cap+ 66MHz+ UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- TAbort- MAbort- >SERR- PERR-
	Latency: 32 (2000ns min, 2000ns max)
	Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 11
	Region 0: Memory at fe028000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
	Capabilities: [88] Power Management version 2
		Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1- D2- AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0-,D1-,D2-,D3hot-,D3cold-)
		Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=1 PME-
	Capabilities: [9c] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit+ Queue=0/0 Enable-
		Address: 0000000000000000  Data: 0000

00:0f.0 ISA bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] CS5536 [Geode companion] ISA (rev 03)
	Subsystem: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] CS5536 [Geode companion] ISA
	Control: I/O+ Mem- BusMaster- SpecCycle+ MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr+ Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
	Status: Cap- 66MHz+ UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- TAbort- MAbort- >SERR- PERR-
	Region 0: I/O ports at 18b0 [size=8]
	Region 1: I/O ports at 1000 [size=256]
	Region 2: I/O ports at 1800 [size=64]
	Region 3: I/O ports at 1880 [size=32]
	Region 4: I/O ports at 1400 [size=128]
	Region 5: I/O ports at 1840 [size=64]

00:0f.3 Multimedia audio controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] CS5536 [Geode companion] Audio (rev 01)
	Subsystem: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] CS5536 [Geode companion] Audio
	Control: I/O+ Mem- BusMaster- SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr+ Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
	Status: Cap- 66MHz+ UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- TAbort- MAbort- >SERR- PERR-
	Interrupt: pin B routed to IRQ 5
	Region 0: I/O ports at 1480 [size=128]

00:0f.4 USB Controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] CS5536 [Geode companion] OHC (rev 02) (prog-if 10 [OHCI])
	Subsystem: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] CS5536 [Geode companion] OHC
	Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
	Status: Cap+ 66MHz+ UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- TAbort- MAbort- >SERR- PERR-
	Latency: 0
	Interrupt: pin D routed to IRQ 10
	Region 0: Memory at fe01a000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
	Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 2
		Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1- D2- AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0+,D1-,D2-,D3hot+,D3cold+)
		Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-

00:0f.5 USB Controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] CS5536 [Geode companion] EHC (rev 02) (prog-if 20 [EHCI])
	Subsystem: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] CS5536 [Geode companion] EHC
	Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
	Status: Cap+ 66MHz+ UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- TAbort- MAbort- >SERR- PERR-
	Latency: 0
	Interrupt: pin D routed to IRQ 10
	Region 0: Memory at fe01b000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
	Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 2
		Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1- D2- AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0+,D1-,D2-,D3hot+,D3cold+)
		Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-

Oh, baby, was that good for you, too? Let's break this down:

00:01.0 Host bridge:Look out for digital trolls! No, really, this is the chip that controls the traffic on the motherboard. Zzzz... next!

00:01.1 VGA compatible controller:Down in front! This is the video.

00:01.2 Entertainment encryption device: This is a new one for me. I suspect this is for the wireless.

00:0c.0 FLASH memory: The MTD flash drive, I believe.

00:0c.1 Generic system peripheral [0805]: Umm.... no idea. I have this image in my head of a device that is white with a barcode on it, like generic food.

00:0c.2 Multimedia video controller: I suspect this may be the webcam.

00:0f.0 ISA bridge: I may be dumb, but why do we need an ISA controller in this day and age? Maybe it does more than provide a connection to ISA peripherals (which were commonly very old accessory cards). Maybe this is still needed for serial communications or the joystick-like buttons...?

00:0f.3 Multimedia audio controller: Sound, micophone, and fun.

00:0f.4 USB Controller: This is the OHCI, which handles USB 1.x devices

00:0f.5 USB Controller: Same as above but this one handles USB 2.x devices (EHCI)

Last but not least, I'll leave you with the dmesg to look at. There are some things I noticed:

• The notes about "olpc-ec: received/running" I believe is the computer looking for the mesh network.
  
• What is the deal with all the "PM: Adding info for No Bus:" tty additions?
  
• 
  

[    0.000000] Linux version 2.6.22-20071121.7.olpc.af3dd731d18bc39 (dilinger@fc6.laptop.org) (gcc version 4.1.2 20070925 (Red Hat 4.1.2-27)) #1 PREEMPT Wed Nov 21 00:39:06 EST 2007
[    0.000000] BIOS-provided physical RAM map:
[    0.000000]  BIOS-e801: 0000000000000000 - 000000000009f000 (usable)
[    0.000000]  BIOS-e801: 0000000000100000 - 000000000edfd000 (usable)
[    0.000000] 237MB LOWMEM available.
[    0.000000] Entering add_active_range(0, 0, 60925) 0 entries of 256 used
[    0.000000] Zone PFN ranges:
[    0.000000]   DMA             0 ->     4096
[    0.000000]   Normal       4096 ->    60925
[    0.000000] early_node_map[1] active PFN ranges
[    0.000000]     0:        0 ->    60925
[    0.000000] On node 0 totalpages: 60925
[    0.000000]   DMA zone: 32 pages used for memmap
[    0.000000]   DMA zone: 0 pages reserved
[    0.000000]   DMA zone: 4064 pages, LIFO batch:0
[    0.000000]   Normal zone: 443 pages used for memmap
[    0.000000]   Normal zone: 56386 pages, LIFO batch:15
[    0.000000] DMI not present or invalid.
[    0.000000] Allocating PCI resources starting at 10000000 (gap: 0edfd000:f1203000)
[    0.000000] Built 1 zonelists.  Total pages: 60450
[    0.000000] Kernel command line: 
[    0.000000] Initializing CPU#0
[    0.000000] CPU 0 irqstacks, hard=c0713000 soft=c0712000
[    0.000000] PID hash table entries: 1024 (order: 10, 4096 bytes)
[    0.000000] Detected 430.934 MHz processor.
[   14.447562] Console: colour EGA 80x25
[   14.448589] Dentry cache hash table entries: 32768 (order: 5, 131072 bytes)
[   14.449246] Inode-cache hash table entries: 16384 (order: 4, 65536 bytes)
[   14.487276] Memory: 235016k/243700k available (2141k kernel code, 8068k reserved, 811k data, 164k init, 0k highmem)
[   14.487410] virtual kernel memory layout:
[   14.487420]     fixmap  : 0xffffd000 - 0xfffff000   (   8 kB)
[   14.487432]     vmalloc : 0xcf800000 - 0xffffb000   ( 775 MB)
[   14.487445]     lowmem  : 0xc0000000 - 0xcedfd000   ( 237 MB)
[   14.487457]       .init : 0xc06e4000 - 0xc070d000   ( 164 kB)
[   14.487469]       .data : 0xc0617586 - 0xc06e21b4   ( 811 kB)
[   14.487482]       .text : 0xc0400000 - 0xc0617586   (2141 kB)
[   14.487883] Checking if this processor honours the WP bit even in supervisor mode... Ok.
[   14.638805] Calibrating delay using timer specific routine.. 862.97 BogoMIPS (lpj=4314892)
[   14.639174] Security Framework v1.0.0 initialized
[   14.639258] Capability LSM initialized
[   14.639424] Mount-cache hash table entries: 512
[   14.639977] CPU: After generic identify, caps: 0088a93d c0c0a13d 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
[   14.640036] CPU: L1 I Cache: 64K (32 bytes/line), D cache 64K (32 bytes/line)
[   14.640114] CPU: L2 Cache: 128K (32 bytes/line)
[   14.640184] CPU: After all inits, caps: 0088a93d c0c0a13d 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
[   14.640241] Compat vDSO mapped to ffffe000.
[   14.640323] CPU: AMD Geode(TM) Integrated Processor by AMD PCS stepping 02
[   14.640532] Checking 'hlt' instruction... OK.
[   14.679337] PM: Adding info for No Bus:platform
[   14.679794] NET: Registered protocol family 16
[   14.679903] geode-mfgpt:  Registered timer 0
[   14.679990] mfgpt-timer:  registering the MFGT timer as a clock event.
[   14.680343] geode-mfgpt:  8 timers available.
[   14.680584] OLPC board with OpenFirmware: CL1   Q2D06  Q2D
[   14.680736] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x8
[   14.687778] olpc-ec:  received 0x50
[   14.687803] OLPC board revision: C2 (EC=50)
[   14.688076] PM: Adding info for No Bus:vtcon0
[   14.688350] PM: Adding info for platform:rtc_cmos
[   14.688536] PM: Adding info for platform:powerbutton
[   14.688724] PM: Adding info for platform:lid
[   14.689416] PCI: Using configuration type OLPC
[   14.689488] Setting up standard PCI resources
[   14.696124] SCSI subsystem initialized
[   14.696527] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbfs
[   14.696780] usbcore: registered new interface driver hub
[   14.697053] usbcore: registered new device driver usb
[   14.697428] PCI: Probing PCI hardware
[   14.697501] PCI: Probing PCI hardware (bus 00)
[   14.697544] PM: Adding info for No Bus:pci0000:00
[   14.698404] PM: Adding info for pci:0000:00:01.0
[   14.698650] PM: Adding info for pci:0000:00:01.1
[   14.698898] PM: Adding info for pci:0000:00:01.2
[   14.699154] PM: Adding info for pci:0000:00:0c.0
[   14.699398] PM: Adding info for pci:0000:00:0c.1
[   14.699640] PM: Adding info for pci:0000:00:0c.2
[   14.699990] PM: Adding info for pci:0000:00:0f.0
[   14.700258] PM: Adding info for pci:0000:00:0f.3
[   14.700490] PM: Adding info for pci:0000:00:0f.4
[   14.700723] PM: Adding info for pci:0000:00:0f.5
[   14.701565] PM: Adding info for No Bus:mem
[   14.701771] PM: Adding info for No Bus:kmem
[   14.701960] PM: Adding info for No Bus:null
[   14.702175] PM: Adding info for No Bus:port
[   14.702356] PM: Adding info for No Bus:zero
[   14.702532] PM: Adding info for No Bus:full
[   14.702720] PM: Adding info for No Bus:random
[   14.702919] PM: Adding info for No Bus:urandom
[   14.703097] PM: Adding info for No Bus:kmsg
[   14.703435] NET: Registered protocol family 2
[   14.709608] Time: tsc clocksource has been installed.
[   14.709877] Switched to high resolution mode on CPU 0
[   14.796655] IP route cache hash table entries: 2048 (order: 1, 8192 bytes)
[   14.796970] TCP established hash table entries: 8192 (order: 5, 163840 bytes)
[   14.797554] TCP bind hash table entries: 8192 (order: 5, 163840 bytes)
[   14.798228] TCP: Hash tables configured (established 8192 bind 8192)
[   14.798302] TCP reno registered
[   14.827001] checking if image is initramfs... it is
[   17.429182] Freeing initrd memory: 2437k freed
[   17.477750] PM: Adding info for No Bus:msr0
[   17.485843] PM: Adding info for platform:serial8250.0
[   17.493981] PM: Adding info for platform:pcspkr
[   17.496962] input: OLPC PM as /class/input/input0
[   17.499840] input: OLPC lid switch as /class/input/input1
[   17.509944] input: OLPC ebook switch as /class/input/input2
[   17.510033] SCI is mapped to IRQ 3
[   17.510112] Set IRQ 3 for 6
[   17.510185] Set IRQ 3 for 7
[   17.510608] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x84
[   17.518652] olpc-ec:  received 0x20
[   17.518668] olpc-pm:  SCI 0x20 received
[   17.518685] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x84
[   17.521714] olpc-ec:  received 0x1
[   17.521810] olpc-pm:  SCI 0x1 received
[   17.521827] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x84
[   17.529871] olpc-ec:  received 0x20
[   17.530046] olpc-pm:  SCI 0x20 received
[   17.530063] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x84
[   17.533092] olpc-ec:  received 0x0
[   17.533106] olpc-pm:  SCI 0x0 received
[   17.533124] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x2a
[   17.536153] olpc-ec:  received 0x0
[   17.552742] PM: Adding info for No Bus:snapshot
[   17.561219] Total HugeTLB memory allocated, 0
[   17.561638] VFS: Disk quotas dquot_6.5.1
[   17.561754] Dquot-cache hash table entries: 1024 (order 0, 4096 bytes)
[   17.562241] JFFS2 version 2.2. (NAND) (SUMMARY)  © 2001-2006 Red Hat, Inc.
[   17.670801] PROM: Built device tree with 36121 bytes of memory.
[   17.671104] io scheduler noop registered
[   17.671252] io scheduler cfq registered (default)
[   17.671338] Boot video device is 0000:00:01.1
[   17.696097] lxfb 0000:00:01.1: 16384 KB of video memory at 0xfd000000
[   17.709790] PM: Adding info for No Bus:fb0
[   17.718320] PM: Adding info for No Bus:vtcon1
[   17.775584] Console: switching to colour frame buffer device 150x56
[   17.819972] fb0: Geode LX frame buffer device
[   17.835588] PM: Adding info for platform:vesafb.0
[   17.835800] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty
[   17.839465] PM: Adding info for No Bus:console
[   17.847679] PM: Adding info for No Bus:ptmx
[   17.855851] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty0
[   17.864312] PM: Adding info for No Bus:vcs
[   17.872498] PM: Adding info for No Bus:vcsa
[   17.880720] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty1
[   17.888908] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty2
[   17.897158] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty3
[   17.905370] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty4
[   17.913563] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty5
[   17.916448] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty6
[   17.919140] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty7
[   17.938744] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty8
[   17.946877] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty9
[   17.955096] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty10
[   17.963301] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty11
[   17.971534] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty12
[   17.979966] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty13
[   17.988072] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty14
[   17.996431] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty15
[   18.004675] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty16
[   18.012928] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty17
[   18.016314] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty18
[   18.019022] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty19
[   18.035202] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty20
[   18.043436] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty21
[   18.051614] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty22
[   18.060066] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty23
[   18.068100] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty24
[   18.076517] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty25
[   18.084791] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty26
[   18.093017] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty27
[   18.101282] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty28
[   18.105667] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty29
[   18.108365] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty30
[   18.126066] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty31
[   18.134309] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty32
[   18.142611] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty33
[   18.150926] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty34
[   18.159198] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty35
[   18.167539] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty36
[   18.175844] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty37
[   18.184111] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty38
[   18.192571] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty39
[   18.200888] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty40
[   18.206578] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty41
[   18.209299] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty42
[   18.227688] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty43
[   18.236001] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty44
[   18.244300] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty45
[   18.252587] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty46
[   18.260868] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty47
[   18.269207] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty48
[   18.277513] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty49
[   18.285793] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty50
[   18.293137] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty51
[   18.299971] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty52
[   18.312363] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty53
[   18.320705] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty54
[   18.328975] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty55
[   18.337283] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty56
[   18.345741] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty57
[   18.354096] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty58
[   18.362428] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty59
[   18.370747] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty60
[   18.379051] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty61
[   18.382502] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty62
[   18.385268] PM: Adding info for No Bus:tty63
[   18.401397] PM: Adding info for No Bus:nvram
[   18.409831] Non-volatile memory driver v1.2
[   18.410171] AMD Geode RNG detected
[   18.410474] PM: Adding info for No Bus:hw_random
[   18.418489] Serial: 8250/16550 driver $Revision: 1.90 $ 1 ports, IRQ sharing enabled
[   18.419237] PM: Adding info for platform:serial8250
[   18.419384] PM: Adding info for No Bus:ttyS0
[   18.435865] PM: Removing info for No Bus:ttyS0
[   18.444272] serial8250.0: ttyS0 at I/O 0x3f8 (irq = 4) is a NS16550A
[   18.444891] PM: Adding info for No Bus:ttyS0
[   18.453209] serial8250 serial8250.0: unable to register port at index 1 (IO2f8 MEM0 IRQ3): -28
[   18.453834] serial8250 serial8250.0: unable to register port at index 2 (IO3e8 MEM0 IRQ4): -28
[   18.454434] serial8250 serial8250.0: unable to register port at index 3 (IO2e8 MEM0 IRQ3): -28
[   18.588680] RAMDISK driver initialized: 16 RAM disks of 16384K size 1024 blocksize
[   18.589441] PM: Adding info for No Bus:lo
[   18.599906] Linux video capture interface: v2.00
[   18.600313] Marvell M88ALP01 'CAFE' Camera Controller version 2
[   18.603950] PCI: Enabling device 0000:00:0c.2 (0000 -> 0002)
[   18.622629] PM: Adding info for No Bus:i2c-0
[   18.628562] i2c-adapter i2c-0: SMBus Quick command not supported, can't probe for chips
[   18.629141] olpc-dcon: No DCON found on SMBus
[   18.681804] OmniVision ov7670 sensor driver, at your service
[   19.012261] PM: Adding info for i2c:0-0042
[   19.061191] NAND device: Manufacturer ID: 0xad, Chip ID: 0xdc (Hynix NAND 512MiB 3,3V 8-bit)
[   19.061805] 2 NAND chips detected
[   19.062218] Bad block table found at page 524224, version 0x01
[   19.062447] Bad block table found at page 524160, version 0x01
[   19.063264] Searching for RedBoot partition table in NAND 512MiB 3,3V 8-bit at offset 0xfd80000
[   19.070515] No RedBoot partition table detected in NAND 512MiB 3,3V 8-bit
[   19.079367] PCI: Setting latency timer of device 0000:00:0f.5 to 64
[   19.079392] ehci_hcd 0000:00:0f.5: EHCI Host Controller
[   19.085888] ehci_hcd 0000:00:0f.5: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1
[   19.086510] PCI: cache line size of 32 is not supported by device 0000:00:0f.5
[   19.115553] ehci_hcd 0000:00:0f.5: irq 10, io mem 0xfe01b000
[   19.115975] ehci_hcd 0000:00:0f.5: USB 2.0 started, EHCI 1.00, driver 10 Dec 2004
[   19.116647] PM: Adding info for usb:usb1
[   19.122676] PM: Adding info for No Bus:usbdev1.1_ep00
[   19.127763] usb usb1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[   19.128264] PM: Adding info for usb:1-0:1.0
[   19.136712] hub 1-0:1.0: USB hub found
[   19.137040] hub 1-0:1.0: 4 ports detected
[   19.263551] PM: Adding info for No Bus:usbdev1.1_ep81
[   19.264028] ohci_hcd: 2006 August 04 USB 1.1 'Open' Host Controller (OHCI) Driver
[   19.272327] PCI: Setting latency timer of device 0000:00:0f.4 to 64
[   19.272352] ohci_hcd 0000:00:0f.4: OHCI Host Controller
[   19.295441] ohci_hcd 0000:00:0f.4: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 2
[   19.311951] ohci_hcd 0000:00:0f.4: irq 10, io mem 0xfe01a000
[   19.417680] PM: Adding info for usb:usb2
[   19.418194] PM: Adding info for No Bus:usbdev2.1_ep00
[   19.426461] usb usb2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[   19.449557] PM: Adding info for usb:2-0:1.0
[   19.450625] hub 2-0:1.0: USB hub found
[   19.466626] hub 2-0:1.0: 4 ports detected
[   19.502952] hub_port_wait_reset: portstatus=503 portchange=10
[   19.574406] usb 1-1: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 2
[   19.590497] PM: Adding info for No Bus:usbdev2.1_ep81
[   19.591025] Initializing USB Mass Storage driver...
[   19.656191] hub_port_wait_reset: portstatus=503 portchange=10
[   19.769265] PM: Adding info for usb:1-1
[   19.769771] PM: Adding info for No Bus:usbdev1.2_ep00
[   19.772665] usb 1-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[   19.791619] PM: Adding info for usb:1-1:1.0
[   19.793658] PM: Adding info for No Bus:usbdev1.2_ep02
[   19.802044] PM: Adding info for No Bus:usbdev1.2_ep83
[   19.812616] usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage
[   19.828986] USB Mass Storage support registered.
[   19.853680] usbcore: registered new interface driver libusual
[   19.878601] PM: Adding info for platform:i8042
[   19.924150] serio: i8042 KBD port at 0x60,0x64 irq 1
[   19.941025] PM: Adding info for serio:serio0
[   19.941207] serio: i8042 AUX port at 0x60,0x64 irq 12
[   19.967462] PM: Adding info for serio:serio1
[   20.062277] input: AT Translated Set 2 keyboard as /class/input/input3
[   20.106763] PM: Adding info for No Bus:rtc0
[   20.114914] rtc_cmos rtc_cmos: rtc core: registered rtc_cmos as rtc0
[   20.131877] rtc0: alarms up to one day
[   20.604642] drivers/input/mouse/olpc.c: OLPC touchpad revision 0x50.
[   21.112899] drivers/input/mouse/olpc.c: OLPC touchpad revision 0x50.
[   21.240062] input: OLPC ALPS GlideSensor as /class/input/input4
[   21.318187] input: OLPC ALPS PenTablet as /class/input/input5
[   21.350810] PM: Adding info for No Bus:i2c-1
[   21.352376] PM: Adding info for i2c:1-000d
[   21.352940] olpc-dcon:  Discovered DCON version 2
[   21.369381] Set IRQ 6 for 2
[   21.387968] PM: Adding info for platform:dcon
[   21.393194] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   21.395225] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   21.395286] PM: Adding info for platform:olpc-battery.0
[   21.395388] PM: Adding info for No Bus:olpc-ac
[   21.399565] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   21.402600] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   21.402647] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   21.405676] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   21.405858] PM: Adding info for No Bus:olpc-battery
[   21.416746] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   21.419781] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   21.419832] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   21.421859] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   21.421882] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   21.424911] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   21.425029] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   21.428059] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   21.428076] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x1f
[   21.431105] olpc-ec:  received 0x0
[   21.431127] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   21.433153] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   21.433337] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x18
[   21.436365] olpc-ec:  sending cmd arg 0x5f
[   21.440397] olpc-ec:  received 0x22
[   21.440526] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   21.443555] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   21.443572] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x10
[   21.447604] olpc-ec:  received 0x52
[   21.449627] olpc-ec:  received 0x26
[   21.449752] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   21.453784] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   21.453801] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x11
[   21.456830] olpc-ec:  received 0xe4
[   21.458853] olpc-ec:  received 0xc4
[   21.458955] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   21.462987] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   21.463004] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x16
[   21.466033] olpc-ec:  received 0x37
[   21.466056] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   21.470088] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   21.470213] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   21.473242] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   21.473259] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x13
[   21.476288] olpc-ec:  received 0x18
[   21.479314] olpc-ec:  received 0xcc
[   21.479427] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   21.483459] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   21.483476] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x14
[   21.486505] olpc-ec:  received 0x18
[   21.489531] olpc-ec:  received 0x0
[   21.489649] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   21.493681] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   21.493698] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x12
[   21.496727] olpc-ec:  received 0xc
[   21.499753] olpc-ec:  received 0xbb
[   21.499870] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   21.502899] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   21.502916] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x18
[   21.505944] olpc-ec:  sending cmd arg 0x5f
[   21.508973] olpc-ec:  received 0x22
[   21.509084] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   21.512113] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   21.512129] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x17
[   21.516161] olpc-ec:  received 0x0
[   21.519187] olpc-ec:  received 0x3b
[   21.522213] olpc-ec:  received 0x26
[   21.525238] olpc-ec:  received 0x0
[   21.528264] olpc-ec:  received 0x0
[   21.531289] olpc-ec:  received 0x0
[   21.534315] olpc-ec:  received 0x50
[   21.537340] olpc-ec:  received 0xff
[   21.554044] sdhci: Secure Digital Host Controller Interface driver
[   21.570649] sdhci: Copyright(c) Pierre Ossman
[   21.595317] sdhci: SDHCI controller found at 0000:00:0c.1 [11ab:4101] (rev 10)
[   21.612082] PCI: Enabling device 0000:00:0c.1 (0000 -> 0002)
[   21.628524] sdhci: Invalid iomem size. You may experience problems.
[   21.645077] PM: Adding info for No Bus:mmc0
[   21.657323] mmc0: SDHCI at 0xfe024000 irq 11 DMA
[   21.684498] geode-aes: GEODE AES engine enabled.
[   21.712211] usbcore: registered new interface driver hiddev
[   21.737107] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbhid
[   21.753540] drivers/hid/usbhid/hid-core.c: v2.6:USB HID core driver
[   21.770057] Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.14 (Thu May 31 09:03:25 2007 UTC).
[   21.786974] PM: Adding info for No Bus:timer
[   21.803463] PCI: Setting latency timer of device 0000:00:0f.3 to 64
[   21.807194] Failure reading codec reg 0x7e,Last value=0x7e805368
[   21.824087] Failure reading codec reg 0x7e,Last value=0x7e805368
[   21.847184] PM: Adding info for No Bus:card0
[   21.855689] PM: Adding info for No Bus:pcmC0D0p
[   21.864080] PM: Adding info for No Bus:pcmC0D0c
[   21.872375] PM: Adding info for ac97:0-0:AD1888
[   21.875983] PM: Adding info for No Bus:controlC0
[   21.884271] ALSA device list:
[   21.900398]   #0: CS5535 Audio cs5535audio at 0x1480, irq 5
[   21.917031] TCP bic registered
[   21.932734] Initializing XFRM netlink socket
[   21.948295] NET: Registered protocol family 1
[   21.963792] NET: Registered protocol family 10
[   21.979035] lo: Disabled Privacy Extensions
[   21.993980] Mobile IPv6
[   22.008698] NET: Registered protocol family 17
[   22.023480] Using IPI Shortcut mode
[   22.038656] Freeing unused kernel memory: 164k freed
[   22.053325] Write protecting the kernel read-only data: 624k
[   22.068372] PM: Adding info for No Bus:vcs1
[   22.071276] PM: Adding info for No Bus:vcsa1
[   27.348152] JFFS2 notice: (619) jffs2_build_xattr_subsystem: complete building xattr subsystem, 0 of xdatum (0 unchecked, 0 orphan) and 0 of xref (0 dead, 0 orphan) found.
[   29.038288] PM: Adding info for No Bus:vcs2
[   29.047128] PM: Adding info for No Bus:vcsa2
[   29.056019] PM: Removing info for No Bus:vcs2
[   29.064857] PM: Removing info for No Bus:vcsa2
[   29.843760] olpc-dcon: The CPU has control
[   29.853755] PM: Adding info for No Bus:vcs2
[   29.862425] PM: Adding info for No Bus:vcsa2
[   29.871108] PM: Removing info for No Bus:vcs2
[   29.879652] PM: Removing info for No Bus:vcsa2
[   30.376311] PM: Adding info for No Bus:vcs2
[   30.378950] PM: Adding info for No Bus:vcsa2
[   30.537027] PM: Removing info for No Bus:vcs2
[   30.537302] PM: Removing info for No Bus:vcsa2
[   30.537597] PM: Adding info for No Bus:vcs2
[   30.537800] PM: Adding info for No Bus:vcsa2
[   30.538078] PM: Removing info for No Bus:vcs2
[   30.538285] PM: Removing info for No Bus:vcsa2
[   30.543383] PM: Adding info for No Bus:vcs2
[   30.543600] PM: Adding info for No Bus:vcsa2
[   30.543844] PM: Removing info for No Bus:vcs2
[   30.544054] PM: Removing info for No Bus:vcsa2
[   30.544328] PM: Adding info for No Bus:vcs2
[   30.544531] PM: Adding info for No Bus:vcsa2
[   30.544761] PM: Removing info for No Bus:vcs2
[   30.544973] PM: Removing info for No Bus:vcsa2
[   30.545248] PM: Adding info for No Bus:vcs2
[   30.545452] PM: Adding info for No Bus:vcsa2
[   30.545736] PM: Removing info for No Bus:vcs2
[   30.545943] PM: Removing info for No Bus:vcsa2
[   30.547724] PM: Adding info for No Bus:vcs2
[   30.552039] PM: Adding info for No Bus:vcsa2
[   34.736082] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   34.738113] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   34.738414] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   34.741444] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   34.741468] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   34.745500] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   34.745523] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   34.748552] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   34.748648] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x1f
[   34.751677] olpc-ec:  received 0x0
[   34.751700] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   34.755732] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   34.755749] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x18
[   34.758777] olpc-ec:  sending cmd arg 0x5f
[   34.761806] olpc-ec:  received 0x22
[   34.761925] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   34.764955] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   34.764972] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x10
[   34.768001] olpc-ec:  received 0x51
[   34.771027] olpc-ec:  received 0xaa
[   34.771142] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   34.774171] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   34.774188] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x11
[   34.778220] olpc-ec:  received 0xe2
[   34.780243] olpc-ec:  received 0xd3
[   34.780356] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   34.784388] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   34.784405] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x16
[   34.787434] olpc-ec:  received 0x37
[   34.808910] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   34.810941] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   34.811091] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   34.814121] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   34.814138] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x13
[   34.817167] olpc-ec:  received 0x19
[   34.820193] olpc-ec:  received 0x12
[   34.820296] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   34.823325] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   34.823342] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x14
[   34.826371] olpc-ec:  received 0x18
[   34.829396] olpc-ec:  received 0x0
[   34.829510] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   34.832539] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   34.832556] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x12
[   34.834582] olpc-ec:  received 0xc
[   34.837608] olpc-ec:  received 0xb3
[   34.837717] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   34.844758] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   34.844775] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x18
[   34.847803] olpc-ec:  sending cmd arg 0x5f
[   34.849829] olpc-ec:  received 0x22
[   34.849951] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   34.852981] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   34.852997] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x17
[   34.856026] olpc-ec:  received 0x0
[   34.858049] olpc-ec:  received 0x3b
[   34.861075] olpc-ec:  received 0x26
[   34.863097] olpc-ec:  received 0x0
[   34.867126] olpc-ec:  received 0x0
[   34.870151] olpc-ec:  received 0x0
[   34.873177] olpc-ec:  received 0x50
[   34.876202] olpc-ec:  received 0xff
[   35.230707] mice: PS/2 mouse device common for all mice
[   35.654110] cs5535_gpio: base=0x1000 mask=0xb003c66 major=251
[   36.409004] ieee80211_crypt: registered algorithm 'NULL'
[   36.427195] ieee80211: 802.11 data/management/control stack, git-1.1.13
[   36.427221] ieee80211: Copyright (C) 2004-2005 Intel Corporation <jketreno@linux.intel.com>
[   36.504863] PM: Adding info for No Bus:msh0
[   36.505547] PM: Adding info for No Bus:1-1
[   37.440873] PM: Removing info for No Bus:1-1
[   38.312174] PM: Adding info for No Bus:eth0
[   38.312457] libertas: eth0: Marvell WLAN 802.11 adapter
[   38.312787] usbcore: registered new interface driver usb8xxx
[   38.931232] i2c /dev entries driver
[   38.935097] PM: Adding info for No Bus:i2c-0
[   39.006891] PM: Adding info for No Bus:i2c-1
[   42.789645] PM: Removing info for No Bus:vcs2
[   42.790252] PM: Removing info for No Bus:vcsa2
[   42.794113] PM: Adding info for No Bus:vcs2
[   42.794230] PM: Adding info for No Bus:vcsa2
[   42.794368] PM: Removing info for No Bus:vcs2
[   42.794467] PM: Removing info for No Bus:vcsa2
[   42.794640] PM: Adding info for No Bus:vcs2
[   42.794731] PM: Adding info for No Bus:vcsa2
[   42.794850] PM: Removing info for No Bus:vcs2
[   42.794944] PM: Removing info for No Bus:vcsa2
[   42.795106] PM: Adding info for No Bus:vcs2
[   42.795198] PM: Adding info for No Bus:vcsa2
[   42.795377] PM: Removing info for No Bus:vcs2
[   42.795470] PM: Removing info for No Bus:vcsa2
[   42.796479] PM: Adding info for No Bus:vcs2
[   42.796579] PM: Adding info for No Bus:vcsa2
[   47.637782] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x84
[   47.639818] olpc-ec:  received 0x4
[   47.639926] olpc-pm:  SCI 0x4 received
[   47.639944] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x84
[   47.642974] olpc-ec:  received 0x0
[   47.642989] olpc-pm:  SCI 0x0 received
[   47.643051] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   47.646081] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   47.646163] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   47.650197] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   47.650308] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   47.653340] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   47.653362] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   47.656392] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   47.656409] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x1f
[   47.659439] olpc-ec:  received 0x0
[   47.659551] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   47.663585] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   47.663602] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x18
[   47.666631] olpc-ec:  sending cmd arg 0x5f
[   47.670664] olpc-ec:  received 0x22
[   47.670787] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   47.673818] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   47.673835] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x10
[   47.676865] olpc-ec:  received 0x51
[   47.679891] olpc-ec:  received 0x6e
[   47.679996] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   47.683027] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   47.683044] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x11
[   47.686074] olpc-ec:  received 0xe1
[   47.689100] olpc-ec:  received 0x23
[   47.689211] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   47.693244] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   47.693261] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x16
[   47.696291] olpc-ec:  received 0x36
[   47.696411] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   47.699441] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   47.699465] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   47.703498] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   47.703515] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x13
[   47.706545] olpc-ec:  received 0x19
[   47.709571] olpc-ec:  received 0x53
[   47.709682] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   47.712713] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   47.712730] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x14
[   47.716763] olpc-ec:  received 0x18
[   47.719789] olpc-ec:  received 0x0
[   47.719905] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   47.721932] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   47.721949] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x12
[   47.724979] olpc-ec:  received 0xc
[   47.727002] olpc-ec:  received 0xaa
[   47.727110] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   47.730140] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   47.730157] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x18
[   47.732183] olpc-ec:  sending cmd arg 0x5f
[   47.735212] olpc-ec:  received 0x22
[   47.735234] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   47.743279] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   47.743391] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x17
[   47.746421] olpc-ec:  received 0x0
[   47.748445] olpc-ec:  received 0x3b
[   47.751472] olpc-ec:  received 0x26
[   47.753495] olpc-ec:  received 0x0
[   47.756522] olpc-ec:  received 0x0
[   47.758545] olpc-ec:  received 0x0
[   47.761572] olpc-ec:  received 0x50
[   47.765601] olpc-ec:  received 0xff
[   55.507441] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   55.508477] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   55.516269] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   55.519311] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   55.519705] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x18
[   55.522739] olpc-ec:  sending cmd arg 0x5f
[   55.526773] olpc-ec:  received 0x22
[   55.527532] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   55.529565] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   55.529883] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x18
[   55.532916] olpc-ec:  sending cmd arg 0x5f
[   55.535945] olpc-ec:  received 0x22
[   55.536634] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   55.539671] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   55.539991] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x18
[   55.542022] olpc-ec:  sending cmd arg 0x5f
[   55.546055] olpc-ec:  received 0x22
[   55.546777] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   55.548810] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   55.549304] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   55.552340] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   55.552657] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x16
[   55.555692] olpc-ec:  received 0x36
[   55.556274] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   55.559310] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   55.559626] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x10
[   55.562661] olpc-ec:  received 0x51
[   55.565688] olpc-ec:  received 0x48
[   55.566459] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   55.569495] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   55.569814] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x11
[   55.571845] olpc-ec:  received 0xe0
[   55.574872] olpc-ec:  received 0xd9
[   55.575566] olpc-ec:  running cmd 0x15
[   55.578602] olpc-ec:  received 0x41
[   56.138529] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready
[   57.241059] olpc-dcon: The DCON has control
[   57.856065] PM: Removing info for No Bus:vcs1
[   57.856223] PM: Removing info for No Bus:vcsa1
[   57.856414] PM: Adding info for No Bus:vcs1
[   57.856510] PM: Adding info for No Bus:vcsa1
[   58.146575] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): msh0: link becomes ready
[   59.183095] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): eth0: link becomes ready
[   59.669074] PM: Adding info for No Bus:vcs3
[   59.669907] PM: Adding info for No Bus:vcsa3
[   69.149779] msh0: no IPv6 routers present
[   69.629668] eth0: no IPv6 routers present
[   88.140518] olpc-dcon: The CPU has control

Posted in: computer , olpc

More on the OLPC: Part 2: A week of tinkering (Punkadyne Labs (Punkwalrus))

Keep in mind, my review is based on how we, as tech geeks in the US, deal with OLPCs. I know a lot of us got these to tinker around with, and that's cool, because that was the grease that got me to donate to OLPC. But a lot of geeky IT people want these for various things that might be useful for day-to-day activities they might have, and my reviews will focus on those aspects.

So far, as a kid's laptop for school, I consider this a great success and better than anything I have ever seen. For an adult in the IT industry, it's a geeky toy that if commercially done, might be a stretch to the "it just works" crowd. But us Linux junkies kind of approach these things like buying a stock car and then ricing it.

I am glad that many techs find the "child's look" to be cool. It's certainly unique because the green and white case has this kind of "Leapfrog" look. There was a Star Trek episode I recall where all the officers ended up as children, and Picard was trying to reach the bridge using a child's computer panel. "The Enterprise is a Galaxy-class starship. Can you spell Enterprise? E-N-T-..." I wouldn't mind having a "Hello Kitty" laptop if it was a speedy Linux-based system. Or using a child's piano to do complex musical scores. There's just something inherently cool about hacking a kid's toy to be more... useful, shall we say.

I also want to note that OLPC customer care sent me a letter saying my laptop was coming soon (even though I got it last week) and they sent me a URL to put in my PIN number to get a year's free T-Mobile Internet access. Now I can browse at Starbucks without paying (until January of 2009). I haven't tested it yet, but I signed in and got a T-Mobile account.

Speed:
She's no dual core cheetah, that's for sure. Then again, she is faster than my first Windows 95 experience, and when I was testing the OLPC Sugar qemu image, it was so slow (even with kqemu), I don't feel right complaining about the laptop. While it may seem obvious, the more applications you run, the slower it gets. I am not kidding: it's remarkable difference between 3 and 4 applications running. I have found 3 applications running at the same time is acceptable, but any more and you have severe lag issues. It may depend on what you use, of course. Generally, I am patient, and find the laptop acceptable. Boot time is similar to many Windows/Linux laptops I have.

Battery Life:
More than any laptop I have ever had. Constant web browsing and swearing at TamTam is about 5-6 hours per charge. I have been told in monochrome "Ebook mode," it's up to 24.

Usability (software):
Well, I have fooled around with what many have wanted the OLPC for: cafe web browsing and writing.

Web browsing using the OLPC browser is a bit awkward. It's better than the qemu image; that build had some serious rendering issues making my text huge and my pictures jagged. The laptop does not do this, but it does not have a good way to browse two pages at once. For instance, if I want to cut some text from one page and paste it into another... I can, but I have to swap between sites, and wait for them to reload. To clarify: Page1, cut text. Load page2, paste text. No tab-switching or swap between two open sessions. To make matters worse, bookmarking is ... not meant for a serious bookmarker. It is saved session-only (which helps with the cut and paste, actually), and the bookmarks show up as a bar that takes almost 20% of the lower screen, but kinda helpfully makes a snapshot of the page so you can see what the page you saved looks like. It's obviously, again, geared for wee ones. I have been told some people have managed to get Firefox and Opera on this thing, which I might do.

Big web pages are very slow, which is probably not surprising. Browsing NewEgg and my friends page in LiveJournal was very aggravating. Also, they don't have Adobe Flash because of licensing issues, but they have an open version of it that works... sorta. You can install Adobe flash, and that works better... sorta. Youtube watching may be limited in enjoyment, from what I am reading on the forums, but I haven't tried that yet.

Some popups don't work in the browser. The most notable one so far is the one our conference room wireless router uses: a Juniper Netscreen 5GT. When you use it to connect, a popup usually asks for our company guest login and password, but I never see the popup; I just get a 401 rejected.

The RSS application is broken on my laptop, for some reason. It never updates. I see all links as 0/1, even after asking for a manual refresh. This is a bit of a bummer. It worked on the qemu build.

Mail. Someone has gotten Tinymail to work with the OLPC. I think you could get other mail clients installed, but... um... well, Gmail might be better, although I haven't tested it yet. Yahoo mail, the newest version, does not work. It asked me if I wanted to go back to the older version, and I said no. Maybe later I'll say yes and see if that works.

Writing. I haven't given this the full attention it deserves, so it's on my to-do list. See my positive review about the keyboard below.

Cut and paste. Responds to the universal cntl+c,v, x, and a in terminal and the web browser.

Doom. I got Doom installed by following these directions. Yes, it's a little laggy between levels, but the levels themselves seem okay. Tiny controls make this hard to play.

TamTam. I have played with this some. Kinda neat, but a little hard to understand. It's a music editor.

Hardware:
I would suggest getting a mouse. Any USB mouse I have used works (and even a trackball). The touchpad works, but sometimes loses track of your fingers, which may be due in part to the fact it's actually a lot longer than most finger areas of touch pads, so it gets a little confusing. Maybe that's just me. really, touchpads and I have been at odds for years.

I have used an optical Logitech mouse (I can't tell you which one, it's old, the label is missing, and it has house paint residue on it from a former life; I got it for free with a donated laptop), a Microsoft Optical USB Mouse (P/N X08-71118), but when I am in bed, I love this little finger mouse/trackball. I got it on a lark at some computer trade show a few years ago, and I have found it's a great mouse for browsing the web in bed. One cute green mouse that matches the OLPC color scheme (and suggested by many OLPC fans) is this small one.

I think I mentioned this before, but I put in an A-Data 8gb SDHC card in the OLPC. The SD slot is hard to find: it's under the screen on the right hand corner. When you insert it, the label faces away from the screen, and it slides in so tightly, you may need pliers or strong fingernails to pull it back out. The OLPC found it instantly, and put it under my "Journal" screen as a separate device. df -h mounted it under some gibberish name (like /mnt/k56fTloz0 or something) but sees all 8gb.

The keyboard is small. It's meant for a kid's hands, after all! But it's still bigger than, say, a PDA or text messaging cell phone. It has a QWERTY layout, thus dealing another blow to DVORAK fans, and perpetuating the 1800's kludge to jammed keys. The keys are a rubbery skin over keys, but the pickup is surprisingly tactile and responsive without being to trigger happy on the repeats. Then again, I can't touch-type, so my hunt and peck often becomes more flexible when dealing with keyboard shenanigans most of the time.

To do for the next review:
-----
- Test Yahoo mail in regular older mode
- Test G-mail
- Use the "write" text editor
- Test for spell checker in Write
- Test read/write/save/delete off SDHC
- Export specs to file to post in blog (inlc. rpm -qa)
- Test Youtube
- Test T-Mobile connection
- Test playing ogg/wav/mp3 files
- Get Simcity installed, test
- Use "Ebook" more some more
- Get an IM client on this thing
Posted in: computer , olpc , review , thisby

The OLPC so far (Punkadyne Labs (Punkwalrus))

Well, I got my OLPC last night. If you browse the OLPC forums, it's full of posts of angry people who have not gotten theirs yet, along with some first hand accounts of really bad communication issues on the part of volunteers at OLPC. Having been in volunteer situations many times, I felt bad for all involved. I think there was no official face of OLPC G1G1 shipping, and the updates were often wrong and conflicting. This was a logistical issue that should have been thought about, but I suspect that they didn't anticipate the US demand.

That being said, this laptop is very awesome.

Playing with the Sugar qemu builds helped. Both in knowing how things should work, and the fact that even with kqemu acceleration, the OLPC Sugar GUI qemu image is dog slow, making the real OLPC seem really fast. Although it should be noted that launching applications on the real OLPC is slower than most laptops.

Arrival:
I don't want to go into the anxiety of waiting for it. Reading the forums, chock full of "I called the first hour of the first day the 'Give One, Get One' program went live, and I have heard nothing!" was stressful. A few people, very few, got theirs stolen off their doorsteps, in FedEx shipping, and one guy got a box with nothing in it. The total incidents of this happening on the forums was like less than a dozen people, but ooooh... it spawned a prairie fire of worry and fueled rants about those who didn't get theirs before December 24th. Which was a LOT of us.

For the record, mine was ordered at 7:50 am on Day 2 (Nov 13th). I got it at my doorstep 3:30pm on Jan 2nd. I was promised I'd get it before the 24th, then after the 24th, then "by Jan 15th at the latest."

I didn't get home until 9pm due to work (Bugzilla/Bitweaver server install and migration), so I was anxious to the point of peeing myself. Okay, not really, but that sounds funnier than "I was giggling inside like a kid." The box was, as others have mentioned, deceptively small and brown. It was 28 deg F outside, and even though the box had been dragged inside around 5pm or so by my home-bound son, the laptop was ice-cold. I think had my house had proper humility, it would have been covered with a thin layer of frost.

It was packed in a cardboard egg-crate thing, similar to the way I am finding various SOHO switches and routers these days. The only covering was an unsealed plastic baggie. Same with the tree-frog-green AC adapter and battery pack. The only documentation was a large folder sheet with some "Don't do this" international symbols (you also get the same when you power down the OLPC) and a letter of thanks from Nicolas Negroponte.

My OLPC "XO" colors are blue body, yellow head, making it look Swedish. Awesome. Both laptop faces are bumpy with little dots, making covering it with h4xx0r stickers a bit difficult. Not so awesome. This is probably one of the few subtle ways to keep this laptop looking juvenile to discourage stealing. But I can't attack "Hello Kitty" stickers, either. There's not even laptop lock hole to hang a doodad from.

Booting:
I had seem umpteen videos on how to open and use the OLPC. I am glad, because opening it is really not intuitive. I let CR and takayla try and figure it out. takayla came the closest, since she opened up both the wireless ears, but she didn't take the next step to open the lid the right way (which is opposite what you'd think if you have ever owned a normal laptop). I think, if given more time, she would have figured it out, but I was impatient.

See, the boards have a few people with dead OLPCs, bad power switches, and stuck keyboards. After all this wait, will mine be a dud? I pressed the power button, some jaunty music played, and the laptop screen immediately winked to life. Hooray!

The first thing you notice is how crisp the screen is. It's very easy to read. The boot time is about a minute on mine. There's an animation that looks a little like a clock, a flash of CLI at a very teeny font, and then the XO Sugar main screen.

Playing around:
My first attempt was to connect to the Internet. I had heard that the wirless "ears" made this little laptop have a much wider range, and so far this seems to be true... but there are some caveats I was already aware of, but would like to pass along.

There will always be three "dots" in your Neighborhood: Channel 1, 6, and 11. This is supposedly part of the mesh network and how the OLPCs find one another. The other wireless networks will show up as dots, and how "full" the dots are represent signal strength. If you don't see your network and you have SSID broadcast enabled... wait a bit. The OLPC can take several minutes to see all the networks. After half an hour, I had 8-10 networks showing up, and I can only see about 3 from any of my other laptops. My WAPs are SSID disabled and encrypted, and I didn't see them. I am not sure how to enable my encrypted connections yet, but I recall there's an easy how-to somewhere.

Luckily, the OLPC connected right to some Linksys unsecured yutz on my block. I got IP, and was on the web within seconds.

At first, my keyboard was awful. It seemed like I had incredible lag when typing in forms and stuff. And then sometimes the browser would launch write, most of the keys did nothing, and there was obviously a keyboard malfunction. Reboots did not fix this. I was scared that I had one of those broken keyboards until I figured out that the "control" key was stuck. A few presses, and it hasn't stuck since. It may have been the severe cold it was exposed to. Since then, the tiny, rubber-skinned keyboard is sensitive enough to type on, but not so sensitive, you double half your letters. I don't even know what some of the keys on the top row do yet. I got brightness, volume,

This is very much geek friendly. There's a terminal program launchable right from the application bar. The XO ruins a modified version of Fedora Linux, but so far I haven't run into much "sandbox" restrictions. I was able to use a lot of CLI, like df, ssh, and even Red-Hat-ish commands like "service" and "reboot." Sadly, "su -" has no password... yikes!

There a lot of re-learning concepts with Sugar. Like the "task bar" is really a circle that is in "Home," which is second of four layers: Activity, Home, Group, and Neighborhood. These are roughly like "Application, Desktop, Other OLPCs, Wireless Connections."

There's the "Journal," which is kind of like a combination of Favorite Places, Recently Used Applications, and syslog. It shows what you've been up to and for how long. TamTamMini, terminal, or "Browsing Porn."

Almost all applications can be shared by your Group. So, two or more kids can work on the same project on the same laptop. Turn a text document into an IRC like chat!

As far as drive space, "df -h" shows 1gb of hard drive space (under a weird name) total, with 320mb taken, on the solid state drive. I added an A-Data 8gb SDHC "Class 6 Turbo) card, which slides into a hidden slot under the screen (label facing away from screen). It was detected instantly, and the card shows up in "Journal." It also showed up under a df -h call in terminal, also under a weird name.

More later as I play with this nifty thing. Feel free to ask questions about it. Posted in: computer , olpc , review

Guess what was delivered by FedEx today? (Punkadyne Labs (Punkwalrus))

Jealous?

:-P
Posted in: computer , olpc

We lost power last night (Punkadyne Labs (Punkwalrus))

Apparently power loss freaks Widget out. He was on the bed, shivering. We didn't get power back until I think 3 or 4 the next morning, which was fine with me because it went out at 10pm, and I wanted to sleep anyway. Kudos to me for buying a new, atomic clock synchronizing clock radio last month. It came back up, set itself, and my alarms went off on time.

I am recovering from the bad cold. The rattling in my lungs has diminished, and I broke fever last night. I still have a very stuffed head, I am dizzy from the stuffed head, I don't feel like eating, and my nose is seriously chapped, but I think I should be back to normal tomorrow or Wednesday at the latest. So far, takayla and CR did not seem to get sick.

In other news, I am one of many DC residents anxious to get a new package from Libertyville, Illinois. Shipping to us has been erratic. If you have no idea what I am talking about, it's a surprise. If you're waiting for one, too, or know what it is, don't spoil the surprise in the comments section. Posted in: health , medical , olpc , power , sick