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Installing Ubuntu On an OLPC XO

Posted by Soulskill on from the call-me-when-it-runs-quake dept.

Matt Lincoln Russell writes "Installing Ubuntu Netbook Remix on the OLPC XO is not for the faint of heart, but Drew Beckett has got the process down. This setup is pretty slow on the XO, but the good news is that Netbook Remix is a work in progress, and can be expected to get better."

10 of 50 comments (clear)

  1. So the only question is... by clarkn0va · · Score: 5, Funny
    Will these children in developing countries have access to an AMD64 machine with Gentoo in order to be able to follow these instructions exactly?

    db

    --
    I am literally 3000 tokens away from the chaotic crossbow --Stephen
    1. Re:So the only question is... by Hal_Porter · · Score: 5, Funny

      My name is Mike Abacha, I am the son of former Nigerian President Sana Abacha. I will send you $1M (ONE MILLION) US dollars if you send me your AMD64 machine with Gentoo.

      --
      echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
    2. Re:So the only question is... by Anpheus · · Score: 4, Funny

      This guy is totally legit, I sent him my PC last week and... *clicks refresh on UPS site a few more times* Ahah! He just got the package.

      Any moment now the escrow service he recommended will wire me the funds.

  2. Nothing to see here move along please by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Nothing new here.
    I have ubuntu with xcfe running on an XO for quite a while. Dual boot off of a SDHC.

    teapot is the one to thank for this.

  3. Ubuntu on XO by Alex+Belits · · Score: 5, Informative

    When Ubuntu Hardy was being released in April, I have posted installation instructions for it on XO. This is still probably the best way to install a "mainstream" Linux distribution on that laptop -- XO has rather unusual screen pixels layout with 1200x900 "visible" resolution, so Xubuntu desktop with a GTK theme made to accommodate XO's unusual screen behavior is better suited for it than a desktop made for plain low resolution and mostly touchscreen input that XO does not have.

    I have posted videos of this version of Ubuntu in action on Youtube, and photos of the installation procedure (still with old GTK theme) on my Livejorunal.

    --
    Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.
  4. Re:How do hackers get these? by clarkn0va · · Score: 4, Informative

    How in the world do hackers get their hands on these

    http://www.laptopgiving.org/en/index.php

    db

    --
    I am literally 3000 tokens away from the chaotic crossbow --Stephen
  5. Apparently Uruguay really loves the OLPC by ya+really · · Score: 4, Informative

    I guess this is a real item, though it seems a bit strange OLPC Postage Stamp

  6. Re:How do hackers get these? by Hal_Porter · · Score: 4, Interesting

    You mean this article?

    http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_24/b4088048125608_page_2.htm

    The leaders of OLPC believe the laptops must be much more than electronic substitutes for textbooks if they are to profoundly effect learning. The group, an offshoot of MIT's Media Lab, which Negroponte launched 23 years ago, has based its educational philosophy on the theories of Seymour Papert, a Media Lab professor who pioneered the use of computers in elementary education in 1967. Papert, now retired, developed a theory called Constructionism, which posits that young children learn best by doing rather than by being lectured to. So to create a tool that could deliver more than rote lessons and e-books, OLPC designed the machine and its software to enable collaboration, exploration, and experimentation. "We're hoping that these countries won't just make up ground but they'll jump into a new educational environment," says David Cavallo, OLPC's chief education architect.

    CULTURAL IMPERIALISM?

    While this philosophy is essential to the mission of OLPC, it's also a source of tension. Current educational leaders in Peru embrace Constructionism, but most countries base their education systems on the idea that teachers pass their knowledge to receptive students. That was a problem for OLPC in China as well as India. India's education department, for instance, calls the idea of giving each child a laptop "pedagogically suspect," and, when asked about it recently, Education Secretary Arun Kumar Rath barked: "Our primary-school children need reading and writing habits, not expensive laptops."

    What's misinformed about it? It's skeptical coverage rather than the uncritical puff pieces you'd get in Wired or a blog but I don't think that's a bad thing.

    --
    echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
  7. But, but..! by Korbeau · · Score: 5, Funny

    ..when will the one-iPhone-per-middle-class-white-man campaign start?! I can't bear the view of those still not having one :(

    Actually, I'm jealous, I'd really like to have an OLPC =)

  8. It *IS* new by DrYak · · Score: 4, Informative

    I have ubuntu with xcfe running on an XO for quite a while.

    You are dualbooting *STOCK* ubuntu of your card.

    What TFA's author is trying to do is to test Ubuntu *Netbook Remix* which is a distro variation specially developed for sub notebooks.

    He wasn't just trying to get ubuntu up (as already done by countless other howtos) he was willing to test the new flavour specially geared for this kind of machine.

    Verdict : kidda works, not snappy enough, but will probably improve in the future

    --
    "Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]