OLPC XO User manual

XO OLPC LAPTOP USER GUIDE
Contents
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1 By the Community, For the Community: Introducing the XO
2 About computers
3 Opening the XO
4 Starting and shutting down the XO
4.1 Starting
4.2 Shutting down
5 Connecting your XO to the network
6 Cleaning and caring for your XO
7 Updating and maintaining your XO
8 Personalizing your XO
8.1 To change the name of your XO
8.2 To change the colors of your XO icon
9 Avoiding loss of your XO
10 Keeping information in the Journal
11 Copying the XO contents (backing up)
12 Conserving disk space
13 Charging the XO battery
13.1 Using Battery Power
13.2 Plugging in your XO
13.3 When to charge the battery
14 Removing / Replacing the battery
15 Activities
15.1 Chat
15.2 Browse
15.3 Write
15.4 Record
15.5 Draw
15.6 TamTam

15.7 EToys
15.8 Turtle Art
15.9 Pippy
15.10 Calculate
15.11 Memorize
15.12 Measure
15.13 News Reader
16 Downloadable Activities
16.1 Read
17 Quick Keyboard shortcuts
18 Viewing the XO screen in sunlight and adjusting the volume
19 Being safe with the XO
20 Navigating the XO screen
21 Understanding XO Hardware
22 Understanding XO Activities
23 Installing new XO Activities
24 Getting support for your XO
By the Community, For the Community: Introducing the XO
The XO laptop is designed to help you, your family, and your community to learn and grow, and to help
you expand your knowledge and to have fun. The XO can help you make new friends in your own area or
across the world. When you make friends by communicating with the XO you become part of a
community of people around the world. A community contributed to the project that made this computer
and everything on it, and you use it within a community.
Community projects like one that makes the XO are successful because they are helpful. Community
projects are helpful because of all the people who add or improve something. Any way you can help to
add or improve something on the XO would be very helpful.
Like any community effort, the XO has great things about it, and it also can be improved. Ideas and
feedback are one of the greatest gifts that you can give to the XO development project. You do not need
to be an expert; you just need to be willing to share your thoughts. Know that the community would be
glad to hear them.
We hope that the XO is helpful, that you enjoy and learn from it. Our utmost hope is that someday you will
join us in making it better.

All are welcome.
About computers
Your XO is a laptop computer.
What is a computer? A computer is a tool, a classroom, a toy, a way to communicate with others. A
computer can be whatever you want it to be. Many people use computers to write, to perform
mathematics, to create art, to play games, to record sound and images, to communicate with others, to
read, and to learn. The uses of the XO is only limited by your own imagination.
What can your XO do? Your XO can store an entire library of written stories, videos, and pictures. It can
make and play music. It contains Activities that you can use to learn math, play games, create pictures,
and communicate with others. You interact with your XO using the touchpad, keyboard, microphone, or
camera.
How does it do it? Computers are built of component parts that work together to carry out tasks that you
give to the computer by interacting with it. You can use your XO to figure out how computers work by
reading about computers and learning the basics, and then learning about hardware and software and
how it all works.
Opening the XO
Animation showing how to open the XO.
Line drawings showing how to open the XO.
Physically you can open, flip, and close the XO to position it in different ways.
To open it, position the handle away from you and lift both antennae up and toward you until the laptop
clicks open. Lift the screen up from the keyboard; you may have to hold the keyboard down as you lift the
display.
To open

1. For handheld mode, lift the "bunny ears."
2. Listen for the laptop clicking open.
How to switch screen positions.
To flip
1. Bring the display up to a
90-degree angle and put the
antennae down.
2. Rotate the display 180
degrees until it is facing
backwards.
3. Lay the display down
onto the keyboard.
4. Enjoy the XO in this
mode!
Starting and shutting down the XO
Starting
When you press the power button for the first time, the XO starts up after about two minutes, and then
asks your name. The next time you start it, it will remember your name and go directly to the Home
screen.
To start up
1. Enter your name.
2. Once you enter your
name, click Done.
3. Choose your colors by
clicking repeatedly.
4. Once you've chosen your
colors, click Done.

Your screen looks like this when the laptop is ready to begin.
Shutting down
When you're done using the computer, go to the Home view, and then hover the pointer over the middle
XO icon until you see a menu. Next, choose to Shutdown to ensure your laptop stops properly.
The Reboot and Shutdown options appear when you hover your mouse over the XO icon in the Home
view.
You can also shut down by pressing and holding the power button for a few seconds, but it's better for the
computer to shut down from the Home view. Be careful that your power button does not get "stuck" in the
down position.
Connecting your XO to the network
Thanks to network connections, you can use your XO to explore distant places while you stay at home.
Your XO connects to and works with with other XOs. To get a wireless network connection, follow these
steps:
1. Press fn 1 or the Neighborhood button at the top of the keyboard to go to the Neighborhood
View.
2. Roll the pointer over one of the network access circles until you recognize the name of the
wireless network. A circle with a lock icon requires a wireless key (a password.)

3. To connect, click a network access circle, and enter the wireless key if prompted. You might
need to ask your teacher or parent for the wireless key.
Wireless key requested
While the XO is connecting to the network, the access point blinks. A white outline indicates that your XO
is connected. To disconnect from the network, hover the pointer over the access point and click
Disconnect on the menu.Once your XO is connected, you can use the Browse Activity to access the
Internet.
If you cannot see an access point with a name that you recognize, the wireless network might be hidden.
For more information or if you have difficulties getting a network connection, refer to to
Wifi_Troubleshooting_Guide or Wifi_Connectivity.
More information about your XO's connection:
Your wireless access point has a network name, also called an SSID, that displays in the
Neighborhood View. The XO cannot recognize network names that contain spaces.
When you connect the XO to a wireless network, the XO becomes a network point; other XO
laptops within about 100 meters can connect to the Internet through your XO laptop.
Similarly, if a nearby XO is connected to the Internet, you can connect to that XO laptop and the
Internet through the other XO when using the mesh network.
With the Give 1 Get 1 (G1G1) release, if you are connected to the Internet, your XO laptop cannot
be on the mesh network, and if your XO is on a mesh network, it cannot simultaneously connect
wirelessly to the Internet.
If the XO cannot find an available Internet network point after five minutes of searching, it defaults to
Mesh Network 1, which enables your XO laptop to connect to other nearby XO laptops.
Please be patient; it can take your XO up to five minutes to find a good connection.
Related links

Wifi Connectivity
WPA manual setting
Cleaning and caring for your XO
While your XO is tough, you should try to keep your XO dry and clean and avoid dropping it or stepping or
sitting on it. If it gets dirty, wipe it with a damp cloth and dry it. It can survive an occasional accidental
soaking in a rain storm, but don't dip it all the way into water.
The XO laptop has no hard drive to crash and only two internal cables, so it is less likely to fail than other
laptops. For added robustness, the XO's plastic walls are thicker than the standards for other laptops. Its
green mesh network antennas, or "bunny ears," double as external covers for the USB ports, which are
protected internally as well. Internal bumpers protect the screen display by offering cushioning.
Updating and maintaining your XO
You might want to update all the software on your XO laptop when a new version of the software is
released. It takes about 30 minutes, and you can use the following instructions to install all new updates
without losing any data. Refer to wiki.laptop.org for the most recent version number and for information
about updates and reasons for updating. For example, the version that shipped on early Give 1 Get 1
XOs was 650 but it did not support certain wireless settings, so you could use this procedure to update to
version 656.
To determine what version your XO currently contains, go to the Journal, and then press ctrl + alt + the
Group View key (three dots) simultaneously from your Journal. In the output, look for the number after the
word build. This example shows build 653:
OLPC build 653[/B] (stream ship.2; variant devel_jffs2) Kernel 2.6.22-20071121.7.olpc.af3dd731d18bc39
on an i586 xo-0D-39-78 Login: To return to the Home View, press ctrl + alt + the Home View keys
simultaneously.
1. Plug the AC adapter into your XO and plug the adapter into an electrical outlet for constant
power.
2. Connect to the Internet by going to the Neighborhood View if necessary. If you cannot connect
to the Internet, see the Tips section below.
3. Open the Terminal Activity.
terminalactivity
1. Log in as root by typing su - l (lower case L, not the number one) and then press enter.
su -l
1. Next, in the Terminal Activity, type:

olpc-update -rv <version-number>
ex.: olpc-update -rv 653
1. When the process is complete, the XO restarts and the update is complete.
Tips
If you cannot connect to the Internet with your XO, you can still update by connecting to the Internet
from another computer and downloading the latest image from http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OS_images.
Copy the image files to your USB device. Insert your USB device into your XO. Launch the Terminal
Activity and type:
olpc-update --usb
If your new software does not seem to work correctly, you can revert to the older version by holding
down the O key on the game pad (between the right speaker and the power button) when you next
turn on the XO.
If you are upgrading because you have a version that does not support WiFi Protected Access
(WPA) but that is your home Internet connection, you might want to access public wireless to
connect to the Internet for an online upgrade, such as at a T-Mobile hotspot or a local libary.
This process may take more than 30 minutes.
As of build 703, which should be available in April 2008, you must install Activities separately from
the Sugar operating system. If you update to build 703, refer to the Release Notes on
wiki.laptop.org for more information: Update.1 release notes.
Maintenance updates to the XO software
Periodically, such as every month or so, you can update the XO's system files without doing a complete
update as described above.
1. Connect to the Internet.
2. Open the Terminal Activity.
3. Log in as a root super user by typing:
su -l
and then press enter.
1. Run a yum update by typing
yum - y update
and then press enter.

1. Exit being logged in as super user by typing
exit
and then press enter.
1. Click Stop in the Terminal Activity to stop the Terminal Activity and return to the Home View.
Personalizing your XO
When you start your XO, you'll see a small O on top of an X. This symbol represents you when you use
your XO. Click this person symbol to choose colors that you like best.
After the initial startup, you can change the name, colors, language, time zone, and other settings of your
XO by using sugar-control-panel commands in the Terminal Activity. Sugar is the operating system for the
XO. It organizes the systems that run the clock, activates the Activities, and store the Journal entries. The
Terminal Activity runs text-based commands for your XO instead of the Sugar graphical commands.
To change the name of your XO
1. Start the Terminal Activity by clicking the Terminal Activity icon from the Home view.
2. To change the name of the XO, click next to the prompt and then type the following command:
sugar-control-panel -s nick newname
where the newname is the name you want for your XO.
1. Press enter to run the command, and then press ctrl+alt+erase to restart Sugar.
To change the colors of your XO icon
1. Start the Terminal Activity by clicking the Terminal Activity icon from the Home view.
2. Select your colors from the table of XO icon images at Media:Buddy-Icon-Color-Matrix.pdf.
3. Type the following command to change the colors:
sugar-control-panel -s color outlinecolor fillcolor outlineshading
fillshading
1. Press enter to run the command, and then press ctrl+alt+erase to restart Sugar. The XO's new
color selections appear when you restart.
The available outline and fill colors are:

red
orange
yellow
green
blue
purple
The available shading settings are:
dark
medium
light
Tips
Refer to Sugar_Control_Panel for a continually updated list of, and reference information about, the
command options (such as a list of available language settings).
Type " sugar-control-panel -h language " to get a list of all the available language settings.
Complete view of possible colors are also available via XO_colors.
Avoiding loss of your XO
Although your XO handle is sturdy enough for you to carry your XO by itself, you may want to put your
XO in a bag with a shoulder strap for easier carrying. When you first start the XO, if a school server is
available, it registers with your school's server to give you additional storage for pictures or stories that
you make. Also, to ensure that no one other than you can use your XO, the XO sends a security code
that lets officials track down your XO if needed.
Keeping information in the Journal
Use the Journal to view a collection of all your past Activities on the laptop. To open the Journal, click the
notebook-and-pencil Journal icon at the bottom of the Activity Circle on the Home View... or press the
magnifying-glass key near the top left corner of the keyboard.
Each time you use an activity, the Journal stores a record calling your work by the activity name, such as
"Write Activity" or "TurtleArt Activity." (The stored results of an activity session are sometimes called
"files.")

You can give an activity session a more specific name when you Exit from the activity, or by editing its
listing in the Journal. A more specific name might be the name of the person in a Record photo, a title for
your latest Draw artwork, or a phrase describing your last Write activity.
From the Journal, you can search past activities by keyword and sort by activity or date.
Clicking on an entry in the Journal brings up a detail page where you can add or edit a Description of the
activity, add keyword "Tags", delete, copy or resume the activity. To resume, click on the square in the
top right corner of the screen, then on the activity icon beneath the word "Resume." The other icons on
the top of the screen are Copy (to the clipboard), Erase (from the Journal and from the computer's
memory), and Go back (to the Journal list).
The Journal also lets you work with external media. When you plug a USB memory device or SD memory
card into the XO, an icon representing the device appears at the bottom of the Journal. Click on the USB
icon to see the content. You can also drag and drop Journal entries onto or off of a USB key.
Related links
Journal_Activity with screen images
OLPC Trial-2 Software Release Notes#Journal and Datastore
Journal
OLPC Human Interface Guidelines/The Laptop Experience/The Journal
Journal and Overlays
Educational activity guidelines#The Journal
Tests/Journal
Journal/Specifications
542 Demo Notes#Journal
Copying the XO contents (backing up)
Your XO will automatically copy items from the Journal to your school server, which provides a way to
"back up" your information. This "back up" process means that if you ever lost a song or image or story
that you wrote, you can get it back (recover it) from your school server and put it on your XO laptop. If you
think you have lost something, ask your teacher to run the backup-restore command.
If you needed to replace your XO laptop with a new one for some reason, then your teacher can follow
these instructions for copying all of your songs or stories or other files.

1. (optional) Insert a teacher USB key into laptop, which identifies the administrator for the school
server. If a teacher USB key is present, you do not have to enter a password for the restore
command.
2. Press Ctrl+Alt+F2 (F2 is also called the Group view key).
3. Log in using the root username and password.
4. At the command line, type
identity-restore "nickname"
5. If a teacher USB key isn't present, you must enter the password for the xoreg user on the
school server.
6. Return to the Sugar console by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F4 (F4 is also called the Activity view key).
Also, in the Journal, you can click the Backup tab and if your laptop is registered to a school server, the
XO laptop will copy your files to the school server.
Related links Trial1 Backup
Conserving disk space
Your XO laptop can store a limited number of files on its 1 GB flash disk drive. You should maintain your
XO so that it does not run out of storage space for new files. You can delete some items by using the
Journal Activity.
To clear out space for more files:
1. Go to the Home view and click the Journal icon.
2. Look for files that you can delete, such as old files or large files that you have copied to another
location.
1. In general, video and audio media files and some PDF files or e-books are larger than
individual Write activity files or still photographs.
2. The Browse activity may download more than one copy of a PDF or media file if you
do not realize you have already downloaded it. Delete duplicates to save space
3. Select a file by clicking on its wide bar. This will give you a preview of the activity or file. If you
want to delete it, click the Erase button (minus sign). If you want to resume using it, click on the
large box on the right.
Charging the XO battery

Your XO needs power to run. Power is electricity, and there are two ways for your XO to get it: from its
battery or from a power cord. A fully charged battery should run your XO laptop for about three hours.
Using Battery Power
Your battery is like a suitcase for electricity. When you first get your XO, the suitcase is empty, so you
need to fill it up. That means you have to store some electricity in your battery before you can travel away
from a cord.
The battery icon does not indicate the number of hours or minutes remaining for the XO to run. Instead,
the icon displays a percentage of the battery life remaining.
The battery is attached to the underside of your XO.
Here's how to charge up the battery:
1. Plug the power cord into your XO.
2. Plug the other end of the power cord into the nearest power source, such as your school's
generator. A car battery may also be used, with the proper voltage adapter.
Plugging in your XO
You can use your XO when you're charging the battery or when you have a good source for power. For
power sources, you can use the generator supplied by the OLPC Project to your school or another source
of electricity.
When to charge the battery
Hovering over the battery
The battery icon fills with color, showing you the current charge, or amount of power in the suitcase. Move
the cursor over the battery icon to see more information. Also, when the battery is charging, the battery
light displays color from yellow to green. A red light tells you that the battery is running low and that you
should charge it soon.
Removing / Replacing the battery

Removing and replacing the battery
You shouldn't need to remove the battery, unless it is faulty.
To remove the battery:
1. Switch off the XO.
2. Close the lid, and turn the XO over, so that the XO logo appears on the underside.
3. Slide the right-hand side catch further to the right. It will remain in place.
4. Slide the left-hand side catch further to the left. Note that this catch is spring loaded -- you must
hold it in the desired position.
5. Lift the battery out from the central indentation between the two catches.
To replace the battery:
1. Line up the four notches on the battery with the long edge furthest from the catches.
2. Drop the battery into place.
3. Slide the left-hand side catch to the left, and press the battery gently into place.
4. Slide the right-hand side catch to the right, to lock the battery in place.
Related links
Hardware specification#Battery
Power Management
Hardware specification
Battery and power
Battery Charging
Activities
Learning is hard fun. —Seymour Papert
You can play with your XO laptop while you learn with it. There are plenty of Activities that are fun
to play with while learning.
Chat

Chat Activity
You can use your XO laptop to tell other people about your life, writing stories, taking pictures,
writing music, and sharing any of those things with others. You can share by showing someone
the screen in person, or you can share by sending files to other people. Your teacher also
probably has ideas about how to share and collaborate with your classmates and your family to
help you learn from others.
To start Chat, click the Chat icon either in the Neighborhood View or in the Activities toolbar
.
Advertise your Chat by clicking "Share with neighborhood", or invite specific people in the
Neighborhood View to join your Chat with "Invite".
Type text to tell your XO friends about your journey to school or about your favorite animal.
You can save the text from a Chat conversation by clicking the Journal (where it says Keep).
If you want to search for a previous conversation, use the Journal.
Browse

Browse Activity
Your XO gives you tools to explore the world from where you sit. When you are connected to the
network, you can read web pages from the Internet.
Browse the Internet using a web browser.
View the source of web pages by pressing Ctrl-U.
See what's happening in the world with the News Reader.
Play video and sounds.
Write
Write Activity

Express yourself.
Make a diary to record your life experiences.
Write a poem or one hundred poems.
Compose a letter for someone you've never met.
Describe things you see, or imagine.
Create your own world or how you'd like our world to be.
Name your writing.
The "Activity" tab lets you name whatever you write.
If you don't name something, it will be called "Write Activity" in the Journal list.
You can write many diary entries, letters, poems or other documents. All of their names will
show up in the Journal.
A name can summarize or describe what you have written. A name can be made of words or
numbers.
In a diary, you might make today's date the name of today's writing.
If you are writing a letter, you might name it "letter to..." plus the name of the person you
are writing to, and maybe the subject of the letter. Example: "to Walter about magical little
green computer."
Poems might be named with their first word or two, or you could give them titles.
Creating your own world? Give its places and people their own names.
Explore advanced features.
The "Text" tab allows you to change font styles and colors
Keyboard shortcuts are faster than using the menus -- ctrl-x is cut, ctrl-c is copy, ctrl-v is paste.
There are many more.
The laptop's cut-and-paste works between activities -- text you copy while using the Browse
activity can be pasted into a Write activity page.
The "Tables" tab allows you to divide a page into boxes -- a two-box (1x1) table divides the
page into two columns; a 7x5 table could be used for a month-long calendar.
Try this: Use a table to practice typing or writing... Make a 1x1 table. Using the Browse
activity and the ctrl-c (copy) and ctrl-v (paste) keys, paste some practice text into the left
box -- maybe a news story or a poem you like. Click in the other box, then practice typing
a copy of the the text you pasted. While you type, notice how the original author formed
words, phrases and sentences.

Related pages: Write
Record
Record Activity
Use this activity to record your voice with the built-in microphone, or take pictures or video with the
built-in camera. Speak to your XO while recording, and a built-in microphone and stereo speakers
let you record and play back your voice or music recordings. With an external microphone and
speaker jacks, you can turn your XO into a portable music player or speech recorder.
Take a photo by clicking the eye icon.
Record sounds by clicking the Record tab, and then clicking Audio. Click the lips icon to start
recording your voice or any sounds nearby.
Switch to the Journal Activity to see thumbnails representing your pictures or videos or sound
recordings.
Related links
Educational activity guidelines#Camera
Capture
B1-demo-notes#Using the camera
EAG Additional Features: Microphone and Speakers
OLPC Human Interface Guidelines/The Sugar Interface#Camera
OLPC Human Interface Guidelines/The Sugar Interface/Input Systems#Camera
OLPC Human Interface Guidelines/The Sugar Interface/Input Systems#Microphone and
Speakers

OLPC Human Interface Guidelines/The Sugar Interface#Microphone and Speakers
Draw
Draw Activity
Express yourself through drawing. You can draw freehand using the paintbrush and pencil
tools.
Related links
Draw
TamTam

TamTam Jam Activity
Use TamTam to make or play music and have fun.
TamTam Mini is a simple starting point for playing music
TamTam Edit is where you compose.
SynthLab is where you design complex sounds.
TamTam Jam is where you perform your music.
Choose different instruments and right-click to assign a key to the track.
Press a key in the Q row to play a sound (such as Q to N).
Click the Play button to start a beat and then use the slider to speed up or slow
down the tempo.
Change the dynamics with louder or quieter sounds.
Use the stored sounds or create your own.
Share your creations with friends or play music with friends.
Related links
TamTam:How to use TamTam1
TamTam
TamTam: Sounds
TamTam Edit
TamTam:Interaction
Software Release Notes#TamTam
542 Demo Notes#TamTam
Software projects#Tam-Tam .28Audio Creation Environment.29
EToys