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.")