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[jdebay]

THANKS TO ALL...

I just read all 10 pages. I liked xfce4 so much installed on top of PCLinuxOS and PCGnomeOS. My favorite is e17. But for everyday this fine.

It took me all day to download the compressed file. I can put up my desktop at night when I am home to seed. I have a highspeed connect and can upload at 200kbs. I can seed it...

As a thankyou to all olpc users that need this file.

If yes, then send me an email to jdebay at yahoo dot com.

I can put it most nights from 7pm eastern till 11pm.

Again thanks to all.

j 

[quixote]

snakieee:  if your network says "open" that means there is no encryption being used on it.  So you don't need wpa files.  What you should do is run iwconfig [wireless-interface-designation].  Run it under ubuntu and write down the results or pipe it to a file: eg
iwconfig [e. g. eth4] > /home/olpc/ubuntu-wifi-settings.txt

then that should show up in your home directory (assuming it's "olpc") on your ubuntu partition (usb or sd card)

Then boot into sugar, wait for the wireless to connect just to be sure it does, open a terminal, and run the same command.  (iwconfig [e. g. eth4] > /home/olpc/sugar-wifi-settings.txt )  That will show up in your sugar home drive on the xo's internal memory.

[tangomike]

snakieee

First of all, my wifi connects as 'open' BUT requires a key for WEP encryption.

Now, I have XFCE4 installed as an alternative user interface to Sugar. wifi-radar works fine there. In XFCE plus Xubuntu it doesn't connect nor does the NetworkManager (the lttle icon down in the right corner of the desktop). I can connect using the following:

___________________________________________________

How to manually configure networking - Xubuntu at home

Note: Do not try this unless you really know what you are doing. That said, this is the only way I was able to connect.

First, switch to root:

su - root

Next, disable networkmanager:

/etc/init.d/NetworkManager stop

Next make network come up:

ifconfig eth3 192.168.0.3 up

Next, maybe try scanning for wifi networks:

iwlist eth3 scan

Find one you like and connect:

iwconfig eth3 essid Mynet
iwconfig eth3 key AB123456DE
iwconfig eth3 channel 11
iwconfig eth3 mode managed
iwconfig eth3 ap 00:12:34:56:78:90

And create a default gateway

route add default gw 192.168.0.1

And some dns servers:

vi /etc/resolv.conf

And inside:

search phub.net.cable.rogers.com
nameserver 64.71.255.198


If every thing is correct, you have connected manually.

_______________________________________________________

[mufasis]

ive gone through and done the instruction now like 3 times exactly how its suppost to be done and i keep getting this error on startup:

boot device: /usb/disk:\boot\olpc.fth arguments:
<buffer@ff838c61>:0: Unrecognized program format

im using build 656 and firmware q2d07. also if i dont hold the square button down as i have it setup in the olpc.fth it still tries to boot from the usb.

[thepete]

OK, FINALLY, I got Xubuntu running!

However, my feeling of triumph was tempered almost immediately when I tried *using* Xubuntu.  For starters, the touchpad is unusable.  I've been using laptops with some sort of built in pointing device for years.  The old HUGE Kensington track ball I do have is more than half the size of the XO's keyboard.  So, that's not going to work.  So, that's a pain--I would have liked to have known that just getting it running wasn't enough.  I'm hoping Quixote can pass on some wisdom.  Or perhaps Moocapean?

Another however is that I can't *find* the Internet/network settings.  This is definitely where Sugar has Xubuntu beat.

A third however is that when I tried to edit my xorg.conf file in the included text editor, it couldn't see the SD card the OS was running from.  When I went to open a file, it only showed me /home/olpc/  Is this normal?

I apologize if these questions have been answered elsewhere in this thread.  It's 3:46am and I just wanted to post my thoughts really quickly.

Thanks Moocapean for your instructions--following them meticulously with a camera on (so I could playback moments where I thought I may have made a mistake) was what I needed to do.  I wish I had thought of the video camera earlier since previously, my XO did not respond as well as it did tonight.  I think cameras must scare off the gremlins that live in my computers.

OK, I really need to crash now.

[moocapiean]

OK, FINALLY, I got Xubuntu running!

Glad to hear you finally succeeded and that you didn't give up!  Unfortunately, the "fun" isn't quite over it seems, but hopefully these will be quicker to solve...

However, my feeling of triumph was tempered almost immediately when I tried *using* Xubuntu.  For starters, the touchpad is unusable.  I've been using laptops with some sort of built in pointing device for years.  The old HUGE Kensington track ball I do have is more than half the size of the XO's keyboard.  So, that's not going to work.  So, that's a pain--I would have liked to have known that just getting it running wasn't enough.  I'm hoping Quixote can pass on some wisdom.  Or perhaps Moocapean?

Quixote has a thread about this problem (I think, you don't actually say what your problem is): The trackpad is killing me! Help! (Ubuntu+xfce).  The secret seems to be using xset to change the sensitivity and make sure you're using the q2d07 firmware (you should be if you never upgraded the firmware).

If your problem is a tiny mouse, CatMoran solved (I think, I don't know if this takes care of the mouse too) this problem over in the Xfce thread.

Another however is that I can't *find* the Internet/network settings.  This is definitely where Sugar has Xubuntu beat.

I'm surprised more people don't have this problem.  There's a small icon in the right-hand corner of the bottom panel.  Well, it'll be towards the center a little because the desktop switcher is in the corner.  Anyway, I installed NetworkManager to take care of most networking needs.  You should be able to click on it to view all the wireless networks in the area.

A third however is that when I tried to edit my xorg.conf file in the included text editor, it couldn't see the SD card the OS was running from.  When I went to open a file, it only showed me /home/olpc/  Is this normal?

Hmm, are you sure it couldn't see the SD card?  The Ubuntu installation has your home directory set to /home/olpc, which is on the SD card (or USB drive).  What happened when you tried to get to and open /etc/X11/xorg.conf in Mousepad?

Out of curiosity, what are you changing?

I apologize if these questions have been answered elsewhere in this thread.  It's 3:46am and I just wanted to post my thoughts really quickly.

With 11 pages to read through in this thread, and various other potentially relevant threads, it's understandable that you'd miss some of them.

Thanks Moocapean for your instructions--following them meticulously with a camera on (so I could playback moments where I thought I may have made a mistake) was what I needed to do.  I wish I had thought of the video camera earlier since previously, my XO did not respond as well as it did tonight.  I think cameras must scare off the gremlins that live in my computers.

The camera's a nice idea.  I have a feeling it didn't scare away the gremlins permanently though.  I'm sure they'll come up with a new strategy soon .

[quixote]

Hi Pete! 

Yeah, moocapiean's given the answers I would have given, only more and better!

The touchpad problem you're describing is exactly what I had using the q2d10 firmware.  The G1G1 laptops come with q2d06.  Given that you've been upgrading the build to the joyrides and back, are you absolutely sure you don't have q2d10 on there?

I filed a bug report re the q2d10 - touchpad issue, and received a quick, informative answer that they were aware of the issue, will be resolving it, and for now the fix is to downgrade to q2d07.

-------

Re people's networking issues: sometimes it takes a couple of tries, but I've always connected via the network-manager-applet -- the little red knot-looking icon in the corner.  Connecting manually is a royal pain.  I hope you folks get it working soon one way or the other!

[CatMoran]

If your problem is a tiny mouse, CatMoran solved (I think, I don't know if this takes care of the mouse too) this problem over in the Xfce thread.

Sorry, installing the ContrastLarge cursor set only fixes the problem of eyestrain while tracking the mouse cursor.

[thepete]

Hmm, OK--how do I downgrade the firmware?  I'm almost positive I'm on q2d10 (I think)--I don't know how to check.  When I was still on a Joyride build there was a handy "about this XO" tab on the main home-screen popup menu that I really don't understand why they don't implement normally.  I've had to do a clean install of Sugar, which gave me (I believe) 659.  Regardless, I'm pretty sure I've upgraded the firmware from 7, like Quixote said.

As for the network stuff, I'll check it out the next time I boot into Xubuntu.

Hey, shouldn't it be XObuntu?

And the completely unusable trackpad is my problem   Tap-to-click is the bane of my existence. 

Thanks for your help, Moocapiean, Quixote, Cat and everyone else!!

When I find some time I'll cut together my Not-How-To video that will show just what kind of mess I went through last night   It wasn't as bad as the time I corrupted my SugarOS install.  Or the other time I corrupted my SugarOS install. O_O

[thepete]

OK, I've found instructions on how to work out which firmware I'm on and it's definitely 10.  Trying to downgrade is proving to be difficult.  For some reason my battery isn't charging to 100% despite being plugged in for several hours.

I found:
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_Firmware_q2d07

It says to upgrade to 07, you need to have full battery power and be plugged into the wall.  If neither happen, it won't allow the FW to upgraded.  Of course, I'm assuming I just follow the "upgrade" instructions to downgrade back to 07.  Please correct me if I'm mistaken.

[mufasis]

anyone have anymore updates regarding this error:

ive gone through and done the instruction now like 3 times exactly how its suppost to be done and i keep getting this error on startup:

boot device: /usb/disk:\boot\olpc.fth arguments:
<buffer@ff838c61>:0: Unrecognized program format

im using build 656 and firmware q2d07. also if i dont hold the square button down as i have it setup in the olpc.fth it still tries to boot from the usb.

[linuxspice]

[Originally posted privately to mufasis, but decided to re-post it here in shortened form because other people may be having the same problem.  His olpc.fth file started with a single "\" rather than a full comment line such as "\ Boot file", which results in a very subtle problem - read on.]
-----

I'm guessing the main problem is the first line of your olpc.fth file, the single "\" followed immediately by a return character.

Usually this would be a perfectly fine comment line for the beginning of a Forth file.  However, for olpc.fth this first line must start with a "\ " - i.e., a backslash followed by a space character.  So a single "\" won't work, but a line such as "\ My olpc.fth file" will.  (I remember finding this out while examining the firmware code for something else.)

One of the firmware developers apparently invented this "convention" to allow the olpc.fth file to contain either a real Forth script or a straight-up binary executable.  If the firmware finds a "\ " (backslash, space) at the beginning of the olpc.fth file, it will treat it as a real Forth script, otherwise it will treat it as a binary executable.  This is probably why you're getting the "unrecognized program format" message - because the second character in the file isn't a space, the firmware decides it must be a binary executable instead, and then gets confused when it doesn't act like one.  (I personally think the "\-space" convention is unsatisfactory because it can fail even with a perfectly legitimate Forth file, resulting in needless confusion and hair-pulling, but oh well.)

Please let me know if this solves your problem...

-----

[Updated:  Softened language somewhat regarding my opinion of the "\-space" convention; my original language was a bit too harsh.  I'm a software developer too and understand how time pressures can cause even the best coders to cut corners occasionally.]

[quixote]

thepete: yes, you downgrade exactly the same way you upgrade the firmware, just as you thought.  (For others: instructions for manual firmware flash: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Manual_Firmware_Install toward the bottom.)

Maybe, to get the battery to stop fussing you could unplug the machine, take the battery out, count to ten or so before putting back in, and then plug back in and restart.  Sometimes that works to make all sorts of remembered settings stop backchatting.  (wireless too, for instance.)

[quixote]

Linuxspice: One of the firmware developers apparently invented this "convention" to allow the olpc.fth file to contain either a real Forth script or a straight-up binary executable.

Wow.  That is subtle.  Like something straight out of Ye Olden Days when the absolute top priority was to minimize typing (which, way back before time began, was because you had to fit everything in 4K). 

I can see why you wanted to use bad language!  That's the sort of thing that would have everyone banging their heads into a flat shape on their desks.

[mufasis]

hey thanks alot linuxspice your fix worked and that was the cause of the problem! if anyone is having that error that fix will do it!