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[Grampa]

I'm not that familiar with linux either, but this looks like it's a problem with your internet connection. Normally your DNS server would need to resolve snapshot.opera.com to an IP address, and that didn't happen. Make sure you can browse the web first, then try again.

[Bubbles]

Thanks, and you were right: I wasn't online. 

Now here's my other question:  now that i've downloaded and installed Opera, I click on the icon and get nothing but a blank grey screen.  Why?  Should I try and install it again?  I've done that twice to no avail.  Others here seem to have conquered this, but I'm still stuck.  Any suggestions?

Also, what is the difference (if there is one) between "console" and "terminal"?  Both have been mentioned here and I'm wondering if they're the same thing.

 

[eclare99]

I got as far as Kernel 2.6.22-20071121.7olpc.af3dd 731d18bc39on an 1506

and then        xo-10-B2-c7 login

and then I lost my place! and I cannot browse at all now.

Does anyone know what I do next. I am following the instructions at the very beginning of this post.

[Grampa]

Bubbles, I assume you installed Opera as an activity -- i.e., you are trying to call it from the Sugar frame. Did you reboot your XO after installing? I think you need to do that. Also, does the "blank" grey screen have an address bar? Perhaps you need to go to a web address.

Terminal is the command line application that you run from within Sugar. Console is very similar, except that you call it with alt-ctl-neighborhood, and you get a black screen with very tiny type. Think back, if you're old enough, to when Windows used to run on top of DOS. You could have DOS, or you could have a DOS window running on your Windows desktop. I believe that's what is happening here, but I don't know for sure.

eclare99, I'm afraid I can't help you.

[eclare99]

tx Grampa!

Bubbles, I assume you installed Opera as an activity -- i.e., you are trying to call it from the Sugar frame. Did you reboot your XO after installing? I think you need to do that. Also, does the "blank" grey screen have an address bar? Perhaps you need to go to a web address.

Terminal is the command line application that you run from within Sugar. Console is very similar, except that you call it with alt-ctl-neighborhood, and you get a black screen with very tiny type. Think back, if you're old enough, to when Windows used to run on top of DOS. You could have DOS, or you could have a DOS window running on your Windows desktop. I believe that's what is happening here, but I don't know for sure.

eclare99, I'm afraid I can't help you.

Yes, I have the black screen with very tiny type, and I was doing just fine until I "lost my place".....................here are the instructions I was following, and I about 3/4 of the way through........................:

"Hit the enter key after each bold entry. Wait for the prompt to reappear before going to the next step.


- Hit ctl-alt-neighborhood to get to the console.

- at login type: root

- at password you don't need to type anything. I thought it would be good to add a little security by way of a root password, so I typed in a password and followed the prompts until I'd typed it properly twice.

- at the bash prompt type the line in bold below. It goes to the opera site and gets the olpc files in a compressed tarball (yes, that's a technical term) and downloads it into the xo. It takes a while, but you get a nice ascii progress indicator.
      wget http://snapshot.opera.com/unix/olpc-544/opera-9.12-20070122.10-static-qt.i386-en-544.tar.bz2

- uncompress the file with this command:
      tar xvf opera-9.12-20070122.10-static-qt.i386-en-544.tar.bz2

- install the file. I didn't have any luck with the directions as shown in the link. I simply typed:
       ./install.sh

- now install the file needed to have opera show up in sugar. First you have to get to the activities folder. At the prompt type: cd /usr/share/activities

- download the files by typing:
    wget http://people.opera.com/howcome/2007/olpc/opera-activity.tar.gz

- uncompress by typing: tar xvzf opera-activity.tar.gz

- get out of console by hitting ctl+alt+home (circle with the small dot at the top left of the keyboard)

- restart sugar by hitting ctl+alt+erase

- find opera in the activities menu and browse."

[Grampa]

eclare99,

I did this using Terminal, not Console, but I don't see why it couldn't be done either way (except that I can't read the screen in Console  .)

As I understand it, you got as far as successfully uncompressing the file. Did you see it uncompress? The screen usually shows when the tar command is successful.

The next step is to install the file using the shell command (sh). You say you didn't have any luck. What was the error message?

You then typed "./install.sh"? I've got to go back and look at those instructions, but at first glance, that looks wrong.

How did you leave it? If the last successful step was to uncompress the file, you should be able to go back in (using Terminal this time, not Console -- fewer typos) and run the installation command.

Edit: I just went back and looked at the instructions. Did you change directories before giving the install command? I don't believe those instructions said to do it, but you need to. Take a look at the instructions here: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Opera. Further down on the page they give the instructions for installing from a tarball. You should use those, since you have apparently already downloaded the file. If not, use the rpm method.

[eclare99]

tx so much Grandpa! I think I much prefer "Terminal", and I would like to start again, using the instructions you suggested:

"Take a look at the instructions here: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Opera."

On my Terminal screen, I have [olpc@x-10-B2-C7~}$  (+ a little square)...............

My question is, is there a way of deleting all the files from the black screen (i.e. Console)..................or can I just leave them there, and start over again..................
also, what about what is written on my Terminal screen.............is there a way to delete that?

(I guess you can tell, I'm no techie!)...........might have to go and get help from the geeksquad.............. tia, Clare

[g1g1greg]

Has anybody tried installing the latest version of Opera (9.25)?  I was prompted on my XO laptop when Opera started up to download the latest version.  I didn't because I didn't want to ruin anything haha.  I wonder if the latest version improves flash video performance?

[thepete]

Greg, I don't think Opera will have any effect on how well the Flash plugin plays videos. 

eclare99, Grampa's 100% right--Terminal is just as good as Console, as far as I know.  I'm a relative newb when it comes to Linux as well, but I'm clear that both are just different versions of the same app, ultimately.  Please someone correct me if I'm wrong.

[robby]

>putting programs on USB drive

Are there any linux-newbie instructions around for how to do that? I'm thinking back to my DOS days when you had to tweak the "path" for the OS to find program components and data... or isn't that an issue with Linux?

[olpc_franco]

robby,

Not clear.  Do you want to do a new install or move what is on the onboard chip to a usb?

[robby]

(Unrelated to my previous item about using USB memory)

I installed Opera a couple of weeks ago despite being  Linux novice... and finally got around to finding a "Del.icio.us this" bookmark plugin last week. Sorry, but I'm not a usual Opera user and didn't keep track of where or how I installed it.

It worked fine for a few days, a perfect solution to the XO browser's lack of a normal bookmark function, especially since I already use Del.icio.us from the office etc.

Unfortunately, a few days ago I launched Opera and noticed the Del.icio.us link was gone. (It had been in the upper left corner of the screen, atop the Opera menu.)

I don't know if this is related, but yesterday I went to start the XO and there was no Journal. Applications would blink and not launch. I found instructions on the OLPC Wiki to update the system from 650 to 653, and that seems to have been a success.
(http://www.olpchelp.org/forums/showthread.php?p=632)

However, now Opera doesn't load properly -- just a gray screen on launch.

So, finally, my question: Should I uninstall Opera somehow before I try a reinstall? If so, what do I rm where? Like I said, Linux newbie...

[robby]

robby,

Not clear.  Do you want to do a new install or move what is on the onboard chip to a usb?

Either one. No immediate need for it here, but if I wanted to install Firefox, could its files go on an SD card or USB stick?

(Sorry for gumming up the thread with an unrelated question right after the last one)

[olpc_franco]

It can go on anything that fits into those handy little holes.  I have use the SD card, usb pen drives, a 120Gb external usb hard drive, and a 40GB Simpletech pocket usb. hard drive.  I prefer the latter because it hold so much more than a pen drive.

[Grampa]

Clare, I'm away from home (delivering XOs to my grandsons), so I really can't give your question the time it requires. I don't quite understand what you are trying to do. Are you trying to delete what is written on the screen (and if so, why)? Or are you trying to delete the files you already downloaded?

If you downloaded and extracted the compresses files, but did not install them (it's still not clear to me how far you got last time), then you should be able to start over without any harm. It will use up a bit more space than necessary,but you should be able to find and delete the uninstalled file later.

If you start over, I recommend using the rpm method described in the wiki instructions.

PS -- when starting Terminal, you need to click on the screen before it will accept typing input.