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[RalleyWolf]

I know there was a similar poll posted a while back, but there have been some new developments to come along since then. Like Puppy and Microcore. We have many more options now. So the time has come for a new poll...

I'm just curious to see what people are using and what they like best on the XO.

[kimtoufectis]

Adding a narrative to my vote...

First, it's great that there are so many choices.  I was excited to try out Teapot's work, and enjoyed playing with XtraOrdinary as well (the first time I saw Chrome on the XO).  Mavrothal's work in porting Puppy Linux breaks new ground for me by being compact enough to run in RAM without sacrificing anything dramatic, and being easy enough that a non-techie could play.  For adults in the developed world, these options help us keep xo-1s in use, thus connected to the bigger agenda of a program to put learning tools in the hands of a generation that otherwise would have fewer options.

But keeping that bigger learning agenda in mind, I like keeping Sugar in the mix and so I choose Sugar with the GNOME desktop.  In fact I use the GNOME interface on occasion, but because the folks that created Sugar for OLPC continue its development at SugarLabs, GNOME and other adult-centered alternatives to Sugar seem less important now than a year or so ago.

I find many of the early Sugar annoyances have been overcome in updates.  I like the control panel, easier connection to wifi, and new (or improved) activities...and I want to see where they take us next.  The Dextrose (0.88, 0.90) builds are particularly welcome, offering Browse and Terminal activities with tabs, improved media players, and better Word features to name a few.  Of particular benefit are new activities to better manage the Journal, and the capability to back up and restore the Journal so upgrading via reflashing doesn't mean starting entirely from start.

The SugarLabs folks (who I hope monitor a poll like this!) keep me the most connected with what my G1G1 xo can do in the hands of a child, always the primary audience, and they're doing so without tremendous sacrifice for my typical daily usage of checking email, making an online purchase, keeping up with RSS feeds, and listening to radio.  If I'm using it in a coffee-house and someone asks me about my xo, another Linux desktop is secondary to showing people Measure, Speak, and Record.

So while I sincerely applaud those developing alternatives (and I try out each one my limited computing skills can manage; godspeed to all who stretch what this modest hardware can teach) at the end of the day, my head follows my heart to the reason for the xo in the first place, Sugar.

--Kim

[mavrothal]

Frankly, I'm more interested in the total number of votes!
Last one got 20...

[rbacher]

I just added a vote for microcore (I was vote #2, I am curious who was vote #1).  I have tried sugar, ubuntu, debxo, gnome, tinycore, and microcore on my XO. I wanted a very basic and fast boot OS for a little computer like the XO, and microcore is it. To get a gui I added Xfbdev and jwm, otherwise it's just command line text. It's still very fast. I get a cold boot in 24 seconds. I added options for wifi, wicd and chrome browser. If I put wifi (to my open wifi at home) and chrome into the boot, I can still be up in 34 seconds. That's amazing for an underpowered computer like the XO. I am extremely happy with this set up. I think microcore (with xfbdev and jwm) are perfect for the XO.

[canin]

Adding a narrative to my vote...

First, it's great that there are so many choices.  I was excited to try out Teapot's work, and enjoyed playing with XtraOrdinary as well (the first time I saw Chrome on the XO).  Mavrothal's work in porting Puppy Linux breaks new ground for me by being compact enough to run in RAM without sacrificing anything dramatic, and being easy enough that a non-techie could play.  For adults in the developed world, these options help us keep xo-1s in use, thus connected to the bigger agenda of a program to put learning tools in the hands of a generation that otherwise would have fewer options.

But keeping that bigger learning agenda in mind, I like keeping Sugar in the mix and so I choose Sugar with the GNOME desktop.  In fact I use the GNOME interface on occasion, but because the folks that created Sugar for OLPC continue its development at SugarLabs, GNOME and other adult-centered alternatives to Sugar seem less important now than a year or so ago.
...
--Kim

totally agree!
teapots ubuntu was perfect, puppy linux i dont know but like what i see. still in developement and important as 'the' system is sugar.
got a hang for fedora based systems per my xo, doubt a little to try puppy.

[micko]

  naturally I voted for Puppy ...