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[rgordon]

My daughter doesn't really understand the concept of selecting shutdown from the main page, so she usually just powers it off.  Will this damage the file system and flash memory? Does the XO use a journaling file system like reiserfs?

[Heng]

I think it uses jffs2. That should be quite robust, but a proper shutdown is always preferable, even on reiserfs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jffs2

[Roto]

Yes, it uses a journaled file system and there should be no danger of getting the filesystem into an inconsistent state by holding the power button to turn it off.  However, journaling just prevents against filesystem corruption; it's still possible to confuse/corrupt the operating system, configuration, or applications or lose data by not shutting down cleanly.

The first software update should include power management and pressing the power button briefly will put the laptop into sleep mode.  If your daughter can learn to do this instead of holding the power button down to turn it off, it will be better for the laptop, with the added benefit that resuming from sleep is practically instantaneous.

[Kelly73]

I'm puzzled, why does the Wiki offer both options if one is not as safe?

http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Support_FAQ#How_do_I_power_off_the_XO_laptop.3F

[Roto]

I'm only speculating, but presumably at one point, pressing the power button briefly invoked a clean shutdown.  Such functionality would have been removed when the sleep function was added, but sleep got pulled from the Ship.2 build.  Note that in the picture, the game buttons still have the PlayStation symbols rather than the relocated circle and checkmark, which suggests it may have been written a while ago.

Note also that it says briefly, which would imply that one doesn't hold it down for several seconds, as is required to do a forced shutdown.