In September, I was asked by OLPC and the Fedora Project if my company, On-Disk.com, would like to help make an SD card available with a Fedora-XO build for sale along side Give One Get One at Amazon.com. How could I resist? We've always been fans of OLPC and their mission and have been working with the Fedora Project for a number of years. Sounded like a spectacular use of our time.
Fedora 10 from On-Disk
Now if you think about the reasons someone might want an alternative to the Sugar environment, we could think about what makes something intuitive. If you've never used a traditional computer (Linux, Mac, Microsoft) the chronological nature of the Sugar journal is easy to understand.
However adults who have never used the Journal and expect to find files listed alphabetically and neatly tucked into folder style directories may find the environment a bit frustrating.
Collaboration on the Fedora-XO build started before we were contacted, so I can't give you hard facts about why Fedora was chosen. However, if I had to venture a guess, it's because Fedora has been involved with XO since the beginning. In fact, the Fedora Linux operating system is used to build the XO's operating system.
Ways to get Fedora 10 for the OLPC:
- Preloaded SD Card via Amazon.com
- Preloaded SD Card direct from On-Disk
- Download the Image from Fedora Mirrors
Just keep in mind that while Fedora and OLPC have been working closely on this project, the Fedora 10 SD card is not an OLPC product. It is considered "XO ready" and On-Disk.com will be the first company to use the newly licensed XO ready logo.
Because neither Fedora or OLPC opted to used the SD cards as a fundraiser, the price you'll see for prepared cards is based on cost recovery. In fact, the only organization profiting from the sale of the cards is Amazon.com since they're taking commission on sales made through their website.
The XO build of Fedora 10 will be supported by both On-Disk and Fedora:
- Fedora Project Wiki
- Fedora Forum support and question thread
- On-Disk installtion How To
- OLPC News Fedora 10 for XO Forum
Karlie Robinson is the owner of Webpath Technologies in Rochester NY and is the lead Architect for On-Disk.com Developers Portal and Fedora Sponsored Media Project
You can order the card directly from On-Disk at www.on-disk.com for $33.58.
We purchased one of the new OnDisc Fedora SD cards. We purchased it directly from OnDisc, and it was promptly delivered.
From a non-Linux fellow, it was harder to install than I expected. If you get one, and you have one of last year's G1G1 X0's, ABSOLUTELY make sure that you update your OLPC software before you try to install the Fedora, otherwise, you probably won't get Fedora installed at all, at least not with the instructions given.
My daughter took back her X0 as soon as I got Fedora installed, it seemed like there was some massaging to be done in terms of screen resolution. It locked up once, but Firefox worked and it accessed the wireless network the first time it was fired up. Note to OnDisc: If you could publish some information on optimizing screen appearance, that would be great. For the cost, I think this is a very useful product, and I'm willing to endure some early adopter bugs.
Is it possible to download the image to create your own SD card or pendrive? I didn't find how to...
If you dont want to pay almost $40 and have a spare sd card and a linux computer download fedora 10 live and follow directions here https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/QA/TestPlans/Fedora10_On_XO#Installing_your_SD_card