- Fedora 10 pre loaded on a 4gb SanDisk Extreme III SD card
- Includes install instructions
- Insert card to run Fedora, remove card to run Sugar.
- Live persistent SD does not overwrite Sugar while still saving changes
Product Features |
Product Description
For adults who may not find the child focused graphical interface
called Sugar practical for daily use, Fedora 10 allows your XO to
behave in a more familiar way.
Fedora arranges your applications and files like traditional Linux, Apple, and Microsoft computing environments. The familiar look and feel reduces the learning curve and utilizes familiar applications.
The 4GB SanDisk Extreme III SD card contains a live and persistent version of the Fedora 10 operating system. This live persistence allows you to save your settings and document without overwriting the pre-installed Sugar operating system.
Turn the XO on with the SD card inserted to use Fedora, without the SD card to use Sugar.
The SD also includes 256 MB of swap space bringing the XO up to 512 MB virtual memory when using Fedora and a 320 MB persistent overlay for saving settings and documents in your home folder.
Fedora arranges your applications and files like traditional Linux, Apple, and Microsoft computing environments. The familiar look and feel reduces the learning curve and utilizes familiar applications.
The 4GB SanDisk Extreme III SD card contains a live and persistent version of the Fedora 10 operating system. This live persistence allows you to save your settings and document without overwriting the pre-installed Sugar operating system.
Turn the XO on with the SD card inserted to use Fedora, without the SD card to use Sugar.
The SD also includes 256 MB of swap space bringing the XO up to 512 MB virtual memory when using Fedora and a 320 MB persistent overlay for saving settings and documents in your home folder.
Product Details
Would you like to give feedback on images? |
Customer Reviews
Share your thoughts with other customers
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
By J. Stanley
You'd think that running a full featured operating system on such a little laptop as the XO would be impossible, right? Wrong! However, it's also important that you approach this with the right expectations.
Admittedly, it is a little slow, however, it performs admirably well given the limited hardware resources available. Don't expect it to be a replacement for your everyday desktop, but for just using say Google when you're on the go, it works admirably well.
What is on this card is a standard desktop LiveCD, with persistent overlay for storing settings and such, however, the overlay is reset at each boot. If you're technically inclined, you can get around this by editing the /boot/olpc.fth on the card and removing reset_overlay near the bottom.
The reason that this was done is that if you fill up the overlay, which is rather small in this instance, bad things will happen and cause the system to become unstable. Just a word of warning so in case you install something and it's not there on the next boot, that's why.
However, most of the information that one wants to keep is in the /home directory, which is stored on the internal flash, so that all of your settings will remain persistent across reboots.
All in all, a very worthwhile product, and I'd like to thank everyone involved in making it happen!
Admittedly, it is a little slow, however, it performs admirably well given the limited hardware resources available. Don't expect it to be a replacement for your everyday desktop, but for just using say Google when you're on the go, it works admirably well.
What is on this card is a standard desktop LiveCD, with persistent overlay for storing settings and such, however, the overlay is reset at each boot. If you're technically inclined, you can get around this by editing the /boot/olpc.fth on the card and removing reset_overlay near the bottom.
The reason that this was done is that if you fill up the overlay, which is rather small in this instance, bad things will happen and cause the system to become unstable. Just a word of warning so in case you install something and it's not there on the next boot, that's why.
However, most of the information that one wants to keep is in the /home directory, which is stored on the internal flash, so that all of your settings will remain persistent across reboots.
All in all, a very worthwhile product, and I'd like to thank everyone involved in making it happen!
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
I have used an XO as my conference computer with good results. I add a small USB keyboard (full-size keys, but no numeric pad) and a trackball. Much lighter than my regular laptop, and it all fits into a smaller bag, but I can surf the Web, take notes, even take pictures. With this full Linux option, many more adults should find the XO worth having and using.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
The first two reviews on this product were published before the product was publicly available. I ordered this product immediately upon release, so my review is probably the first one for the actual shipping product; and it's probably the first for a Linux-newbee. I'm giving this item 4 stars, but this is not an instant gratification product, nor is the FEDORA-based OLPC X0 an ideal alternative to a mainstream computer. I suggest the best way to look at this product is that it gives you an inexpensive way to explore Linux; and once you get the machine set up, you may have a useful little netbook as well.
As is stated in the product review, this is the most recent distribution of Fedora Linux, and this distribution for the OLPC comes on a 4-GB SD card. Since the OLPC only comes with 1 GB of flash memory, just plugging in the card expands the memory 4x. On the card 512 mb is available for swapping and storage according to the documentation, but I haven't confirmed it as a fact. Although the card takes your only SD slot, the OLPC has several USB ports that you can use for thumbdrives etc. Tip: The OLPC's SD slot is hidden under the lid. It is impossible to get to unless you twist the display clear of the base. Once you get access to the card slot, you might find that it takes several attempts to get the card seated properly. On my unit, SD cards are hard to remove, and I had to use pliers to remove the card that I installed when we first got the OLPC.)
In theory, a "live" distribution of Linux should just be "plug and play". In a perfect world, you should just be able to put your SD card in and boot to Fedora Linux. I wish it were that simple. Because of the security measures in the OLPC (necessary,I'm sure), you first have to email for a "developer key". Getting the developer key takes 24 hours. Then, I had problems cutting & pasting it into the command line to unlock the OLPC, so I had to type it in manually, and I made numerous mistakes. After that, I had problems because my software wasn't up to date.
IMPORTANT TIP - If you received your OLPC XO last year in the B1G1 program, YOU NEED TO UPDATE YOUR SUGAR SOFTWARE BEFORE INSTALLING FEDORA 10. If you do it first thing, your installation of Fedora should go a lot more smoothly. It took a long time to get the factory OLPC software updated, but after I did that, Fedora 10 did boot automatically from the SD card. Updating your factory software was the most time-consuming part of getting the machine ready for the Fedora card.
I know nothing about Linux. When Fedora came up, it did not appear to be optimized for the OLPC screen; nevertheless it appeared to be a more-mainstream alternative to OLPC's built-in Sugar desktop. Firefox worked straight away using my home wireless network, however I haven't yet got flash to work :-( I'm working on it. I think I'll get it.
Even though I have encountered a few bumps and haven't come up to full functionality yet; given the low price of the product and the computer it runs on, I'm still giving this product 4 stars. If you want a "plug it in and turn it on" product, this isn't for you (yet). If that's what you want, get a Mac.
As is stated in the product review, this is the most recent distribution of Fedora Linux, and this distribution for the OLPC comes on a 4-GB SD card. Since the OLPC only comes with 1 GB of flash memory, just plugging in the card expands the memory 4x. On the card 512 mb is available for swapping and storage according to the documentation, but I haven't confirmed it as a fact. Although the card takes your only SD slot, the OLPC has several USB ports that you can use for thumbdrives etc. Tip: The OLPC's SD slot is hidden under the lid. It is impossible to get to unless you twist the display clear of the base. Once you get access to the card slot, you might find that it takes several attempts to get the card seated properly. On my unit, SD cards are hard to remove, and I had to use pliers to remove the card that I installed when we first got the OLPC.)
In theory, a "live" distribution of Linux should just be "plug and play". In a perfect world, you should just be able to put your SD card in and boot to Fedora Linux. I wish it were that simple. Because of the security measures in the OLPC (necessary,I'm sure), you first have to email for a "developer key". Getting the developer key takes 24 hours. Then, I had problems cutting & pasting it into the command line to unlock the OLPC, so I had to type it in manually, and I made numerous mistakes. After that, I had problems because my software wasn't up to date.
IMPORTANT TIP - If you received your OLPC XO last year in the B1G1 program, YOU NEED TO UPDATE YOUR SUGAR SOFTWARE BEFORE INSTALLING FEDORA 10. If you do it first thing, your installation of Fedora should go a lot more smoothly. It took a long time to get the factory OLPC software updated, but after I did that, Fedora 10 did boot automatically from the SD card. Updating your factory software was the most time-consuming part of getting the machine ready for the Fedora card.
I know nothing about Linux. When Fedora came up, it did not appear to be optimized for the OLPC screen; nevertheless it appeared to be a more-mainstream alternative to OLPC's built-in Sugar desktop. Firefox worked straight away using my home wireless network, however I haven't yet got flash to work :-( I'm working on it. I think I'll get it.
Even though I have encountered a few bumps and haven't come up to full functionality yet; given the low price of the product and the computer it runs on, I'm still giving this product 4 stars. If you want a "plug it in and turn it on" product, this isn't for you (yet). If that's what you want, get a Mac.
