1. Access to Information
How will the other 70% get it?
Sameer Verma, Ph.D.
Associate Professor Computer Science Graduate Seminar Series
Information Systems Computer Science Department
Department
San Francisco State University San Francisco State University Unless noted otherwise
San Francisco, CA 94132 USA

2. ~ 70%
http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm

3. Can information flow like water?
http://ltse.env.duke.edu/files/ltse/images/India%20Persian%20wheel%20irrigation%20Ganges%20Plain.jpg

4. A water “battery”.
Can we build information batteries?

5. Viva La Revolución
Can we spark a paradigm shift by providing
equitable access to information all over the world?

6. Somebody is finally thinking of the
children!
To create educational opportunities
for the world's poorest children by
providing each child with a rugged,
low-cost, low-power, connected
laptop with content and software
designed for collaborative, joyful,
self-empowered learning.
—OLPC Mission Statement,
It's an education project, not a laptop
project. —Nicholas Negroponte

7. in the beginning...

8. ooh! laptop!
(July 2007)

9. Give 1 Get 1 – Nov 2007

10. Next thing I know...
De facto organizer for olpc-sf
http://olpcsf.org

11. Where no one has gone [computing]
before...

12. School Galadima, Abuja City, Nigeria
See http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Galadima

13. Samkha village located in the suburbs of northern Thailand
See http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_Thailand/Ban_Samkha

14. Khairat school is India's pilot site.
See http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_India

15. Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Ulaanbaatar

16. Ethopia
http://www.reactivated.net/weblog/archives/2008/10/olpc-ethiopia-updates/

17. Ghana
http://www.flickr.com/photos/olpc/2921143251/

18. Cameroon
http://www.flickr.com/photos/olpc/3110907018/in/set-72157611290673682/

19. Afghanistan refugee camp, Pakistan
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_Pakistan/Atlas_School

20. Colombia
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_Colombia

21. Peru
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_Peru

22. Rwanda
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_Rwanda

23. Iraq
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_Iraq

24. Haiti
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Haiti

25. Solomon Islands
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_Solomon_Islands

26. Nepal
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_Nepal

27. Uruguay: Every primary school child has an XO.
http://olpc-ceibal.blogspot.com/

28. postage stamps too!

29. Deployments worldwide
1.6 million XO laptops and counting See Google Maps
Also see: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Property:Number_of_manufactured_laptops

30. Multiple hats...
Disclaimer: I do not work for OLPC.
I am only a volunteer!

31. OLPC San Francisco Bay Area
http://olpcsf.org/

32. OLPC-SF Deployments
● A hub for exchange of ideas, plans, content, etc.
● Deployments
– Afghanistan (Carol Ruth Silver, MTSA)
– India (Humaira Mahi & Sameer Verma, SFSU)
– Jamaica (Sameer Verma & Univ. of the West Indies)
– Madagascar (June Kleider, XO-ology)
– Senegal (Drew & Lick-Wilmerding Schools)
– South Africa (EduWeavers)
– San Francisco (Starr King Elementary)
– Uganda (UC Berkeley)

34. School environment
Manage content
Manage access
Manage assessment
have
to
good

35. XS: OLPC School Server
The Internet in a Box
(unsung hero too!)

36. What does the XS look like?
Fantasy View

37. What does the XS look like?
Reality View
http://www.flickr.com/photos/popcorncx/149706221/

38. What does the XS look like?
● Any x86 box with requisite memory, crunch and storage can be the
XS.
– It could also be a ARM machine in the near future...
● Ideally, we want a machine that
– Consumes very little power
– Has the necessary crunch
– Portable
● Pocketable, even?
– Very forgiving for power brownouts, heat, dust, etc.
● Kinda like the XO.

39. Services that the XS runs
● Networking
– DNS
– DHCP
– NAT/Masquerading
– Bridging
● Identity management
– Seamless XO login
– Single One Time Password (SOTP) on server
● Activation
– Theft deterrence

40. Services that the XS runs
● Collaboration
– XMPP via ejabberd
● Storage
– Files and attachments for courses
– Backup files
– Other media
● Backup
– Journal/Datastore backup
● XO Software updates
– Push updates including firmware and OS images
● Activity server
– Pushing activity bundles

41. Networking
● Provides networking infrastructure for the school.
● Acts as an Internet gateway (if backhaul exists)
– Includes HTTP proxy (optional)
– Content filter (optional)
● Supports Wi-Fi:
– Ad-Hoc
– Mesh (IEEE 802.11s draft)
– Infrastructure (Access Point)

42. Identity management
● Single One Time Passwords (SOTP) for maintenance.
– Remote ISP maintenance, etc.
● OLPC XO Browse
– authenticates seamlessly with Moodle
– Moodle talks to ejabberd for permissions, etc.
● First XO to access Moodle
– This XO becomes admin.
– This XO can assign other teachers, course creators, and
other such roles

43. Collaboration
● XMPP-based collaboration via ejabberd.
– Ejabberd is a XMPP (jabber) server written in erlang.
● Uses gabble mode under telepathy in Sugar.
– Gabble allows for server-based collaboration
● XOs switch to salut mode in case no XS is found.
– Salut allows for peer-to-peer collaboration
● Activities such as Chat, Write, Memorize use XMPP to collaborate.
http://xmpp.org/
http://collabora.co.uk
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telepathy_software

44. Storage
● Much of the storage lives in /library partition.
– Mount /library on external USB disk or other media and
expand storage.
– Run rest of the system off a CF or SD card (solid state)
● Files can be served as
– links via Moodle
– links via Apache (add Apache config)

45. Backup
● Three processes:
– Traffic control
● provides basic "traffic control" to manage load.
– Backup-complete script
● Creates links for latest snapshot.
– Daily cleanup
● enforces a per-user "soft" quota.

46. Updates
● Pushing updates to OS image and firmware via rsync.

47. Layout (Access Points)

48. Hardware vs Load
Benjamin Tran's Master's thesis:
jmeter to load and and nmon to record the load

49. Hardware recommendations
● Schools with less than 40 laptops:
– use XS-on-XO: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XS-on-XO
– Requires a SD card (4GB, preferably class 6)
– External USB hard drive (may need own power)
– USB-Ethernet for backhaul.

50. Fit PC and Fit PC2
● Fit PC works well and is comparable to the XO-1 in performance.
– More configurable than the XO-1.
– Replace a SSD in the FitPC to make it cooler and more
power efficient.
● http://www.fit-pc.com/fit-pc1/
● Fit PC2 has heat problems.
– Intel Atom runs too hot
● Surprise, surprise.
● Maybe glue on a large heat sink?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ndevil/3535934684/

51. Hardware recommendations
● Schools with up to 100 laptops:
– 1GHz CPU, 1GB RAM,
– at least 2GB disk storage per laptop.
– Something in the mini ITX form-factor works well.
– Fanless units are better

52. Hardware recommendations
● For up to 500 laptops:
– dual-core 2GHz CPU
– 2 to 4GB RAM
– at least 2GB disk storage per
laptop.
– This type of a machine
usually works in
environments with good
power resources.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/popcorncx/149706221/

53. Hardware recommendations
● More than 500 laptops
– Server-class dual CPU
– 4 to 16GB RAM
– at least 2GB disk storage per
laptop.
– Data center hosting is also an
option.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamisonjudd/2433102356/

54. School Server

55. Screenshots
XS Moodle Screen Shots

56. Main page

57. Front page settings

58. Front page roles

59. List of users

60. Roles and permissions

61. Presence service

62. Antitheft controls

63. Add a course

64. Site files

65. Question bank

66. Moving courses
Create in San Francisco...
...deploy in Madagascar!
A zip file, which includes
content and structure for
the entire course!

67. XS: Internet in a box
No Internet? No power? No problem :-)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OLPC_XS
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/School_server

68. OLPC SF Community Summit 2010
October 22, 23, 24, 2010
http://olpcsf.org/CommunitySummit2010/

69. Garima
Garima lives in Bhagmalpur, India.
They get electricity ~ 2 hours a day. The
village has no access to the Internet as yet.
Their school has no computers. The
classrooms are too small to accommodate
the 1100 children who go to school there.
So, the children sit under a tree. One tree
per class.
India just spent Rs. 300 billion
(U$6.77billion) on the Commonwealth
Games.
Will a silly-looking green computer make a
difference? I hope so.
--Sameer

70. Made with the free stuff
Its your intellectual property. Keep it open.
Vote with your fingers.
Use open formats!
http://www.openoffice.org/