OLPC XO

[RoboRay]

I've been experimenting with my OLPC XO as a reader for the last few months and was wondering if anyone else is using one as such. A brief search didn't find much here other than a handful of old OLPC posts and lots of commentary on Pixel Qi screens.

I'm running Teapot's modified Ubuntu 8.10 from an SD card and installed FBReader. Responsiveness is great (pages flip instantly), although the long boot times (well over a minute) cause me to rarely shut the thing down unless I'm going to be away from AC power for a while. I normally just turn out the backlight when I'm done and don't worry about the couple of watts the machine is drawing while idle. The D-pad and other buttons on the screen bezel are functional under Ubuntu and mappable as keys in FBReader, so you can flip the display around to tablet mode and rotate the screen as desired.

I've found the dual-mode display makes for very comfortable reading both indoors and outdoors under all lighting conditions, including under direct sunlight. My wife's Kindle 1 seems slightly better for text, but the color and responsiveness of the XO's LCD more than make up for it as I also use the XO for reviewing photos in the field, web browsing and other "light-weight" tasks. This amazing screen is the primary reason I wanted an XO.

I haven't timed it, but my XO can handle a long evening's worth of reading before the charge runs low, so long as the backlight is off (or dimmed to the lowest setting in a dark room). My Tekkeon external battery pack keeps the XO running for 20 hours or so when I don't have an AC source handy.

I have not yet attempted to install Calibre on the XO as I keep my library on a desktop system at home. Out of curiosity, has anyone dabbled with Calibre on the XO, under any OS?

[RoboRay]

Nobody else using the XO, huh?

Oh, well... I'm glad I've got it. The Notion Ink Adam is really tempting as an upgrade (whenever it ships), but the resolution is lower (1024x600 versus 1200x900) even though the Adam's screen is bigger (10 inches versus about 8.5). I'm hoping the next generation Pixel Qi screens will be higher rez.

[luqmaninbmore]

I've got one on the way, God willing. I may write up a short review of its ereading capabilities (I am especially psyched to try ePub reader from within Firefox).

[RoboRay]

I haven't tried that. I did manage (sort of) to get Kindle for PC running through WINE, but only the old beta version works. Amazon changed something to keep the current version of Kindle for PC from running on linux machines. The old beta version is missing the "full screen" viewing mode and doesn't cope well with rotating the screen into portrait mode when using the OLPC as a tablet. It's usable, but barely. I cannot really recommend it due to the UI issues. If someone ever figures out how to get the current version of Kindle for PC working with WINE, I think those problems would go away.

There's a lot of good info for installing more full-featured linux operating systems on the OLPC at http://www.olpcnews.com/forum/index.php?board=68.0

[June]

Thank you RoboRay for the link to the OLPC discussion, I've been thinking about running my (ok the kid's) XO on another OS. Especially now that the original Sugar(?)OS is slow as molasses for some reason, I guess because there is only around 80MB free space...

About the hardware: I love the sturdiness of the XO, and the good screen - perfect outdoors in the sun with the backlight turned off. And a great device that grows witht he user, my kid got the XO when he was 4, and it will work for adults too, esp with another OS.

Hmm... I take it I can keep the original OS on the device, and run Linux off a card... : off to read the OLPC forums:

[RoboRay]

Originally Posted by June

Hmm... I take it I can keep the original OS on the device, and run Linux off a card... : off to read the OLPC forums:

That's right. I still have Sugar installed on the internal 1GB NAND drive and run Ubuntu from an 8GB SD card. I just have to take the SD card out if I want to boot the original OS.

Detailed instructions on setting up a version of Ubuntu 8.10 that's been tweaked and optimized for the OLPC can be found here: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Ubuntu_Intrepid_for_the_XO

That wiki page is a summary of this OLPC News thread: http://www.olpcnews.com/forum/index.php?topic=4053.0

There's also a couple of Debian derivatives that can be installed on the internal NAND drive if you'd rather not tie up the SD card slot with the OS.

[June]

Thank you for those links, I have Ubuntu up and running - and found some nice looking (and educational) games for the kid. Now I just need to figure out if FF can run flash on the XO, or if it's too resource intensive.

[RoboRay]

Simple uses of Flash may work, sort of, but it's barely usable. Anything complex will not work. Flash is just too resource-intensive for the OLPC.

I uses NoScript with Firefox to block as many scripts and Flash uses as possible to improve performance. AdBlock is also very helpful to minimize what the browser has to render and really helps performance. I also use AdBlock on certain website background images that cause display corruption on the XO. There's a bug in the Geode graphics driver that causes problems with gradient shaded images. You can even see it, ironically, on the OLPC News Forum site I linked above. Preventing those images from being displayed with AdBlock is the best workaround I've found.

[June]

Thank you RoboRay for your tips and hints. My kid absolutely loves having a "real computer" now, with the updated XO - and he's not even missing the online kiddie flash games, since there are so many useful kiddie games that run nicely on the XO.

[luqmaninbmore]

My XO arrived yesterday. I have FBReader on it now. Fun! I like the metallic golden sheen to the background in epaper mode; it strikes me as vaguely Lovecraftian (I just finished re-reading the Shadow out of Time and I am currently reading the Whisperer in the Darkness on the XO). I may try Ubuntu at some point; how does it affect the battery life?

[RoboRay]

I never did much with the custom Fedora+Sugar OS that comes on the XO, so I can't comment on it's battery life. I doubt it's going to make much difference either way, though. Under Ubuntu with the backlight turned off, I can read for several hours without power being a problem. I haven't timed it down to going dead and don't usually read for more than three or four hours at a sitting, so I don't know exactly how long it will last. You may want to ask about battery-life in the OLPC News Forum thread for Ubuntu, as I'm sure somebody has tested it: http://www.olpcnews.com/forum/index.php?topic=4053.0

If you want some extra juice while away from AC power and are willing to carry a little more weight, the Tekkeon MP3450 external battery (http://www.amazon.com/Tekkeon-MP3450.../dp/B000S9JWJI) comes with a tip that fits the XO and should about triple the battery life. I carry one when travelling.

[luqmaninbmore]

I have eReader Pro for Windows installed under Wine using Ubuntu 8.10 and it is awesome. I love two page view, custom fonts, and dictionary look-up. Epub Reader is also quite nice. Even ADE isn't too bad (I can now download library books directly to my eReader! Joy!). I haven't tried the Kindle app yet.

[RoboRay]

You know... I never even thought about reading library books on the XO. I'll have to look into that.

[luqmaninbmore]

This thing is a nifty portable pdf viewer, too.