We have recieved the XO laptops for the HFOSS course. Instead of getting a 1.5 like most of the class, I have been given a modified 1.0 that has a serial port soldered in. Its a pretty cool hack and will hopefully help in our work with sensors. I am really excited to get started hacking with sensors, but first I needed to test the functionality of the OLPC.

The XO booted just fine and is already set up with a variety of activities that use sensors, although I may end up reinstalling the OS to the most updated version. After some initial playing I started by trying to connect the OLPC to the internet.

To get the laptop onto the RIT network I had to register it with the school. The registration process was easy and I was automatically redirected to the site when I tried to connect to the open network. Unfortuately, after registration it took about 4 hours before the process finally went through and I was able to go online.

While I waited I tested out some more functionality of the XO. The Measurement activity seems to be working just fine. It was really neat to look at the graphs that were getting input from the built in microphone. All of my activities seemed to be working except those that required interfacing with another laptop.

I was able to connect with another XO to try and play an activity, but once we were connected we still couldn't seem to play anything. I am not sure if this is a difficulty of the specific activities, or the wireless settings of the RIT network. I would really like to test two of them outside of the RIT network to see if it is providing any interpherence.

For now, it looks like my laptop is ready to go!