We're going to try an exercise that requires two XOs. Pair up with somebody else doing these exercises, or borrow an XO for a bit. Turn on both XOs. It is best if they are running the same version of Sugar. {more}
Earlier, you tried the various buttons on the top row of your XO, and icons on the Frame. You got to various displays which may or may not have meant anything. If you pointed at icons and such, and clicked them, you got more information, and more questions. This time, I am going to tell you which button to push, and what it is for.
On the top row of the keyboard, fourth from the left, is a button with three dots on it, the same as one of the icons on the Frame. Sugar calls it "Group View". I don't expect you to know what that means yet. Push that one. You will see your icon. Point at it, as usual. Notes? Questions? If this is the first time, you see nothing else, as in the Figure below.
Figure Another view
How uninformative.
Perhaps you do see something, if this XO has been in use before. Ssh! Don't tell the others! We have a surprise for them. Several, actually, over the course of this and other discoveries.
On the top row of the keyboard, third from the left, is a button with a ring of eight dots on it. Push that one now. You see something like this. We will call it the Neighborhood View button, just as for the corresponding icon on the frame.
Figure Neighborhood View screenshot
Your icon is in the center. If nothing went wrong, the icon for the other XO is also there, in its proper colors. It can take several minutes to show up. Or, on occasion, something may go wrong and the XOs don't connect. If that happens to you, don't worry. We should be able to fix it.
There are several circular icons scattered around the screen. Three of them look like targets. There may be others, some with tiny icons at the lower right. Some people will have a good idea of what they are looking at. I am going to treat almost all of this as Undiscoverable, and explain to the others.
The circular icons represent possible wireless connections. The location of the icons on the screen is random and meaningless. It has nothing to do with the distance or direction of the other hardware. The icons are not sorted by name. If you have circle icons in addition to the targets, they are in different colors. Which color you see in an icon means nothing. If you see two colors in a circle, the height of the boundary between them indicates how strong that wireless signal is.
If you point at one of the target icons, it tells you it is Mesh Network 1, 6, or 11. These are common WiFi network frequency bands. Mesh networking allows computers to connect together without a network hub or switch. You don't have to connect XOs to a network, and have the network handle communications. You can connect one XO directly to another, or several dozen others. You don't usually have to do anything with these icons. XOs in a group will try each band until they make connections with the others.
This is vitally important for regions of the world where networking is unheard of. It means that children can sit under a tree and connect up. This is quite unlike the situation in the developed world, where you have to find a coffee shop or library with a public access point in order to network a conventional laptop outside your home or workplace.
In any city in the developed world, you will probably find a dozen or more private access points no matter where you set up an XO. Most of them will be secured with a password, to prevent passers-by using bandwidth without paying for it, or worse, snooping on the other computers networked there. Those icons will be marked with a tiny lock icon.
Look on the bottom of the Frame. Is there a target icon there, and does it say which Mesh frequency it is using? You want both XOs on the same frequency. If they are not, check which frequency one is on. Then go to Neighborhood View on the other XO, and click the icon for that frequency. Check on the Frame. Is it connected?
Assuming that you have both XOs on the same mesh frequency, and they each show up in the other's Wireless View, point at the guest XO icon, the one not in the center. A menu appears, with the icon again, and a name. What is it the name of?
The other item on the menu is Make Friend. Try it. Nothing obvious happens, except that the menu now says Remove friend. Don't do that just now. Push the button with the three dots to go to Group View. Aha! You see? Does this give you an idea for what the name means? Now go do the same thing on the other XO.
Turn one XO off. What happens in the Group View on the other? Turn the XO on again. What happens?
There is an oblong on the top bar, with an icon of a circle with a line sticking out. Can you guess what that stands for? I don't think that it is at all clear, especially not for children who have never seen the common trappings of the life of rich countries. But this icon, also appearing in some Web site search boxes, represents a Sherlock Holmes magnifying glass.
Well, what can you do? Why, point and click, as usual. Notice anything with the cursor? Do you recognize what that means? Well, if you have done word processing, the answer should be yes. In case you haven't, I have to explain that that is now a text cursor. It allows you to select a point between letters and type there, or start typing in an empty box. Any clearer?
Whether it is clear or not, click inside the oblong. Now what? I did say that this was a text cursor, right? So type a letter. Wait, what just happened? Does it depend on the letter you typed? Use the erase key on the XO keyboard and try another letter until something makes sense to you.
Point at the colored icons. Has anything changed? Have you twigged yet to what this is all for?
We are going to find these text oblong search boxes in other places. If they are still mysterious to you, don't worry, just write down your questions. I'll tell you something the next time we try one.
If you know the password for one of the Internet connections shown on your screen, you can click it and log in. How does the display change during the login and connection process? Then what? You will see two changes: a little star replaces the lock, indicating that the XO has saved your password for next time. There is also a graphic indication when you are connected. You see?
There is another possibility that you can't see with just two XOs talking to each other. If you have an Internet connection, and if your XO is set up for it, you may have a connection to a Jabber server that lets you talk to XOs elsewhere, even around the world. But that's in a different view.
There has been error in communication with booki server. Not sure right now where is the problem.
You should refresh this page.