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How to Use Your XO Laptop

 
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Nortel LearniT is proud to support the One Laptop Per Child program in empowering learning via the XO laptop. Key to this objective is for you--both the learners and the teachers--to use the laptop together as a pathway to learning and exploration. As you use the XO's capabilities, the skills you build are enhanced by the very process of working and communicating with others to share these experiences. Ready-to-use tools and "maps to the territory" for you are the Nortel LearniT lesson plans and Nortel LearniT Activity Guide Sheets prepared to guide you through exactly these types of activities across a wide span of subjects.                                                                                   

Now, let's get started.  Once you learn how to use the laptop, there's a lot more you can do!		  
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Nortel LearniT Web Site Home Page on XO
  1. The first step is to view this overview video showing the laptop and  what you can do with it.
  2. Then, open and turn on (power up) your XO
    •  Use the green ‘rabbit ears’ to unlock the case and lift open the screen (It is the thicker half of the unit).
    • If AC power is available, be sure to plug your unit into the side socket.
    • The main power button is on the lower right of the screen. The power-up sequence takes about 2-minutes (During power up, ignore the text messages that pop up.)
  3. First-time XO Use: You will be prompted to Create a User Name and to Select a Color to represent you in the circle of friends that you view on your laptop.  This circle is called the Mesh network.
  4. There are four "Views" to use in your system (your system is named "Sugar").  Explore those by using the View buttons on the upper left center area of your keyboard.
  5. Join your friends in the Mesh.  Click on the "View" button (the one farthest left).  On your screen you will see a pattern of points--these are Mesh network points.  Double click to pick the access point you want to use.  Note:  It is recommended to use an access point that is not password-protected.  This means that you should not try to log into a system or web site that requires a user name and password for access. 
  6. You are in the Neighborhood view in the Mesh.  From here you can explore the things you can do--the Activities--on the XO. 
  7. Activities that you can pick from include the following list (the hyperlinks in the list take you to more information about them):
    • a web browser (built on the Firefox engine)
    • a document viewer (this is read only--you can look at documents or PDF files) (based on evince)
    • a news reader that lets you access RSS
    • an open document viewer to let you read documents based on the Open Document Format. 
    • a word processor that lets you both write and read documents (based on the Abiword project)
    • eToys - a fun Activity based on the popular program Squeak.  View a quick tutorial on how to use it.
    • TamTam - a tool for composing your own music
    • a word processor
    • a Recorder that lets you capture and play video, audio, still-images
    • Draw - lets you paint
  8. Click one of the bottom icons to open an activity.  When you are in an Activity, you can close it by putting  your cursor over the icon the you clicked to open the Activity.  A popup box appears where you can click close.  To open a new Activity you can do the same thing and click Open (or just click on the Activity itself.)
  9. When you are done trying out the various activities, come back into the Neighborhood view by clicking on the View button that is second from the right.
Next Steps:  More to Explore:

  xodiagram

XO diagram

    homescreen 

XO Home Screen

 xokeyboard

XO Keyboard
xobooklist
XO Booklist web page displayed in browser on XO