[squeak-dev] Re: [etoys-dev] [gsoc-mentors] [GSoC ideas] Squeak/Etoys

Serge Stinckwich serge.stinckwich at gmail.com
Tue Feb 18 09:48:36 UTC 2014


Dear all,

is there any Smalltalk development involved in this project ?

Regards,

On Mon, Feb 17, 2014 at 11:23 PM, Steve Thomas <sthomas1 at gosargon.com> wrote:
> Kathleen,
>
> Great feedback, thanks.  Below is an updated version:
>
> Many children can not communicate verbally whether due to nonverbal autism
> or some other factor.  While there are many catalogs and websites with
> adaptive equipment and software but the prices are high.  There is a OLPC
> deployment in Uraguay where a student uses his stuffed animal as an input
> device for using an XO and Etoys.  We would like to build on this to make it
> easier and lower cost or these children and their parents to communicate and
> use computers.  The software would be free and OpenSource and the hardware
> to hack a Stuffed Animal could potentially repurpose old keyboards [2] or
> under $10 by repurposing a used USB game controller (free if kids donate
> their old ones).
>
> In the first project a student would design and document how to hack a
> stuffed animal to be used as an input device similar to a joystick or arrow
> and a few other keys to allow a nonverbal child to use their favorite
> stuffed animal as an input device.
>
> Level: beginner
> Skills required: Maker skills. To Hack a stuffed animal. Etoys (If student
> knows Scratch, they can learn the skills needed in Etoys for this project)
>
> In the second project a student would design a set of picture boards that
> could be navigated using a joystick or arrow keys and arrow and few other
> keys.  The project would also allow a parent or teacher to simply add and
> re-arrange pictures using a webcam, imported pictures or simple drawings
> that can be made using Etoys[1].  Etoys runs on Linux, Windows and Mac OS
> and is one of the core applications in the OLPC XO.
>
> Level: beginner
> Skills required: Etoys (If student knows Scratch, they can learn the skills
> needed in Etoys for this project)
>
> Mentor:
> Stephen Thomas <sthomas1 at gosargon.com>
>
> [1] http://squeakland.org/
> [2] http://www.instructables.com/id/Hacking-a-USB-Keyboard/?ALLSTEPS
>
> On Mon, Feb 17, 2014 at 11:23 AM, Harness, Kathleen <kharness at illinois.edu>
> wrote:
>>
>> Steve,
>> You may want to emphasize in the application that this is a low cost
>> adaptive technology. There are many catalogs and websites with adaptive
>> equipment and software but the prices are high. A cost comparison might be
>> persuasive.
>> Regards,
>> Kathleen
>> ________________________________
>> From: etoys-dev-bounces at squeakland.org [etoys-dev-bounces at squeakland.org]
>> on behalf of Steve Thomas [sthomas1 at gosargon.com]
>> Sent: Monday, February 17, 2014 12:19 AM
>> To: Bert Freudenberg
>> Cc: smalltalk-gsoc-mentors at googlegroups.com; etoys dev; Paolo Bonzini; The
>> general-purpose Squeak developers list
>>
>> Subject: Re: [etoys-dev] [gsoc-mentors] [GSoC ideas] Squeak/Etoys
>>
>> Many children can not communicate verbally whether due to nonverbal autism
>> or some other factor.  There is a OLPC deployment in Uraguay where a student
>> uses his stuffed animal as an input device for using an XO and Etoys.  We
>> would like to build on this to make it easier and cheaper for these children
>> and their parents to communicate and use computers.
>>
>> In the first project a student would design and document how to hack a
>> stuffed animal to be used as an input device similar to a joystick or arrow
>> and a few other keys to allow a nonverbal child to use their favorite
>> stuffed animal as an input device.
>>
>> Level: beginner
>> Skills required: Maker skills. To Hack a stuffed animal. Etoys (If student
>> knows Scratch, they can learn the skills needed in Etoys for this project)
>>
>> In the second project a student would design a set of picture boards that
>> could be navigated using a joystick or arrow keys and arrow and few other
>> keys.  The project would also allow a parent or teacher to simply add and
>> re-arrange pictures using a webcam, imported pictures or simple drawings
>> that can be made using Etoys[1].  Etoys runs on Linux, Windows and Mac OS
>> and is one of the core applications in the OLPC XO.
>>
>> Level: beginner
>> Skills required: Etoys (If student knows Scratch, they can learn the
>> skills needed in Etoys for this project)
>>
>> Mentor:
>> Stephen Thomas <sthomas1 at gosargon.com>
>>
>> [1] http://squeakland.org/
>>
>>
>> On Sun, Feb 16, 2014 at 11:07 AM, Bert Freudenberg <bert at freudenbergs.de>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>> 1. Make Etoys work on SqueakJS
>>>
>>> Increasingly, there are systems that do not support web browser plugins,
>>> or that even disallow installing certain software without "jailbreaking".
>>> Even if the system would support it, some administrators disallow installing
>>> of custom plugins. This presents a problem for Squeak/Etoys [1] which is
>>> used in schools world-wide, but cannot be installed on more and more
>>> systems. The single commonly supported runtime system is HTML5 + Javascript.
>>> SqueakJS [2] is a Squeak VM running on top of Javascript, on various
>>> platforms.
>>>
>>> In this project, a student would extend SqueakJS to be able to run an
>>> Etoys image. It should provide an experience similar to running the Squeak
>>> Plugin VM in a web browser: load a project from a URL and allow uploading
>>> modified projects. The initial version does not need to be very performant,
>>> speed optimizations can be done when we have a working system.
>>>
>>> Level: advanced
>>> Skills required: JavaScript, Smalltalk
>>>
>>> Mentor: Bert Freudenberg <bert at freudenbergs.de>
>>>
>>> [1] http://squeakland.org/
>>> [2] http://bertfreudenberg.github.io/SqueakJS/
>>>
>>> ===================================================================
>>>
>>> 2. Port Squeak/Etoys to Chrome OS
>>>
>>> Many schools are buying Chromebooks [1] because they are cheap and easy
>>> to maintain. Squeakland [2] has gotten multiple requests to make Etoys work
>>> on these machines. The best way to do this is running a Squeak VM via Native
>>> Client [3].
>>>
>>> Yoshiki Ohshima started such a VM port [4] demonstrating the feasibility.
>>> His sources are available on github. They need to be updated to work with a
>>> current NaCl SDK, and a portable VM must be built (PNaCl). It needs to be
>>> tested on actual Chrome book hardware as well as a Chrome browser on PCs.
>>> Support for downloading and uploading projects must be implemented so it can
>>> be used as a direct replacement for the Squeak browser plugin.
>>>
>>> Level: medium
>>> Skills required: C, Smalltalk
>>>
>>> Mentors:
>>> Yoshiki Ohshima <yoshiki.ohshima at gmail.com>
>>> Bert Freudenberg <bert at freudenbergs.de>
>>>
>>> [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromebook
>>> [2] http://squeakland.org/
>>> [3] https://developers.google.com/native-client
>>> [4] http://lists.squeak.org/pipermail/vm-dev/2011-May/007991.html
>>>
>>> - Bert -
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> etoys-dev mailing list
>>> etoys-dev at squeakland.org
>>> http://lists.squeakland.org/mailman/listinfo/etoys-dev
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>>
>> To some of us, writing computer programs is a fascinating game. A program
>> is a building of thought. It is costless to build, weightless, growing
>> easily under our typing hands. If we get carried away, its size and
>> complexity will grow out of control, confusing even the one who created it.
>> This is the main problem of programming. It is why so much of today's
>> software tends to crash, fail, screw up.
>>
>> When a program works, it is beautiful. The art of programming is the skill
>> of controlling complexity. The great program is subdued, made simple in its
>> complexity.
>>
>> - Martin Harverbeke (from Eloquent JavaScript)
>
>
>
>
> --
>
> To some of us, writing computer programs is a fascinating game. A program is
> a building of thought. It is costless to build, weightless, growing easily
> under our typing hands. If we get carried away, its size and complexity will
> grow out of control, confusing even the one who created it. This is the main
> problem of programming. It is why so much of today's software tends to
> crash, fail, screw up.
>
> When a program works, it is beautiful. The art of programming is the skill
> of controlling complexity. The great program is subdued, made simple in its
> complexity.
>
> - Martin Harverbeke (from Eloquent JavaScript)
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> etoys-dev mailing list
> etoys-dev at squeakland.org
> http://lists.squeakland.org/mailman/listinfo/etoys-dev
>



-- 
Serge Stinckwich
UCBN & UMI UMMISCO 209 (IRD/UPMC)
Every DSL ends up being Smalltalk
http://www.doesnotunderstand.org/


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