etoys-dev January 2007

etoys-dev@lists.squeakfoundation.org

21 participants
20 discussions

[Etoys] The version for B2
by Yoshiki Ohshima 31 Jan '07

31 Jan '07

Hello, Some quantity of B2 machine assembly got started (last week, I think). Etoys is of course part of it, and it has various changes since B1. Just to put "a semicolon", I've uploaded the version that goes on the initial build of B2 machines to our server. A "plugin" image is at: http://tinlizzie.org/olpc/etoys-2.0-1198.zip and the developers' image with changes is at: http://tinlizzie.org/olpc/etoys-dev-2.0-1198.zip There are still a lot of work to do. There are some "over due" ones, and some new ones. We need to address these. And, we have slightly radical ideas for solving mid-term issues. Anyway, this is the year that even more stuff around OLPC and Etoys *need* to happen. Any help from the community, especially for the contents is welcome! -- Yoshiki

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Re: [Etoys] EToys question -- clearly I'm missing some key concept
by Alan Kay 30 Jan '07

30 Jan '07

Right -- Well, the next version of Etoys ... (heh heh) ... ... will make it much much easier to expose new functionality to the children via the Etoys interface. Currently, this is doable, and people do it all the time (especially in Japan, Germany and Spain) but it is not a smooth process and reveals that Etoys started life as a demo and never got re-done as a real system. The OLPC machine, besides being an impressive result just on its own, is also a strong forcing function for us to expand Etoys to a wider range of users and also to make a better architecture underneath (and these are in progress), Meanwhile, we have to hit the build deadlines of OLPC with the system we have. However, it would be great to hear from you about the project you actually want to do in Etoys. Cheers, Alan At 11:50 AM 1/23/2007, Steven Greenberg wrote: >On 1/23/07, Alan Kay ><<mailto:alan.kay@squeakland.org>alan.kay(a)squeakland.org> wrote: >Hi Steven -- > >What you are trying to do is not Etoys, but to do something in >Squeak Smalltalk using one of its graphics systems (called Morphic). >Etoys is a UI that rides on top of Squeak Smalltalk. Its objects are >called "Players" and the associated graphics of a player is called >its "costume". Using Squeak Smalltalk, you can talk to the costume >of a player by saying "self costume blah blah", where blah blah is a >message that morphs understand. > > > >Hi Alan, thanks for the answer. I think I actually do want EToys >because I want my objects to be generically scriptable using >tiles. That example I asked about was chosen because it's something >I already know how to do in squeak :-). It's not the actual >project, just a learning exercise. > > Regards, > Steve

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[Etoys] WYSIwiki paper
by Richard Karpinski 26 Jan '07

26 Jan '07

Dear helpers-of-the-flummoxed, I want to read this paper, thrice over. I was disappointed to see that the attachment was scrubbed. In one of my fits to remake the world to my liking, I formed a thought to suggest that scrubbed attachments be put somewhere to be downloaded at will. When I approached that task I noticed the several lines below the scrubbed message. This pleased me a great deal. Not only had someone else had such a thought, they had built it in to the open source mailing list system itself. Wonderful! Just clicking on the URL did something which stole my computer for quite a long while. How do I avoid that? It really annoys me for every Firefox download initiation. But something was downloaded. It was not the PDF I had hoped for but something called WYSIwikiTakashiYoshikiScott.obj which looked promising. I boldly tried to open it, on my Macintosh Desktop but then it asks me what application to use to open it. I dunno. Perhaps Mailman could be encouraged to point as well to a fuller explanation of how to retrieve such attachments. Help! Could Mailman also be induced to suggest a FAQ or two to relieve the list from the more boring of these requests for the most basic assistance? For example, is there a better resource than Google for finding tutorial material for Etoys or Squeak? (I do tend to escalate every minor difficulty I encounter into a project to save the world.) This whole thing was provoked by: > Yes, it is much too early to talk about the new architecture (we are > still thinking). However, it will be along the lines (but quite a bit > further) of the WYSIwiki that we did as an experiment last year > (and is > written up in an excellent paper by Takashi Yamamiya, Yoshiki Ohshima, > and Scott Wallace that was just presented at C5 in Kyoto. ... > A non-text attachment was scrubbed... > Name: WYSIwikiTakashiYoshikiScott.pdf > Type: application/octet-stream > Size: 399766 bytes > Desc: not available > Url : http://mailman.laptop.org/pipermail/etoys/attachments/ > 20070125/ce492410/WYSIwikiTakashiYoshikiScott.obj Richard Karpinski, World Class Nitpicker 148 Sequoia Circle, Santa Rosa, CA 95401 dick(a)cfcl.com Home +1 707-546-6760 Cell +1 707-228-9716 ps Put (or leave) "nitpicker" in the subject line to get past my spam filters.

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Re: [Etoys] EToys question -- clearly I'm missing some key concept
by Alan Kay 23 Jan '07

23 Jan '07

Hi Steven -- What you are trying to do is not Etoys, but to do something in Squeak Smalltalk using one of its graphics systems (called Morphic). Etoys is a UI that rides on top of Squeak Smalltalk. Its objects are called "Players" and the associated graphics of a player is called its "costume". Using Squeak Smalltalk, you can talk to the costume of a player by saying "self costume blah blah", where blah blah is a message that morphs understand. There are lots of manuals for Smalltalk, and Squeak Smalltalk, and even one for Etoys. Cheers, Alan At 10:01 AM 1/23/2007, Steven Greenberg wrote: >Hi. I would like to use EToys for a project but I'm having a hard >time adding my own actions. I suspect that I am missing something >obvious, and would appreciate any pointers you could offer. I've >tried to RTFM, but I can't find the FM so I'm kind of stuck. > >So... As a test case, I decided that I would make some simple >methods to animate the opacity of a Morph. I also wanted to add an >instance variable and manipulate it. > >So I created a subclass of Morph and, on the class side, added: > >additionsToViewerCategories > > ^ #( > (#seg > ( (slot grink 'grink is a nonsense variable' > String readWrite Player getGrink Player setGrink:) > (command changeOpacityLevel: 'change the opacity > level' Player) ))) > >and I created #getGrink, #setGrink:, and #changeOpacityLevel: on the >new subclass of Morph. > >When I instantiate the new object and open an etoys viewer, the >"seg" category is there but it is empty. > >I'm running the latest Squeak 3.9 image on a Mac, downloaded form ><http://squeak.org>squeak.org. > >Suggestions? > > Regards, > Steve >_______________________________________________ >Etoys mailing list >Etoys(a)laptop.org >http://mailman.laptop.org/mailman/listinfo/etoys

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[Etoys] EToys question -- clearly I'm missing some key concept
by Steven Greenberg 23 Jan '07

23 Jan '07

Hi. I would like to use EToys for a project but I'm having a hard time adding my own actions. I suspect that I am missing something obvious, and would appreciate any pointers you could offer. I've tried to RTFM, but I can't find the FM so I'm kind of stuck. So... As a test case, I decided that I would make some simple methods to animate the opacity of a Morph. I also wanted to add an instance variable and manipulate it. So I created a subclass of Morph and, on the class side, added: additionsToViewerCategories ^ #( (#seg ( (slot grink 'grink is a nonsense variable' String readWrite Player getGrink Player setGrink:) (command changeOpacityLevel: 'change the opacity level' Player) ))) and I created #getGrink, #setGrink:, and #changeOpacityLevel: on the new subclass of Morph. When I instantiate the new object and open an etoys viewer, the "seg" category is there but it is empty. I'm running the latest Squeak 3.9 image on a Mac, downloaded form squeak.org . Suggestions? Regards, Steve

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[Etoys] Re: BookMorph tutorial
by Richard Karpinski 22 Jan '07

22 Jan '07

Hi yourself, Yoshiki, I loved what you said, but I take issue with one point. Dick On 2007, Jan 18 at 15:00 (-8), Yoshiki Ohshima <yoshiki(a)squeakland.org> wrote: > ... I was going to write how you would do step by step, but I guess > it is not what you would like, but just check the "Demon Castle" > tutorial which is currently bundled with the Etoys on the laptop. > Demon Castle uses BookMorph (or Book), which is surely accessible to > any user. (And it has reasonably high production value.) Begging your pardon, kind sir, but a step by step procedure would be very welcome. My hope would be that if someone provides a sufficient tutorial for using Book and BookMorph to create a narrated slide show, then someone (else?) can put that tutorial into that very mechanism so that others may use it as an example and a tutorial. The nature of open source permits participants to contribute usefully with quite minimal commitments of time and effort. Wikis enhance this property and can grow wonderful results using volunteer labor. Once an example tutorial is available, its sources could be installed in a wiki for extended discussion and possibly to build whole families of derivative facilities. Isn't this a useful foundation for participating language groups to "morph" into material which would be useful to the student speakers of each language. Wouldn't such a facility be extraordinarily useful in the initial months of the introduction of the XO machine in the various communities involved? Easy to build. Easy to pass around. Easy to watch, listen to, learn from and replicate to other ends. In other words, I would love it if you suggested as much of a step by step tutorial as you have the energy and time to accomplish. Then someone can put it in a wiki so that those who try to follow the tutorial and create their own Book can flesh out the wiki and then, ultimately, the tutorial itself to reach wider audiences and assist more teachers and students toward their own goals. If you do decide to do this, it would be useful, I think, to collect a continuing history of who tries to employ it and what happens when they do. This is such a generic facility that I believe that the lessons learned and experience gained would be of value to the OLPC project as a whole. Am I talking through my hat? Is a better approach already in progress? Richard Karpinski, World Class Nitpicker 148 Sequoia Circle, Santa Rosa, CA 95401 dick(a)cfcl.com Home +1 707-546-6760 Cell +1 707-228-9716 ps Put (or leave) "nitpicker" in the subject line to get past my spam filters.

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[Etoys] [BUG]DebugHandle has same color as background
by karl 20 Jan '07

20 Jan '07

The debug handle has the same color as the desktop background. Not a big bug but it looks a little odd. Karl

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[Etoys] RE: Etoys Digest, Vol 5, Issue 12
by lynnvm＠carolina.rr.com 20 Jan '07

20 Jan '07

Question: I am wondering if anyone is working with etoys and accessibility. I'm a school psychologist and some of the students I work with students have disabilities, so this is in area that interests me. (I am also a computer/tech student). Thanks! Lynn Marentette TechPsych Interactive Multimedia Technology -----Original Message----- From: etoys-bounces(a)laptop.org [mailto:etoys-bounces@laptop.org] On Behalf Of etoys-request(a)laptop.org Sent: Friday, January 19, 2007 12:00 PM To: etoys(a)laptop.org Subject: Etoys Digest, Vol 5, Issue 12 Send Etoys mailing list submissions to etoys(a)laptop.org To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://mailman.laptop.org/mailman/listinfo/etoys or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to etoys-request(a)laptop.org You can reach the person managing the list at etoys-owner(a)laptop.org When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Etoys digest..." Today's Topics: 1. Nitpicker asks: Can students build a narration using eToys? (Richard Karpinski) 2. Re: Nitpicker asks: Can students build a narration using eToys? (Yoshiki Ohshima) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2007 14:10:18 -0800 From: Richard Karpinski <dick(a)cfcl.com> Subject: [Etoys] Nitpicker asks: Can students build a narration using eToys? To: etoys(a)laptop.org Message-ID: <462E6A2A-8374-4D7D-9215-2AF168DCFDD8(a)cfcl.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed If a laptop using student has collected a series of photos and hand drawn images and diagrams, then she might wish to use some tool to assist in constructing a slide show with vocal narration. Does eToys already support such an endeavor? I would think that such a tool would assist students working alone or with others to build a viewable class report. Even if the report (or narration) itself is then used to teach passive students, the process of creating it seems to fit with the constructivist (or is it constructionist) flavor of education preferred by the founders of OLPC. Not only will the builders learn about the subject of their report, they will gain experience in composing reports and in expressing themselves in useful ways. This is valuable and engaging educational experience. Richard Karpinski, World Class Nitpicker 148 Sequoia Circle, Santa Rosa, CA 95401 dick(a)cfcl.com Home +1 707-546-6760 Cell +1 707-228-9716 ps Put (or leave) "nitpicker" in the subject line to get past my spam filters. ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2007 15:00:04 -0800 From: Yoshiki Ohshima <yoshiki(a)squeakland.org> Subject: Re: [Etoys] Nitpicker asks: Can students build a narration using eToys? To: etoys(a)laptop.org Message-ID: <uodowndor.wl%yoshiki(a)squeakland.org> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Hi, Richard, > If a laptop using student has collected a series of photos and hand > drawn images and diagrams, then she might wish to use some tool to > assist in constructing a slide show with vocal narration. Does eToys > already support such an endeavor? In many different ways, yes! However, remember that when it comes to a specific task like this, you cannot expect to have a polished result without having some experiences. We keep saying that "Etoys is not a productivity tool", meaning that it doesn't come with nice fancy features, clip art, smart menu, smart spell correction, smart scaling, etc, etc. to make the task of creating "slide show with narration" really smooth. ... I was going to write how you would do step by step, but I guess it is not what you would like, but just check the "Demon Castle" tutorial which is currently bundled with the Etoys on the laptop. Demon Castle uses BookMorph (or Book), which is surely accessible to any user. (And it has reasonably high production value.) To start to make something like that by yourself, click on the red "Supplies" tab near bottom right corner, and drag out "Book" icon. Demon Castle doesn't have voice narration right now, but you can add it by using the "Sound" tool in the Supplies tab. Drag out "Sound" from it, and press "Record" to start recording, and press "Stop" when you finish it. You can make the recorded sound segment into a tile, and play it back. You can script it so that it gets played when the book page is turned and a particular page is visited, or when the user press a button, etc., etc. That would make pretty decent "slides with vocal narration". > I would think that such a tool would assist students working alone > or with others to build a viewable class report. Even if the report > (or narration) itself is then used to teach passive students, the > process of creating it seems to fit with the constructivist (or is it > constructionist) flavor of education preferred by the founders of > OLPC. Not only will the builders learn about the subject of their > report, they will gain experience in composing reports and in > expressing themselves in useful ways. This is valuable and engaging > educational experience. Oh, yes. Among various laptop.org mailing lists, this insight comes up on etoys(a)laptop.org more than others^^; One thing we are doing is to make a sub-system (a bit more like a productivity tool) to make tutorials and teaching materials of various kind. The hardware is almost there, and the software that hackers can write up is getting shape. However, materials for the learners and teachers are largely missing. We would like to provide good support for students and "students-become-teachers". Thank you! -- Yoshiki ------------------------------ _______________________________________________ Etoys mailing list Etoys(a)laptop.org http://mailman.laptop.org/mailman/listinfo/etoys End of Etoys Digest, Vol 5, Issue 12 ************************************

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[Etoys] [BUG]ScriptEditorMorph
by karl 19 Jan '07

19 Jan '07

ScriptEditorMorphs leaves a TransformationMorph on the desktop if you rotate and dismiss them. There are also some issues when you drop tiles and 'mouse over' on a rotated ScriptEditorMorph. Karl

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[Etoys] Nitpicker asks: Can students build a narration using eToys?
by Richard Karpinski 18 Jan '07

18 Jan '07

If a laptop using student has collected a series of photos and hand drawn images and diagrams, then she might wish to use some tool to assist in constructing a slide show with vocal narration. Does eToys already support such an endeavor? I would think that such a tool would assist students working alone or with others to build a viewable class report. Even if the report (or narration) itself is then used to teach passive students, the process of creating it seems to fit with the constructivist (or is it constructionist) flavor of education preferred by the founders of OLPC. Not only will the builders learn about the subject of their report, they will gain experience in composing reports and in expressing themselves in useful ways. This is valuable and engaging educational experience. Richard Karpinski, World Class Nitpicker 148 Sequoia Circle, Santa Rosa, CA 95401 dick(a)cfcl.com Home +1 707-546-6760 Cell +1 707-228-9716 ps Put (or leave) "nitpicker" in the subject line to get past my spam filters.

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etoys-dev January 2007