Using Fedora 10 on the One Laptop Per Child XO Laptop
By Todd Robinson
Systems Development Engineer
Webpath Technologies and On-Disk.com
With the release of Fedora 10, and the One Laptop Per Child Give One Get One (G1G1) approaching, On-Disk.com was approached by OLPC to make Fedora 10 available on SD cards for the XO G1G1 laptops. We graciously accepted and began working out the logistics. In the mean time the Fedora Project has been working hard to get the XO release ready.
Because we needed to test the process anyway, I documented the process and my impressions of Fedora 10 on the XO laptop. It should be noted that I'm using a pre-release version of Fedora 10 that is about a week old. From the frenzy of activity in the Fedora OLPC meetings, and on the email list, it's clear that the final release will be greatly refined from this version. But from the short amount of time I've spent using Fedora on the XO it's certain that I'll make sure we have the final release for both of our XO laptops.
This article is divided into the following four pages:
Installing Fedora 10
Fedora, and OLPC strongly suggest updating your XO Laptop to the latest software version, 8.2.0 (aka Build 767), before setting it up to work with Fedora 10. This can be done by following the directions in the OLPC wiki.
Before you can use Fedora on your new XO laptop it needs to have the security lock removed. This lock is in place to ensure that people who are not supposed to be able to do things (for instance, stealing laptops, or maliciously installing software intended to break an XO on a child's computer) are unable to do them. The key that unlocks the laptops is called the "developer key", thus named because the software developers need to unlock XOs to test their products as they develop them.
Without a developer key you can't:
- Install unstable, unsigned, or experimental OLPC software builds on your XO.
- Temporarily run, or install, operating systems, except OLPC's.
- Type commands to the firmware (e.g. tell it what media to boot from).
So the first step, after ordering your Fedora 10 SD Card, is to get your key. The XO makes this quite easy, with the only requirement being a wireless Internet connection.
 | 1. Open the browser (The world looking ICON) |  | 2. Click on the "get a developer key" link at the bottom of the browser page. |  | 3. Click on the "Submit Query" button in the bottom left corner. |  | 4. Then you will need to wait about 24 hours for the key to be issued. There is talk of having these available without the 24 hour wait with the Fedora 10 Release, but the final decision has not yet been made. |
When your key is ready open the Browser again and again click the link to obtain a developer key. This time it will tell you it is ready and have instructions on installing it. The instructions are going to have you enter a command in the terminal window that will download and install your key. (Hint: you can highlight the command and press ctrl-c to copy it, and when in the terminal press both the X and O touchpad buttons at the same time to paste it in.) The command will download the key and save it as /security/develop.sig. IMPORTANT: Before running the command in the terminal window type the letters su and press the enter key, then run the command at the new prompt.
After running the command shut down the XO laptop, insert your Fedora 10 SD card, and restart the laptop.
Next: Getting Started with Fedora 10.
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