Mark my blogs plox.

mark mark mark mark Mr Kerr.

Part Two: User Interface (Sugar Evaluation)

Complete a variety of labelled screenshots which illustrate the differences between these user interfaces.

Windows (WIMP – windows, icons, menus, pointers – as in MSOffice 2003)

Windows (ribbons, contextual tabs, galleries – as in MSOffice 2007)

Sugar (Frame replaces menubar, Journal replaces file system hierarchy, Community – didn’t work for us,)

Linux command line (similar to DOS)


I prefer to to use Windows more because its the only operating system that I have been using my whole life until this year I discovered other operating systems.

I rate Windows first because I've been using my life so I am more familiar with its interface.Next would be Sugar on my list because Ive been working on it in class but I still think the windows interface is better.Lastly would be Linux althought it looks good I just havn't actually used it so far in life.

Part One. What we did. (Sugar Evaluation)

1) Rate each of the following out of 5:
Guest speaker: Rosemary about Timor Leste = 3.5/5
Guest speak: Joel about the xo = 3/5
Physics = 4.5/5
SVG icon and Linux command line = 2/5
Turtle Art = 4/5
Other activity evaluation = 4/5
Etoys = 4/5
Scratch = 4.5/5

2) Three things that I have learnt:
I’ve learnt how to set the command controls to make something to move the way I want it to on Scratch and Etoys. Another thing I learnt is to how to create a dialogue on Etoys thanks to Mr. Kerr. Last thing I learnt is how to get more activities and input them into the Sugar OS.

3) Three things that I have enjoyed:
I’ve really enjoyed working with the Physic activities because it was challenging and fun. Scratch was my next favourite because the interface was easy to use and the functions were fun to play around. Etoys was my next, although it has functions which are hidden somewhere in the activity. Once you find the functions you need, it becomes more fun to play around.

4) Three things that I didn’t like:
The thing that I didn’t enjoy much was the making of the SVG icon. It was confusing and very hard because one little mistake and ruin it all. I didn’t really enjoy much about the guest speakers because I am a particle person so I don’t really like sitting in one spot listening to people talk. Another thing I didn’t enjoy is on Etoys when I couldn’t get something to work the way I want.

5) State which was the following with reasons: Best, Worst, Most Interesting, Most difficult:
Activity evaluation was the best because it was fun playing different games and activities.
SVG icon was my worst as it was confusing with the language between US and Australia.
Etoys was interesting as it is similar to the program Scratch on Windows but much more complicated.
SVG icon making was most difficult to me because I wanted to create a complicated icon.

6) About the XO
Is the xo or olpc(one laptop per a child, green machine) a good idea for the children of the developing world? State your opinion and give reasons
I think the xo and the olpc is a very good idea for children in the developing world as it can help them catch up with the technology we are currently using. The xo has an interface which is easy to use therefore would be easy to use for those who are in the developing world. Thanks to the engineering of the olpc, it would be able to be used through even hot conditions and rough especially from dropping. This will really help children from developing world to learn, explore and enjoy.

ACTIVITIES!~

One of the lessons of my year 10 Control Tech class, we had a choice of downloading activities for the OS 'Sugar' or get the activities on the L drive of the school.

What we had to do was to try out the activities and then blog about it. I picked the typing turtle activity to blog. There are many levels the first is on the middle row on the keyboard. This activities teaches the user where the keys are on the keyboard allowing them to type faster and maybe be able to type without looking at the keyboard. The first part of each level is to type letters of the row to practice, while the second level is like a game balloons witha word in that row floats up. What you have to do is to type the word before the balloon hits the top of the screen to earn points. The longer you play the faster the balloons float up.

Here is a screenshot of the first level.



Here is a screenshot for the second level.



I rank this activity 4/5 stars and I recommended it to all ages after 4 years. This activity is very helpful in teaching the users how to type fast and more accurate. It can also teach users how to type without looking at the keyboard which can be helpful with everyday life.

In my opinion, the positive points towards this activity is that it is easy to understand of what is needed to do in the activity. I havn't found any bugs in this activity yet and the best part of this activity is that it is FREE!~ xD

Etoys

For the past few lessons in Mr.Kerr's year 10 control tech class, we as students have been working on Etoys, an activity on the operating system called Sugar.

The activity is similar to scratch and and turtle because the point is to make animations using commands. Firstly we started off with the basic by making the car bouncing off the wall in different directions. Then started to make a track so we could steer the car around the track without getting hit by drawing a wheel and adding commands allowing it to move the car. Next was making a race with 2 cars with random speeds and buttons allowing it to start, reset, and stopping at finishing line. Through these activities, I have increased my knowledge on this application.

After completing all that, I worked on the task called the Great Race. This type of race consist of 4 different cars racing on the track with timer on and all cars at different random speeds. I went through a lot of trouble with my track because I just had to draw in sharp corners which made the car went off track occasionally. Therefore I kept editing the track until the sharp corners wasn't so sharp no more. Another problem I had was trying to get other cars to win because if they all were at same random speed then the car closest to the centre of the track will always win. I fixed this by increasing the cars speed if they are further away from the centre of track.

After hard work, this is what I produced...



Here are the scripts that I used for this awesome GREAT RACE!~



My thoughts about Etoys is that it's alright but i still think the scratch program for windows is much for fun in creating animations using commands.

Turtle Art

For the last week or so, in Mr Kerr's year 10 Control Technology class have been playing around with an Activity on sugar called Turtle Art. On our second lesson on Turtle Art Mr. Kerr gave us a sheet with 40 different shapes to create using Turtle Art. I went many trouble trying to finish some of the shapes. Some shapes such as normal polygons were easy to draw on Turtle Art. The best shape that I have created is shape number 39.

I based this shape on one of the other shapes that I created before which was a hitler sign. When I completed the shape it turned out to be a window. I sat there thinking what was wrong. I thought that it might of been the pen stroke was to think thats why it turned out to be a window and so I change the pen size to one. There was a lot of commands that is needed to make this shape... Well to me it is.

This is the shape that I have created.


This is a screen shot of the commands that I used to create the shape above.

During the last one or two weeks ago. We have been working on svgs and making them as the main icon on Sugar.

In the process I have used HTML-Kit to draw my design, Opera(A different type of internet browser) to check how my design is going in terms of looks and of course Sugar to put on my design.

Firstly in HTML-Kit when I was designing my design turned out very complex. I used a whole load of lines and paths to create what i have created here.

I this took me over a week to get every point right. I even had to go to .3 and .8 of a point gee. It was all worth it for a cool looking picture xD. Following the instructions that Mr Kerr gave us, I tried to replace the icon on sugar. I was in shock... it failed... ended up like this...

I was like WTH!? and got frustrated with svgs. -^^-V I was so confused, so I asked my friends to help try to fix it but no one didn't know what was the problem. Then I asked Mr Kerr, even he thought it was strange. So I gave Mr Kerr my svg file so he can take a look at it in his spare time. Before the next Control Tech lesson started, I was asked to see him during lunch regarding the svg. Mr Kerr said that the problem could be that in the fill and stroke colour i spelt the work colour as how Australians spelt it. The correct way of spelling colour in order for the image to work was color... C-O-L-O-R >.>

Anyhow when Control Tech lesson started I replace all the &fill_colour; and &stroke_colour; with &fill_color; and &stroke_color;. Restarted Sugar, Sugar opens up and its loading. One minute later, OMG still the SAME!?! still no icon popped up. Mr Kerr was confused about it as well. He said that he will take another look at my svg and that I should go on with the new work so I don't fall behind.

The weekend past and on Monday Mr Kerr said that he found out what the problem was. He said that Sugar couldn't read the .3s and .8s etc. Thats why it wouldn't show on Sugar. I was happy hahaah and so I redid everything to replace the icon but still it didn't work... I got frustrated. I then asked a friend named Darren to help. He backuped the cache file and restarted the Sugar. After when it finished loading... I saw...

IT WAS THERE!! I was so happy Hahahah. Felt good as well =D. I have FINALLY successfully replace the icon sugar ^^v. Although I went through alot of troubles and little problems.