Part 2 of 3 Sugar Evaluation

PART TWO: USER INTERFACE
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)

Which user interface do you prefer. Rate them in order. Give reasons.

I Prefer the MSOffice 07 Ribbon because it was very user friendly and easy for me to use. It was the first software I upgraded which is why it is easy for me to use.

MSOffice 03 Wimp, is scond as it was the first program I used properly. It had a easy to use system and friendly. One problem that I can pick is that you had to know in advanced for looking for different things eg if you wanted word font and did'nt have it on the toolbar it was a bit difficult to try and find it.

Sugar is Third as it is easy to use however most things on it are very childish. It is something that I wouldnt use as it doesnt support most things I do on a computer.

Linux Command Line is Last because I have NO Clue on how to use it and it doesnt do anything I do on a computer.

Etoys Vs Scratch Challenge

Two weeks ago we were asked to pick a challenge and try to do it on both Etoys and Scratch. TinyTeddies and I have teamed up and chose to do the dialog challenge, we had to make two things have a conversation with each other.

TinyTeddies finished the Scratch version when I teamed up with him as I had been away absent the lesson before hand. We then tackled the Etoys Version, this was very difficult from the get go.

We First started out by creating a background then some characters. We used several scripts to get the characters moving. We also had to make a clock so that the characters would move and stop on time. It was pretty simple to make it start and stop on time as we had done a similar thing in the past.

We then started to put text to make the characters talk to each other. This was by far the hardest thing we have done in trying to get them to talk in time and to make it appear and reappear. Luckily for our team TinyTeddies was very patient and very skilled and got it to work.

We sloved this problem by using the timer from the clock and using a lot of Test functions thanks to Mr Kerr's findings.

This had got to be the most time either of us had spent on one activity. Here is screen shot of the Final Product of our Etoys Activity.

Mr Kerr

Mr Kerr can you please remark the Great Race Blog thank you

New Sugar Activity

Today we were asked to test out some new Sugar activities. The activity I tested was Maze.

I found this activity very amusing and frustrating at the same time. The aim of the game was to get through the Maze as fast as possible.

This game has many lvs as I completed about 50 (I could be exagerating) and it still was'nt finished. I think this game is sutible for poeple aged from 10 - 16yrs of age as it gets harder and more frustrating, so if a younger person will play this game they might get more angry where a older person might have more patience for this game.

Overall this game is fun and enjoyable and good for different people. I give this game a 8 out of 10.

DarkDragonZz

The Great Race Blog

In the last Couple of lessons of Control Tech we have been doing Activities using a Program on Sugar called "Etoys".

We had been given several tasks to complete over the past few lessons, the last one we did is "The Great Race". I started a bit late compared to other people due to I was away at dentist and orthodontists a lot.




When I started I found some features a bit difficult to go around and monitor, eg. When playing your script you have to make sure your scripts are not touching any part of your Track as it makes your car not follow its destined path. It was a bit difficult to make sure your script was'nt touching the track as there is'nt a lot of room on the screen that is free.


I Had Help making the reset Button but got a good explanation from G.I Joe. I got help with a few other smaller things from, KingJamesFan, Asian-Bruce-Lee and AirSok. I had problems restarting my cars and playing them at the same time wen you press the resart button, however My Control Tech Teacher Mr Kerr helped me solve my Problem which was a great help. The Problem was wenever you cliked stop and restarted it made all the scripts stop ticking which ment when i restarted it wasnt playing, but Mr Kerr help me solve the problem out.

Even though I had Problems with my race I think it turned out alright but couldve been Better.

Thank You for Reading
DarkDragonZz

The last couple of days we have been creating our own Sugar icons to replace the XO icon.

The design I created which was a sword wasnt very hard but as this was my first time creating one it was a bit difficult. I drew my design on a graph piece of paper which my teacher thought would e easier than free hand, he was right. I used HTML kit to create my sword, It was fun and annoying at some points when creating my Sword, I had to keep saving and refreshing the Opera bowser to see my sword at stages. When doing this I learnt a easier method than using my mouse, I used the Alt -Tab button method to switch from document to document. I also used Ctrl - S n R to save and refesh which saved a bit of time. When doing my design on HTML kit I used the document supplied on our drive which had templates to create our design.



Once I had completed my sword I tried to once again "Hack" sugar to replace the XO Icon with my Sword.

This part was a bit difficult for me to do but i persisted and kept trying to do it. I kept hitting speed bumps on my road to replacing the XO icon, things that went wrong were my USB would stop working or my USB would'nt save properly.

One of My last resorts was to ask my teacher, Mr Kerr for help. it took him roughly 7minutes to "Hack" sugar and when he restarted it worked , when I saw that happen I was pretty upset as that he got it to work in one shot when I had tried numerous times. After that I got a new USB and tried once more witht the help of a class mate as ther were only 20minutes left until Lunch.

One thing that I had noticed that Mr Kerr do was that he used a capital "S" in sword like I used when naming the file, I previously did'nt use a capital because one of my Class mates said it didnt matter, IT DID!!

Once I had done that and restarted it worked I was so happy. So I quikly opened the document to retype the stroke and fill coordinates so that it could change into different colours. The stroke key was &stroke_color; and the fill key was *fill_color;. Once I ad that done I knew that my Sugar was "Hacked" and I had done the task as good as i could.

Thanks for reading
DarkDragon Out

Impressions of Sugar

Today I am Blogging about my impressions of the Operating System Sugar,

When I first used sugar I thought it was Pretty amazing that a whole fully Operating, operating system on a usb flash drive.
I find it very fun, entertaining and eduactional when using Sugar, as I have now been able to create games using the application Physics, I have also learnt how to "hack" sugar in ways of changing the symbol at the start into a eye, and just today I learnt how to change the layout of the start up menu.
I have also learnt of a laptop that uses sugar as its full operating system. I have used this in class and found it very interesting to use as it has wireless connectivity, it can flip the screen so when you shut it you can use it as a book to read from and much more things this little machine can do that i find very interesting.

Thank you for reading my blog.

Speak Activity

1st of August

Today i used the Speak Activity.
The speak activity is where a computer generated voice speaks what you type. For instance if you type 'hello' the computer will say it in a voice that you choose e.g. robot etc. I found this application very amusing.

Thank you for Reading.

XO Talk and talk about East Timor

Today Rosemary and David a self funded group,

Talked about their trip to East Timor and how they helped the locals with I.T skills and other things in the computing world.

We were taught a Tetum word, Mallai - which means 'White Man' which is used for any foregners.

We were talked about how the students dont have to go to school and that some children cant afford to go to school.

Rosemary and David introduced the XO to the people. They both went to a conference to discuss the XO with other people to see weather or not to give students their own XO and to discuss weather or not to let them take them home.

We were told that even if people don't have a lot most do own a scooter for transport. Also we found out that mobile phones are common but are not used much as it is expensive.

They also talked about a place where people are trying to make it so businesses can access the internet in East Timor. We found out that most people who own or have use of computers use the operating system Linux.

While they where at Timorleste they had many interactions with many different missionaries. They spoke to missionaries from Australia and America, one missionary's family had all moved to Timorleste and his children get home schooled.

I found the talk very interesting on how people are trying to introduce technology like the XO to a third world country.