OLPC XO-1

abaumann · 2021-08-17 18:00:05

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "X.org Configured"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection
Section "Files"
ModulePath "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/misc"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/TTF"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/OTF"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/Type1"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/100dpi"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/75dpi"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/gnu-free"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/cantarell"
EndSection
Section "Module"
Load "glx"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "kbd"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "auto"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5 6 7"
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Monitor Vendor"
ModelName "Monitor Model"
DisplaySize 200 150
EndSection
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Card0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 1
Modes "1200x900"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 4
Modes "1200x900"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 8
Modes "1200x900"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 15
Modes "1200x900"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 16
Modes "1200x900"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
Modes "1200x900"
EndSubSection
EndSection

This is with xf86-video-vesa, the AMD Geode GPU driver is broken. And you need big fonts. :-)
You need the linux-firmware package and 'modprobe usb8xxx' for wifi.
And you need the special 'linux-olpc-xo1' kernel instead of the default one, that's all folks.

levi · 2021-08-17 18:49:09

Hmm, usb8xxx appears to be a kernel module on my system, and some corresponding dark binaries. Good luck if that hangs on you!

abaumann · 2021-08-17 19:18:23

Yeah, that's the only sad thing about the OLPC, it has proprietary hardware blobs. :-(

Image is on it's way, copying takes ages..

abaumann · 2021-08-18 16:13:58

Image is on http://archlinux32.andreasbaumann.cc/ot … 817.img.gz

aperezbios · 2021-08-28 18:12:44

abaumann wrote:

Nah. A race in usb8xxx which gets worse and worse :-)
Now I'm down to 4 reboots and one working WIFI device, before it was 2:1 roughly..

Andreas,

Perhaps it's related to this commit? https://linux-commits-search.typesense. … ar%5D=2016

abaumann · 2021-08-28 20:21:12

Thanks for the link, sounds promising. I'll test.. :-)

yang · 2026-02-16 23:59:30

Hello,

After reading this thread and after watching the Youtube video on the subject of OLPC XO-1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hmjPPcy2H0
I downloaded the olpc-xo1-arch32-textonly.img.gz from the Internet Archive / Wayback machine.
The image boots into archlinux32, but then I am stuck with no Wi-Fi or Ethernet working. I tried to connect with the USB-ETH dongle which also has 3 USB ports, but it still doesn't work. Maybe the dongle is too new, for ethernet interface to be recognized?
I have made a few screenshots of interfaces names and I edited /etc/systemd/network/20-wired.network and added the settings.
Below are the screenshots:
https://imgur.com/a/Rp0hDA2

@abaumann Your image is from the year 2021, so I assume a lot has changed in archlinux32 since then. Would it be possible that you create a newer image with a more recent kernel and packages?

Regards,
Jan

abaumann · 2026-02-17 06:48:51

Last time I checked, the Wifi-driver for the onboard Wlan (the nice flappy ears) had errors, so it would get a connection 1 out of 3 times.
The Archlinux32 i486 branch is quite broken at the moment, the image was just a fast hack for doing a pacstrap on another machine (I think I
did it originally for MrBios). You can either go with that image and then update the installed system from there. The tricky part is network, I
think the last I used was a USB-to-USB PC connection cable (not ethernet, and VERY slow).

That was pretty much the last thing I did for the i486 branch back in 2021. Since then a lot of software didn't get updated anyway because
it broke.

Archlinux32 is pretty much in a minimal effort mode due to limited amount of hands. My biggest problem is still Python, which is really a nightmare
to keep up to date. And pretty much everything depends in one or the other way from Python..

..I'll see what I can do. :-)

yang · 2026-02-17 07:21:16

@abaumann Thank you for your fast reply. :-)

I read through this forum thread again, and there is one more thing, which I could still try.
You wrote that Wi-Fi works in open or VEP mode. I need to try that, because I tested it in WPA2 mode and I assume, that the hardware is too old to recognize WPA2 actually?

yang · 2026-02-17 20:51:04

I managed to connect to an open Wi-Fi network, and to the internet through that. Next thing to try, is to setup the WPA2 connection and also a wired connection, through the USB dongle.

yang · 2026-02-19 18:31:46

A quick update:

I decided to upgrade the system as you suggested. Log of the upgrade process https://paste.debian.net/hidden/85434743
I am still able to boot, but unable to see any Wi-Fi interfaces, so I cannot configure the Wi-Fi. The only visible interfaces are "lo" and "sit0@NONE".
The "dmesg" output https://paste.debian.net/hidden/bfe4f368
The "lsmod" output https://paste.debian.net/hidden/1d287cec
The "dmesg | grep usb" output https://paste.debian.net/hidden/69084482

@abaumann
I have additionally installed "linux-firmware-marvell", but I don't know if there were any changes applied into the new kernel image, and if I am successful in loading it at boot time?
My question now is, how could I get Wi-Fi working again, or an ethernet connection? I still need to read how to make USB<>USB connection to another computer for a possible link.

abaumann · 2026-02-20 10:45:47

The module for Wifi is called usb8xxx, if I remember correctly it has some firmware blob, which must be around. Could
be that one dropped out of the new linux-firmware packages.

My OLPX still works, but the SD card refuses to work. I'm trying to find the images which I published in the forum..

andreas_baumann · 2026-02-20 11:22:01

Aha, found a working SD card. I'll make an image of it and post it.

[ 27.927120] usb8xxx: Firmware ready event received
[ 27.945189] usb8xxx 1-1:1.0 (unnamed net_device) (uninitialized): 00:17:c4:10:e3:67, fw 5.110.22p23, cap 0x000003a3
[ 28.054744] usb8xxx 1-1:1.0 wlan0: Marvell WLAN 802.11 adapter
[ 28.123730] usb8xxx 1-1:1.0 wlan0: PREP_CMD: command 0x0074 failed: 2
[ 28.187209] usb8xxx 1-1:1.0 wlan0: Firmware does not seem to support PS mode
[ 28.255508] usb8xxx 1-1:1.0 wlan0: PREP_CMD: command 0x0043 failed: 1
[ 28.320074] usb8xxx 1-1:1.0 wlan0: HOST_SLEEP_CFG failed 1
[ 30.156984] usb8xxx 1-1:1.0 wlp0s15f5u1: renamed from wlan0
wlp0s15f5u1: flags=4098<BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
ether 00:17:c4:10:e3:67 txqueuelen 1000 (Ethernet)
RX packets 0 bytes 0 (0.0 B)
RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0
TX packets 0 bytes 0 (0.0 B)
TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0

I had to use a package called wireless-regdb-2022.06.06-1.0-any.pkg.tar.zst for the regulatory db and I extracted the firmare
/lib

I found in /lib/firmware/libertas

regulatory.db
usb8388_olpc.bin

I'll put it on https://archlinux32.andreasbaumann.cc/other/olpc/

The image takes a while to make, the SD card shows signs of wear and is read-only.

The root user on the image will have password xx (https://archlinux32.andreasbaumann.cc/o … 220.img.gz)

yang · 2026-02-22 15:04:11

@abaumann Thank you for the information about the Wi-Fi driver. I managed to insert/compile it into the kernel with the 'mkinitcpio' program. At this point it detects the Wi-Fi interfaces. I am trying to use it with 'netctl' + 'wpa_supplicant' + 'dhcpcd' packages. I was testing it with the WPA/WPA2/WPA3 settings, but so far, no luck with that. It only works with/in an OPEN Wi-Fi network. Is there any special reason why it refuses to work with WPA/WPA2/WPA3 modes? Could you test if it works on your side with such modes, because running an OPEN Wi-Fi node is not very secure (I only did it for testing). I will try your OLPC image on my secondary OLPC XO-1.5 and report, if everything works well.

abaumann · 2026-02-23 16:24:47

I don't get any connection currently with any mode. No clue why..

yang · 2026-02-25 22:20:12

I have bought a TP-Link, model UE200, 2.0 10/100 Mbps fast USB to Ethernet adapter. It gets recognized at boot and works.

# dmesg | grep eth
[ 46.058301] cdc_ether 1-4:2.0 eth0: register 'cdc_ether' at usb-0000:00:0f.5-4, CDC Ethernet Device, 3c:6a:d2:f0:40:d3
[ 47.338817] usbcore: registered new interface driver cdc_ether
[ 48.467265] cdc_ether 1-4:2.0 enp0s15f5u4c2: renamed from eth0

There is a list of Ethernet adapters, which are compatible with OLPC's at https://web.archive.org/web/20251211173 … t_adaptors
(original, now outdated link at) http://wiki.laptop.org/go/USB_ethernet_adaptors

My newer TP-Link, model UE330 USB 3.0 3-port hub and Gigabit Ethernet adapter, does not get recognized and does not work.

Last edited by yang (2026-02-25 22:27:56)

abaumann · 2026-03-01 08:55:57

Mine is a Maxxtro USB 2.0 Network Link Cable.

[108774.604481] plusb 2-1.4.4:1.0 usb0: register 'plusb' at usb-0000:00:1d.7-1.4.4, Prolific PL-2301/PL-2302/PL-25A1/PL-27A1, 32:76:e6:59:df:26
[108774.604656] usbcore: registered new interface driver plusb
[108774.791673] plusb 2-1.4.4:1.0 enp0s29f7u1u4u4: renamed from usb0

BTW, cudos for the X11 on the XO-1. Is this in framebuffer mode with the Geode framebuffer or with xf86-video-geode (saw your
comment in the IRC chat). It could be an idea to dig through the xlibre git repos, as especially for old drivers the xlibre project is
not eager to drop old code so fast. :-)

The wifi network problem is most likely the kernel module itself, so I start to bisect a little bit the olpc kernels.

abaumann · 2026-03-01 09:15:40

DLink USB network (so I remember next time I want to do something like this :-) ):

on the host:
ip addr add 192.168.10.1/24 dev enp0s29f7u1u4u4
ip link set enp0s29f7u1u4u4 up
sysctl net.ipv4.ip_forward=1
iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o enp0s25 -j MASQUERADE
iptables -A FORWARD -m conntrack --ctstate RELATED,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
iptables -A FORWARD -i enp0s29f7u1u4u4 -o enp0s25 -j ACCEPT
on the client:
ip addr add 192.168.10.2/24 dev enp0s15f5u2
ip link set enp0s15f5u2 up
ip route add default via 192.168.10.1
# nameserver /etc/resolv.conf

abaumann · 2026-03-01 14:47:27

I get now a connection without WEP or WPA on a olpc-xo1 kernel 7.17.5, but only one out of three times..
I checked, the wpa_supplicant is started by can never negotiate the credentials..
Also I don't always see all stations in a scan with 'iw list', this driver is a little bit shacky..

yang · 2026-03-04 16:52:12

@abaumann - XFCE/X11 is running in "fbdev" mode. I couldn't get it to work with "geode" drivers, I tried to install xf86-video-geode, but there was some error, I will check again and report later.

The problem with current X11 configuration is that the view is very small 1200 x 900 pixels and that icons and menus are very small to read, so not really useful for navigating through it.

Last edited by yang (2026-03-04 16:56:07)

yang · 2026-03-04 19:54:44

# pacman -Sy xf86-video-geode
:: Synchronizing package databases...
core is up to date
extra is up to date
community is up to date
error: target not found: xf86-video-geode
[root@XO-1 ~]# pacman -Ss video geode
[root@XO-1 ~]# pacman -Ss geode
extra/python-geographiclib 2.0-3.0
Python implementation of the geodesic routines in GeographicLib

abaumann · 2026-03-04 20:03:10

Try `DisplaySize 200 150` and do a 200% scaling. The OLPC-XO-1 screen is like Macs with Retina.. :-)

Arch Linux

#26 2021-08-17 18:00:05

Re: OLPC XO-1

#27 2021-08-17 18:49:09

Re: OLPC XO-1

#28 2021-08-17 19:18:23

Re: OLPC XO-1

#29 2021-08-18 16:13:58

Re: OLPC XO-1

#30 2021-08-28 18:12:44

Re: OLPC XO-1

#31 2021-08-28 20:21:12

Re: OLPC XO-1

#32 2026-02-16 23:59:30

Re: OLPC XO-1

#33 2026-02-17 06:48:51

Re: OLPC XO-1

#34 2026-02-17 07:21:16

Re: OLPC XO-1

#35 2026-02-17 20:51:04

Re: OLPC XO-1

#36 2026-02-19 18:31:46

Re: OLPC XO-1

#37 2026-02-20 10:45:47

Re: OLPC XO-1

#38 2026-02-20 11:22:01

Re: OLPC XO-1

#39 2026-02-22 15:04:11

Re: OLPC XO-1

#40 2026-02-23 16:24:47

Re: OLPC XO-1

#41 2026-02-25 22:20:12

Re: OLPC XO-1

#42 2026-03-01 08:55:57

Re: OLPC XO-1

#43 2026-03-01 09:15:40

Re: OLPC XO-1

#44 2026-03-01 14:47:27

Re: OLPC XO-1

#45 2026-03-04 16:52:12

Re: OLPC XO-1

#46 2026-03-04 19:54:44

Re: OLPC XO-1

#47 2026-03-04 20:03:10

Re: OLPC XO-1

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