The OLPC XS (often spoken as "School Server") is a

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...

-based OS (a Fedora Linux-based distribution) designed to be installed on generic low-to-midrange mildly ruggedized servers. Initial plans of building a custom server geared for the role have been postponed, OLPC however offers hardware recommendations for the system, and plans to support the XO laptops running as a server for very small schools. OLPC XS can provide children's XO laptops and their Sugar Learning Platform with network connectivity for

backup In information technology, a backup, or data backup is a copy of computer data taken and stored elsewhere so that it may be used to restore the original after a data loss event. The verb form, referring to the process of doing so, is "back up", w ...

s, anti-theft leases,

web browsing Web navigation refers to the process of navigating a Computer network, network of web resource, information resources in the International World Wide Web Conference, World Wide Web, which is organized as hypertext or hypermedia. The user interface ...

, system, content updates, asynchronous collaboration tools such as

Moodle Moodle is a free and open-source learning management system written in PHP and distributed under the GNU General Public License. Moodle is used for blended learning, distance education, flipped classroom and other online learning projects in sch ...

, etc.

Projected specifications

The (currently on hold) plans call for an energy-efficient design that does not require moving parts for basic functionality. It will be mildly ruggedized. The XS Server's CPU is a

PowerPC PowerPC (with the backronym Performance Optimization With Enhanced RISC – Performance Computing, sometimes abbreviated as PPC) is a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) instruction set architecture (ISA) created by the 1991 Apple Inc., App ...

, the MPC7447A from Freescale, with AltiVec support. The system will boot from

flash memory Flash memory is an electronic non-volatile computer memory storage medium that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. The two main types of flash memory, NOR flash and NAND flash, are named for the NOR and NAND logic gates. Both us ...

, which is far less likely to fail than a

hard disk A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating platters coated with magnet ...

. Hard disks will be provided for storing a library of local content and for making backups of the children's data. The XS is intended to ship with one hard disk installed, and a second to serve as either a spare or for increased capacity. The second is not installed by default because this would consume extra power. There will be three

802.11s IEEE 802.11s is a wireless local area network (WLAN) standard and an IEEE 802.11 amendment for mesh networking, defining how wireless devices can interconnect to create a wireless LAN mesh network, which may be used for relatively fixed (not mobile) ...

wireless mesh connections. Each will be a

USB Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard that establishes specifications for cables, connectors and protocols for connection, communication and power supply (interfacing) between computers, peripherals and other computers. A broad v ...

device with a 3 meter (10 foot) cable, allowing good

antenna Antenna ( antennas or antennae) may refer to: Science and engineering * Antenna (radio), also known as an aerial, a transducer designed to transmit or receive electromagnetic (e.g., TV or radio) waves * Antennae Galaxies, the name of two collid ...

placement (high, unobstructed) and good server placement (dry, secure).

References

{{Reflist

External links

* XS Homepage * XS Server Specifications
XS Community Edition
created by OLPC volunteers starting in 2012 to be more modular and teacher-friendly, running on XO laptops in addition to traditional servers One Laptop per Child Linux distributions