Blue Sky project OLPC [ was Re: gnuplot projects, terminal modules]

[Ethan A M. <merritt@u.washington.edu>]

The OLPC project (One Laptop Per Child) is inviting contributed
software suitable for educational use on the OLPC platform.
	http://wiki.laptop.org/Software

I note with interest that the prefered software API is via the
Pango/Cairo/GTK+ library layer.

Several people here have expressed interest in a gnuplot GUI.
My first reaction was "who would want one?", but the coincidental
arrival of the OLPC invitation may have answered the question.

So here's the challenge:
  - design a GUI for gnuplot usable by school-age kids to explore
    math and functions.  Probably using GTK+
  - provide a single terminal driver based on Pango/Cairo 
  - make the existing gnuplot components modular enough that
    we can select a set of configuration options suitable for
    the OLPC platform (366 MHz Geode, 128 MB, custom display)

Even if this never ends up as a standard OLPC app, I think the
constraints make an interesting project.  In particular I think
that GUI design can only work if you have a clear target user
group, and elementary maths education would be a good target to
aim for.    

(certainly a GUI is of no use for the stuff I use gnuplot for :-)
  

-- 
Ethan A Merritt
Biomolecular Structure Center
University of Washington, Seattle 98195-7742