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- shrewduser, on 10/12/2007, -1/+20"It cannot be overstated how much both the hardware and software teams have poured their hearts and souls into reaching this milestone."
good on 'em. - PatrickFisher, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11How do I sign up to do "destructive testing" on one of these puppies?
- linuxcompfreak, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5YAY LINUX!!!
- MikeBasinger, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I saw a demo unit at the Ubuntu Developer Summit last week, look like a great unit.
- azimir, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4sufiboy,
This is a question that the OLPC project has faced from day one. The project has looked extensively at "third world" countries and discovered that in many of them food, water, shelter have been achieved. What is needed is inexpensive ways to distribute knowledge to the populace throughout their lifetimes.
See this from their Wiki addressing your concerns:
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Our_mission#Isn.27t_this_project_just_a_techno-Utopian_dream.3F_A_band_aid_when_more_serious_surgery_needs_to_be_done.3F
The cost of doing this via books and traditional strategies is high. It was noted in the speech one of the OLPC PIs gave that it takes about $30 worth of paper a year (not including content licensing) per child. Having the ability to have any number of books available electronically reduces this overhead greatly. That's why one of the goals for these devices is to be a very low power eBook reader. The work that they've done to reduce power consumption to facilitate this is immense, and very interesting by how they had to really R&D their own screens to be dual mode color/black&white for this purpose. - azimir, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4The design and colors are specifically chosen to deter adults from absconding with them. It's also undersized to be more accessible to children.
- LesterKing, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6I'm sure Mark Foley would be doing other things in Shanghai...
- purplegang, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4The computers are going to be made in bright colors that are usually associated with children's toys. The computers should be quite durable. It is hoped that adults won't steal the computers for their own uses or profit, since they look like a child's toy.
- jaydj, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4They can google for food.
But seriously, don't underestimate knowledge. - CircleFusion, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4@sufiboy
"How about spending the money on clean water, roads, decent housing or other infrastructure? "
Or maybe we can help them to better educate their children so they can be more self-reliant and come up with solutions for their own problems...clean water, roads, decent housing, etc.. - azimir, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Yay indeed. Apple/Steve Jobs offered OS X free of charge, but the design of the system needs to allow the users and the governments that will be actually using the systems to have access to the source code. They may need (or just want) to make changes at that level.
From:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/$100_laptop
"Steve Jobs had offered Mac OS X free of charge for use in the laptop, but according to Seymour Papert, a professor emeritus at MIT who is one of the initiative's founders, the designers want an operating system that can be tinkered with: “We declined because it’s not open source.” Therefore Linux was chosen."
It is also allowing the developers to custom fit the code to the hardware. These systems are quite limited in resources, mostly due to power considerations. The primary one that they're bumping up against is the 128MB or RAM. Being able to keep the OS to the absolute minimum is going to save countries millions of dollars with this project. - tlsmith2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I wish they would sell them. I'll pay $200-$300 for one. I think that would help there cause out a lot
- arpad, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3With all the tough, first-class minds involved in this project the best they can come up with to deter theft is make 'em brightly colored? How lame is that?
The people behind this project are so captivated by the idea of One Laptop Per Child that they won't let something like mere theft deter them.
No, they'll crank these things out by the millions and hope some of them get to where they're supposed to go. Sort of the computer equivalent of foreign aid and just like foreign aid most of the value of these machines will end up in some corrupt, government official's pocket. And there's not a damned thing the OLPC people can do about it as evidenced by the pathetic plan to use a coloring scheme to deter theft.
And to add insult to injury there's the idiotic pledge purchase system they've been batting around.
Buy one OLPC for $300 and "donate" two to the poor kids. God, the arrogance just drips off that idea. Why not $400 and "donate" three computers to the poor kids? Obviously, the only way the OLPC paladins will deign to dirty their hands with grubby commerce is if their computer is for sale at a price that indicates appreciation of the nobility of their enterprise. - azimir, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3That's great to hear.
There was a short term pledge run by an involved third party to basically set up an arbitage for purchasing the systems in bulk around the US, but it had too lofty of goals. There is a new pledge drive to purchase these systems for $300 in the US as a way to make them available to programmers. The underlying goal is to get more software developed by groups around the country, although purchasing a set of them for a class or learning center could also be a possibility. We'd love it if you would sign up:
http://www.pledgebank.com/olpchackers - jaydj, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Azimir has good info. Don't digg him down if you're doing it because Apple is mentioned.
Good on OLPC to use Open Source. - azimir, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2If you look through the wiki on the OLPC site: laptop.org you will find that they are already way ahead of you. The best page I found at first blush was:
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Hardware_specification#What_makes_this_system_unique.3F
To quote:
"The wireless antennae are diversity antennae, and rotate upward using a rugged dual moulded nylon plastic design. ... When closed, the antennae cover the audio and USB connectors to help keep dirt out of the connectors (as mentioned above, the case carefully moulds around the connectors, both to increase ruggedness and to help keep dirt and water out)."
and:
"The machine is rugged. The most common failures of laptops are disk drives, fans, florescent back lights, power connectors, other connectors, and contamination of keyboards. Our machine uses flash, eliminating a disk, has no need for a fan, uses a rugged LED backlight rather than a florescent light, and uses a sealed rubber keyboard. It uses 2mm thick plastic, where a typical system might use 1.3mm. External connectors are carefully molded into the plastic for greater strength. The power connector is carefully chosen to be much more durable than usual, and again, the case is moulded carefully around it for greater strength. There are extremely few connectors in the machine, primarily just connecting the keyboard assembly to the motherboard (which is behind the LCD display). This eliminates most of the cables and connectors you will find in most laptops. We will be testing 500 systems to destruction this fall to identify anything we can do to increase further its ruggedness. There are internal bumpers to protect the display, and we are investigating external bumpers on the outside of the case for additional shock protection."
and one last bit:
"The industrial design includes a small lip to help seal the edge of the machine when closed. While not water-proof, we expect a machine in a child's backpack or hands in a rainstorm should not have problems with water." - mikewhalley, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Absolutely. I would pay double for one of these fantastically engineered devices. In fact, if they do end up for sale to the general public I think we should be charged at least double, so that it pays for another laptop for someone else who it too poor to afford one. This product deserves to win every award under the sun. It's packed full of innovations.
- Ademan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I know the whole idea was to build them tough, but i'm imagining a TON of mud and whatnot, i mean these things are gonna be subject to ABUSE. Some way to keep mud off/out of them would probably be a good plan, i mean, i see exposed headphone jacks and whatnot, i don't think thats what it needs...
- jaydj, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1There will be a program in place to allow anyone to buy one at $300 so that 2 may be donated.
Cheers. - Yez70, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2They are only for sale to government entities so far.
- mikewhalley, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@azimir - I'm in. I've done my pledge. I'm not sure how successful it would be though, as there is only one other person in the UK pledging... let alone in my town! ;-) Good idea though and I hope it's successful. The product would benefit from diverse communities of testers and developers.
- Genma, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1another nice article on the design process:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.08/laptop.html
the look you see in those pictures has a purpose, this is MIT we're talking about not Fisher Price. - ricodued, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Yes, but will it run Windows?
/i keed, i keed - azimir, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@jaydj
All I know about is the pledge systems trying to get them through a bulk purchase. Do you have any documentation for another method of purchase? - raynevandunem, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The movement towards smaller, cheaper computers is interesting and worthy of continuous surveillance. They seem to be popping out with something new every month at LinuxDevices.org, such as palm-sized PCs (less than $100, mind you), IPBXs made out of Mac Minis, and other such things.
We, both in the first and third world, really need more of these. Kudos to the OLPC project for the progress thus far, and here's to a successful venture for them in the future. - LesterKing, on 10/12/2007, -4/+5I can't wait to buy one of these.
- ricodued, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1What happens when the adults figure out just what it is?
There goes the whole anti-theft security scheme. :( - jaydj, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0@azimir
Afraid you are right. the $300 price point is still being batted about as well as the whole retail model is not clearly defined.
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Retail - crunkykd, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0What a retarded idea: reinvent the PDA/cellphone. They're already connected, low power, fast computing, microphone, speakers, camera, screens, buttons, etc. And they'll get bigger screens and keyboards soon enough. You don't think Motorola and Nokia will just lay down while these OLPCs show up in their market, do you? The 3rd world buys tons of cellphones because they're useful. This thing is just an ego stroke.
As far as open source mania, how about open source food, water, medicine, shelter, schools, and security? - SyberMile, on 10/12/2007, -5/+4why do they need to look like micky mouse club toy i bet that ups the price alittle
- sufiboy, on 10/12/2007, -5/+0yeah, great,
How about spending the money on clean water, roads, decent housing or other infrastructure? Libya for one could do with the these, rather than some laptops which will end up only in the hands of the elite (or their offspring) of developing countries.
Oh, and in the end, they won't be recycled to western standards: some third world kid will be boiling them up to extract rare elements whilw poisoning themselves. maybe we need open source freely shared food and health care before we do this... - PatrickFisher, on 10/12/2007, -9/+3I'm sure Mark Foley would be doing other things with all the children...
- 98acura, on 10/12/2007, -12/+3Am I the only one that had to read the description twice? I swear i thought it said
"The One Laptop Per Child project's onsite supervisor, Mark Foley...."
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