desktoplinux.com — The One Laptop Per Child project's onsite supervisor, Mark Foster, reported from Shanghai on Sunday that the first 10 prototypes of the Linux-powered OLPC XO-1 are up and running. This marks a key milestone toward an upcoming build of 900 units.
Nov 14, 2006 View in Crawl 4
azimirNov 14, 2006
That'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:<a class="user" href="http://www.pledgebank.com/olpchackers">http://www.pledgebank.com/olpchackers</a>
jaydjNov 14, 2006
Azimir has good info. Don't digg him down if you're doing it because Apple is mentioned. Good on OLPC to use Open Source.
Closed AccountNov 14, 2006
I saw a demo unit at the Ubuntu Developer Summit last week, look like a great unit.
jaydjNov 14, 2006
They can google for food.But seriously, don't underestimate knowledge.
arpadNov 15, 2006
With 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.
raynevandunemNov 15, 2006
The 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.
crunkykdNov 15, 2006
What 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?
jaydjNov 15, 2006
@azimirAfraid you are right. the $300 price point is still being batted about as well as the whole retail model is not clearly defined.<a class="user" href="http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Retail">http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Retail</a>