One Laptop Per Child

[emorog]

The "One Laptop Per Child" initiative has begun mass production so that you may now get one for yourself.

"For a donation of $399, one XO laptop will be sent to empower a child in a developing nation and one will be sent to the child in your life in recognition of your contribution."  (you can also just donate $200 if you don't want one for

Comments

it is very cute

[emorog]

it's a very slick machine. i've read a lot about it in the past couple of days, and there are a lot of things to like, and only a few dislikes.

I really like the e-book or tablet mode where the screen flips around so you can hold it like a book. (it also does an excellent job of conserving power in this mode.) it also has built-in joypads on the screen to use for games in this mode. very cool.

the mesh networking is a very cool concept, and would be really handy in remote school settings. i would imagine it would just be a non-issue here, unless you happen to live near someone else who has one. i haven't found any docs indicating whether or not the mesh net presence and forwarding can be disabled.

it is very kid oriented, and comes with tons of apps or "activities" - including some simple programming languages. (never too young to start.)

the only downside i can see really depends on how much you want to do with it. if you just consider the cost for features, the Asus EeePC 4G has more for the same price. (double Ram/expandable, and 4X Storage, a little lighter weight but also prolly not as rugged.)

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Eee-Notebook-Pearl-White/dp/B000Y33CVM/ref=cm_taf_title_featured?ie=UTF8&tag=tellafriend-20

of course, this defeats the entire point of the OLPC cause, but it's a useful comparison since there's nothing else like it in existence.

Re: it is very cute

[emorog]

(( split up since i've crashed ie once and accidentally navigated away from this page while typing. why no warning LJ? ))

i think subtracting the donation part of the XO laptop price probably puts the power/memory just in line with the EeePC. and it's perfectly fine hardware for what it is - tinkering and learning. oh, and the battery last twice as long. this thing has some very advanced power management features. (24 hours in e-book mode.) and the screen is slightly larger, and higher resolution. the black & white mode sounds great for viewing outside.

i'm very impressed how close they got to the original goal of $100 cost for the laptop. and they've come up with some really great innovations. (like the cheap and powerful batteries, and the dual-mode low power screen.) i love how they encourage curiosity by using open source apps for the whole thing, and putting on a "view-source" button to instantly look at the code for any of the Apps.

one thing to consider, is that this is not a commercial product. it only has a 30 day warranty - which should be fine, but be prepared to do your own tech support, or know someone who can. :)

One goal of the G1G1 initiative is to create an informal network of XO laptop users in the developed world, who will provide feedback about the utility of the XO laptop as an educational tool for children, participate in the worldwide effort to create open-source educational applications for the XO laptop, and serve as a resource for those in the developing world who seek to optimize the value of the XO laptop as an educational tool. A fee based tech support service will be available to all who desire it. We urge participants in the G1G1 initiative to think of themselves as members of an international educational movement rather than as “customers.”

i think it's a fantastic result and i'm glad they've decided to share it with us in the "developed" world.