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They're called 'nettops' -- MSI and Asus both make them, as well as Koolu, CompuLab, and Everex.

I think that OLPC has already been a technology success, and it will change the world, just not the way Negroponte envisioned. Microsoft, Dell, and Intel ignored the under $400 PC market for years. It doesn't make financial sense for them to take the last $70 each makes per machine and cut it to $15. The event of the $200 PC (like like the gOS PC would have been delayed for years if not for OLPC.

With charitable motives rather than financial, OLPC created the next generation machine for the next 2 billion users. The Aus EEE PC and competitors all copied the low BOM of the OLPC, and now target the billions of people world wide who can't afford a Wintel machine from Dell. It's the next big wave in computing, and OLPC led the way.

I think Linux is the OS that'll convert the "average web surfer."

We think of it as catering to the technical crowd, but that's only because techies are most likely to install a whole new OS. Once it's installed, Linux is incredibly easy and hassle-free to use, and I say this as one who first tried it less than a year ago.

So. Low price point, wide selection of applications, AND catering to the average web surfer. Or MySpace user. I think Linux just might have that covered (for better or worse).

Buy her an Everex Green PC, $199:
http://www.everex.com/

You can leave it on 24/7.

Green
Imagine a computer that averages just 2 Watts of power consumption and operates at a whisper quiet 28dB...

Sell yours on ebay to recycle to another user.

Another post suggests it's this box: http://www.everex.com/products/gc2500/gc2500.htm

No pci slot :(

First, FTA: "The gPC is built using tiny components, but put inside a full-size case because research indicates that Wal-Mart shoppers are so unsophisticated they equate physical size with capability." Funny or sad? You decide.

Second, some links about the system: buy it from WalMart, here's a big screenshot of it from the manufacturer's site, and although Everex doesn't list it among products, the model number and specification list makes me suspect it's kin to their GC2500 series, which doesn't appear to have any expansion slots (other than another RAM slot).

First, FTA: "The gPC is built using tiny components, but put inside a full-size case because research indicates that Wal-Mart shoppers are so unsophisticated they equate physical size with capability." Funny or sad? You decide.

Second, some links about the system: buy it from WalMart, here's a big screenshot of it from the manufacturer's site, and although Everex doesn't list it among products, the model number and specification list makes me suspect it's kin to their GC2500 series, which doesn't appear to have any expansion slots (other than another RAM slot).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everex

Their site http://www.everex.com/

review of a $600 version from the awhile ago http://www.laptopmag.com/Review/Everex-StepNote-LM7WE.htm

I haven't found many reliability mentions... but you can dig more yourself

$200 is practically chump change for many

You mentioned the Via C7. I have a laptop with a Via C7M. Not much difference. I purchased my laptop a few months back. It is an Everex NC1501 Stepnote with a 1.5Ghz C7M. Great little machine. Does all I need a laptop to do, and it only cost $399 thanks to a Vista sale of $100 bucks off the price. I never booted Vista. I installed Debian Etch onto it after verifying hardware with DSL-N, KNOPPIX, and Backtrack. Everything worked so I went with it.

My only two downfalls with Etch were video and sound. Sound was fixable with a new kernel. Note that most other distros already had the kernel that supported the sound chipset. Video will hopefully be fixed soon. I am currently using the VESA driver. The Via forums state there is a workable solution for video, but I have not attempted it yet. The main Via guys stated that the next release would be full 2D. Yep, no 3D acceleration. The video chipset is capable of DX9.0c. I will have to wait for either an Openchrome driver, or a Via one (not likely for 3D).

My sound works fine with the kernel upgrade, even better than when using KNOPPIX. The video has no real drawbacks for basic things, like email, websurfing, and such. I will try my NES emulator again when I get a 2D driver and see if I don't have stuttering problems. If I get 3D acceleration there are a few DX7/8 type of games I would love to play on the little thing.

I purchased an Everex laptop a few months ago. It came with Vista on it. I never booted into Vista. I used a KNOPPIX and Backtrack LiveCD to verify the hardware worked. I then installed Debian Etch.

Two main problems and one small one that did not affect me.

The small one is the earphone jack, I have not looked into that one as I am not in need of it yet.

First issue was the sound output. The sound was way too low. I found a driver on Via's website, but I also found out that a newer kernel supported the sound chip. If I had used Ubuntu instead of Etch, the driver would have already been available to me. I chose to compile the new kernel. In addition to getting my sound working, I also created a faster booting kernel. My first kernel recompile, I think I did it nicely.

Second issue is video. The hardware is listed as being DX9.0c compliant. It will run using a VESA driver, and I am still using that to this day. According to the Via website a Linux driver is in the works. The last I looked into this, it should be available soon. Even the open source version of Via vid drivers is not working for everyone. This is due to it being a newer chip. Just enough changed from the previous that it requires more than a bit of tweaking.

If I had picked a Distro with a newer kernel one of my issues would never have shown up, and the other is not causing any issues. I am sticking with Debian Etch on this machine for now. By the way, I had no wireless issues. Before ordering the laptop I looked into the hardware to see if it would be worth the purchase. Mine came with an Atheros chipset and I am using the MadWifi drivers with no issues.

One final thing. My machine came with 512MB of RAM. I don't even want to know how slow Vista would have been on it. Under Etch I am using approx 120MB of RAM while running Firefox with seven tabs of Slashdot open. I am quite happy with my purchase, plus I purchased my machine during a Vista sale, so it was $100 bucks less than normal. Quite happy with my $400 brand new laptop.

Per Everex where-2-buy at http://www.everex.com/where%20to%20buy/where%20to% 20buy.htm, Wal-Mart stores carry it but walmart.com doesn't.

The closest shipping match to the Itsy are the Casio E-15 and E-100; with 69MHz/131MHz CPUs and 16M of RAM, they're somewhat larger machines than the 8M 486SX/25 I bought to run Linux 0.12, and you can get larger CompactFlash cards (IDE interface internally) than the 60M SCSI disk that was home for a few years. Both Casios are a bit bigger than the Palm III, although I suppose you could get an Everex Freestyle if you wanted the exact size.

If Digital---uh, I mean Compaq---had seeded the right places with proto hardware, I think the excitement about this project would be more justified. I'm glad they're finally releasing their port (dunno where, but this slide has it as a bullet); if nothing else, it will make work on other Linux PDA environments easier. But the commercial marketplace is serving up almost everything the Itsy hardware has except the prototyping ability today. That's where to funnel all that nervous energy you get when you think about how cool it would be to have a Linux PDA.