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Playstation, Dreamcast And The 3rd World
NaturePhotog writes: "CNN has an intriguing article on using Playstations running Linux to give people in developing nations access to information on health issues such as AIDS, clean water, etc. Playstations are cheap compared with PCs, hook up to a TV set, they're rugged, and could be hooked up via satellites using Globalstar phones.
Ship along some of those low-cost solar panels discussed earlier on /., and you'd have a pretty sweet setup you can use almost anywhere. For serious research, of course..." And as neema points out, Sony isn't the only choice here: "Using the modem port, students from Nagoya University hooked up a homemade IDE board and installed a hard drive. The Dreamcast is running NetBSD for the Dreamcast." Here are the instructions (with schematics) on how to add a hard drive to your Dreamcast.
While I understand that these systems may help to educate the citizens of Third World Countries, does anyone else feel that perhaps there are more important things to focus on before addressing the "digital divide?" Things like clean water, stricter environmental regulations and general health and sanitation? A Playstion running Linux is a great toy, but it won't do you much good if you have no food because your farmland has extremely high levels of toxic chemicals in the soil, or if easily curable diseases (in First World countries, anyway) are killing off most of the population.
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"To hope's end I rode and to heart's breaking: Now for wrath, now for ruin and a red nightfall!"
I guess they were trying to stop from anyone suing them for using the acronym AIDS.
The ICT and the WEF could also develop a portable version - like a Gameboy running Linux - that gives information about AIDS (and also herpes syphillis, ...) on the spot. The device could come in a handy pouch that doubles as a condom.
I would think something like this could be useful in many developed countries as well.
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
As an added benefit, the birth rate will be reduced in areas using the cheap boxes. Anthropogists noticed that when pirated satellite feeds became available to villages (one person would be the dish, and run cable to the whole neighborhood for a small fee), the birth rate dropped dramatically. The reason? Men were up late watching porn instead of keeping the wife "busy". The men turned to self gratification instead.
That's the dumbest thing I've heard. The cite the fact that these machines are easier to use than PC's (designed for 12 year olds blah blah blah)...but unix is unix (you'll still have to learn it)....$300 console plus TV/monitor isn't much cheaper than a PC....not to mention the fact there will be a number of apps you can't run....all so you can educate them about AIDS? Give me a break... These are the kind of articles that are insulting 'solutions' to real 3rd world problems....what they really are are free advertising for companies like Sun.... I'm sorry IT is important, but no one has shown it being a factor in reducing AIDS transmission...nor do think it makes sense to talk about it right now....
And why is this exactly? It's because the PS2 hardware device is a loss-leader, or at least a very-thin-profit-margin leader. They are basically sold only so that people will go out and buy Sony Playstation games, which, at $50+ for a DVDROM, are certainly sold at quite a profit.
So, I'm certainly not saying it's morally wrong to take PS2s, install linux, and ship 'em to the big bad "third world" (which is also getting a lot of solar cells, what's with that place these days?). What I'm saying is, the parade can't go on forever. If sony sells 10M of these things and only 2M people are using them for gaming, the price could increase significantly. Then, at the very least, the low-cost benefit would be gone. Worst case, Sony would discontinue the platform altogether.
What I'd rather see is some stripped-down hardware (like P2's with 64M and 4G) shipped over for this kind of use. This kind of thing could probably be gotten as donations from corporations that are surplussing it (ie, throwing it away), and they could even claim it as a tax write-off. Everyone wins.
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I'm not sure if this is a troll or not, but in regards to the "flies off their eyes" comment, I believe that the reason you see many children in certain Third World countries with flies on them is that it is considered bad luck to remove them. This is why many children grow up either visually impaired, or completely blind. There have been efforts to educate people about this as well, but I haven't the faintest clue how well it has worked.
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"To hope's end I rode and to heart's breaking: Now for wrath, now for ruin and a red nightfall!"
This story is wildly out of whack with reality. The primary tenet is that playstation II's are cheaper than computers. A complete PSX2 'computer' would come out to something like $700 US after you add all the rickty hacks like hard drive and globalstar modem connectivity, plus a TV set... This is not cheaper than a refurbished P90 with a 13" monitor!
No, rather I'd say that this is a contrived wet dream of a story, packaged by the Sony Entertainment US marketing department, bundled up and handed off to AOL/Time Warner's news division glorifying certain corporate interests that run contrary to certain looming threats from other quarters. Besides, there's not a lot of money in refurbished P90's sold to developing nations, but there sure is a lot of money in convincing armchair philanthropists to buy a playstation 2 that they may sooth their aching conscience in this land of plenty. Don't believe the hype!
So it brings a smile to my face when I see someone actually doing it. Right on, guys!
This sounds like a worthy cause. I will gladly donate my PS when the gamecube comes out. :)
this is it...stupid tag
How Jaded Are You?
Of course, the PS would need electricity, whereas if you give them, say, a hand powered computer...
Sure, you say, solar electricity. But hand-cranking (discreet cough) builds character.
Wouldn't it be cheaper to send a whole slew of TV/VCR combo units (what are they, like maybe $50 in quantity?) with some video tapes?
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Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
I give a short quote:
Damnit, people! Can't journalists and policymakers consult with a geek before they spout of ignorantly on technical matters?
to explain how the Playstation is going to clean the water, run electricity to the village, teach the people to read, and put food on the table. I have seen the third world devistation first hand....and let me tell you one thing --- setting up terminal's for these people has got to be the most stupid thing I have ever heard. At least if you sent them pamphlets --- they could use them to wipe their arses....
(+1 Funny) only if I laugh out loud.
It seemed to me that these people aren't too well informed. First off, to refer to the PS2 as just the "Playstation" is a little misleading because the original Playstation is still being sold. If they can't even refer to the system properly, I think there's going to be some major problems up ahead for this project. Secondly, it doesn't matter quite so much what the machines cost to build, as what they can get them for. An XBOX may cost $400+ to build, but if you can get it for $300, that's the figure you need to worry about. Then they talk about using GlobalStar for service without even having contacted them yet. It seems that these people just have some sort of half-baked idea they want to propagate to make themselves look good.
On a side note, the BSD Dreamcast looked pretty friggin' cool.
If it's supposed to move and doesn't, use WD-40. If it moves and it shouldn't, use duct tape.
This is absurd. How is a PS2 teach citizens of third world countries how to stop AIDS, clean water, and harvest crops? These people have never seen a computer in their life before, it's hard enough for people in America to use a computer. Someone must have to teach these people how to use these 'computers.' Why don't these people just tell them all the information instead of setting them infront of some box. Rather than wasting billions of dollars to 'educate,' why don't we put the money to helping them. Genetic seeds can be made to withstand harsher climates, while providing much better nutrients than regular food. These people don't need a PS2, they need to survive. The money could be used to help educate and feed children who have been orphaned by AIDS. There are many African tribes where they belive that in order to cure AIDS, you must sleep with a virgin. I encourage people to support a third world country, either through your money, or through your help. America is the richest nation, also the greediest nation. What was that one book where they took everything out of houses from people living in different parts of the world? That was a good book, showed how much richer than we are than everyone.
Everytime slashdot posts an article about computers and Africa there always has to be some +4 or +5 insightful post that restates this misguided opinion. Here's my response (some of it a repost from a Geekcorps article).
Disclaimer: I'm African and the last time I was back home was 2 months ago.
It is true that most African's live in the kind of abject poverty that most Westerners can't even imagine let alone endure. It is also true that basic infrastructure like regular power supply, potable water, health care services, etc. but this doesn't mean that this should somehow preclude African's from the fruits of the 21st century. Instead of being like most Westerners whose only thoughts of Africa occur when they guiltily switch the channel whenever one of those commercials asking for money to feed starving children who can be fed for less than $1 a day shows up, thesre are people who are trying to help out in some way or the other. It is in extremely poor taste for you to bash them for donating their time and resources to a society desperately in need.
Frankly I'm glad they're doing this, with the advent of the Net I've kept in touch with friends I left behind via ICQ and email whom I thought I'd never talk to again due to the prohibitive costs of calling or locating them after they moved. Anyone who is helping with the proliferation of technology and the Net in Africa has my thanks and undying appreciation. Oh by the way, for all the other people who are bashing them for sending "toys" to Africa. What the fuck are you doing for the poor and starving of the Earth?
PS: The last time I went home I asked my friends what they wanted and one of them asked for Java programming books. I am constantly in touch with another friend who just switched jobs and does ADO and Access database programming who used to write VBA applications in the past. My mom just bought a PC and complains about how she always ends up browsing for hours when all she wanted to do was spend 5 minutes checking her email. Hope that makes some you guys think before you rate this kind of jingoistic claptrap up.
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Right from pricewatch, Mobo & Cpu - $109 810LMR, 64 MB VIDEO - AND - 4x AGP - upto1.2GHz cpu, SOUND - ATA100, 2 PCI, LAN & 56K Mdm Case + PSU - $15 Cheapo HDD - $40 Stick o RAM - $20 There you go a $185 Duron 800 PC , used monitors are dirt cheap so say for about 75 bucks less than a PS2 you could give people in third world countries a usable x86 PC. Not that giving electronic equipment to people with no food or clothes let alone electricity is a good idea.
First, let me say this is a terrific idea, but:
...and in a never-seen-before move every tech company in the world would forget about its difference and unity to help the poor people in far away places without looking for profits.
"The people that make above a dollar a day, under three dollars a day, generally have some electricity. They've got television sets that run on car batteries, or they will have a little generator."
Where did he get this info from?
* Some one making $30 to $90 a month barelly can survive. So this guy has money to buy batteries (or take somewhere to recharge), or even worse, in the middle of a Petroleum crisis which the whole world is (gas price here in Brazil is going to the stars) this guy with $30~$90 still have enougth to buy gas to his genarator in order to wathc TV!
"Each part of the community has to do some different part of it. You would not come to Sun for good taste in designing attractive programs. We can make sure the networking works. All of our partners, meaning all of the high-tech companies in the world, ought to contribute their engineering knowledge,"
Gage said he has discussed the plan with the chairman of Sony and the president of the World Bank and decided that at least 100,000 modified consoles should be installed in schools and people's homes in poor country's
At what cost???
The only kind of money the World bank "borrows" to poor countries is charged in an interest rate that can never be paid back.
Sorry if I sound down. But it sounds too nice to be true.
Of course, if something like that ever happen I would feel really good knowing it. And Linux would grow with it.
Now on the other side, this is already happening in some places.
For example, The Linux distibution company Conectiva already gives parts of its profits selling the Conectiva Linux Box to CDI.
CDI is a non profit organization to help the democratization of tecnology among poor people/schools.
Good to see that some one at least is doing something.
Of course they were wrong. If Stallman had to wait until the advent of commodity sub-$1000 PC's to develop any GNU project, then where would we be today? More hopelessly dependant upon IBM, Sun and Microsoft no doubt.
Forcing a "Third World" country develop their infrastructure to depend expensive proprietary software is hurtful, especially since they can start with no legacy depandancies to break.
No one claims the Free software will solve all of societies problems- but when they are ready to start solving those, Free software can certainly help them to do it.
Where did I say things aren't as bad as people make them out to be? I said which in my opinion clearly states that things are bad but doesn't mean that we shouldn't be allowed to use the Internet and computers until we are as advanced as the Western world was in the 20th century.
You then say that it's in "poor taste" because the society is desparately in need.
I said meaning that it is in poor taste to bash the people who are trying to find cheaper alternatives to getting Africans access to PCs.
Since when does having access to the Web count as "desparately in need"?
Lacking access to information does count as desperately in need. For instance, ignorance has caused AIDS in Africa to reach epidemic proportions. If a lot of these people had access to information just a few years earlier the devastation would not be as widespread as it is today. The same goes for a large number of diseases as well.
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My first reaction was "Why don't we just send books?" Then I read it again. They want to educate illiterate people with video and animations.
Note also that there was a quote saying any of the modern consoles would be good, it's just that the others cost more than the PSX2. (Is $225 really a good estimate for how much it costs to make a PSX2? I had heard that the $300 price was under Sony's cost of goods, but maybe they have cut costs by now.)
Even the dirt-poor need information. They need to know how to set up the latrines so they don't contaminate the water supply. They need to know basic public health so they won't give themselves food poisoning all the time. And it might be cool if they could learn how to read; that's one more thing you actually could do on a PSX2.
In a perfect world, you would make a special Africa Computer. It would be mil-spec rugged, have the graphics capability for video and animations, etc. etc. In reality, you would spend a lot developing this, and the game consoles are probably good enough and very inexpensive.
Note that not everyone is illiterate. They will probably also want simple cheap web terminals like the NIC.
steveha
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
The idea is for the PS2 to help educate about clean water -- they probably don't even know the water is unsafe.
They probably don't realize its unsafe because the corrupt kleptocrat-for-life that runs their country has been dumping tech company hazardous waste in the river while lining his Swiss bank account on the profits.
Meanwhile those PS/2s that got "donated" for this worthy education project that worked and weren't diverted to the families of the kleptocrat's supporters were sold to the duty free store at the airport so that the government could generate even more hard currency.
Wake up and smell the coffee. You need to give these people something their government can't steal from them and that they won't immediately turn around and sell for cash, like clean water, innoculation from Polio and other things that materially improve their life. Justifying the technojackoff fantasy of running Linux on the PS/2 by thinking it helps people living in the stone age would be funny if it wasn't pathetic.
Shut up, you know you just one of those spoiled white brats living South Africa where your wealthy family originaly moved to exploit the natives.
It is interesting that ignorant. ACs always make posts like this that insinuate that the only way an African can be a geek is if he is a White South African.
Sorry to dissappoint you but I'm a Black Nigerian. Thanks for playing.
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The PS2's are not for "surfing the web" in the way we necessarily understand it. They are for downloading and displaying multimedia content. The idea is to get information to the people about how to prevent AIDS, TB, and malaria, how to build better sanitation systems, how to prevent malnutrition, etc. For that, a PS2 showing videos and images may work a lot better than written materials (illiteracy is high). You may even be able to provide language and literacy courses with it. Unlike other IT projects, it should require little maintenance or instruction: just put in the right disk and turn it on. And unlike a DVD player, it has the ability to get and store content from satellites and radio transmissions, at nearly the same price.
Furthermore, unlike other kinds of IT projects, if it doesn't work, there is little harm done: people aren't arranging their life around this device; it's just an optional, potentially useful source of information. It promises to give people what Marshall says empowers them: skills.
That's not clear at all. It's much easier to grow if you are the first kid on the block. The thirld world countries have to deal with lots of difficulties that the growing first world wasn't exposed to:
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Given that the proposal is from the WEF, which is involved in the slave-labour "export processing zones" used to manufacture goods cheaply, chances are these doovy new Linux PlayStations are more likely to be used to set up data-entry maquiladoras where 12-year-olds will be chained to their desks for 18 hours a day and paid $1 per day than they are to be used to actually empower the people there.
Or am I just paranoid?