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MIT Unveils Prototype for $100 Linux Laptop
Examancer2 writes "MIT is showing off a prototype of a $100 laptop. It uses a 500MHz AMD processor, stores everything on flash memory, and runs Linux. The AC adapter acts as the carrying strap, and there is a hand crank so if you can't find a source of electricity you can charge it kinetically. The prototype laptop is also much more flexible and durable than your average notebook. In addition the unit has a screen that has a special daylight-friendly black & white mode that makes a great ebook." From the article: "Nicholas Negroponte, the co-founder of the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, detailed specifications for a $100 windup-powered laptop targeted at children in developing nations. Negroponte, who laid out his original proposal at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January, said MIT and his nonprofit group, called One Laptop Per Child, is in discussions with five countries--Brazil, China, Thailand, Egypt and South Africa--to distribute up to 15 million test systems to children." More coverage of this story available from ITWorld, InformationWeek, BBC, ZDNet, and the Associated Press.
Extremely cool, but is it really wise to encourage young people to hand crank their lap-top.
One of the articles I read said that Negroponte wanted a design that was so distinctive it would be easily recognized and that it would be a stigma to carry one if you weren't a teacher or a student...like "filching a mail truch or taking something from a church."
Successfully condensing fact from the vapor of nuance since 1998.
I don't see a problem, if they've already been "mated" with it.
Since it's from MIT, and they consider the rest of the world to be the developing part of the world, can I have one? I'm in the Netherlands.
Now let's wait for the Gates foundation to buy these linux laptops for 3rd world kids.
I'll do it for cheesy poofs.
Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Give a man a hand-cranked laptop, and your employer will outsource your work to him on the grounds that he'll work for fish, whereas you want tens of thousands of dollars per year.
++ Say to Elrond "Hello.".
Elrond says "No.". Elrond gives you some lunch.
In Soviet Russia, MIT laptop's crank you up!
Sure, anybody works faster running on Crank!
[100% ISO 646 Compliant]
SVM, ERGO MONSTRO.
Wow. You don't know much about growing food, do you?
One Laptop Per Child, is in discussions with ... China
Sounds like a platform for A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer.
Anybody want a peanut?
Sticker: "Do not eat laptop"
I always hated that fucking saying too. I really mean that. Give a man a fish, he eats for lunch then uses the afternoon to tell everyone how great getting free fish was and how much better free fish is than fish that came with the plate. He'll claim that fish that is sold cannot possibly be as good as free fish given to the public, despite the smell and odd color. He'll then pretend as if he's a fucking sage about fish and insist that everyone have the same beliefs about fish as he.
Fuck fish. I'm eating pork.
I for one would happily pay more than $100 for a $100 laptop just for the geek factor.
I've got an 8-year-old Toshiba P100 laptop. I figure it can't be worth any more than $100 by now.
I'll sell it to you for $150.