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.

Comments

More info, bad news for geeks.

[TripMaster Monkey]

More information on the $100 laptop can be found here.

A bit of bad news from this page:

Please note: these laptops are not in production. They are not--and will not--be available for purchase by individuals.

Re:Extremely cool, but...

[Kunta Kinte]

Why not figure out how to make $100 water purifiers or A/C units that run of wind or solar? Or things that help make land arable?

Has it occurred to you that a significant amount of the third world has clean water and doesn't need A/C units?!

Not everyone who is poor lives like a child off a Sally Struthers commericial.

It's funny that the suggesting cheap educational computers be scrapped for A/C Units was modded insightful. Remarkable!

I grew up in a "third world" country very close to the equator. Even the very poor in the country had clean drinking water by way of public "water stands" and had shoes by way of very cheap mass produced shoes from China. Very, very few people gave a damn about A/C. We've lived in this climate for thousands of years, people simply build houses and dress to suit the climate.