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First Photos of MIT $100 Laptop
An anonymous reader noted that MITs $100 laptop was unveiled at the Seven Countries Task Force Meeting. It runs a special version of the Fedora linux and it comes with native wireless lan support. You can see the
photo album, and you can pledge to buy one at triple price... in order to donate 2 of them to children.
Just not in that fluorecent green or orange.
cant they sell me a plain black one?
sure as hell would replace my pda/ipod/other crap I haul around
perpetually dwelling in the -1 pits
And if they do intend to engage in price discrimination, I hope they have found a way to prevent arbitrage, or else people may make businesses out of buying them at $100 and selling them at ~$200 in the countries where the negative price discrimination policy is in effect.
Uttering logically derived and empirically supported truths to the disciples of the orthodox establishment.
If you recall, Steve Jobs offered to license Mac OS X to this project for free and they refused.
rooooar
It's hard to be certain because you can't zoom in, but this may be the coolest example of the /. effect ever.
It's a pity Gates & Jobs couldn't join in rather then attempting to downplay the fine efforts of this group.
Gates maybe, but Jobs offered OS X free of charge but was turned down. He tried, they refused.
By summer it was all gone...now shesmovedon. --
Possibly the biggest problem working on this laptop is its small 12' screen. I wish I could see what kind of resolution that results in but I can't see the screen in any of these shots.
My current laptop has a 10.4' screen at 1024x768, and I actually use it as my main machine, both for writing and development. My plan was to complement this machine with a full-size desktop, but that purchase got delayed for various reasons and I found I don't need one after all.
Yes, the screen is small, but since I sit close to it (the whole machine being compact), it's not a problem for me in practice.
Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend.
This is great that the project is advancing, but I was dissappointed that the laptop wasn't capable of changing to other modes as was originally planned. Check out the image in the wikipedia article -- there is a carrying mode, a theater mode, a laptop mode, and a tablet mode. However, this first prototype has only the laptop modes we are familiar with.
Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.
-- Pablo Picasso
Does this mean the commercials for world hunger will stop? Seriously, what will they look like when they show kids who have no food playing solitare on their hand cranked laptops.
Sorry for being cynical, but every time this comes up, it amazes me. Good idea, but priorities seem out of wack.
Religion and politics, without the flame. godgab.org
"a decent properly educated teacher and some new high quality schoolbooks"
Sorry to break it to you, but in most countries $100 per student will not provide the above, nor even come close. So if you are willing to donate significantly more than $100, then by all means please do and perhaps you will be able to make a lasting impact on one student`s life.
However, if you only have $100 to donate, this laptop probably will have the largest impact on a child`s life. I personally like to get the biggest bang for my buck, so I will be donating to this project, even if I do end up donating more than $100 (so that my money is able to help more than one child).
Cheers.
Sdelat' Ameriku velikoy Snova!
Lets put a real world Slashdot effect to good use. I think I can manange to scape together $300 in the next year. Getting the bulk of slashdotters to sign up would go a long way toward the pledge goal.
Yes, Yes they are not offical offering the thing up for sale, and it might never happen, but its worth it just to show support for the idea.
If it came to be I'd more than likely donate the third machine too...although it might also make an interesting hack project, see how much effort it would take to add a real power supply and/or battery.
Power Corrupts,Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely, leaving one person(group)in charge is absolutely corrupt.
And we all want one for $100, and we'd all gladly pay up to $400 for one. I've got a PowerBook, and I'd still love one. I wouldn't have to worry about it, but it would be really handy.
This may indicate a market for such a device. Not a PDA, not a full-on "outfitted for war" laptop, not a (god damned useless) e-reader, not a handheld gaming rig, but the space between.
This is the space for essentialy a portable, truly open device that will let us surf the web, and run shells, and edit text files or to-do lists, but that won't break us financially if it's snatched from us on the subway.
MIT is showing us the market, and they're refusing to compete! Why have none of us embraced this yet?
My formula would be a Gumstix and an eInk display, maybe? Anyone have any better ideas?
Luck favors the prepared, darling.
Belinda and Gates are attacking a different set of problems and they're doing it everywhere. I think their viewpoint is that this project's priorities are out of whack. Education is great, provided the person will live to use it.
Letter from Bill and Melinda GatesWe believe health is the cornerstone of human development. When health takes hold, life improves by all measures. Conversely, poor health aggravates poverty, poverty deepens disease, and nations trapped in this spiral will not escape without the world's help. In Africa, the cost of malaria in terms of treatment and lost productivity is estimated to be $12 billion a year. The continent's gross domestic product could be $100 billion higher today if malaria had been eliminated in the 1960s. And if HIV infection rates continue at their present levels, the world will likely see 45 million new infections by 2010 and lose nearly 70 million people by 2020. That's 70 million of the most productive members of society - health workers, educators, and parents.
Therefore, the foundation's Global Health program works to ensure that lifesaving advances in health are created and shared with those who need them most. Our primary focus areas are HIV/AIDS, TB, malaria, child survival and childhood immunization, and maternal and reproductive health.
To begin, we invest heavily in research to help discover new and better products, particularly vaccines. The foundation also supports work to develop products that can be manufactured and distributed. Then, once a product is developed, we work to make sure that there are systems in place to adopt and sustain these new drugs as they become available. The foundation is a major supporter of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI). This alliance has provided basic immunizations to over 8 million children who would not otherwise have been immunized. As a result, GAVI has already saved an estimated 500,000 children's lives.
---The most pessimistic person could view this project akin to what Apple did when working with schools to get Apple software & hardware in cheap: become the defacto standard via goodwill. Get in early so that when they leave school they come back. Besides, that same person's pessimistic view will believe that they'll be stolen from schools as they'll be the most valuable thing in the school. (due to the fantastic engineering fortitude which is obvious to all).
I think internet shops are of much greater use to very poor countries/people than these laptops.
The laptops would still be broken or stolen quite fast. Also, without an internet connection and printer they would be of little use.
Internetshops with a good/fast internet connection and a low hourly rate are of much greater use imho. It would be a lot better if every village had one or two computers with a fast (wireless) connection, that the entire village can use.
(-% TwistedMind %-)
Well, a lot of problems can be traced back to lack of education. The solution to AIDS is obvious. Abstinence is guaranteed to be effective. Condoms help a lot. There is no magic drug that will make people practice either of these. Focusing on AIDS drugs is like working on a better way to put out a fire -- much better to not have a fire in the first place. Simply stated, AIDS is spread by behavior. Education can help to change behavior.
Let's look at other problems. Many countries in Africa are politically unstable. Certain tribes/countries/ethnic groups want to kill the others. They are raised to think of the "other group" (whoever that may be) as the enemy/evil/not-to-be-trusted. It has been proven that the Internet can break down borders. On a forum (including ones like this), you can have people from dozens of countries putting in their opinion. It helps people to understand their near and distant neighbors.
Finally, some countries have a culture of corruption. When aid gets sent from foreign countries, there is sometimes lots of "palm greasing" just to get the supplies to those who need them the most. And even if the supplies get there, sometimes a few guys with guns take it all away. This is "just the way things are." So, what happens if the children are educated to realize that things do not have to be that way? It is possible that in a decade or two, opinions could start to change.
This is not just about reading, 'riting, and 'rithmatic. This is about changing the way that people see the world.
I do admit that this OLPC is not LIKELY to do all of that. But if it changes the life of even a few children, maybe those children will grow up to be the next president/prime minishter/grand poobah of their countries.
"-1 Troll" is the apparently the same as "-1 I disagree with you."
In a couple of months, I am actually moving to an orphange in Africa. (Note to other telecommuters out there: get out there and make a difference!) Some people have questioned whether or not the computers are really a good idea for the kids. Well, the director of the orphanage has asked for only two things besides the volunteer work we offered: clothing and used computers. Suppose you're 10 years old and you have food. What else do you need? Well, shelter. Next, education. I think this is great.
I think they also serve as directional WiFi antennas.
They call me the wookie man, I guess that's what I am
Family starving? Get a laptop!
Need a job? Get a laptop!
No running water? Crapping in a ditch? Get a laptop!
yeah, this will help those people out.
Steve's Computer Service, Hobbs, NM
I want to pledge, too, but it doesn't look like it's anything official... they said they weren't taking orders, even under this arrangement. Maybe I didn't read far enough along, but I got two contradictory directions...
In one they said they were going to leave it up to the government to buy and supply to schools. That's just BAD BAD BAD, especially when you have so many people like us willing to help.
Second, Negroponte said they might, eventually be available for retail sale, but "I doubt you'll be able to buy them at Best Buy."
Still, I'll sign up... I think it's a great idea, and my son could probably use something like this next year; his own computer that he can take with him and link it up to our home system to print and so forth. We already have a wireless network. And if he's going to play games, he'll have to do it on our computer and we'll be able to keep an eye on him... this little laptop isn't exactly going to be a good gaming machine (well, text adventures might come back in vogue).
Stupid sexy Flanders.
Yes, I know that points 1 to 3 above aren't correct, but that's just the impression that is given out.
You can't do anything to improve conditions untill the governments, and whatever priesthood (generic term), that is in power wants those better changes. It's corruption that keeps the citizens in poor conditions, not the lack of available laptops. So now they will still have poor conditions, but now they'll have a laptop to play with... perhaps even to sell in order to afford food or rent for that month. Having a few cheap laptops around isn't going to fix the irrigation system you mention. That problem came about mainly because the people that set it up didn't leave documents or instructions on how it operates. Someone shows up, installs something beneficial, then leaves without proper instruction. Laptops will show up, nobody will have proper instruction, and in a few weeks it's being used as a doorstop or something to set a hot kettle on.
Cheap laptops don't address the issue that there are a great number of countries in Africa, for instance, where superstion runs rampant. The connection there is that superstition is a sign of blatant ignorance, and there's no way to fix ignorance (you can't really fix stupidity either). The laptops will just be turned into plastic bricks.
Steve's Computer Service, Hobbs, NM
The screen alone on those things probably costs more than $100. They can't go with CRTs and still hope to be dynamo-powered, so I don't know what kind of goldmine they've discovered as far as LCD screens go.
God help them if they're relying on the largesse of their suppliers.
Done with slashdot, done with nerds, getting a life.
Well here's a tip for that dude with the buy three idea. That's a fine idea, but an even faster and better way would be to just drop the charity angle and sell them to wealthy customers at the hundred dollar price for folks who want them for the low power consumption and the use of standard rechargeable batteries. That right there is a sweet little option for camping trips or road trips. A notebook that runs on standard C cells is a dream come true. I can get C cell NiHM right down the street here for a hell of a lot cheaper than the cheapest replacement notebook battery. That's a sweet selling point even without a hand crank. The hand crank would be cool too, but if I can just recharge a dozen C cells for a week of camping, that will work.
I'd be interested at a hundred bucks. Add a 2.5inch external 80gig drive for another hundred and you've got a killer little movie machine/jukebox that's at least as good as the car DVD toys they sell at Best Buy for three hundred bucks. And you could download your photos to the thing while you're out in the wilderness. This thing is marketable big time. It's just not being marketed right. Call it the Happy Camper computer. Sell them to people going to Burning Man. Hell, get Wal Mart to carry it in the camping section. The charity thing is fine and good, but why not just sell them directly at the going price? That seems like a much faster way to rack up a hundred thousand sales. It's emminently marketable.
How about a 12V adapter?
Seems silly to have a decent product and then to assume the only way you can move it is with charity donations. Just sell the damn things.