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OLPC Project Interface Revealed

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the warm-edge dept.

BogusToo writes to mention an EE Times article describing the interface for the OLPC project laptop. Using some fairly intuitive UI concepts (like simplified web browsers and a chat client), the Linux-based system attempts to do away with the kludgey parts of computer use. A video demo of the interface has been placed on YouTube. From the article: "Earlier postings around the Internet have also shown how the physical design of the laptop has changed, including the elimination of the much touted on-board hand crank that was supposed to power the cheap, lime green laptop. It's still there, reportedly, but has now been moved to the power adapter. The OLPC's produced earlier this week in Shanghai still need to go through loads of testing, such as knocking them off desks and dropping them in mud, as kids are wont to do. They may also be kicked around, like soccer balls, a popular sport in 99.9 percent of the world."

4 of 196 comments (clear)

  1. You can try it yourself by pieleric · · Score: 5, Informative

    Actually, although the youtube demo shows mostly everything, you can try it yourself using emulation (it runs on a x86 after all).
    Intructions are here. It uses QEMU and a special 100Mb system image.

    Happy slashdotting...

  2. Re:This is ridiculous. by vidarh · · Score: 3, Informative

    And how are you "wasting your money on other people" seeing as the countries who want this will pay for it themselves?

  3. New UI - why?? by Richard_J_N · · Score: 3, Informative

    I don't understand the reason for the new user interface? It can't be due to resource limits, since they already ship GTK (with firefox), and it can't be for reasons of complexity, since most kids pick up computing skills really fast. So why re-write all the apps? I think that it's quite wasteful of programmer effort. Wouldn't it be better to work on reducing the resource requirements(*) of Gnome (refactor it to make some parts of it compile-time options)? Existing minimal linux distros (eg DSL) are very good at providing good programs with low resource requirements; they just need some "tidying" to make them more user-friendly.

    * For lower resources still, use the excellent IceWM. But if we already have firefox, then we've already loaded GTK, and may as well use Gnome. Anyonw who wants a demonstration of how fast simpler programs can be, please try Dillo.

  4. Re:gimme a terminal! by burns210 · · Score: 3, Informative
    One thing I was wondering while watching the video is that it seems there is no way to open a terminal. I agree that the interface MUST be dumbed down a lot but I am also completely sure that there MUST be a terminal in order to access more "complex" things in the computer

    There is a terminal activity. It does not, by default, have a frame icon (bottom left row of icons). It is opened with a key combination.

    A terminal and a python enabled system would be enough (IMHO).

    Which is also included An activity's UI, Sugar itself, etc, is all written in Python and is the 'blessed language' for development on the OLPC. Backend code (Abiword, Gecko) are obviously not Python, though.