Slashdot Mirror
India's "$10 Laptop" To Cost $100 After All
narramissic writes "In case you missed it, India's Minister of State for Higher Education yesterday announced the development of a $10 laptop that will target higher education applications. There were no specifications given for the laptop and the rock-bottom price raised questions about government subsidies. Today, the figure was corrected: It's not a $10 laptop; it's a $100 laptop. Still no specs though."
It should have read â10. It's about $100
Seems like someone's outsourced bullshitting to India now.
unfortunately that might just be the conversion rate... $10 US dollar to their $1.
There's nothing Intelligent about Intelligent Design.
If we distributed a whole bunch of OpenMoko phones and a whole bunch (but not necessarily quite as many) OpenMoko development machines, this would accomplish what OLPC was trying to do.
Mobile Phones and SMS TXT services are already transforming large portions of Africa. Mobile phone infrastructure is a lot faster to set up and a lot less vulnerable to looting than wired infrastructure. It's a lot more scalable than the OLPC mesh networking -- after all the owners are economically motivated to expand it. SMS and mobile is already giving Africans access to networking and financial services that they didn't have before. (Yes, there's SMS banking in Africa now.) Completely open smartphones with completely indigenous developers would fuel innovation and economic growth in a way which is immediately practical, useful, and completely tailored to local needs.
Some people are already doing that. Like Royal Bank
I see your informative link, and raise you a pithy comment.
Indeed, wasn't there a similar indian initiative that never really caught on? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simputer
Well, I'd almost guarantee that it will have better hardware than my first computer (Apple IIe) and that didn't leave me with less of a willingness to push forward on the internet. Ultimately, I'm just kind of being a dick here, but you do have to remember that what we might consider crappy and slow, they might still consider amazing. Yeah, it sucks when it takes 2 minutes to open a web browser, but if you've never seen the web before it's still great, and if it's your only access to the web it's still worth it.
"I'm neither a product engineer, but I highly doubt that there is any way to produce anything resembling a laptop below around $90."
yeah there is. first off, you're ignoring one important thing. a computer really only needs an 8-bit processor. 8-bit processors use very low amounts of ram, because of their word length. 64k is often the total ram of a powerful 8-bit microprocessor.
zilog processors can sell for as little as $1. you said there is no way no how a processor can cost $1, yet basic 8-bit zilog processors cost as little as $1 and for that you get a healthy 20 mhz, over 5 times faster than the colecovision adam home computer (z-80 at 3.8 mhz).
they even sell a 50-mhz 8 bit processor, but 20 mhz is plenty fast.
i don't know about intel or motorolla, but zilog still sells a wide line of 8-bit 16-bit and 32-bit microprocessors, including a low power Zilog that can run on as little as 2 volts. if that's not enough for you they sell an 8-bit chip with tcp/ip that can generate http web pages, eg: for web control interfaces for a microcomputer..
"eZ80® is revolutionizing the high-performance microprocessor market for today's 8-bit embedded applications. The eZ80® can operate at speeds up to 50MHz and address 16MB without a Memory Management Unit. This family supports demanding TCP/IP networking applications, featuring an Embedded Internet protocol stack that enables the transmission of HTML form data and the dynamic generation of web pages, and supports additional higher-level networking functions such as email and SNMP."
i don't know what an ez80 chip costs, but your 'everything must cost $30' assumption assumes a lot of things. how would an 'electronic controlled' thermostat cost $30 if the microprocessor couldn't be reduced below $30? the simple fact is, yeah it can be, and you don't need to make a zilog on 45 nanometer dies to get great price/performance ratios..
also, the Z-80 product line is virtually unchanged since the 1970's
that makes implementing z-80 products extremely cheap, since you don't have to design new code if you already have access to old code that was designed for z-80s.
and before you say 'but you could never get windows on an 8-bit cpu' remember that the NES was a z-80 derived product. you can have a simple, streamlined 8-bit OS and gui, that works just fine without all the HZ, and does just what you need... you could get a $10 laptop, if you really were willing to restrict it to all 8-bit software and the inherent limitations.
https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
Was it a dry kind of sausage, like salami? If so, the reason is probably water loss.
At the bottom of the
What really hurt computer is you couldn't buy them, even as they advertised them to you.
I thought the better one was a pretty good deal, and it's picture based note taking appealed to me (more than handwriting recognition). As a goofy American doing there job (or whatever it said on their website) I wanted one. I contacted them, and there was no response. Not even a "We only sell in bulk". Not shocking that not many were sold.
Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
If you rented it, they'd ask for the phone back and you could just leave. However you purchase the item. No one else claims to own it. You however must carry a service contract.
You ask if those "scams" still exist, and I point to the entire cell phone industry.
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
Read your post, then look at our economy, then remember Dick Cheney pressuring Congress to overlook Halliburton's record of slavery. Read your post, then look at the middle east (particularly Dhubai and Kuwait) and then remember the Bush administration pressuring Congress to overlook slave labor used by "contractors" working no-bid contracts in the Middle East.
Now, what is needed to bring about the biblical armageddon that our leaders openly pray for? Think hard and read your Revelations.
The cattle are being led to the slaughter....