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MIT Team Working On a $12 Apple (II) Desktop

Posted by timothy on from the guide-kids-worldwide-to-oregon dept.

Barence writes "A new project to create a $12 computer is underway at MIT, the same University that spawned the One Laptop Per Child non-profit laptop. The PCs will be loosely based on Apple 2 machines, first unveiled over 30 years ago, and the team are actively recruiting enthusiasts of the retro computer to help develop the new PC." Update: 08/05 14:13 GMT by T : The original story at the Boston Herald has more information, as well as a photo of the team.

7 of 401 comments (clear)

  1. Not much details... by Darkness404 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    All TFA says that it is loosly based on the Apple II. So what does that mean? Have the same CPU? Same OS? Same amount of RAM? Looks like the Apple II?

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    Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
    1. Re:Not much details... by the_humeister · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I guess it's neat that they're doing this. But if wanted a computer and I only had $12, I'd just find one on Craigslist. There's usually a Pentium type computer on there going for cheap.

  2. skip to the end, please by eekygeeky · · Score: 5, Insightful

    can we just mark down a pile of old engineering calculators and call it a day? I remember watching some smarty-pants play Mario on his calculator during enviromental engineering classes lo these many years ago.

    or cell phones, for gods' sake, my cell phone has a 314MHz processor in it, I played duke nukem 3D and watched streaming video on PCs that were slower, this cannot be that difficult.

    figure it out, people and stop cluttering up /. with these endless utopian woolgathering snipehunts; please, and thank you.

    1. Re:skip to the end, please by samkass · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Seriously... don't we toss thousands of cellphones a day-- each more powerful than an Apple ][, into landfills?

      --
      E pluribus unum
  3. Re:How to solve world hunger: by jonnythan · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Actually, if you could get children to forgo sex in many of these third world countries, a large number of their biggest issues would be solved.

  4. Re:Clustering C64 drives by LWATCDR · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Yep I remeber that was one of the things I hated about PCs.
    On my little C64 with two drives I could start it formatting a disk and the go do something else. Or I could format two disks at once.
    On the very expensive PCs you had to wait for the drive to format the floppy!
    Man they sucked.
    Then when I got my Amiga I was helping a local BBS test Zmodem. I downloaded a GIF and then the sysop asked me if it downloaded. I told him yes and to wait just a sec while I checked. He jumped right back and told me that I didn't have to log off and check it right now. I could wait until I was done on the BBS:) He was so confused when I told him that I didn't have to log off to check a GIF :)
    Man how did PCs ever win....

    --
    See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
  5. Re:How to solve world hunger: by Nimey · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If you could get the damned Catholic Church to quit opposing contraception, that'd help quite a bit as well.

    --
    Hail Eris, full of mischief...

    E pluribus sanguinem