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OLPC's XO-1.75 Laptop To Have a Multitouch Screen
angry tapir writes "One Laptop Per Child has revealed it is adding a multitouch screen to the upcoming XO-1.75 laptop and is modifying software to take advantage of the new hardware. The XO-1.75 with a touch-sensitive 8.9-inch screen will start shipping next year. The laptop will run on an Arm processor and is the successor to the current XO-1.5 laptop, which runs on a Via x86 processor. OLPC will also add a multitouch screen on the next-generation XO-3 tablet, which is due to ship in 2012. Fedora will continue to be the base Linux distribution for XO-1.75 as the laptop changes from the x86 to Arm architecture."
"One C&D per child"
Will there be another "Buy One, Give One" promotion?
The one thing with multi-touch is the possibility of patents interfering with the ability to use it. While this might not be a problem for some OSS projects or large companies with the ability to add in a few dollars to the price to pay for patent fees, I can see this being an issue for something as cost-conscious as the OLPC's laptop because even an extra $5 could make a huge difference.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
STOP TOUCHING MY MONITOR.
Yes, caps are like yelling. That was my intention.
Can we get some fucking perspective, people? Only a yuppie tool who's never been to a poor county in their entire life and who learned everything they know about poverty from the movies could come up with an idea as useless as OLPC.
How many children have the OLPC already? Three? Wouldn't it be better to focus on cheap production methods instead of adding the latest fad?
-- Cheers!
Cheap netbook with a touch screen, runs Linux on ARM, readable outdoors? Sounds perfect; how much and when? Hopefully the price will be a bit closer to that $100 mark.
Multi-touch aimed at children in third world countries. Is it a laptop or a seedy, illegal tour of Bangkok?
The title and summary of the story contradict themselves.
Title: "OLPC's XO-1.75 Laptop To Have a Multitouch Screen"
Summary: "OLPC will also add a multitouch screen on the next-generation XO-3 tablet"
The title is wrong; the summary is correct. Multitouch in XO-3. XO-1.75 will only have a touchscreen. Way to edit. I'm sorry for RTFA, I'm new here, won't happen again.
I have always disagreed with this project. I think there is so much more to learn using books, paper, pencils and good teachers. /grumble grumble
The whole project is very misguided. All you're going to teach those kids to do is use technology that the rest of their country can't afford anyway, so as soon as it breaks they will have lost any gain they had.
What ever happened to all the cool features?
Like mesh networking , solar panel, hand crank.
And all the kids in the small African Villages creating a huge network of knowledge?
And didn't they move to MS Windows for these things?
I thought that the humanitarian OLPC was dead?
What you're referring to as Linux, is in fact, GNU/Linux, or as I've recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Linux. Linux is not an operating system unto itself, but rather another free component of a fully functioning GNU system made useful by the GNU corelibs, shell utilities and vital system components comprising a full OS as defined by POSIX.
Many computer users run a modified version of the GNU system every day, without realizing it. Through a peculiar turn of events, the version of GNU which is widely used today is often called "Linux", and many of its users are not aware that it is basically the GNU system, developed by the GNU Project.
There really is a Linux, and these people are using it, but it is just a part of the system they use. Linux is the kernel: the program in the system that allocates the machine's resources to the other programs that you run. The kernel is an essential part of an operating system, but useless by itself; it can only function in the context of a complete operating system. Linux is normally used in combination with the GNU operating system: the whole system is basically GNU with Linux added, or GNU/Linux. All the so-called "Linux" distributions are really distributions of GNU/Linux.
Seriously, no 3D? How are they expected to use these things without 3D?
If they really want to add something of value, add 3D and include a set of 3D glasses, it's clear this is where the future is headed. The writing is on the wall for 2D, OLPC needs to get with the times.
I.O.U One Sig.
from what I have heard... glass is not a very durable material. Just saying... kids are hard on stuff.
Micro$oft charity...
One thing that amazes me is how persistent Nicholas Negroponte is. Despite having setbacks, scandals, poor reception of his devices, countries renouncing their support of his project, and as far as I can tell no real success, he still keeps on coming. I don't know if he will accomplish anything with this next model, but if there is anything at all that can be accomplished by giving children one laptop each, this man will accomplish it.
Qxe4
So your project updates its product. Why should I care? You won't sell to me, because I happen to be born in a country that is not on your list. Market segmentation sucks, even if it's done by people who have philantropy shining out their asses.
Touch, but don't look!
.
- aqk
F U
It would be nice to be able to buy some, for testing.
Fight Spammers!
Is it just me, or does anyone else think this explains why Apple as in a rush to get the iPad out?
Negroponte may be in the process of out-Steving Jobs.
Computer memory is just fancy paper, CPUs just fancy pens with fancy erasers; the 'net is just a fancy backyard fence.
Hmmm.
My initial response was, "Huh? BSD is not Linux."
Okay, the Linux kernel is not actually GNU, even though it is (GNU-)GPL-licensed. That is, the copyright is not owned by the FSF.
But I worry that people will read such statements as yours and misunderstand that it would be possible to distribute a Linux distribution under another license.
Computer memory is just fancy paper, CPUs just fancy pens with fancy erasers; the 'net is just a fancy backyard fence.
For a long time, I have wanted a tablet like device which I can write/draw on, and use with pen-optimized input systems like ShapeWriter or HexInput. (Though ideally, I would like to write one myself...)
Is there any such hardware? As far as I am aware, it should be possible to offer multitouch and a stylus in the same device. The lack of both makes such devices much less compelling.
Why not just give these kids cheap desktops? You can get a decent computer, likely more powerful than that OLPC, from Dell for maybe $200-$300. It doesn't have to be from Dell. I'm sure most of these nations have computer vendors assembling machines from low-cost Chinese components. Set up a deal with Microsoft for cheap copies of Windows, although I'm sure there are already these kinds of programs in place. I realize that the idea of running Windows on these machines is offensive to some, but the fact is that most of the developed world still runs Windows. So why not get these kids familiarized with what most people are using? If that prospect is so troublesome, go ahead and install and open source OS. It doesn't really matter. The point is just keep things simple.
If there are problems with getting a computer in these parents' home keep them in a lab at school where they can be better managed. That's where the learning is going on anyway. Going with desktops would probably be the true low-cost approach, but notebooks have gotten so cheap that I suspect it would be trivial to undercut the cost of an OLPC by setting up a deal with some Chinese or Taiwanese manufacturer. And a multi-touch screen is completely superfluous. I sure hope there aren't kids being denied computers because of some administrators somewhere stupidly waiting for OLPC's.
These OLPC's may be a noble idea but they're unnecessarily complicating things. I personally think it's a big waste of money and resources trying to solve a problem that already has plenty of better solutions. Hell, for all the effort and expense being expended they probably would be better off just shipping these kids iPads.
Many of those "poor civilizations" (gee, could you not find something more offensive?) have a strong culture of sharing.
So it is perfectly reasonable to ask from those who have more, because in the future you will share if you do.
The notion of "bettering yourself" is an USian middle class delusion, based on the assumption that each one is on his own and will achieve something in life only by being quite selfish.
It shall also be pointed out that many peoples in poor countries know that at some point or another their ancestors tried to "better themselves" only to be beaten to a pulp by tyrants of all stripes or people that knew what was better for them.
An example: the government of Botswana (one of the more succesful and enlightened in Africa, if you don't believe me then tell me: when was the last time you hear news about this country?) decided to prove settlements for San people in order to make their lives better (that word again) but completely ignoring their ancestral culture of hunting gathering.
The San could not make a living, since their excellent skills to lead a nomadic life in the bush are worth nought in modern society, so having too much time on their hands they drawned their sorrows with alcohol and learned to live from government hand outs instead of trying to follow a way of life that was a dead end.
I wonder how your acquaintance would have acuited himself if landed with these people?
Finally I have no sympathy for somebody "going to help" becoming a racist (the code phrase you use gives the truth away anyway, since immigration is not only from poor countries, so it is quite telling that somebody becaomes "anti immigrant" after making such a lousy effort to be good immigrant himself), it only shows an utter lack of understanding of why the hosts of this person act in a certain way.
Every child in Uruguay has one
Uruguay was the first country to have reached, in 2009, full coverage of their primary students (and their teachers) population by the OLPC's (One Laptop Per Child) XO through the Plan Ceibal.
Thus Uruguay has 3 children only !
Microsoft's "Diminish, Distract and Undersell" policy will work eventually but I hope the OLPC project can hold on long enough to give the world's poor children a chance to compete.
Dysfunctional American teenagers still triumph Greed, Ignorance and Respect for authority almost make a viable ethical system... cobbled together from their little twisted minds. Only a world of the self educated will expose their dysfunction.