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Tablet Prototype Needs No External Power Supply
timothy writes "I'd like to see computing devices with no need for an external power supply — an e-book reader, a general knock-about PDA, a phone — all kinds of things. But there's a certain heart-strings appeal to such a computer intended as an educational tool for precisely those kind of places where basic infrastructure (like the provision of electricity) is a stumbling block. Perhaps built-in solar makes more sense, in more places, than the hand-cranked power the OLPC project ended up dropping from their laptops-for-kids program."
I'd like to say it was from a PC with no outside power supply, but I can't. I don't think I can get the generator and bicycle rigged up in time.
The best thing about built-in solar and no external supply is that it would force users to regulate their usage time.
In this house, we obey the laws of Thermodynamics!
No external power supply they say, well then, either they finally created a perpetual motion machine, or they're getting the energy from some external power supply.
It uses a tiny solar cell, like a calculator. If you have some form of light, you have a computer.
Palem says the I-slate is the first of a series of electronic notepads being built around a new class of low-energy-consumption microchips under development with Switzerland's Center for Electronics and Microtechnology. The team says the chips will allow the I-slate to run on solar power from panels similar to those used in hand-held calculators.
If you aren't going to read the articles posted to slashdot, may I ask why you are bothering to come here in the first place? Did they run out of rabble at the local Tea Party meeting inside the Chuck-E-Cheese?
Wouldn't that kind of count as an external power supply?
But there's a certain heart-strings appeal to such a computer intended as an educational tool for precisely those kind of places where basic infrastructure (like the provision of electricity) is a stumbling block.
That appeal will remain just that: An appeal, which sadly delivers no results in most cases.
Given that they might be flooded with used phones and probably first-gen smartphones soon, perhaps something that can charge USB phones would be in order...
http://www.google.com/search?q=bicycle+USB+dynamo&hl=en&tbs=shop%3A1&aq=f
Would love to play with some of that stuff, but those currently cost more than my cheap-ass bike :-P Should be neat if they could develop some cheap dynamos to distribute where they would need it, though. They also have bikes with full kickstands that elevate the rear wheel so you can pedal while stationary... could generate a couple hundred Watts that way...
Seiko does something like this with their watches. However, afaik, they use a pendulum to gather the vibrational energy.
This perfectly illustrates why the nerd pedantry is lonely, angry, and ignored. People with lives understand "requires no external power supply" to mean "doesn't have to be plugged in." Instead of accepting this, a few people have decided to ignore the hard work of these people to bring revolutionary educational tools into the hands of poor rural children, and quibble about thermodynamics.
From the top and bottom of my heart, please fuck off. The adults are doing useful things. Leave them to it.
It doesn't make much sense to me to embed mechanical / solar / whatever power sources directly into these sorts of products. This is especially true for mechanical power sources, like a crank. That should be in an extremely ergonomic external form factor that a person can operate comfortably, without risking dropping their laptop / tablet, or accidentally flinging it across the room.
Same with solar. That needs to be in a waterproof form factor that can be left laying on the ground or roof in the rain without being destroyed.
A family with two or more devices could get by with just one solar charger, or better yet, one solar and one mechanical, to give them more charging options.
When I was a kid I had one of those little generators that was rotated by my front tire, which powered a little headlight. Something like that could be used with any bicycle to generate relatively massive amounts of power (compared to a hand crank). A very simple stand (home made or otherwise) to get the back tire up off the floor and they're ready to do some serious charging.
Better known as 318230.
I had a solar powered calculator back in the early 90's. You can't tell me we don't have low powered computers today that do more than that on nothing more than the sun. ...so where are they?
My father's TRS-80 model 100 ran for about 50 to 100 hours on a set of off the shelf AA batteries.
If you assume the device will be "hopelessly" obsolete in 2 years, or half of them will be destroyed in accidents in 2 years, and maybe it only gets used a couple hours per week, and a modern device with a crude enough display technology might only draw a tenth the power, maybe a very large couple pound lithium battery could power a tablet for its useful life.
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etch_A_Sketch
(2) A 5-watt solar panel, of the cheaper amorphous variety, enough to keep up with the laptop's drain, is considerably larger than the laptop,
so it's not going to be built-into the lid.
Skip the amorphous, if it was about cheap electricity, we'd send them a honda generator and be done with it.
http://www.batterystuff.com/solar-chargers/SP-5.html
8 inches on a side is too big? At a glance you can see its not exactly built to minimize surface area, I bet we could get this dude down to 50 sq inches if we tried a little bit. That would be re-arranged into 10 inches wide by 5 inches tall. Not a big deal.
Since we're trying to be green for the sake of being green, as opposed to economically sensible, theres no reason not to make the laptop extremely large and/or fold out panels.
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
(1) Poor places often do not have class-ROOMs at all. They teach students outside in the dirt. Literally.
(2) With ultra-low power hardware, e-ink screens, your requirements are lowered. Plus, the idea isn't to be able to power in real time but rather charge then use.
(3) Yes, solar-panels are too expensive to power US-scale standards of living. But still cheaper than building a full-scale coal or nuclear powered plant + infastructure to houses, err I mean SHACKS, just so these people can experience some technology. Though the bicycle powered dynamo concept is pretty good and cheap cheap cheap to build. Bikes are usually not hard to find in third world countries. On the other hand, food and clean water might be less available. Thus using up both to pedal a bike may not be ideal. Of course, the big obvious point here is in a country that can't feed itself why the fuck do they need a ebook reader/computer tablet...
(4) I agree here. It's not cheap to create a product like this out of thin air. But there are some benefits for the trouble:
(1) 100% self contained. Zero infrastructure needed.
(2) No external ports are needed, making a water/dust proof device easier and thus the end result is a more durable piece.
(3) Fringe benefits from the ultra-low-power research needed to build something like this.
(4) Increased production of Small/Efficient solar cells can hopefully drive cost down if the materials aren't in short supply...
I think this is rather typical of the western world. The idea that 3rd world countries do not have any access to electricity is just silly. I've recently been to the heart of Ethiopia to adopt a child and if there's one thing they had plenty of it was electricity. Not a lot of food, or clean water... Gas was $8 a liter and they were living in thatched roof, mud huts. But there was electricity all over the place. The rats nests of electrical wire strung, sometimes, from tree to tree was a testament to this. I have no idea how the entire country hadn't burst into flame already but their electrical grid did fail from time to time... but not nearly as often as you'd expect it to. I have to admit I have a lot of respect for whomever keeps the electricity flowing, they must be a McGuiver style genius.
What they did lack was Linux. Every PC I saw there (and there were very few) had a pirated copy of WinXP on it, with the WGA notice popping up constantly and was filled with Malware. Had their dialup modems been able to connect at any speed greater than 9k I would have fixed it for them but in the end I just gave up.
What about a computer that is powered by inducing current in wires by sliding a set of magnets back and forth?
Configure the magnets and wires such that they resemble an abacus and presto: Computer powered computer.
Up next:
A vehicle powered vehicle (electric bicycle that charges when you pedal),
Toast powered Toaster (burns bread to heat bread),
etc...
Bull. You always want it to be that way, but there always is. I say this having worked on more than one rural low-power computing project. You may not need power for the tablet (though you do - see below), but you still need power and wiring etc. for the network gear, the storage devices, the projector, etc., etc., etc.
It's trivially easy to seal a power/USB/whatever receptacle. The OLPC XO laptop does it just fine. I've dropped one of those under water and had it working just fine within seconds.
Given the liability created by depending on sunlight (monsoon season, anyone?), the benefits of an external plug (and better still, a removable battery) are immense. Whatever risk they create for the device is far outweighed by their usefulness.
This is true. The main challenge for the developing world is learning not to consume like North Americans. Amazingly, most development agencies don't get this. They think that growth and development means, 'Be exactly like us.'
I'd agree to a lesser degree, but I think point (3) is the critical one in this whole exercise.
Crumb's Corollary: Never bring a knife to a bun fight.
Bull. You always want it to be that way, but there always is. I say this having worked on more than one rural low-power computing project. You may not need power for the tablet (though you do - see below), but you still need power and wiring etc. for the network gear, the storage devices, the projector, etc., etc., etc.
Projector? Network Gear? Storage Devices? What are these for? You're thinking too classically. There is no reason why the devices themselves can not act on all these.
Example Scenario for basic usability:
In this example, we assume extremely low penetration of western technology. No or very unreliable power grid, so obviously no phone, no internet. Just some shacks and some folks (whether these are missionaries or whatever) trying to bring some education. They bring with them the ability to generate electricity more effectively, and perhaps satellite internet, as well as non-cloud electronic data - in addition to these solar tablets.
The 'missionaries' become the hub. The can wirelessly transmit, (using low power, low bandwidth technologies perhaps not yet invented or a low power subset of Wifi that only works ~30ft?), from their more traditional notebook information during class. Whatever the subject. Some light pictures. Mostly text.
They can use this as a virtual projector. The data stays with the device until storage becomes a problem. The students can take the device with them. Share the knowledge. Study the material. Take notes. ETC ETC. Without their particular village/shack needing ANYTHING other than the device.
And we're also assuming that the device is so ultra-low power that it can last several days minimum of moderage usage on a full charge. Looking at modern e-book readers which can be used on the order of weeks per charge (and hit a very attractive price point already) I see no reason why this is not practical.
But for the sake of argument lets assume they lived in a northern region that has very little sunlight for some part of the year, or an area with a rainy season.
My proposed solution is using an inductive charging station. It's not as efficient as a plug but then we are assuming in this scenario that the missionaries have a generator of some sort with them or that there is some available power grid in which to use a charger - even if not in their personal home.
Granted, a lot of assumptions. But in order to be cheaper and better than what modern technology has to offer you have to be able to look outside the box. Network gear? What's that? Projector, who needs it?
I mostly agree with you on all other points.
Perhaps built-in solar makes more sense, in more places, than the hand-cranked power
Perhaps it does, perhaps it does! If, that is, you can build the device such that it can run off of built-in solar. That's the real trick, isn't it.
A simple four-function calculator trivially can run of a little photocell, and this has been true for decades. So why didn't OLPC simply put a little photocell on the XO-1? Because a little cheap photocell doesn't produce anywhere near the needed power needed by an XO-1.
And, the hand-cranked power is a particularly irritating straw man. A long, long, time ago, when OLPC was just an idea, they thought about a hand crank, and even made a mockup of what it might look like. But it was never made. Reasons: 0) some kids live in places with a decent electrical grid, so there is no need to add the cost of a generator to every single laptop; 1) an external generator can be trivially replaced if it breaks, without the laptop itself needing to be repaired; 2) a crank built-in to the laptop adds mechanical cranking strain on the laptop, necessitating the laptop being made sturdy in otherwise-needless ways; and 3) little kids are not known for their arm strength, so a generator that could be operated by leg muscles was deemed better. OLPC announced that a pull-cord generator would be the human powered generator, but as far as I can tell from a few quick Google searches just now, the pull-cord generator is still vapor.
I recently sent my XO-1 to India for use by the Bharti Integrated Rural Development Society
(B.I.R.D.S.) and I looked into a solar array for it. I found one for about $200 that should operate an XO-1 continuously and charge the battery in about an hour. I also found lots of other solar arrays that cost way more than that. So, the most affordable solar array I found cost more than the XO-1. As I understand it, the B.I.R.D.S. school has electrical power only when they run their generator, which is a few hours a day, so my hope is that the XO-1 will be useful just with the generator power. (Conveniently, the power supply on an XO-1 accepts any AC from 100 to 240 Volts, at 50 or 60 Hz, so they should be able to just plug it in with a plug adapter.)
Note that TFA says "...the I-slate is the first of a series of electronic notepads being built around a new class of low-energy-consumption microchips under development...". So, one of the reasons the OLPC XO-1 isn't powered with a little solar array is that it was developed half a decade ago, and the new ultra-low-power chips are, well, new.
Isn't it enough to say "This is a cool new technology and I'm excited about it" rather than talking about how much better it is compared to a half-decade-old technology?
P.S. I put an 8 GB flash card in the SD card slot on the XO-1. On the card I put a copy of Wikipedia for Schools, which takes up about 4 GB; then I put some health and medical books and a bunch of classic fiction books (for students to read when studying English). I updated the OS on the OLPC to the latest build, and installed a typing tutor program (Typing Turtle) from Sugar Labs. I found a public-domain copy of The Elements of Style and a few other free textbooks. Finally, I put a few books on Python Programming. I haven't had any email back from B.I.R.D.S. telling me anything, so I have no idea how it's working out.
I have to say, an XO-1 loading books straight off an SD card is a pretty nice book reading platform! And with the backlight off, to read books in monochrome, battery life should be pretty good. I'm hoping they will find the XO-1 to be useful.
steveha
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
... And these need power cables and external power sources.
I rest my case. 8^)
Trust me, I've been down this road over a dozen times in the last 7 years working in ICT4D. It's one thing to aim for low power. That's a commendable and essential goal. (One which modern technology vendors don't take nearly seriously enough.)
It's another thing entirely to think that you can operate entirely off the grid, or more to the point, that you can rely on any one source of power generation. Experience has taught me that this is a deadly assumption.
I've seen a long string of innovative answers to the same problems. Some of them work, but never as elegantly and as simply as you want them to. The bottom line is that ugly hacks rule, and that means being able to adjust to differing conditions on the fly and staying away from the bleeding edge.
And, by the by, I am the opposite of a 'classical thinker'. Go read my blog if you want to see someone ranting at length and in detail about the perils of applying the computing patterns of the developed world onto the less developed parts. I am a huge fan of appropriate technology. But my main criterion is that it has to work.
Finally, don't get me started about missionaries. I have yet to see an instance where they did more good than harm. Christian fundamentalism is fragmenting this country's social fabric. You want to help? Just help and keep your opinions to yourself.
Crumb's Corollary: Never bring a knife to a bun fight.
Why isn't the back of the kindle a solar panel?
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
I agree with your sentiment on the missionaries. I hope my quotations highlighted that. I will also check you log.
But I still disagree on a single basis. Just because the technology doesn't exist right now doesn't mean it's not just around the corner. And if the proper incentive was in place (how this will happen, I have no solutions) it could be done within a 12 month timeframe.
The "more traditional notebook" in my senario is really meant to be a similar but more powerful e-book-computing device. More memory, some external ports, maybe external batteries, etc. You give the people running the show so to speak the more fragile and slightly more complex hardware. But the basic requirements should be similar to the main tool. Should last days or more on a single charge. Again, get rid of the color LCD. You don't need it. Add a fullsize keyboard for easier, more familiar text entry. Solar panel obviously.
Then these same folks would have with them a larger Solar charging station and the hardware to give them the ability to charge from mains or a generator or a 6-24v DC you might find in a car.
But at the end of the day, I would think you want the mass supplied devices to be stone cold reliable, simple, and without essential accessories. I think the solar-powered calculator concept gets us close to that. Hell, I could find practical applications for such a device and I have reliable power! However, I do admit the lack of ports may be frustrating...
Of course, the big obvious point here is in a country that can't feed itself why the fuck do they need a ebook reader/computer tablet...
Oh, I don't know. They might want to use it for educational purposes to help lift themselves out of poverty/famine
www.Buy-Proxy.com - A "buyer-driven" global marketplace.
They have something else for that, for which the logistics and technology were worked out long long ago.
Books.
It's how all the other developed civilizations currently in existence managed to educate themselves and lift themselves up out of poverty/famine/dark ages.