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First Laptop With Full-Sized Solar Panels Will Run On Ubuntu

Posted by Soulskill on from the not-sure-i-have-the-acreage-for-it dept.

iwritethings writes "The Sol, a rugged-looking laptop with built-in foldable solar panels is designed for use in the military, education and developing countries where electricity is scarce. The Canada-based makers behind the Sol claim that the device can run directly off solar energy or can harness the sun's rays to charge the laptop's battery in under two hours. Once fully charged, the battery is expected to last between eight and 10 hours. While the concept of solar charging gadgets isn't new, this type of battery life is unprecedented. There's no word on when Sol will launch, but its headed to Ghana first, and it will run Ubuntu Linux."

4 of 155 comments (clear)

  1. Matte screen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Hope it comes with a matte screen. A glossy screen would be unusable out in the sun.

    1. Re:Matte screen by niftydude · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Whatever happen to those colour E-ink screens Pixel Qi was working on? They would be perfect

      I was at a conference last year where some japanese guys were working on a microfluidic transflective displays - they are essentially as bright as the ambient light level is - those would also be pretty good for this.

      Come on people - we need low power daylight readable screens already.

      --
      You can never know everything, and part of what you do know will always be wrong. Perhaps even the most important part.
  2. Seems like a terrible design by SSpade · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A separate set of solar panels could be used to power / charge things other than a laptop, and a set of solar panels connected by a cable would let you sit in the cool shade while using the laptop during the day, rather than having to sit out in the sun (where it's hot and you can't see the screen).

    Assuming it's real, which I have some doubts about - a couple of square feet of solar panels provides enough power to drive four or five laptops?

  3. Errrr.... by sunking2 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Pretty sure that Ubuntu will run on the laptop. The laptop will run on the Sun.