The XO was never about "shipping products people could afford and wanted to buy". It was about giving children in developing nations an open platform on which to learn computing, and have access to digitized knowledge resources. Not everyone is out to make a profit, some people just want to do good things.
IIRC It does not need to be licensed, all the designs for all the parts are Open. Any company that can make the manufacturing facility to produce the screens can make them.
I've been using mine daily as well. Firefox+Wiki-on-a-stick for all my writing, midnight commander in the terminal for file system access, and ADOM for gaming pleasure. I've put off getting any other laptop or smart phone because if fills all my mobile computing needs. I'll definitely buy an XO=3 when it comes out (well, Give2Get1 or whatever it works out to be).
That's the kind of e-bikes I'd like to make. My dream job would be designing and building custom e-bikes - frames and all. If figure if I can make them kick-ass awesome enough so that the suits and fashionistas want to ride one as a status symbol I'll have done something for both the environment and my wallet at the same time (and I'll get to build my dream bike-of-the-week in my down time).
I ride daily in downtown Toronto, and obviously look like an electric velocipede; I don't understand why so many e-bikers try and hide the fact that they are juiced. I've had a number of cops grill me about my bike - but always as an interested person, not in an official capacity. If you ride by the rules they don't care.
Per gallon vs load vs distance traveled; single stroke engines with a fuel/oil mix in the tank ARE worse than modern SUVs - they are essentially chainsaw or lawnmower engines.
I love rolling up on those idiots, repeatedly, light after light, halfway across the city during rush hour. Hell, I sometimes slow down just so I can keep rolling along side them occasionally staring at them and fingering my bike lock, I'll never do anything, but it has a tendency to make jerkwad drivers (which only some are, as with cyclists) slow down and be a little more respectful of the other on the road.
Because right of way stages outward from the curb -
Light Goes Green.
Outside, Curb (cyclists) , and Pedestrian crosses.
Outside may start left turn.
Inside and Outside waits for Pedestrians and Curb to cross.
Inside makes right when Pedestrian and Curb crossing is clear.
Outside completes left when oncoming Outside, Pedestrian, and Curb crossing is clear.
This of course only works if there are no assholes in the Inside lane trying to race through ahead of the people in the Outside lane or that don't give pedestrians crossing at the lights the due right of way.
My mad-maxish harley/downhill-racer/bmx looking ebike started out as one of those 'electric mopeds', and yes, the pedals on them are worthless. It took me a year to get around to it, but I swapped in a full size chain-ring and pedals, and doubled my battery life and top speed.
Actually, that is pretty good advice on dealing with the door prize. The first time won it I tried to dodge out into the road and got the edge of the door all down my right side - the bruise took months to fully heal. The second time I turned into the V, hit my front brakes and rolled up over my handlebars and onto the roof of the car. I haven't won since that time, but that's my intended response now.
A bike is not a car, but once on the road most places consider it a vehicle under the law, and both drivers and riders should treat each other with the same level of deference and respect.
I do the same thing - ride 365, but I do it in a heavily modified 350watt ebike (32km/h before I start to use my pedals).
Back when I was a young cyclist I was one of the idiots that everyone complains about, but now that I'm old I've learned to follow the rules.
The odd thing is, I actually outpace most cars in crosstown traffic even with following the rules (full stops, signaled turns, giving right of way to cyclists, watching out for pedestrians). I act like a bike in the bike lane, and like a motorcycle when I'm not, giving way and signaling well in advance as I change between the two 'modes'. I average a continuous 30Km/h in stop and go city traffic, rarely having to stop because I watch the road ahead and time the lights, turning drivers, and streetcar stops.
I'll admit, I've modded my bike to intimidate drivers - its about 6 feet long and the handlebars top out about 5 feet off the ground and looks like the bastard child of a Harley Chopper, a downhill racer and a bmx having a orgy in the Thunderdome. I've also chosen my riding gear to look intimidating - knee length black leather duster and a four foot length of 0 gauge chain looped over my shoulders combined with my steampunk helmet, goggles, and mask tends to give me a good 3 meters of 'personal space'
And about as many are aware that a bike (at least in Canada) are legally entitled to an entire lane because that are considered a vehicle under the law. If there is no bike lane riding the curb is a courtesy, not a requirement.
The XO is entirely flash based, runs linux, and weighs less then 3 pounds, is water resistant, impact hardened, and can be re-flashed back to basic operating system in 15 minutes by putting a USB stick with the OS installer into a USB port, holding down the gamepad buttons and turning on the power. Trust me, the MIT Media lab did a really good job designing these things for use by children in third world countries.
I'm an XO owner...
"...now needs to have the power capabilities to also handle 20-30 laptops as well."
-- XOs are specifically designed to use minimal power - you can run 20 XOs at less than the energy requirements for a TV, and they can be charged up in rotation while students do other things, then used 'cord-free'.
"How about network connectivity?"
--Xos have built in wifi mesh networking, and any installation of an XO cluster includes a local server that administers the wifi logins, long term data storage, web filtering, the chat and project collaboration system, the email system.
"How about all of the volume licensing agreements?"
--The XOs run Linux, with the Sugar GUI - it is 100% open source, free, and being maintained and updated continuously. As the students learn they can also install other flavors of Linux/Unix.
"anti-virus clients, patch management systems, etc. are all done by volume. Who is going to pay for the additional licenses for these systems?"
-- All handled gratis by the Linux community - you can upgrade the XO automatically from the desktop, use the YUM repository for applications, and the OLPC and Sugar foundations are constantly adding new and imporved apps and functionality. And Linux does not need antivirus (at least not in my experience).
"Maintenance? Is the grant going to give us enough spare laptops to cover for children while they're laptops are down for repair, students who forget laptops, etc? What about the increased workload of an already-thing IT department covering the additional laptops that will, in all likelihood, break more often?"
-- The XO clusters in third world countries have 8 year old girls repairing, maintaining, and upgrading XOs. The OLPC project was _really_well_thought_out_ before they went into production. The figured from the start that the entire system from end to end needed to be such that the children could handle the majority of the administration themselves.
"And as for the Linux? I'm a FOSS advocate, run nix at home, etc. But you have to realize that *most* school/district IT departments are staffed by folks who were the most technologically proficient users at the time the equipment was installed, e.g. the librarian who knew how to install MS Office got promoted to be the head of the district IT department. Sorry, but supporting (or even running) Linux for a lot of these folks is over their heads."
-- The Sugar GUI will handle that, most kids will be quite happy to stay in the Sugar environment, and the activities and apps available there will provide all the functionality they need; and the nerdcore kids that want to go deeper have the option to - the XO drops with everything required for a kid to go from computer illiterate to writing HTML, PHP, Pearl, and Javascript. The kids will teach themselves.
"Is all of this worth it to give young students laptops? Will this really foster that much additional learning?"
-- In schools as bad as these sound like, if even 10% of the kids that get XOs use them to their full potential it will be worth it.
"Don't get me wrong, I think it's great that someone is trying to promote the technology. Unfortunately there are a lot more pressing matters to take care of in SC schools and a lot of issues to tackle before this could be successfully implemented."
-- The XOs will last the kids for years, and once integrated into the 'school life' they will replace a lot of paper, pens, textbooks, etc.
I have a first gen G1G1 XO - $200 when I got it a year and a half ago (specs here http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Hardware_specifications).
I've sat in a bus shelter in Toronto in February when it was sleeting and -30 watching movies, playing nethack, or surfing the web through an available hot spot; I've also sat on a Toronto bar patio with no shade in 35 degree heat while using it as a dice roller/source book viewer/wiki checker for a marathon GURPS game while getting plastered (spilled the pitcher on it twice). The XO really stands up to punishment, has phenomenal power management and resource allocation. If you can get your hands on a couple of them, gang them together into a wireless cluster that scales usage by turning on additional XOs as resources are needed you're set. Because they have no moving parts they can get moved around easy, the batteries in them last forever - you just need to have big SD cards or external USB drives for data storage. They are designed for wirless mesh networking/collaboration , so making a distributed cluster server should be a viable option.
Boing Boing is a collective personal blog, not a news agency. If they don't want to host something that they don't want to host that is their prerogative. The content was not deleted from the internet, they've made a point of letting people know where else it is available. If someone said something in your blog, or home, that you objected to wouldn't it be your right to remove it or them?
And besides, Xeni did the removal, not Cory.
Boing Boing and his other personal sites are the appropriate placees for him to his book pimping - and I'm sure he would keep it there. As for the 'unpublishing' - to what do you refer?
BTW, I am aware that this is a purely hypothetical discussion, him being ineligible for the position and all. I'm just postulating that someone with his background and publicly espoused beliefs would make for a copyright czar that would balance the rights and responsibilities of both media producers, and media consumers.
Slashdot Mirror
The XO was never about "shipping products people could afford and wanted to buy". It was about giving children in developing nations an open platform on which to learn computing, and have access to digitized knowledge resources. Not everyone is out to make a profit, some people just want to do good things.
IIRC It does not need to be licensed, all the designs for all the parts are Open. Any company that can make the manufacturing facility to produce the screens can make them.
I've been using mine daily as well. Firefox+Wiki-on-a-stick for all my writing, midnight commander in the terminal for file system access, and ADOM for gaming pleasure. I've put off getting any other laptop or smart phone because if fills all my mobile computing needs. I'll definitely buy an XO=3 when it comes out (well, Give2Get1 or whatever it works out to be).
That's the kind of e-bikes I'd like to make. My dream job would be designing and building custom e-bikes - frames and all. If figure if I can make them kick-ass awesome enough so that the suits and fashionistas want to ride one as a status symbol I'll have done something for both the environment and my wallet at the same time (and I'll get to build my dream bike-of-the-week in my down time).
I ride daily in downtown Toronto, and obviously look like an electric velocipede; I don't understand why so many e-bikers try and hide the fact that they are juiced. I've had a number of cops grill me about my bike - but always as an interested person, not in an official capacity. If you ride by the rules they don't care.
Per gallon vs load vs distance traveled; single stroke engines with a fuel/oil mix in the tank ARE worse than modern SUVs - they are essentially chainsaw or lawnmower engines.
I love rolling up on those idiots, repeatedly, light after light, halfway across the city during rush hour. Hell, I sometimes slow down just so I can keep rolling along side them occasionally staring at them and fingering my bike lock, I'll never do anything, but it has a tendency to make jerkwad drivers (which only some are, as with cyclists) slow down and be a little more respectful of the other on the road.
Because right of way stages outward from the curb - Light Goes Green. Outside, Curb (cyclists) , and Pedestrian crosses. Outside may start left turn. Inside and Outside waits for Pedestrians and Curb to cross. Inside makes right when Pedestrian and Curb crossing is clear. Outside completes left when oncoming Outside, Pedestrian, and Curb crossing is clear. This of course only works if there are no assholes in the Inside lane trying to race through ahead of the people in the Outside lane or that don't give pedestrians crossing at the lights the due right of way.
My mad-maxish harley/downhill-racer/bmx looking ebike started out as one of those 'electric mopeds', and yes, the pedals on them are worthless. It took me a year to get around to it, but I swapped in a full size chain-ring and pedals, and doubled my battery life and top speed.
750W! Where did you get a 750? I want!
Actually, that is pretty good advice on dealing with the door prize. The first time won it I tried to dodge out into the road and got the edge of the door all down my right side - the bruise took months to fully heal. The second time I turned into the V, hit my front brakes and rolled up over my handlebars and onto the roof of the car. I haven't won since that time, but that's my intended response now.
We have them in Canada as well, same shape, but yellow, and they say 'yield' - which means 'to give in' or 'submit'.
A bike is not a car, but once on the road most places consider it a vehicle under the law, and both drivers and riders should treat each other with the same level of deference and respect.
I've thought of doing this as well, accelerometer and a LED display on the back of the helmet.
I do the same thing - ride 365, but I do it in a heavily modified 350watt ebike (32km/h before I start to use my pedals). Back when I was a young cyclist I was one of the idiots that everyone complains about, but now that I'm old I've learned to follow the rules. The odd thing is, I actually outpace most cars in crosstown traffic even with following the rules (full stops, signaled turns, giving right of way to cyclists, watching out for pedestrians). I act like a bike in the bike lane, and like a motorcycle when I'm not, giving way and signaling well in advance as I change between the two 'modes'. I average a continuous 30Km/h in stop and go city traffic, rarely having to stop because I watch the road ahead and time the lights, turning drivers, and streetcar stops. I'll admit, I've modded my bike to intimidate drivers - its about 6 feet long and the handlebars top out about 5 feet off the ground and looks like the bastard child of a Harley Chopper, a downhill racer and a bmx having a orgy in the Thunderdome. I've also chosen my riding gear to look intimidating - knee length black leather duster and a four foot length of 0 gauge chain looped over my shoulders combined with my steampunk helmet, goggles, and mask tends to give me a good 3 meters of 'personal space'
Same rules apply here in Canada. You'll also get a ticket for trying to pass a bus or streetcar that has its doors open ($120 fine, same as a car).
And about as many are aware that a bike (at least in Canada) are legally entitled to an entire lane because that are considered a vehicle under the law. If there is no bike lane riding the curb is a courtesy, not a requirement.
The XO is entirely flash based, runs linux, and weighs less then 3 pounds, is water resistant, impact hardened, and can be re-flashed back to basic operating system in 15 minutes by putting a USB stick with the OS installer into a USB port, holding down the gamepad buttons and turning on the power. Trust me, the MIT Media lab did a really good job designing these things for use by children in third world countries.
The XO has a built in webcam w/ microphone and speakers - it can run Skype and do webcasting.
I'm an XO owner... "...now needs to have the power capabilities to also handle 20-30 laptops as well." -- XOs are specifically designed to use minimal power - you can run 20 XOs at less than the energy requirements for a TV, and they can be charged up in rotation while students do other things, then used 'cord-free'. "How about network connectivity?" --Xos have built in wifi mesh networking, and any installation of an XO cluster includes a local server that administers the wifi logins, long term data storage, web filtering, the chat and project collaboration system, the email system. "How about all of the volume licensing agreements?" --The XOs run Linux, with the Sugar GUI - it is 100% open source, free, and being maintained and updated continuously. As the students learn they can also install other flavors of Linux/Unix. "anti-virus clients, patch management systems, etc. are all done by volume. Who is going to pay for the additional licenses for these systems?" -- All handled gratis by the Linux community - you can upgrade the XO automatically from the desktop, use the YUM repository for applications, and the OLPC and Sugar foundations are constantly adding new and imporved apps and functionality. And Linux does not need antivirus (at least not in my experience). "Maintenance? Is the grant going to give us enough spare laptops to cover for children while they're laptops are down for repair, students who forget laptops, etc? What about the increased workload of an already-thing IT department covering the additional laptops that will, in all likelihood, break more often?" -- The XO clusters in third world countries have 8 year old girls repairing, maintaining, and upgrading XOs. The OLPC project was _really_well_thought_out_ before they went into production. The figured from the start that the entire system from end to end needed to be such that the children could handle the majority of the administration themselves. "And as for the Linux? I'm a FOSS advocate, run nix at home, etc. But you have to realize that *most* school/district IT departments are staffed by folks who were the most technologically proficient users at the time the equipment was installed, e.g. the librarian who knew how to install MS Office got promoted to be the head of the district IT department. Sorry, but supporting (or even running) Linux for a lot of these folks is over their heads." -- The Sugar GUI will handle that, most kids will be quite happy to stay in the Sugar environment, and the activities and apps available there will provide all the functionality they need; and the nerdcore kids that want to go deeper have the option to - the XO drops with everything required for a kid to go from computer illiterate to writing HTML, PHP, Pearl, and Javascript. The kids will teach themselves. "Is all of this worth it to give young students laptops? Will this really foster that much additional learning?" -- In schools as bad as these sound like, if even 10% of the kids that get XOs use them to their full potential it will be worth it. "Don't get me wrong, I think it's great that someone is trying to promote the technology. Unfortunately there are a lot more pressing matters to take care of in SC schools and a lot of issues to tackle before this could be successfully implemented." -- The XOs will last the kids for years, and once integrated into the 'school life' they will replace a lot of paper, pens, textbooks, etc.
I have a first gen G1G1 XO - $200 when I got it a year and a half ago (specs here http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Hardware_specifications). I've sat in a bus shelter in Toronto in February when it was sleeting and -30 watching movies, playing nethack, or surfing the web through an available hot spot; I've also sat on a Toronto bar patio with no shade in 35 degree heat while using it as a dice roller/source book viewer/wiki checker for a marathon GURPS game while getting plastered (spilled the pitcher on it twice). The XO really stands up to punishment, has phenomenal power management and resource allocation. If you can get your hands on a couple of them, gang them together into a wireless cluster that scales usage by turning on additional XOs as resources are needed you're set. Because they have no moving parts they can get moved around easy, the batteries in them last forever - you just need to have big SD cards or external USB drives for data storage. They are designed for wirless mesh networking/collaboration , so making a distributed cluster server should be a viable option.
Boing Boing is a collective personal blog, not a news agency. If they don't want to host something that they don't want to host that is their prerogative. The content was not deleted from the internet, they've made a point of letting people know where else it is available. If someone said something in your blog, or home, that you objected to wouldn't it be your right to remove it or them? And besides, Xeni did the removal, not Cory.
Like Cory Doctorow?
Boing Boing and his other personal sites are the appropriate placees for him to his book pimping - and I'm sure he would keep it there. As for the 'unpublishing' - to what do you refer? BTW, I am aware that this is a purely hypothetical discussion, him being ineligible for the position and all. I'm just postulating that someone with his background and publicly espoused beliefs would make for a copyright czar that would balance the rights and responsibilities of both media producers, and media consumers.
Yeah, sucks don't it. Would be nice though.