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MIT Unveils Prototype for $100 Linux Laptop
Posted by
Zonk
on Thu Sep 29, 2005 08:09 AM
from the somone-thought-of-the-children dept.
from the somone-thought-of-the-children dept.
Examancer2 writes "MIT is showing off a prototype of a $100 laptop. It uses a 500MHz AMD processor, stores everything on flash memory, and runs Linux. The AC adapter acts as the carrying strap, and there is a hand crank so if you can't find a source of electricity you can charge it kinetically. The prototype laptop is also much more flexible and durable than your average notebook. In addition the unit has a screen that has a special daylight-friendly black & white mode that makes a great ebook." From the article: "Nicholas Negroponte, the co-founder of the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, detailed specifications for a $100 windup-powered laptop targeted at children in developing nations. Negroponte, who laid out his original proposal at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January, said MIT and his nonprofit group, called One Laptop Per Child, is in discussions with five countries--Brazil, China, Thailand, Egypt and South Africa--to distribute up to 15 million test systems to children." More coverage of this story available from ITWorld, InformationWeek, BBC, ZDNet, and the Associated Press.
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Extremely cool, but... (Score:4, Interesting)
So you end up manufacturing fewer laptops, but maybe that means more of them end up being used as intended?
(and the hand crank is too cool to leave to the kiddies. I am forced to wonder whether so many of us would still be strangers to the ladies if required to produce our own power. Two hours coding, three hours debugging, and four hours pedaling the stationary bicycle that powers our boxes to allow for the coding and debugging would reduce global warming, save on healthcare costs AND yield superior breeding material, all at the same time!)
--
You didn't know. [tinyurl.com]
Re:Extremely cool, but... (Score:4, Funny)
Parent
Re:Extremely cool, but... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Extremely cool, but... (Score:3, Informative)
Many years ago, recognizing that many white collar workers brought lunches from home but would not bear face the stigma of carrying a blue-collar lunchbox, a company introduced an "executive lunchbox", which did not look like the pro
Trading Stigmas (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Extremely cool, but... (Score:5, Insightful)
If a family is so poor that they can't even afford food or clothing, shouldn't we be spending money to provide them with this, rather than spending money on biometrics to prevent them from acquiring these basic needs?
If everyone sells off these laptops in order to buy food, the conclusion to draw is that they need food more than they need laptops.
As for the hand crank, I wouldn't mind on of those for my phone...
Parent
Re:Extremely cool, but... (Score:5, Insightful)
There are different levels of poverty. At the very lowest levels there are the people that can't even get food. Obviously this type of program isn't targeted for them, that what UN food aid, and unicef are for.
But if you go to some '2nd world' countries (Brazil comes to mind), it's very common to see TV antennas sticking out of wood shacks. At this level people have enough money to survive, but not move themselves up in society. So if you are born poor, you stay poor. And you end up with a country with no middle class, and 95% of the country being owned by 5% of the population.
A low cost way to access the internet would do wonders for educating the populace. This could be a real catalyst for social change in those sorts of countries.
Parent
Re:Extremely cool, but... (Score:5, Insightful)
The reason that "disadvantaged children" are "disadvantaged" is not because they don't have computers, but because it's hard to get food, hard to get clean water (for drinking and for cleaning - a huge factor for being healthy is hygeine), and hard to be protected from the environment.
Computers are great, but they aren't very useful for growing food or anything. You need different technologies for that, and different skill sets that aren't "intellectual".
Until I see how something like this can actually reduce the cost of living for these folks, I don't see that it's worth putting my support behind. I'm also not sure it's the best use of resources to help educational efforts either, but that's about the only area in which I'm not quite sure of the cost/benefit analysis. After all, the costly part of textbooks and the like isn't the printing, but paying for the content, so unless there are lots of "free" e-textbooks out there, this won't save much in that front. There's also the hidden aspect of supporting technology out there.
Parent
Re:Extremely cool, but... (Score:5, Interesting)
Frankly a cheap, rugged, Linux notebook is something I would love to have for myself. Add a USB port so I can install wifi or Ethernet and I would pay $200 for it today. It could be the ideal kitchen computer.
You comment on computers are great for many things but not for growing food or anything. Well it is true that you can not plow a field with one you can.
1. Learn about new ways to plant and compost.
2. Get weather reports.
3. Get commodity prices.
Once someone has enough food the next step is to get enough money so that you can have health care, cloths, books, and maybe send some of your children to get more than a basic education. Computers can help make the jump from alive but poor to having a future.
Parent
Re:Extremely cool, but... (Score:3, Insightful)
This is a fantastic idea. If the $100 price to sell to foreign govt's is not a loss, but actually covers the cost, then why license the machine to commercial ventures to sell for $200 and only see $20-30 out of it like Negraponte suggests. Why not sell meone for $200 and take the $100 profit to cover the entire cost of one donated
The article does not say these will be donated, it says
This could be big like radios... (Score:3, Interesting)
Thats a direct example of not just technology, but technologically aided flow of information directly "empowers" (read: gives them more money) a person.
Who knows how laptops could be used!
Re:Extremely cool, but... (Score:4, Insightful)
I call bullshit. Take Finland for example (the place where I happen to live in). the climate is not exactly the nicest in the world. Without adequate protection, the environment will kill you pretty quickly (you would survive in the summer, but in winter....). Yet we were able to build a prosperous and wealthy nation. What exactly is preventing the people in Africa (for example) of doing the same? Climate is harsh in both places (our climate is cold, theirs is hot). Yes, it's hard to get food in Africa, but Finland isn't really the breadbasket of the world either. Africa DOES have humungous amount of natural resources, something Finland lacks.
I seriously see nothing that prevents Africa and other poor places from improving their situation. Well, constant civil-wars, corrupt leaders and the like withstanding. But those are IMO their problem, and not ours.
Parent
Re:Extremely cool, but... (Score:5, Insightful)
However, looking at the historical treatment of the African continent, it seems that perhaps the folks there are entitled to some help. I mean, we're talking about an entire continent, filled with mostly technologically unadvanced, tribal societies, that was chopped up into arbitrary territories and colonized by European nations. Now, I know that every society has been subjugated at some point in the past, and probably done their share of subjugating as well, and it's a slipery slope, blah, blah, but the scale of that subjugation is rivaled in recent history only by the near total destruction of the native in north and south america, and you can see how the victims of that colonization turned out - dead.
Heap on top of that the not-so-trivial slave trade, in which American and European traders deliberately turned African societies against each other in order to capture the most slaves...I don't think you have to be a bleeding heart to see that a society subjected to this sort of treatment might not be so healthy afterwards.
So, if you agree that Africa has seriously gotten the shaft in the past, which seems pretty unarguable, it's hard to justify expecting them to just fix everything themselves. It's like breaking your dog's legs and then refusing to feed him until he runs as fast as the other dogs. Good luck.
Parent
Re:Extremely cool, but... (Score:4, Interesting)
My point is that Africa CAN get better. But they are doing their best to stay poor. Of course they do not choose to stay poor, but they just make bad decision after bad decision. And they pour their resources at completely wrong places (instead of figuring out ways to feed and educate their people, they are busy figuring out ways to kill their own people or invade neighbourghing countries).
Is that why the current average GDP growth for the entire Southern African region (12 countries) (including Zimbabwe and in spite of the latter's -4.5% decline) is 4.5% and growing? With some countries, like Mozambique, experiencing nearly 10% GDP growth sustained for several years already? (And this in spite of unfair trade rules and subsidies.)
A bit more reading up on current events, a bit less sensationalist shock-value television and uninformed slashdot rants repeating the tired old cliches, and you might actually keep up with the facts: These days, countries like Zimbabwe are the exception, not the rule. The majority of African countries are experiencing economic growth, many in excess of the growth rates found in Europe and the US.
Parent
Re:Extremely cool, but... (Score:5, Informative)
Has it occurred to you that a significant amount of the third world has clean water and doesn't need A/C units?!
Not everyone who is poor lives like a child off a Sally Struthers commericial.
It's funny that the suggesting cheap educational computers be scrapped for A/C Units was modded insightful. Remarkable!
I grew up in a "third world" country very close to the equator. Even the very poor in the country had clean drinking water by way of public "water stands" and had shoes by way of very cheap mass produced shoes from China. Very, very few people gave a damn about A/C. We've lived in this climate for thousands of years, people simply build houses and dress to suit the climate.
Parent
Re:Because they can use their $100 dollar laptop.. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Extremely cool, but... (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm doing my part, so I think I've earned the right to spout. I donate more than a couple craptops worth of cash to Heifer [heifer.org] each year. I like Heifer's approach, which emphasizes agricultural sustainability.
I'm not the only one that thinks laptops are a poor way to address poverty. In 2000, Bill Gates put a damper on the Digital Divide conference in Seattle with a similar message. [wired.com] When, as the article states, 80% of the world's population lives on less than a dollar a day, desiging them a $100 laptop is frivolous. If someone gave me a laptop worth three months of my salary, I'd put it on eBay in an instant and buy something I really needed.
Look at it this way. With $20, you could give a family a flock of chicks that could lay hundreds of eggs a year, providing them with additional protein and a source of trade income. For another $30, you can get two packs of Micropur tablets, which will treat 30 liters of water each. The tablets last for 3 years, so they can be saved for when it isn't possible to boil water. Another $30 could go to seed, rice, or lentils to give the family a little reserve. Then, spend the final $20 on whatever texts the kids need for their elementary school. $100 goes a lot farther when you're not spending it on computers.
The technological community has come up with much more creative ways to address poverty. I liked the clay pot refridgeration system for storing food that was mentioned on /. a while back. I read in Spectrum about a guy wiring villages in South America with solar-powered LED lighting so families wouldn't have to use kerosene lamps. The lamps are dangerous, the fuel is expensive, and the smoke causes searious health problems. I'd like to see more attention given to people with geniunely helpful ideas and less to Negroponte's schemes.
Parent
Re:Extremely cool, but... (Score:3, Insightful)
How dare they!? Damn poor people...practicing their right of first sale...
Seriously, just because they're not well off doesn't mean you need to treat them like they're children.
Re:Extremely cool, but... (Score:5, Insightful)
I guess it's a question of whether they would really starve, or whether the sale simply achieves convenience for the parents at the expense of a brighter future for the kid.
Moreover, my compassion for my fellow human beings extends across all dimensions, not just space. Carving out a chance for a really poor kid to grow up to become successful could mean feeding so many more people for that $100 twenty years from now than feeding a single family today.
We can't just be feeding people so they go on to reproduce and we end up with more hungry people. At some point you have to look at how to break the cycle.
Parent
Starve (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re:Extremely cool, but... (Score:4, Informative)
Therefore, human power could reduce global warming. On the scale of powering laptops, however, it could not be effective; and on a scale sufficiently large to be effective, it would be intolerable. I'm getting tired and hungry just thinking about it. Somebody get me a can of soda, some Tostitos, and a bed, stat!
Parent
They want to buy them for students in MA (Score:4, Interesting)
Of course, he's really just campaigning right now, not really trying to do anything in MA so it'll never happen, but they did mention it on the news this morning.
Re:They want to buy them for students in MA (Score:3, Informative)
shut up, idiot
IBM THINKPAD T20 LAPTOP P III 700MHZ,20GB,128MB,DVD
$269
http://cgi.ebay.com/IBM-THINKPAD-T20-LAPTOP-P-III
More info, bad news for geeks. (Score:5, Informative)
More information on the $100 laptop can be found here [mit.edu].
A bit of bad news from this page:
but I would pay more helping the development proc (Score:3, Insightful)
I for one would happily pay more than $100 for a $100 laptop just for the geek factor.
Not to mention the free qa service they would get !?
Re:More info, bad news for geeks. (Score:3, Interesting)
Page is
Re:More info, bad news for geeks. (Score:3, Informative)
The linked article also states:
While the initial goal of the project is to work with governments, Negroponte said MIT is considering licensing the design or giving it to a third-party company to build commercial versions of the PC. "Those might be available for $200, and $20 or $30 will come back to us to make the kids' laptops. We're still working on that," he said.
So a little optimism isn't entirely unjustified :-)
GREAT news for geeks! (Score:5, Insightful)
Granted, you couldn't do that for $100 - not at first. But what would happen is that businesses would sprout up selling this in volume. Which would bring down the cost for the average geek, as well as MIT. The spinoffs from this would mean that we could FINALLY get commodity parts for a laptop.
Or, in short, MIT has the opportunity to do to the laptop what IBM did to the PC.
I, for one, would be willing to help with whatever work is involved, if they GPL the schematics. I am sick and tired of dealing with the rediculous prices for proprietary laptops.
Where do I sign up?
Parent
Features! (Score:5, Insightful)
Not for sale here (Score:4, Informative)
It looks like MIT is the one to do it... (Score:4, Interesting)
I wonder what exactly are the processors inside...the big question is whether those are Geode (x86) or Alchemy...I wonder if choosing NON-x86 architecture would be a good way to prevent gray-market a bit and convincing parts manufacturers to supply them considerably cheaper (since the laptops wouldn't be a competition for their primary wintel market). And since it's Linux it's not a big deal when it comes to architecture...
128MB of RAM? probably similarly low...HOVEWER there's one very important difference to our typical laptops/desktops - swap is to be avoided at all costs (flash based - limited number of read/writes and...slow). Personally, I would modify the kernel/desktop enviroment (or something) that it will not allow launching of new apps when physical memory limit is closing in (eventually - allow, but display something like "to assure longevity of your laptop, please close applications you're not using)
Also, worth noting IMHO will be software choice once it's announced - simply because those software titles will become one of most widely used IN THE WORLD, no only when cosidering Linux desktop.
What are your guesses?
Since I think this laptop will be a bit RAM limited, I think they'll choose something light as possible, but easy to use also...XFce perhaps? Epiphany/Kazehakase? Opera? (I wouldn't be surprised if Opera agreed to port their browser...it's free anyway, and they would get HUGE usage boost; of course there's the question what licensing principles this project has...)? Abiword? (KOffice would be nice also...but KDE wouldn't
BTW...too bad probably it won't be available for me probably
$100 useable laptop available now (Score:5, Interesting)
this is not hard to do, the hard part is manufacturing sometihng new to meet this price mark. and I would love to get my hands on a couple for evaluation.
Get computers OUT of schools! (Score:5, Insightful)
Can someone please tell these people that computers are, barring a massive paradigm shift in how they are used for education, merely 90% distraction from the real learning that must go on in schools at these ages? (That is, unless you want to make a society of mindless forum posters.)
Re:Get computers OUT of schools! (Score:3, Interesting)
He's bulshitting to get votes.
Fully Featured (Score:3, Interesting)
They should sell them to individuals. (Score:5, Interesting)
Gates foundation (Score:3, Funny)
Cool concept (Score:5, Interesting)
My biggest concern with this, and all other laptops-for-schoolkids programs is that they actually do proper class programming with them (programming as in lecture design etc, not Objective-C/Java/etc). It's not simply enough to hand kids a laptopo and expect them to suddenly learn more. You have to shape the classes and the materials in such a way as to be well-suited to a classroom full on network-connected, laptop-toting schoolkids. This can be done, but it does take thought; hopefully the school boards engaging in such programs have done this planning.
Wind-up radios illustrate similar pattern. . . (Score:5, Interesting)
The finished product rocked. I lived with a room mate who owned a couple of them, and they worked wonderfully. The weird thing, though, was the price-tag.
In the third world, a wind-up radio cost about ten bucks. But here in the West, where money grows on trees and the streets are paved with gold, the average Yuppie had to shell out up to $200 for the gizmo.
I don't know if I agree or disagree with this kind of marketing, but it'd be interesting to see how the story goes with MIT's do-hicky. Not that it'll probably make much difference; from their web-site; "these laptops are not in production. They are not--and will not--be available for purchase by individuals."
For my part, I am partial to the HP Jornada 820 [hp.com] when it comes to small and ultra-portable computers. Word-processing with no moving parts other than the flip-screen and lap-top keyboard means an 8 hour battery life. --It runs on flash cards, and so long as all you want to do is write and store data, you can't do much better. (Forget gaming, though, but I couldn't care less about that.)
I think there should be more devices like this generally available; they're just so useful. Dedicated word-processors with good key-boards and screens are hard to come by and too damned expensive for what you get generally. The Jornada is the exception, which is probably why the plug got pulled on it. --HP stopped making the Jornada 820 back in the late nineties; I got mine off Ebay for about $250, and I use it all the time. I wish it could run on wind-up power. I wonder if there's a charger out there which has a hand-crank. . .
I think there's a subconscious conspiracy to make sure people don't have access to useful tools for writing and creating which don't come armed with severe operating limitations, (the standard lap-top with lame battery life), and a million and one mind-numbing distractions, (DVD players and game and music options. Bah. Writers write, they don't waste time messing around with toys.)
-FL
Why only children/schools? (Score:3, Interesting)
I would pay plenty for a rugged Linux laptop with 500 MHz AMD in it. I say I cannot buy one because in an article I read they said it should be a stigma to use it as an adult. The Simputer people were the same way (I twice contacted their sales asking for info, it said on the sight it was as good for people in NY as India, no response). If these companies are making products that are a good value, but still prophitable lets defray the cost some. If it is truly durable I would pay $500 for it over a low end Dell/Gateway. Then they can donate 4 to a school and everyone wins (I would be far more likly to buy one sub $250 though).
Snake oil... (Score:4, Insightful)
For a moment I thought "oh my god, the MIT Media lab for once actually did something useful", but then I read the article and realized that the computer exists only on paper. The article is just press-seeking vaporware release, all hype and little substance in true Media Lab style.
MIT Media Lab motto: purveyors of snake oil since 1985.
The Great Ivory Tower (Score:3, Interesting)
That aside, as earlier posters noted why not just help feed them? The current food supplies are enough to feed the entire world and people are still starving (food supplies are increasingly becoming a problem though). So how will making these low-cost computers available to developing countries be any easier than making food available? How will they "fix" the supply chain problem?
Also, did they take in to account the cost to assemble these things? Is it 100$ for parts or parts and labor? If it's made in a developed nation the cost will probably double. Why don't they have them assembled in the developing nations? That way they can provide jobs and computers to families.
Again, great idea, but I'm suspicious of the reality to delivery upon this idea.
It's a beautiful thing... (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm a little surprised at the lack of imagination I'm seeing in this article's comments. Imagination is not something usually lacking at
Personal interactions will flourish. Imagine that each person has a personal presence on the net in the form of a journal, blog, etc. Innermost thoughts, musings, ideas would be posted. Access may be restricted to groups of friends, open to all, available only in a reciprocal trade - who knows? Social interactions may form that are based on more formal public personae while the unspoken web content acts as an underlying frame. Like minds will find each other. Ideas will feed on ideas. It will be an exponential extension of today's net.
Specialties would develop. Mod kits would certainly turn up. This kid might make movies, or songs, or create one page descriptive biographies of everyone he meets. That kid might develop applications, this one tweaks assembler, another is a com whiz, and that one over there...she's special, she can go ANYWHERE in cyberspace, and if it's on the net, she can find it. She's the one they ask when they REALLY need to know the truth. It could be that some strange stuff starts to happen. Stuff about how the world is perceived and how humans relate to it and each other. Stuff we can't imagine or maybe even understand. Really, really cool Stuff.
We old folks can participate. Everyone seems to crave one of these laptops. What if they didn't sell even one outside their programs? What if to get one of these babies you had to earn it? You could help develop software. Write apps, ports, translate, tutor, teach, write textbooks, moderate groups, protect the children and their net. You could EARN the laptop. How cool would that be?
Who will pay? There will be new markets, development deals, service contracts, infrastructure to build. The companies that want to play will be the ones who pay. Governments could link contracts with obligations. You want to build out our backbone? It must include wifi for the kidtops at your expense. You want to build some buildings? We need housing for a server farm here and some schools here, here, and here. You want the support contract for the government IT infrastructure. You also must support Kidnet. At least till the kids take over,which won't be long. Access? Well how much is access to a 10 million node kidtop beowolf cluster worth? Wanna trade?
C'mon guys! This is the fucking DREAM! No more secrets. No more lies. No more disinformation and manipulation from 'those who would be kings'. Maybe even 200 million proud parents of the Earth's first planetary consciousness. Hey, who knows? Not us. We can't even BEGIN to imagine.
billy - I for one will sit back and watch 'em go
Re:You know- (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Better use for US$100 (Score:3, Interesting)
Worse use (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, because that band-aid solution's been working incredibly, right? That's the first thing. Second thing is it's a lot easier to solve this problem since it requires a lot less infrastructure. Food is big and perishable. It's hard to get to the source. Most of it doesn't make it.
And the third thing - what, the entire world has such tunnelvision that it can only work on one thing at a time? Should I be berating the crew fixing potholes outside my apartment because they're not solving world hunger?
Charity is about applying the skills you have. I doubt the people involved know crap about solving world hunger.
Also, that assumes that the entire third world is starving. It's not, mostly. Many need education more than anything. This helps solve that.
Parent
Re:Better use for US$100 (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Better use for US$100 (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Wouldn't it take a lot to crank by hand? (Score:3, Informative)
you would be suprised how fast you can charge something that way. 1 hour of cranking and i had a full charge as well as 4 nimh 2500mah AA batteries charged. and yes your arm does get tired for a solid hour of cranking if you are not used to it. After the week I was not noticing it as much.
Re:Maybe I'm just getting old.. (Score:3, Interesting)
This "won't be available" in the same way that a new air to air missile or MASH portable surgery unit won't be available -- you have to be the right type of group and lay out a good chunk of change to buy many of them at once. "Won't be available" does not, in this case, mean "won't