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First of the OLPCs Built

Posted by Zonk on Tue Nov 14, 2006 10:04 AM
from the little-windup-that-could dept.
Education Technology
eldavojohn writes "An announcement came Sunday that the first ten prototypes of the Linux-powered OLPC XO-1 had been completed in China. From the article, 'Quanta, the Chinese computer maker that won the international bidding for the project earlier this year, will assemble 900 OLPC machines that will be used for destructive testing and distribution to our development partners.' Let's hope that these first prototypes do not warrant any design changes and that the testing goes well so that countries that expressed interest (Brazil, Libya, Nigeria, Argentina, and Thailand) can start distributing them soon."
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[+] $100 Laptop Takes Flight in Thailand 162 comments
EmperorKagato writes "Nicholas Negroponte's project for every child to have a laptop will come true for over 500 students in Thailand. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra expects each child to receive a laptop instead of books as the books will be provided electronically. The laptop, mentioned previously on Slashdot, will now be brought to children in Thailand in October and November, with hopes for future shipments to Nigeria, Brazil and Argentina in 2007." This story selected and edited by LinuxWorld editor for the day Saied Pinto.
[+] Technology: Libya Purchases 1.2 mil Wind-up Laptops 258 comments
An anonymous reader writes "The government of Libya is reported to have agreed to provide its 1.2m school children with a cheap, durable laptop computer by June 2008. The laptops offer internet access and are powered by a wind-up crank. They cost $100 and manufacturing begins next year, says One Laptop per Child. The non-profit association's chairman, Nicholas Negroponte, said the deal was reached on Tuesday in Libya. Professor Negroponte told the New York Times in an email that the project mirrored Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's political agenda of creating a more open Libya and he also expressed interest in purchasing the computers for poorer African neighbors."
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  • It's worth noting... (Score:4, Informative)

    by Otter (3800) on Tuesday November 14 2006, @10:19AM (#16837906) Journal
    Not that this project had any lack of vapor already, but it's worth noting that the Thai government that vaguely signed on to this project over the summer was overthrown in a military coup a few weeks later. We'll see how high a priority this is for the new guy.

    Those of you who were hailing Khaddafi's deep commitment to freedom when he jumped aboard will be relieved to know that he's not going anywhere anytime soon, though...

  • At least one terrorist video will reveal a OLPC in the background.
    • Certain computer companies using this as an excuse to push a law through congress that outlaws the distribution of OLPC computers and declares countries that participate in the OLPC project as terrorist states.

  • Again, Linux uses its monopoly position... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 14 2006, @10:22AM (#16837954)
    Again, Linux uses its monopoly position in the free-OS market to stomp on Corporate America. Companies such as Microsoft cannot compete with the hippy OS because they have employees to pay, hardware to buy, and general overhead that any company has and cannot compete with Linux which is put together in a COMMUNIST style by a bunch of long-haired (Alex, RMS) free-thinkers.
    This monopoly position must be dealt with to level the playing field so that American companies (not the Finnish) can pass more of their profits on to people like you and I who hold shares in their retirement portfolios.

    TDz.
    • Monopoly in the free OS business? I know you're trying to be funny, but have you forgotten about BSD?
      • What is this "BSD" that you speak of? I suspect you're just making stuff up, trying to be funny. I've never heard of "BSD", and I'll bet no one else here has either.
    • Again, Linux uses its monopoly position in the free-OS market to stomp on Corporate America. Companies such as Microsoft cannot compete with the hippy OS because they have employees to pay, hardware to buy, and general overhead that any company has and cannot compete with Linux which is put together in a COMMUNIST style by a bunch of long-haired (Alex, RMS) free-thinkers.
      LOL, I just imagined Stephen Colbert doing that monologue on his show. Nice :-)

  • One laptop per child test plan (Score:3, Insightful)

    by davidwr (791652) on Tuesday November 14 2006, @10:38AM (#16838156) Homepage Journal
    1) give computer to child
    2) come back in a week

    If computer survives AND the kid didn't get bored with it, the test passes.

    ---
    It's lame but laugh anyways.
  • Prototypes are nice... but do they actually work? I'm very skeptical that this thing can be produced at this price. I'll believe it when a factory is cranking out a few thousand a day, AND THEY WORK. Until then, it's nothing but vapor and PR.
  • Destructive testing? DESTRUCTIVE TESTING? WOOOO!!!

    Lameness filter encountered. Post aborted!
    Reason: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING.

  • "Third world" inside the USA (Score:3, Insightful)

    by feranick (858651) on Tuesday November 14 2006, @12:53PM (#16840372)
    Being in several grades school around the country (and not in rich areas), I realized that there are plenty of "third world" type of realities in middle America. Underfunded schools, unmotivated students in depressed areas, many of them with huge literacy problems (reading deficiencies). From experience I can tell that what those kids need is motivation, something that they can get excited. So, why not deploying the OLPC in these communities/schools? It seems that people here are talking of the US as a very homogeneous country. They are not. Very poor areas exist, and kids there are no different (unfortunately) with their pairs in Brazil.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by jimstapleton (999106)
      they are supposed to be free, so it's probably government funded. Still, the conecpet is right, how many people will be taking these from the children?

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by tomstdenis (446163)
        Believe it or not the OLPC people are not COMPLETE FUCKING MORONS

        There are lockdown measures to avoid corrupt distribution. A black market wouldn't really work because a stolen OLPC laptop won't work. Not to mention that they're pretty much useless for most other tasks. A geek may want one for the neat factor or for an effective terminal. But you can't exactly play 3d shooters on them, or store gigabytes of movies or whatever (I doubt you could even play a divx on it).

        The corrupt market would be to stea
        • The OLPC people aren't dumb, but you can expect the theives won't be either.

          • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

            by tomstdenis (446163)
            The point is to remove the worth.

            It's a 300MHz x86 board with a gray-scale display (the colour is faked), 128M of ram, 512M of flash, no cdrom, no advanced GPU, very small keys, and the host OS is designed for small children. Perfect for reading, playing simple learning games, and browsing the web. Sucks for games, videos, music and the like.

            I seriously doubt there will be a huge black market for adults to hack them and turn them into a standard Linux PC. Selling them as is to children won't be really pr

                  • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

                    by tomstdenis (446163)
                    It's not a traditional LCD. The colour elements, as I was explained by an OLPC staffer (hint: I'm writing their BIOS security code...), are not stacked, and that you didn't have three elements per pixel. The filtering is REQUIRED to make it look aesthetically pleasing.

                    I imagine if we had close ups of the REAL screen and not the simulator you'd see what I'm talking about.

                    Tom

    • Re:Childrens laptop? (Score:4, Informative)

      by leuk_he (194174) on Tuesday November 14 2006, @10:20AM (#16837918) Homepage
      libya has oil [wikipedia.org] and is not a real poor country.

      "These oil revenues and a small population give Libya one of the highest GDPs per person in Africa"

      • libya has oil and is not a real poor country

        but that raises the obvious question: csn the really poor countries afford OLPC?

      • one of the highest GDPs per person in Africa I don't mean to sound crass, but that ain't saying much. Moreover, it may be the perfect foothold for this new device and an excellent start to enabling a population to better access information and educational resources. If, as you claim, Lybia is one of the best-off countries in Africa -- the worst off continent in many measures, then here's the simple question: If it can't succeed in the best of the worst environments, then can it succeed anywhere?

        Moreov

    • Re:Childrens laptop? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by spisska (796395) on Tuesday November 14 2006, @10:36AM (#16838128)
      First: It's not people buying them, it's governments.

      Second: Not everyone outside of the US and Europe is starving in a mud hut. Both Libya and Brazil are modern, technical societies with substantial wealth. Both countries would certainly benefit from increased technical skills among their local populations.

      Remeber that the OLPC is designed to replace textbooks in schools, and over the life of the machine will almost certainly provide a cost savings over printed books.

      In addition, the project will foster local IT development as more and more people learn to use, repair, modify, and program for the machines. This will lead to free and/or locally produced software and a local IT service sector, keeping money in local economies rather than sending it to Redmond or to other Western software houses and consultancies.

      From a development perspective, this is a cheap project with enormous potential -- it could eventually bring an even bigger fundamental change in developing societies than micro credit progams have.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by CastrTroy (595695)
        So why not have the US Government buy laptops for underprivileged kids? They are in need of computers just as much as people in other countries, if not more, to stay on par with their peers.
        • That would be a great idea, and I sincerely hope it happens. But it won't. Still, the best outcome would be if everyone in the world had a computer like this (or better if they can afford it) - the ability to communicate alone could change the world.

        • So why not have the US Government buy laptops for underprivileged kids? They are in need of computers just as much as people in other countries, if not more, to stay on par with their peers.

          Because the US government doesn't have the authority to procure education materials for local schools. Education and school systems are the responsibility of State governments and local school boards.

          There are schools in the US that have begun providing students with laptops, but these were decisions made by individu

          • The US is something like 10th in the world in education spending in terms of % of GDP. Because our GDP is so large, that puts us way out in front of anyone else in terms of spending on education. Throwing more money at schools - in the form of laptops or otherwise - will not solve our problems in education.

            The rich are probably not as culpable in the plight of our urban poor as the "white flight" middle class. And then you have the equally-wretched rural poor... I'm sure a crappy laptop would solve their il
    • Sometimes, some folks on /. are as clueless as a Washington DC politician. Well UFI "Do they really think" that you should not feed 1,000 hungry people because someone will steal the food, or there is not enough to feed the 10,000 hungry in need, or ... more (politician type) excesses for not doing what should and needs to be done AFAP (As Fast As Possible). "RC:" Do it they will Benefit, only the afraid bray like jackasses with nay!

      Something great is being done by damn good [AKA: Right Stuff ... Best of B

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by notthe9 (800486)
        I think someone decided free laptop was easier than basic schooling.
      • What's an illiterate third world child going to do with a laptop anyway?

        trade it for food or medicine.

        • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

          by Thaelon (250687)
          Or have it stolen by an adolescent or adult who will trade it for food, toys, weapons, drugs, sex, or money. Medicine my ass.

          Let's be realistic. People are not nice.
      • "What's an illiterate third world child going to do with a laptop anyway?"
        Post on slashdot and pose as a software engineer/rocket scientist.

      • ok, I'm biting... about this illiteracy... (Score:5, Interesting)

        by CptnHarlock (136449) on Tuesday November 14 2006, @10:53AM (#16838342) Homepage
        So you have been to a lot of third world countries? Oh, you haven't? Every time this project is mentioned experts of your caliber start spewing their 0.02$ around. Interestingly, that's approximately how much those expert views are worth. Combined.

        I've been to a few third world countries. One of them is Thailand (they are among the ones interested in the OLPC). I bet you'll see more poverty and illiteracy in New York than i Bangkok. Can you please get it through your brick wall that _any_ countrys population is not homogenous? Some people may have no use of a OLPC laptop while others will. Just as in the west. Another country i've visited where I stayed with the locals is Gambia. It's a pretty poor country but most of the young ones I met spoke 3-5 languages.Virtually everyone spoke English and French, then their tribal language and one or more of the other bigger tribal languages. How many languages do you speak? How many can you write?

        Poverty != stupidity. Poor country != everyone being hungry and illiterate. People in poor countries are often much more motivated to study because they know it's a way out of poverty.

        Hmmm... Why do I bother feeding trolls.... :| .. I dunno... But at least I'm also doing something instead of just complaining. I've left one laptop in Gambia and one in Chile before. I'll be on a round the world trip in about a month and a half (hopefully) and I'm packing lots of older laptops to give away. Guess what kind of OS they'll be running. That's my OLPC(ountry ;P).

        Cheers...
        • you'll see more poverty and illiteracy in New York than i[n] Bangkok.

          Your problem is the use of Bangkok. I too have been to Thailand, and if you make the trip out to Surat Thani, Chumphon, or Ayutthaya you would learn that Bangkok is not typical of Thailand, and the people in Bangkok live far different lives then those in the country. When you were in the area you should also have visited Laos, and get away from the capital province of Viangchan (Vientiane) and the tourist village of Louang Prabang, and

          • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

            by CptnHarlock (136449)

            Your problem is the use of Bangkok. I too have been to Thailand, and if you make the trip out to Surat Thani, Chumphon, or Ayutthaya you would learn that Bangkok is not typical of Thailand, and the people in Bangkok live far different lives then those in the country.

            I was actually in Surat Thani also, remided me of Bulgaria.. :) .. And also to Chiang Mai where my brother lives. And me using Bangkok as an example was to show exactly that you can't take a single person/area/town to represent an entire count

        • Re:ok, I'm biting... about this illiteracy... (Score:4, Informative)

          by spisska (796395) on Tuesday November 14 2006, @11:25AM (#16838858)

          Hear, hear.

          Some figures:
          Country, literacy rate in percent (world ranking)

          Kazakhstan, 99.5 (29)
          Ukraine, 99.4 (32)
          Tonga, 98.9 (36)
          Mongolia, 97.8 (47)
          Argentina, 97.2 (53)
          United States, 97 (55)
          Thailand, 92.6 (72)
          Zimbabwe, 90 (85)
          Brazil, 88.4 (90)
          Namibia, 85 (103)
          Libya, 81.7 (111)

          Source [wikipedia.org]
          Discussion of Source accuracy [wikipedia.org]
          UNDP Human Development Index Report, 2005 [undp.org] [pdf]

    • They have no food, no safe drinking water, no clean clothes, no medicine when they are sick, but they have the laptop computer which they cannot use for anything of value!


      They can use the laptop for porn.

    • Re:But can it feed them? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Opportunist (166417) on Tuesday November 14 2006, @10:29AM (#16838046)
      The exit from poverty is education. Give a man a fish and he'll have food for a day. Teach him how to fish and he'll ruin your fishing economy.

      Or something like that.
      • Give a man a fish...
        My favorite variation on this:

        "Build a man a fire, and you'll keep him warm for one night. Set a man on fire, and you'll keep him warm for the rest of his life!"

      • Re:But can it feed them? (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Hoplite3 (671379) on Tuesday November 14 2006, @11:03AM (#16838516)
        I think corruption is a bigger problem. Without good governance, change is hard. How soon until one laptop per child becomes one warlord with all the laptops? He'll have to let some children use them (such is the nature of feudalism), but I can't see it being otherwise. Laptops aren't the same as education, anyway. It sounds like silicon snake-oil to me.

        I should also say that the corruption is hardly just some internal matter for various African states. These leaders are aided and abbedded by rich nations across the world. Foreign meddling in the affairs of Africa has been intense and ongoing, but no one wants to talk about how they secure their oil rights, fishing rights, the use of their GM crops over local varieties, and so on. It's unpleasant.

        Africa needs clean government to have a chance as much as it needs clean water. I can't see the laptop as part of the solution. You could argue that laptops make education easier, and that education drives economic growth. However, the prime examples of that (Japan, Korea, Singapore) all had stable governments and some measure of physical safety for citizens. In the absence of these things, what will stop the newly educated adults from leaving for the US, the EU, India, or China?
      • Or, if Microsoft had their way, teach a man to fish and you can sell him expensive, proprietary bait for life .....
    • I hope this poster [slashdot.org] is right, that they market this to non-third-worlders at x2 or x3 of the price to cover a donation of one or two of them to a participating country. Get a cheap, versatile, low-power-consumption computer, and change a few kids lives forever. Sign me up! (And I'm on the more misanthropic side...)
      • Last I heard, I thought it was $300, as in "buy one for yourself, buy two for children." But it's also proven to be more than $100 to make, so if the deal is still on, that price may go up.

      • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

        by dead nancy (239321)
        Found this in the OLPCWiki:

        Will OLPC spin-off a commercial subsidiary?
        The idea is that a commercial subsidiary could manufacture and sell a variation of the OLPC in the developed world. These units would be marked up so that there would be a significant profit which can be plowed into providing more units in countries who cannot afford the full cost of one million machines.
        The discussions around this have talked about a retail price of 3× the cost price of the units.

        http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Our_marke [laptop.org]

      • And there are plans to sell them commercially for three times the regular price, and pump the profit back into the charity program, so you won't have to buy the thing in eBay for $1000.

        Wrong. There are no plans to sell these on the open market in any way whatsoever. Many people have suggested a one-for-two or one-for-three, but the people behind the project have consistently stated that this will not happen.

        I'd like to get my hands on one, as I believe that as a low-power entry-level laptop it should fo

        • Many people have suggested a one-for-two or one-for-three, but the people behind the project have consistently stated that this will not happen.
          If that's true, it's the first dumb decision I've heard come out of this project. Bill Gates stated that the major cost of the laptop would be software. In the absence of open source developers, he's right. There's some ability to take software for existing high-lowered linux machines, but it certainly won't be as good without developers being able to run it on
    • Actually this is interesting.. do we know anything about the Chinese factory that's making these things? It'd be supremely ironic if we were bringing laptops to poor hopeless children that were made by other poor hopeless children, or something.

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by Zomad (603584)
      Quanta is a Taiwan company.

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by amerinese (685318)
        Yes, and not only that, but that Taiwan is NOT China is really important to its 23 million citizens. Taiwan is a democracy that has its own armies, controls its own borders, directly elects its own president, legislature... Sure, there are some reasons, unrelated to the fact that China constantly blares that it owns Taiwan and will p8wn Taiwan if Taiwan or anyone else says otherwise, but they are not good ones, and if there was ever a good guy--bad guy David vs. Goliath if you ever saw one situation, Taiw
    • You got TR'ed for that, and I'd make an argument that you shouldn't have been, becuase it's friggin' true. It's gonna be real interesting what happens when the Third World hits the interweb en masse.

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