$12 MIT Computer Based On NES, Not Apple II

ericatcw writes "The $12 computer that a bunch of designers and grad students are talking up at an MIT conference this month as a potential, cheaper alternative to the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) for Third World students is actually a knockoff of the original Nintendo Entertainment System gaming console released in the mid-1980s, reports Computerworld, and confirmed in a comment by the project's spokesman, Derek Lomas. According to Lomas' account and pictures, the Victor-70 is an 8-bit NES clone that accepts its cartridges and is wholly contained in the keyboard. It is also likely to be an unlicensed clone made in China, according to Lomas, though he notes that may not matter patent-wise in the US, due to the length of time that has passed."

Sweet!!

[strimpster]

Now a whole new generation of kids can have great enjoyment from the Nintendo. It's kind of like a console hand-me down of sorts lol.

According to the article it is a knock-off device that one of the students found in India on the streets for $12. Adding the Internet access and other necessary componenets most likely will not hike up the price over the OLPC.

If someone finds the company that makes those devices, I want to buy in. This could take off.

Don't blow. Use rubbing alcohol.

[tepples]

Blowing can actually damage edge connectors of NES Game Paks and other PCBs by depositing humidity, which attracts more dust and more corrosion. I've made an illustrated guide to cleaning cartridges [pineight.com].

Re:8 bit????

[Anonymous Coward]

No, but lunix [sourceforge.net] and contiki [www.sics.se] both do, and are both somewhat unix-like.

Seem R&D did not need MIT. It's on sale now!

[viking80]

Not sure why MIT needs to get involved in anything here. This $12.50 computer is currently produced, and sold on the street in India *now*. So R&D, manufacturing, distribution and marketing is done and working.

Computer includes word processor, games, a gun for gaming, as well as BASIC.

Re:8 bit????

[sznupi]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8517523543573905150 [google.com]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SymbOS [wikipedia.org]
http://youtube.com/group/symbos [youtube.com]

Check those three links if you're in doubt about what can be accomplished on 8-bit system.

nesdev.com

[tepples]

Does anyone have some links to programming tools for the Victor-70?

If it's as similar to the Famicom as people make it out to be, this web site [nesdev.com] might be useful.

Re:BIOS....

[Joe Snipe]

it's Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, B, A.

Re:BIOS....

[Relic of the Future]

It's up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A. Your second B, A is superfluous.

What firmware?

[tepples]

i'm sure the NES had some sort of firmware on the console that's still covered by copyrights.

Citation needed. The only copyrighted ROM inside an NES console that anyone on nesdev.com knows about is the ROM in the CIC lockout chip, and the Famicom didn't even have that.

Internet Enabled

[KalvinB]

The current version can't connect to the internet. The MIT students are trying to see if they can get networking on it without going past the $12 price point.

The thing hasn't been updated in a long time so their goal is to see if there's better tech that can be put together for the same price.

Purpose of Involvement

[Nymz]

I'm not certain, but I think their plan is:

1) Select the lowest cost computer you can find.
2) Write educational software for it.
3) market the hardware+software solution to schools and poor families in developing countries.
4) Profit! but while making the world a better place too.

Re:Sweet!!

[camperdave]

Apparently, it's doable [wikipedia.org].

Contiki supports per-process optional preemptive multi-threading, inter-process communication using message passing through events, as well as an optional GUI subsystem with either direct graphic support for locally connected terminals or networked virtual display with VNC or over Telnet.

A full installation of Contiki includes the following features:

• Multitasking kernel
• Optional per-application pre-emptive multithreading
• Protothreads
• TCP/IP networking
• Windowing system and GUI
• Networked remote display using Virtual Network Computing
• A web browser (claimed to be the world's smallest)
• Personal web server
• Simple telnet client
• Screensaver

Re:Don't blow. Use rubbing alcohol.

[digitalsolo]

Indeed, rubbing alcohol (or, better yet, an electronics contact cleaner) would be a far better alternative to blowing into the cartridge. That said, 20 years ago when I had an NES, I didn't know that, and, besides, that's not nearly as funny...

Not all Linux is GNU/Linux

[tepples]

Linux is way too big for the sort of cheap ARM chips available today.

GNU/Linux is probably too big, but that doesn't mean Linux is. DSLinux and other uClinux distributions run on ARM CPUs.

A modern BASIC wouldn't be the worst thing to ship and there are good Free implementations available. I'm afraid a fully self hosted development environment probably isn't possible on such a limited platform

Think again. There are BASIC compilers that run on a Commodore 64.

12? You're paying too much

[orb_nsc]

I actually have one of these...I bought a Famiclone when in the Philippines earlier this year. It was housed in what looked like a PC keyboard (which worked) and came with a Famicom game slot in the top, two game pads, a light gun and a mouse. The included game cartridge had a few ripped off NES games as well as a BASIC compiler and a word processing program (which seems useless considering the fact there is no way to print) and some educational stuff that used the mouse. It was called the "HUG New Educational Computer 2003" and comes in a box with an attractive Asian model holding it. The actual unit is made from the cheapest, most brittle plastic imaginable, but it works. I paid the peso equivalent of $10. I left the lightgun in the Philippines though because it was cheap plastic it looked identical to an Uzi, and I didn't want anything like that in my luggage.

Re:BIOS....

[Lord Pillage]

Not only that, but the Konami code for Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game (some of you may know it from the Xbox360 Arcade) was "B A B A Up Down B A Left Right B A Start".

Re:Don't blow. Use rubbing alcohol.

[SwordsmanLuke]

rubbing alcohol (or, better yet, an electronics contact cleaner)

Don't use rubbing alcohol! That will also eat away at the contacts. Use either an electronic contact cleaner or hydrogen peroxide.

Family Basic V3

[FornaxChemica]

The paradox here is that the Famicom (NES) was so ahead of its time there was already in early 1985 a Basic language program sold by Nintendo in Japan, ãfããfYãfãf¼ãf(TM)ãf¼ããffãï¼ï¼" (Family Basic V3). So it was in a way a computer well before MIT students thought this up.

Re:Don't blow. Use rubbing alcohol.

[LordVader717]

(or, better yet, an electronics contact cleaner)

Which 90% of the time contain rubbing alcohol, water and maybe a few detergents (overkill for a bit of dust on an NES cartridge). Sometimes they add perfume to the cocktail, e.g. when they want to convince the customer that their "display-cleaner" is somehow special and they need to pay ten time the price for some isopropyl alcohol.

Re:BIOS....

[againjj]

The Konami Code [wikipedia.org]. Sometimes with a Start at the end, and sometimes with a Select before the Start.

Re:Don't blow. Use rubbing alcohol.

[OrangeTide]

I've had far better luck in removing grime using diluted ammonia or windex (which also has detergents in it). Rubbing alcohol is one of the poorest solvents in regular use that I can think of. We've used pencil erasers and/or windex for years to prepare electronics for soldering and to clean tuner contacts, so I see no problem with putting it on a NES cartridge.

Blowing on a cartridge makes it work not because you remove dust, but because you wet the surface enough to make for better conduction. eventually the surface turns black and you can either scrub away with it with a dozen cottonswabs and a little rubbing alcohol or you can use something a little stronger.

Linux everywhere is wasteful

[OrangeTide]

All you really need is an 8-bit system that supports VT220 and Telnet. then you share a fat Linux box remotely with 100 other people.

Re:This is not a "$12 computer".

[jmorris42]

> I am assuming you have never heard of the linux distros that fit on a floppy?

My first exposure to Linux was when you downloaded a boot/root floppy set from a BBS.

And yes I actually ran Linux on a 386SX-16 with 5MB RAM. It wasn't pretty. Now scale down to a machine that MIGHT have 1MB of memory but would probably have 256K or 512K. Yes you could probably build a kernel that would load but you wouldn't have much of a userspace and the idea is to run (simple) graphical programs so keeping as much of the system free has to be a design goal.

Re:Some good points so far, but ...

[adisakp]

This IS an impressive feat. We may take for granted that there is a tv in every house but many of the countries that are being targeted have issues providing clean WATER. So the cheaper and more self contained these become, the better.

You might be surprised. When I visited Thailand a couple years ago, I went to a poor rural village in the north. They basically had hand-built huts / shacks with dirt floors and the whole village shared a single point for clean water (no inside running water or plumbing) so they had to carry clean water to their houses and use basically an outhouse for their restroom. However, they did have TV's in most of their homes -- although the bare electrical wires strung from hut to hut looked frighteningly dangerous.

Re:In Soviet Russia

[Anonymous Coward]

You are only saying this because it's from Russia.

Re:Don't blow. Use rubbing alcohol.

[EkriirkE]

Yes, it does. Especially if there is any sort of current to flow through any two bridged-by-non-evaporated-conductive-material contacts. The copper turns green, puffs up and turns black, severing the trace. At least w/ the alcohol you reduce oxidation and it dries much faster

Re:Don't blow. Use rubbing alcohol.

[negRo_slim]

They're copper, and they're quite prone to corrosion.

Exactly the contacts on the cart, 9 out of 10 times, had nothing to do with an NES not reading them it's the internal 72 pin connector, that once replaced provides a user accustomed to fiddling around with carts a very welcomed and joyous experience. Depending on the site [estarland.com] you can get the parts for under $10USD.

Re:Don't blow. Use rubbing alcohol.

[wumingzi]

In the U.S., rubbing alcohol is typically 70% isopropanol in water.

90% alcohol is available from behind the pharmacy counter. You simply need to convince the pharmacist that you're not likely to drink it once you walk out of the pharmacy.

Re:8 bit????

[sznupi]

Well, to be completelly fair mp3 decoding depends (afaik) on a catridge that has mp3 decoder chip on it...still, it wouldn't make hypothetical 8-bit SOC much more expensive...

Re:Good news

[iamhassi]

Funny thing about this "computer" is I actually bought one of these 3 years ago at a local general merchandise store (like Family Dollar) in the US. Think I spent $20 and it it broke within a hour. Keyboard was cheap junk and nothing worked right. The "99,999 programs" is actually closer to 99 programs but 100 variations each with different colors.

So this really isn't a "$12 MIT Computer" considering you can buy these at any cheap general store. I had no idea at the time that someday someone at MIT would stumble across it and plaster their name all over it and make /. headlines.

Here's some more links to the "$12 MIT Computer":
http://www.gamersgraveyard.com/repository/nes/pirate/pirate-clones-A-M.html [gamersgraveyard.com]
http://www.gamersgraveyard.com/repository/nes/pirate/images/consoles/gamestar_fun_educator-box.jpg [gamersgraveyard.com]