OLPC Mass Production Begins 187
chris_mahan writes to tell us that mass production of the $100 laptop is finally being ramped up. "Hardware suppliers have been given the green light to ramp-up production of all of the components needed to build millions of the low-cost machines. Previously, the organization behind the scheme said that it required orders for 3m laptops to make production viable. The first machines should be ready to put into the hands of children in developing countries in October 2007. "There's still some software to write, but this is a big step for us," Walter Bender, head of software development at One Laptop per Child (OLPC), told the BBC News website."
So, can we buy civvie models yet? (Score:4, Funny)
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Except for two things (for me anyway): a display readable in direct sunlight, and extended battery life (the presenter at LinuxFest Northwest earlier this year claimed he left an XO running for 24 hours once while it was displaying the camera's output on the screen).
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Ok you can probably carry another keyboard with you, but that makes a not very portable laptop.
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Is it as durable? I want to be able to kick it through the mud and still get a shell.
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Sure, taunt me with your vague hints and intimations. So I looked it up.
http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/05/asus-new-eee-pc -701-joins-the-laptop-lite-fray-with-a-bang/ [engadget.com]
Asus' new Eee PC 701 joins the laptop-lite fray with a bang
Posted Jun 5th 2007 12:41PM by Paul Miller
Filed under: Laptops
Asus and Intel seem to be bridging the gap between the fairly humanitarian efforts of the OLPC project and their own Classmate PC efforts, and the recent rash of mini-laptop attempts such as Palm's Foleo and VIA's NanoBook. Specs and launch plans aren't entirely nailed down, but this new Eee PC line has quite a bit going for it, even as crowded as this market is getting. The 7-inch ultraportable is based on an unnamed Intel chipset, and runs regular Windows XP or Linux without a problem, but really shines in its "easy" mode that strips things down to a barebones OS mainly for internet browsing (sound familiar, Foleo?). Asus didn't even leave Palm alone with its Wii comparisons either, stating that the Eee name, which stands for "easy to learn, easy to play, easy to work," also conveniently conjures images of the Wii game console, which is known for being novice-friendly. The Eee line will kick things off with the Eee PC 701, which will sport 802.11b/g WiFi, Ethernet and a modem for connectivity, along with a webcam, 512MB of RAM and a 4, 8 or 16GB flash drive for speedy, reliable storage. The real kicker is that prices for the 2 pound laptop are supposed to start as low as $200, and the Intel / Asus duo won't be aiming this at massive governmental purchases, but instead will be offering it to consumers through traditional retail channels.
That's the real kicker. My several year old Tungsten E, purchased as an end of model closeout after the E2's came out, was around $250 and I still had to buy an external keyboard, no built-in wireless supported.
This is really killer. I hope they can meet
I'm waiting for the OLTRA... (Score:4, Funny)
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So in a year or so... (Score:5, Interesting)
ebay! (Score:2)
Yes, I'm going to try to pick one up on eBay for cheap, too. Wonder how much they will end up fetching?
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I want one as a WiFi monitor alone. It'd be perfect as it's already ruggedized and low power.
-nB
Re:So in a year or so... (Score:5, Interesting)
I think a more reasonable time frame is 10 or 15 years. I remember using BBSes in the mid 90s and dreaming about an internet connection and one of those funky email addresses with an '@' symbol in it. I would never, *never*, *NEVER* in a million years predicted technologies such as Wikipedia or Bittorrent. Nobody did -- not Bill Gates, not Negroponte -- not any of the Powerful Old Men in computers. It takes a generation of new kids who can think outside the box and have the free time and audacity to try something that everyone knows could never work. Even now very few wikipedia proponents would ever say that they thought it would be as successful as it is.
If millions of kids spend their formative years with a completely hackable, programmable, peer-networked computer, we are going to see a complete revolution of computing technology. It doesn't matter that they have brown skin, speak no English, or live in a jungle hut. They will do amazing things with programs and computers that the last generation would never think of. If there are millions of OLPCs distributed, the internet will be totally different 20 years from now.
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That, as you said, will take a decade or two.
Re:So in a year or so... (Score:5, Interesting)
My prediction is that most of these OLPCs will be 're-purposed' by adults and young, budding geeks in small villages. It's like when cell phones came into rural Africa. Mining companies saw it was too expensive to run phone lines all throughout the jungle, so they threw up cell towers. Villagers got a hold of second-hand cell phones, and low-and-behold, they started lining up buyers to buy their crops as they were harvesting them in the field, instead of dragging them all the way to market only to have them rot in the hot sun.
So the success won't be village school children learning from them, but the amazing new programs and communication technologies that both adults and children use *for their own purposes*, instead of doing what we think they should be doing with them.
One of the programming languages that is coming with the OLPC is Smalltalk. That means there will be a new generation of millions 3rd world LISP-like hackers spread all throughout the world. This will be their first computer language. Not c, not BASIC, not visual basic. This, I predict, will lead to amazing new programs.
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Since when was Smalltalk LISP-like? They're not even the same paradigm, for crying out loud (huge Common Lisp specification with tacked-on OO notwithstanding)!
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Ah, yes. Having Scheme on there along with Smalltalk (and maybe LOGO?) would be awesome.
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After all, it's not results that matter, but the perception that you are trying.
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Look down at your sig.
Re:So in a year or so... (Score:4, Interesting)
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Re:So in a year or so... (Score:5, Insightful)
Whereas you are quite happy to assume everyone that lives in a developing nation is corrupt, evil and not worthy of a chance at a better life. Of course all of us middle-class people in the West, our business leaders and politicians are all whiter-than-white. We're incorruptible!
Ever heard of a self fulfilling prophesy? Treat someone like a criminal and you'll generally force them to act like one: but try to help, do some good and a lot of people will respond. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if the OLPC--and projects like it--will decrease the amount of crime in developing nations. People will be empowered to work on worthwhile projects, and it will build communication bridges with people in the West.
Wake up and stop dehumanising the rest of the world. There are arseholes everywhere, but there are plenty of good people too. Yes some OLPCs will appear on e-Bay, no doubt a few will be used to run scams (although most scammers already have computers), but the vast majority will be used for education. The benefits far outweigh any potential problems, it's really sad people like you can't see that and insist on branding whole nations of millions of people as scum (probably without having ever even visited the continent).
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No, just their dictators and politicians. And who isn't to say these countries aren't impoverished specifically because of corruption, and not the other way around? In reality, it may be a feedback cycle--corruption leads to further poverty, and poverty leads to further corruption. But as North Korea has proven to us over and over again, simply sending aid to a corr
If you are right... (Score:2)
Want to give any more details?
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Throwing laptops at kids in shithole countries may sound like a great idea, but that's making a LOT of assumptions (that they'll only use them for good, that the officials in their countries will actually distribute them rather than sell them, etc.).
I don't think my country is a shithole country. It's a beautiful place to live, but a somewhat bad place to try and make a living.
I don't know where you live, but unless you live in _some_ countries in Europe, your country probably falls better under the standard definition of what is a shithole, than my country.
Aside from that, we don't have enough money to give equal education to all our kids.
We have too few teachers for them, and giving the kids access to better forms of communication, and all the readi
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So, in different words, there are going to be some people that are going to be emulating US con-men and US religious fundamentalists. So what?
Throwing laptops at kids in shithole countries may sound like a great idea, but that's making a LOT of assumptions (that they'll only use them for good, that the officials in
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Not precisely what you said.
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I'm crossing my fingers and hoping this will spur a new learning curve.
Blah (Score:2, Insightful)
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Re:Blah (Score:4, Funny)
Personally, I suggest a new slogan:
"OLPC, Bringing Internet Porn to horny third world pubescent boys!"
They could include a complimentary subscription to playboy online and a safer sex care pack!
In all seriousness, Come on. Did anyone REALLY think that these things would be used for only "educational" purposes? Hell, I'll bet good money that the majority of them hardly EVER end up used for education. Unless you consider learning new sexual techniques "education".
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There, fixed that for ya.
Not really (Score:4, Insightful)
Considering that you are a brave AC, I am guessing that you already know this, and are just opposed to THIS project.
Mod parent up (Score:2)
I'm guessing this is going to be high risk but considering how (IMHO) education is the root to solving so many problems I'd say it's worth the go. Seriously, can it get worst for them??
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Re:Blah (Score:4, Informative)
In what is, IIRC, the largest launch country, Brazil, median income for black women (the worst off racial/gender mix) is $156/month. (source [reuters.com])
Heck, even Rwanda (which is one of the poorest nations that may get it early, through Libya purchasing it for them) has an average per capita annual income of $206 (source [state.gov]), over an order of magnitude higher than you suggested for "most" OLPC recipients.
Re:Blah (Score:5, Insightful)
Education project (Score:3, Interesting)
Of course it will.
Nicholas Negroponte: "It's an education project, not a laptop project."
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When's the "commercial" version coming? (Score:2)
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http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Retail [laptop.org]
price (Score:2)
PS: have the queues started yet? with waiting lines being "in", for xbox, iphone and HarryPotter books lately..
kids in the states (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:kids in the states (Score:5, Funny)
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Aw, give the lad a break. Even Drew Carey [youtube.com] made that mistake.
"It's also a big continent if you're a geographer."
Greetings from the Nation of Africa! (Score:5, Funny)
IN RETURN FOR YOUR HELP, YOU WILL RECEIVE AN AMOUNT OF NO LESS THAN 120% (POSSIBLY MORE) OF THE TRANSFERRED AMOUNT. PLEASE REPLY AT THE SOONEST WITH NOTIFICATION OF YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THIS DEAL, BANK ACCOUNT INFORMATION AND SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER.
YOURS RESPECTFULLY,
GENERIC AFRICA MILLIONAIRE PRINCE
1 AFRICA ROAD
AFRICA CITY, 12358
NATION OF AFRICA
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Oddly enough - and I'm quite serious - they mentioned the countries along the northern coasts, and south africa (the country - not the general region). Not one - NOT ONE WORD - about Nigeria.
SSSoooooo please - someone - ANYONE - tell me. HOW are these (insert 500 mindblowingly creative and vulagar epithets here - and a few involving fetuses in microwave ovens just for good measure) Ni
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Cause I for one WANT TO KNOW. Why can't we just block the whole country? The whole goddamn country? Just shunt the whole IP prefix off the map? Tell the routers that it's a ping flood and dump the bozos?
Do you really want to cut off a whole country because of some bad apples who are abusing the internet by attempting to commit fraud? What if *you* and the rest of your country were cut off from the rest of the world on the internet because the majority of spam originated from your country?
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Additionally, if any country had spam as its 3rd-5th largest industrial sector, I would understand (though disagree with) suggestions of cutting it off from the internet.
Of course, If a private company blocked Nigerian IPs in house, well, that is their prerogative, for all the good it would do.
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And please don't block us either
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For every African 419 scam, I get dozens of stock, viagra and penis enlarger ads from American spammers.
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Africa is not a country.
Mexico is not 3rd world
To answer your question, somewhat [wikipedia.org]
Hmmm (Score:2)
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If Mexico is NOT 3rd world, then what is your definition of such?
That's an easy one, seriously.
The UN maintains a nice list of Least Developed Countries [un.org]. (That term is, by the way, the politically correct equivalent of the politically incorrect "third world.")
I've only been to one of them, and it's one that is on its way toward getting off that list... and Mexico looks positively futuristic by comparison.
If your capital city has electricity that stays on for 24 hours straight at least once a week... you're probably not "third-world."
If you live 5 miles from Parliament
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Is Mexico a member of NATO? Is Mexico a former Warsaw Pact country? No?
Then yes, Mexico is considered "third-world" (in the original sense), just like Switzerland, Japan, and a whole bunch of other countries.
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There is no such thing as individual "eligibility" for the laptops, so the question is incoherent. Yes, the US Department of Education is as free as any other national education ministry to purchase the laptops for distribution on a one-per-child basis, though of course they aren't the principal target market and the OLPC feature set is designed around use in a very different environment than one of the most developed nations in the world.
Re:kids in the states (Score:5, Insightful)
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So who gets theirs first? (Score:5, Funny)
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That probably hit a raw nerve somewhere.
Imagine that!! (Score:2, Redundant)
You don't see that much these days.
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Better? I don't know if you can even put them in the same category.
The fact is, these computer hardware manufacturers and the OSS community are pulling their own resources together for the vision of bringing technology and information to parts of the world that don't yet have it.
How a
Poor child turns down OLPC computer (Score:5, Funny)
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Can I get the African diistribution? (Score:4, Funny)
It's for a... sociological study in aesthetics... purely educational...
How did this get in production so quickly? (Score:5, Insightful)
* 2.1 Romania--No
* 2.2 Argentina--Yes
* 2.3 Brazil--Yes
* 2.4 Korea---driven by a few citizens
* 2.5 Libya--Yes
* 2.6 Nigeria--Yes
* 2.7 India--No
* 2.8 Uruguay--Yes
* 2.9 Rwanda--Yes
* 2.10 USA--Talking
Anyone that's worked government IT would tell you that it's incredibly difficult to get paid in a timely manner. On top of *just* getting paid, they've been paid so much the entire OEM chain is ready to mass-produce?
Someone somewhere has a lot of influence (e.g. money) to get this going because OEM's certainly don't work for free and governments rarely, if ever, are enlighted enough to see a good thing an let it pass. Who's pushing this and where's the money coming from?
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While it hasn't been used on a large scale, it has been piloted in real-world, classroom implementations in several of the participant countries (including, at a minimum, Brazil, Peru, Uruguay, Nigeria, and Thailand [the last of which backed out of the project after the recent coup]).
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Duh. The component vendors and Quanta are all making money; only OLPC itself is a non-profit organization.
get in early, volume, and low standards (Score:2)
This is volume, big time. It stabilizes a company.
Critical mass for sapience by 4/17/08 (Score:5, Funny)
heh. (Score:2)
Not the only thing to be in their hands according to reports of them checking out www.filthyinternetporn.com.
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/07 / 21/1353241&from=rss [slashdot.org]
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070720/od_nm/nigeria_ pornography_dc;_ylt=A0WTUfF176FG8XwBExgZ.3QA [yahoo.com]
http://digg.com/tech_news/OLPC_Brings_Porn_To_The_ Third_World [digg.com]
Why the grubby wee bastards. Oh wait, this is s
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The Diamond Age (Score:3, Insightful)
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Fiction?
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At risk of sounding starry-eyed, I think it's an incredibly exciting prospect -- computers providing a tailored education to children would do more for human society than probably any technological advance since agriculture. Imagine a whole planet of people who had been educated by their own personal tutor!
There are projects working on the development of a dynabook (the illustrated primer) - one is squeek (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squeak) and it lo
Nigeria (Score:2, Funny)
That does not compute (Score:4, Insightful)
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Considering what a 1GB storage laptop would have cost 10 years ago, let alone 20, I think we can safely say that the COST target will be reached relatively soon - within 2-5 years.
As for the "per child" target, it may take a bit longer. Maybe 20-50. Consider the ever-increasing changes since 1945, less than a lifetime ago. If Nigeria has a million OLPCs next year, it will have close to a mill
A lesson in economics. (Score:2)
Sign of project failure (Score:2)
I'm surprised Microsoft wasn't involve
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Why would Congress bail out either the asian manufacturer or the nonprofit? Congress' boondoggle bailouts are generally restricted to for-profit US firms.
OLPC in Uruguay (Score:2)
This was covered by Slashdot under the heading OLPC Project Rollout Begins In Uruguay: http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/12/077205 [slashdot.org]
BillyG, are you worried? (Score:3, Interesting)
People seem to think that all third world people are criminals who couldn't care whether the software they use is pirated or not. This is, in my experience, not the case. Most of them simply don't know. If, when the OLPC is used in classrooms, children are made aware of the fact that the software they are using is freely modifiable, then the chance of them looking for the same legal freedoms is much larger. The danger to Microsoft is that in the future, any attempt by Microsoft to buy favours in developing countries will be met by demands that their software provide source and be freely modifiable, something that Microsoft will not agree to.
Given that any one of these countries where the OLPC is to be implemented could become a large developed country in the future, Microsoft should start worrying, and probably already has. The OLPC would even be an enormously practical machine for technicians and others in developed countries, where power saving is a premium due to enhanced energy costs.
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When did porn become a bad word? Society's today seem to be fixated on how sex is bad for you.
I don't see how having access to porn should deter these users from eventually using it for learning. Its pretty much the same as when we first got access to computers and the internet (or in my day, bulletin boards). The first thing you do is look for porn, and once you've exhausted yourself, start learning to use the computer for other stuff.
As for illegal activity... the users who would normally gravitate toward
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I would guess that thtat is the same list.... (Score:2)
Where's the LiveCD? (Score:2)
All the article mentions are "a pre-configured VMWare image of the OLPC OS" and some information on how to "download the OLPC OS from Red Hats [sic] servers...and configure it in Parallels."
A few months ago I downloaded a LiveCD of one of the OLPC builds and couldn't figure out why it wasn't booting on my desktop... of course, then I realized that my desktop hardware was just a wee bit different from the OLPC's hardware...
Does anyone has a GENUINE link to a x86 build of O
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I assume you mean "not" instead of "now". In any case, people living in rural villages without regular access to electricity is exactly why the OLPC is designed to use very little power, and to be manually charged.
Well, yes, as an educational tool for people who aren't starving, a laptop is better than food.
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We have been handing money and food to many of these third world countries for decades. Problem is they are still in need. Well I say it's high time we try another method