Here is an 8 minute documentary about the recently unveiled 100$ laptop. It shows the laptop in action, and also discusses its aspects with one of the team members, such as the screen, the cheap keyboard, and much more. The video is in Quicktime, and this mirror gives better performance. My take: I am very, very, very impressed. The thought put into the details is just stunning. Every aspect of this machine has a function. Just astonishing.
I want one. I would pay more than 100 usd for it. It makes me sad that “The laptops will only be distributed to schools directly through large government initiatives.”
I want one. I would pay more than 100 usd for it. It makes me sad that “The laptops will only be distributed to schools directly through large government initiatives.”
I think at 100 USD they are making a small loss on it. Their first priority is to get them out and in the hands of kids. It would be good though, once production is up to scratch, if they could have them for sale at say around the 300 USD or more mark to subsidize the operation.
They would have to be a different colour to differentiate them from the ones for school distribution in developing countries, so the original aim of using bright green to deter theft by adults would still be valid.
Edited 2005-11-22 19:13
I want one. I would pay more than 100 usd for it. It makes me sad that “The laptops will only be distributed to schools directly through large government initiatives.”
I think at 100 USD they are making a small loss on it. Their first priority is to get them out and in the hands of kids. It would be good though, once production is up to scratch, if the could have them for sale at say around the 300 USD or more mark to subsidize the operation.
$100 is the goal price. I saw the video of Nicholas Negroponte’s presentation and Q & A in Tunisia. He stated that they were currently talking with firms to build the thing and that the initial cost might be greater than $100, say, $115, or even $130. Economies of scale would be expected to bring the incremental costs down eventually so that $100 or less could still be attained later on.
Negroponte also mentioned the figure $300 for a commercial version.
They would have to be a different colour to differentiate them from the ones for school distribution in developing countries, so the original aim of using bright green to deter theft by adults would still be valid.
He also mentioned these points. The bright green cabinet and screaming yellow crank would perhaps allow there to develop a social stigma for using an obviously gray market machine. He also mentioned making it in various bright colors for the educational version, still leaving open the possibility of a more sedate color scheme for commercial versions.
Can we please have $100 laptops? US puts the $ first, and putting it last looks distinctly unprofessional.
US puts the $ first
I don’t.
Next.
Are you always this inflammatory? It seems that every response you give to anybody who questions anything you do is very unprofessional and quite unfitting of somebody who is representing OSnews as staff.
You really seem to have some repressed anger or some such issue, and it bubbles out all over people in the comments section. I haven’t seen such unprofessionalism in quite some time. I’ve seen you use vulgarities in comments, I’ve seen you partake in “bashing” of people who don’t agree with your viewpoints on everything, and various other explosions of temper, spite, and rudeness.
Regardless, this issue doesn’t even concern opinion or viewpoints. It is correct to put the $ in front of the monetary amount when using USD. If you want to “be special” and put it after, fine, but there is no need to be so rude to somebody who simply asked you do things the _correct_ way.
You are truly an ass.
Next.
[Edit: Corrected some of my horrid spelling in order to avoid grammatical and semantic backlash]
Edited 2005-11-22 18:12
It is correct to put the $ in front of the monetary amount when using USD. If you want to “be special” and put it after, fine, but there is no need to be so rude to somebody who simply asked you do things the _correct_ way.
I think you’ll find it’s correct in the US but outside it depends on which county you are in.
I understand, I’ve spent more of my life living in Europe than in the US.
Just as date order, it’s different in the US than the majority of the rest of the world, hehe. As you refer to something foreign (in this case US currency) it would generally be considered appropriate to use the conventions of the country to which you are referring. In example, if I was referring to currency in Japan, I would put the yen sign following the numerical amount. Just because the US puts the $ in front, does not mean the Japanese put the “Y” <– (my sad attempt at the yen symbol 
) first.
All of this is beside the point, however. The issue isn’t whether or not the $ should be before or after, I personally have no problems where it is located. It just seems rather silly to be rude to somebody simply asking (with a please, no less) to represent the currency according to the conventions of the country the currency belong to. A simple: “I would prefer not.” would have gone a long way.
A simple: “I would prefer not.” would have gone a long way.
What’s wrong with a little honest abruptness ?
The trend, dear Watson.
The abruptness isn’t the issue, the following “Next.” was. As if challenging the next person to challenge him. I suppose I was too picky this time, but I’ve been bothered for quite some time concerning the responses given by Thom to people. My apologies for being overly critical over minor childishness.
Are you always this inflammatory?
Erm, how exactly was that inflammatory?
It seems that every response you give to anybody who questions anything you do is very unprofessional and quite unfitting of somebody who is representing OSnews as staff.
From what I can recall, if he was corrected on some (non-brain-dead) subject or another and shown actual proof, he concedes the fact. I’m wondering if maybe you’re just focusing on the wrong things (really, HOW was what he posted inflammatory?)
Regardless, this issue doesn’t even concern opinion or viewpoints. It is correct to put the $ in front of the monetary amount when using USD. If you want to “be special” and put it after, fine, but there is no need to be so rude to somebody who simply asked you do things the _correct_ way.
It’s correct here in Canada too, but I’ve never encountered anyone outside of Government who would make an issue over such a stupid little thing.
You are truly an ass.
Well *that* certainly wasn’t inflammatory…
*sigh* I shouldn’t post here untill I’ve gone to Timmie’s and spent dollars 1.40 for a cup of coffee. 😛
Gawd. The things I respond to…
Edited 2005-11-22 19:51
I like your style. To the point & direct. There are really worse things to complain about. I suppose those who complain about such a detail, at least for some of them, are trolls. So your “next” is refreshing! Please do not change!
Now I’d like to complain about the background color of this page. That grey is not pure grey as you can see in the HTML code. Moreover it clashes with the background green-greyish color you use. I think a pure grey and green background would be better or a white background… 😉
I don’t see the rudeness. I’m just to the point. I could engage in a huge pointless discussion on where currency symbols are placed, citing sources, and all that stuff. I’m just pointing out here that I find it a rather silly and pointless discussion.
I didn’t even think about this at all.
Other than that, these sorts of matters are supposed to be handled via email, and not on the discussion section. Common practice on the internet, and stated in our rules.
Edited 2005-11-22 18:24
Unfortunately, I can’t find the link to the rules. Membership was the only section I thought might contain them, and it did not. Could you please point me to them? Thank you. I wouldn’t imagine you would see the rudeness, that’s not very surprising.
“Other than that, these sorts of matters are supposed to be handled via email, and not on the discussion section. Common practice on the internet, and stated in our rules.”
So, it’s ok for you to criticize other people/people’s opinions in public (I doubt I need to go find examples for you), but when somebody disagrees with how you treat people, we can’t voice our opinions of it in public? That seems to be quite a bad policy for an online journal. Well, regardless of my being unable to find the rules, I have taken it to email as per your request. I will not bring it up again on the forums, I apologize for breaking your “rules”, but I do not apologize for taking issue with your attitude and treatment of others. Good day.
I, for one, welcome our new Osnews Editor overlord
I for one like the lack of slashdot-memes on OSNews.
What are the specs?
OS, memory, DE,Software, etc. anyone knows?
OS – Linux, specialy designed version of Red Hat
Memory – 128mb (Not Confirmed)
DE – ? a light one I’d wager, IceWM or Fluxbox I’d imagine
Software – lots, it will run linux after all
It will have a 1gig flash chip instead of a hard drive.
It’d be kind of fun to mod one of these things, especially modifying the size of the flash chip and maybe installing a different OS on it.
The power source could especially use some modification, those of us who have outlets in our homes might preffer not having a large hand crank sticking out the side of the things.
As for the rest of the specs that’s really not bad, it reminds me of one of my older computers I was using up until about two years ago when I got a newer one.
It’s a nice machine — it’s just a pity that they’ve crippled it with ideology (GPL-compatible OSS-only) and commercialism (Red Hat) on the software side of things instead of using the best tools for the job.
That’s been a rather disturbing trend lately. It’s unfortunate a license that was devised with good intentions has been misused in some cases, in which case it actually hinders the progression/usefulness of technology. Not everybody wants to use only GPL compatible/OSS software. There are many instances in which this is impossible, but you actually _need_ the non-gpl/non-oss software to get the job done. As much as I love pgsql, and as much as it has progressed, it’s still not Oracle. For some tasks, Oracle is the only choice. (I know this doesn’t apply to 100 dollar laptops, this was just an example to illustrate my point.)
I’m sure there are cases where non-gpl/oss software might have been more useful to the people getting these laptops, but ideology has gotten in the way once again.
Oh well, quite a nifty thing, regardless. I’m sure it will help many, many people. 
Oracle is the only choice. (I know this doesn’t apply to 100 dollar laptops, this was just an example to illustrate my point.)
It may have escaped your attention that Oracle runs on Linux and that you can run non-GPL proprietary software on GNU/Linux as this is explicityly allowed under the GPL. So anyone wishing to freely donate proprietary software that will run on Linux could do so.
Finally GNU Linux is the best tool technically for the job precisely because of the modularity and configurability of FOSS. This means that the RH guys and the project founders’ like Seymour Papert who is the expert on child centered computing, can produce a system that is both tuned to the low level specification of the machine and to a child’s development and learning needs.
Edited 2005-11-22 19:33
If you had read my previous posts, you would see that I was referring to the OPs assertion only GPL/OSS software could be run on these laptops. I do agree OSS software was the only valid choice to distribute with them. I have no problem with the GPL, as well. I just understood the OP as having said it was not permitted to run anything but GPL/OSS software on these laptops. _That_ is what I had issue with. I think this has been cleared up now.
I didn’t mean to imply that only GPL-compatible OSS software could be run on the machines, just that only GPL-compatible software will be the only software included, even where free-as-in-beer or non-GPL-compatible OSS solutions would be superior based on technical merit alone.
Even within the GPL-compatible OSS category, the software choices are to be heavily influenced (if not outright determined) by Red Hat; we’ll see an RPM-based package management system, Red Hat-sanctioned system initialization routines, and so forth.
Well, it also has to be affordable.
You can’t create a final solution for 100 dollars (omitting the dollarsign to avoid the beatings Thom got), if you have to use proprietary software.
The Amiga OS or a functional version of one of the hobby OS’es would be much better in regard to system resources. But AOS is expensive (around half the price for a windows xp pro license).
A cheap solution requires cheap software – you can get this with open source. That’s why.
it’s just a pity that they’ve crippled it with ideology
Examples? Are you referring to the rejection of OSX? Because that proposal had multiple problems, not just that it wasn’t open source.
I’m referring to the OP who said it was limited to GPL/OSS software. I haven’t been able to watch the documentary as stated previously. The OP made it sound like it was a restriction enforced on this device, ie. if a company _gave_ these children some software, they would not be permitted to use it. If the OP was incorrect in his assertions, then of course, there is no problem.
It’s a nice machine — it’s just a pity that they’ve crippled it with ideology (GPL-compatible OSS-only) and commercialism (Red Hat) on the software side of things instead of using the best tools for the job.
Aroo?
Because one of the factors of “best tool” is price. These laptops are not for heavy lifting computation.
And there is plenty of good, free as in beer software that can never be taken away (eg, license revoked/dropped) out there that will let these kids:
1) Surf the web
2) Send e-mail
3) Write their papers
4) Read a text book
There’s no reason the kids can’t install other software if they want.
The cost and license restrictions of “closed” software do not make it the best tool for this job.
t’s a nice machine — it’s just a pity that they’ve crippled it with ideology (GPL-compatible OSS-only) and commercialism (Red Hat) on the software side of things instead of using the best tools for the job.
>
>
They *ARE* using the best tools. Sorry, but this system wasn’t designed for *YOU* and other commerical software /shareware advocating parasites like you to leech off with your polluted software.
What, in your opinion, would be the best tool for the job? Windows, designed for…umm…no-one in particular, but mostly gigantic offices full of people who do one thing over and over again? OS X, designed for people who live in New York and own a digital camera, an iPod, an a digital video camera?
Erm. No.
I’ve not been able to watch the documentary yet, but if it limits you to GPL software as the author implies, that sucks. I can think of a lot of BSD/MIT/CDDL licensed software I’d rather run.
To each their own.
If any of you think Thom was being a bigole rude meany mean meany, pray god you never find your way into a forum run by Warren Ellis.
That is all.
If any of you think Thom was being a bigole rude meany mean meany, pray god you never find your way into a forum run by Warren Ellis.
That is all.
You mean this Warren Ellis? http://www.warrenellis.com/
You never sounded like a girl who would enjoy comic books… 🙂
But I have to agree, Warren can be really mean sometimes and his work shows it. The guy is one of my favorite comic book writers nonetheless.
Some american people tends to be all worked up on small issues all the time. The poster complaining don´t even seems to take into account that Thom is not a native English speaker (Am I right? :-))
Thom sometimes falls a bit from what I would consider truly impartial as an editor should be, but he is not even half rude as Eugenia used to be. 😛
DeadFish Man
Seeing that vid just made me snoopy dance.
Great ideas for form and function. I like that the batteries are rechargable C cells. I think they may be on to something with the screen technology. The crank? Unless you bust off the little nub the crank latches on to, any fool with some string and a stick can jerry-rig a fix. And anybody with any kind of wood or metalworking skill can craft a better fix.
—
And no, I still don’t want one of these for myself. I’ve got 3 laptops, a PDA, an eBook, and 2 desktops of my own. I don’t need/want a widget like this …
I don’t remember reading any of the oficial $100 laptop related articles mentioning anything about GPL only(Open Source, yes, but no particular OSS license)For all I know they could have used a Darwin based distro (The easiest I’ve seen is GNU/Darwin and is slackware like)
We don’t need bounty hunters.
Good idea. Give them to the kids. Later, people will be stealing these from kids who can’t do anthing about it. Happens over here all the time with expensive gym shoes.
It seems all good things we (as humankind) do, are balanced by the bad things we (as humankind) do. The question is, can we do more good than bad? I think giving these laptops to children is a step in the right direction. It might very well happen as you project, but if even one child who otherwise wouldn’t have access to this technology, does now, I think it is worth the relatively minor outlay of money involved. If only 10% are not stolen (I think it’s more likely 1% will be stolen, or some such small number, I am not so pessamistic about humankind) that’s still a lot of children with a computer that otherwise would not have any. I’m all for it, I only wish I was wealthy and could put money where my mouth is.
For now, small little donations to charities will have to do.
Later, people will be stealing these from kids who can’t do anthing about it. Happens over here all the time with expensive gym shoes.
Surely it comes as no surprise to anyone that injustices and abuses of power, even the petty power to take away a poor child’s meager possessions, to say nothing of taking away the child’s food, are not only possible, but even likely depending on where we’re talking about. The concept of the possible theft or sale of the educational version is not, by itself, a compelling reason not to undertake the proposed enterprise.
Besides, these things are not overpriced sneakers for other children to covet. Every child is supposed to receive one, so when a unit is stolen, it will likely not be for the same reasons as for prestige class shoes. Negroponte said that he hopes that a social stigma would attach to using the child’s version of the machine for non-educational purposes. This may be naive, but he does have prior experience with distributing laptops to children for educational purposes in Cambodia to give him some hints of what to expect.
Edited 2005-11-22 20:28
Besides, these things are not overpriced sneakers for other children to covet. Every child is supposed to receive one, so when a unit is stolen, it will likely not be for the same reasons as for prestige class shoes. Negroponte said that he hopes that a social stigma would attach to using the child’s version of the machine for non-educational purposes. This may be naive, but he does have prior experience with distributing laptops to children for educational purposes in Cambodia to give him some hints of what to expect.
Indeed. This is also one of the reasons there’s a minimum of 1 million laptops to be bought by a government. If at leasta a million laptops float around in a country, theft won’t cripple the project most likely.
It beats what some Canadian and American schools are doing by giving kids full fledged Apple iBooks or whatever Toshiba or Dell happens to offer them at a lower price. People mugging them stand to make anywhere between a few hundred and a thousand dollars by mugging grade school and high school kids.
School work, and quite frankly many jobs as well require you to have a computer which has internet access, a capable web browser and an office suite. If the kids need computers for school, which they do these days, than cheap laptops with a low resale value seem ideal.
At my school many kids carry around a lot more than $100 worth of stuff with them, the most recent theft that I remember hearing about was a CAD ~$500 iPod nano.
These would be great if they were available in most retail electronics store chains throughout the world for a similar price, that way people wouldn’t have to pay ten times as much for more expensive laptops that do much more than they need.
I don’t see the rudeness. I’m just to the point.
This may be true, but you’re talking to an audience not yourself. Unless OS News starts understanding and acting on this, it will continue hurting other people and show total bafflement when they react badly. I’m not sugesting for one instant you start trying to be all things to all men, but delivering facts without sensitivity makes you look boorish. As an example, I suggest you study how Metropolitan Police chief Sir Ian Blair handles himself in public. It is instructive.
I’m minded to think a better solution to this laptop project would’ve been to encourage people to think for themselves. As it stands, this project is just another do-gooding solution that creates other problems down the line. It’s another crumb from the table of the colonially inclined wealthy. As such, it just encourages more dependency.
I’m minded to think a better solution to this laptop project would’ve been to encourage people to think for themselves.
Thinking involves knowledge, information and other perspectives of the world around us, and this is exactly why this laptop is built for.
you all say ” ooooooooooooooooh sounds good, I want one”
nope, there is an old saying, it goes like this….
“It is not for you.”
This is an idea that has been going around to get computers into the hands of everyone around the world, no matter how poor.
It is not for you Cletis, sitting in your moms basement drinking Kool-Aid. Get out and get a job, then buy a normal laptop.
These machines are for the less well off. These people do not care if it is GPL, BSD, Linux, MacOS or Windows. Just as long as they can have something for the children to learn on. Something that the children can use to give themselves a head-start in life.
As far as I am aware, the idea was bandied about by Steve Ballmer, and I applaud him for it.
As regulars around here know, I am a Linux advocate, and these machines are proving to the whole world that OSS has a part to play.
Linux might not be ready for YOUR desktop…. but the world is getting to be a smaller place every day.
you all say ” ooooooooooooooooh sounds good, I want one”
nope, there is an old saying, it goes like this….
“It is not for you.”
I can determine that for myself.
This is an idea that has been going around to get computers into the hands of everyone around the world, no matter how poor.
So discriminate against the segment of consumer society that can afford to purchase these laptops and add to the overall success of the product…real smart.
It is not for you Cletis, sitting in your moms basement drinking Kool-Aid. Get out and get a job, then buy a normal laptop.
These machines are for the less well off. These people do not care if it is GPL, BSD, Linux, MacOS or Windows. Just as long as they can have something for the children to learn on. Something that the children can use to give themselves a head-start in life.
Poor is poor no matter where you live $100 laptops could do good in any country.
As regulars around here know, I am a Linux advocate, and these machines are proving to the whole world that OSS has a part to play.
Linux might not be ready for YOUR desktop…. but the world is getting to be a smaller place every day.
Doesn’t make you special one of the mindless hundreds. Linux is a good solution for this product but not for the reasons you advocate.
Did anyone understand how the screen was going to work?
It’s a Dual Mode screen.
It seems like they have “normal” B&W 800×600 mode, but then they have a sort of passive color low res mode.
She seemed to imply that the color screen was based on a reflective “DVD like” material BEHIND the screen that I assume is revealed by the individual pixels of the B&W screen. Sort of like artifacting on the old Apple ][‘s.
Did anyone else get that impression?
I do like the design of the system, I thought was quite clever.
I didn’t pay attention (and my english is not perfect)… I was doing something else and watching the video in background through a semi opaque term and then I saw the guy rotating a handle…
What was that for?
😛
The rotating handle is used to run a generator to recharge the batteries when you don’t have access to electrical power. Think of it as running your laptop on food instead of oil.
scrolling up and down
Another mirror for the video can be found at:
http://www.computers.net/2005/11/video_of_the_10.html
Thinking involves knowledge, information and other perspectives of the world around us, and this is exactly why this laptop is built for.
I’m not so convinced. I believe this laptop is a distraction from two things: developing the ability of poorer nations to develop their own vision, and the cost of hardware infrastructure in the developed world. It’s possible that this laptop project could stimulate questions on both sides of the fence. If it does, that will be helpful. If it doesn’t, it will change nothing.
Looks neat.
Might be a good idea to provide a video not using proprietary codecs and force people willing to see it installing quicktime.
Well, if you are on the ‘right system’ 😉
wget http://www.andycarvin.com/video/100laptop.mov
sudo apt-get install mplayer w32codecs
mplayer -fs -zoom 100laptop.mov
😉
I read somewhere that the guys making this laptop were going to offer it to US consumers at about 200 to 250, with the idea that every time an American buys one, he pays for a free one in Africa.
Thom sometimes falls a bit from what I would consider truly impartial as an editor should be, but he is not even half rude as Eugenia used to be.
Does that mean he’s got half the insecurity complex?
Hey, this obvious green casing idea is great – I though it was just for fun, but it may just do the trick:
A: ticka-ticka-ticka
B: HEY YUO!! What the #$%# are you doing with that kid-laptop?
A: [running, discarding the green laptop]
I think a can of spray paint and an hour will take care of the green case. I had a college friend who painted his boring beige PC and monitor orange with purple polka-dots.:)
That’s really not the issue, though. If 10% of the laptops got stolen, that still means 90% of them would be out there, letting their users get a start on computer skills and even plain reading skills, with the e-book function.
-Gnobuddy
I say they should sell them to anyone who isn’t “poor” for $200 or so, that way we get one and buy one for a more “deserving” child. it’s a no lose situation. supply issues aside
SaGE
http://laptop.media.mit.edu/
Actually, I’d love to work on this… I wonder if they need any telecommuting technical writers. I couldn’t find a link to the project’s actual site, just press releases and MIT’s main page.
I’d happily pay $200 for one of these for my kid (well, once he can read); the extra $100 could pay for a second one that goes to a third-world kid.
– chrish
Sell them for ~$200. $100 for yours and $100 for a kid in an underdeveloped nation.
For another perspective on tech in developing countries
please read the article at:
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/4657
Seems to me like too many people are missing the point. The logic is to give these to kids in need. It’s got to be the most brilliant initiative technology wise i’ve seen in years. Please stop stating how much YOU want one and perhaps thing of a better way to put that money to use.. like supporting MIT through donations or helping the needy. That’s the whole point.. it’s not about “why can’t I have one too.”