Linked by Thom Holwerda on Thu 10th Jan 2008 22:54 UTC
Is Microsoft working on building a laptop for the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) program? Yes, but the intended machine will run Windows XP only, rather than both Windows XP and Linux, Microsoft officials said today, refuting an earlier report that made the waves on Slashdot and OSNews.
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Member since:
2005-07-08
I don't see why it shouldn't dual boot. The XO uses a raw Flash medium (MTD) as its mass storage. This means that the OS has to provide an I/O pathway and filesystem designed specifically for Flash. Linux provides this support in the form of its mtd and jffs2 modules.
Windows XP, as far as I know, has no support for MTD media. All Flash-based devices and add-ons supported by Windows use an FTL. This is a firmware abstraction that exports an ordinary block device to the OS. In order to make Windows run on the XO, Microsoft lobbied the OLPC project to include an internal SD interface.
Accordingly, A Windows-capable XO will have two mass storage media: the hardwired MTD and an SD card. Windows will only be able to see the SD card. The MTD would be idle silicon. Therefore, there is no reason why users shouldn't be able to install Linux and GRUB on the MTD for dual-booting.