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‘USD 100 Laptop’ Production Begins

  Submitted by Rahul Hardware 21 Comments

Five years after the concept was first proposed, the so-called USD 100 laptop is poised to go into mass production. 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.

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Thom Holwerda

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21 Comments

  1. 2007-07-23 9:40 pm
    anyweb

    Red Hat for producing Sugar,

    speaking of which, is the ‘distro’ Sugar available for download by any chance for testing ? I’d like to try it out, the whole doughnut idea is quite interesting

    more info about it here > http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6679431.stm

    cheers

    anyweb

    • 2007-07-23 9:42 pm
      Almafeta

      It had been up for download earlier, but there were some serious bugs in it. I wouldn’t think that it would be ready yet…

      Edited 2007-07-23 21:43 UTC

      • 2007-07-23 9:50 pm
        anyweb

        well if the laptop is going into mass production wouldn’t you expect that the OS is ‘ready’ also ?

        I hope so, and would definetly like to test it

        cheers

        anyweb

        • 2007-07-23 10:01 pm
          Moulinneuf

          Almafeta bugs = Its using GNU/Linux …

        • 2007-07-23 10:07 pm
          Almafeta

          For all we know, these machines might get built and then sent to a warehouse to await OS installation.

    • 2007-07-24 4:11 pm
      jrincayc

      You can download a image that can be used with QEMU from http://olpc.download.redhat.com/olpc/streams/development/LATEST-STA…

      Read up at http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Emulating_the_XO

  2. 2007-07-23 9:47 pm
    WorknMan

    Here’s what the kids are doing with these laptops:

    http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSL1966647020070720

    Of course, what did they expect ? ;)

  • 2007-07-24 12:06 am
    gehersh

    Finally those poor nigerian kids can watch a real porn!

    My heart is filled with joy.

    http://theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=41177

  • 2007-07-24 2:43 am
    WyldStylist

    porn makes people happy why shouldnt it make that african kids happier? they live in a world of dictators gunfighting and insecurity , i guess they need the porn.

    However OLPC is a nice machine i would get one because it has no harddisk and can probably work for days before the battery dies.

  • 2007-07-24 3:43 am
    gonzo

    Here’s what the kids are doing with these laptops:

    http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSL1966647020070720

    That too is education 🙂

  • 2007-07-24 4:47 am
    funny_irony

    Reasons

    1) Parent cannot afford it

    2) No reliable electrical power supply

    3) Parent do not understand the important of education

    4) Parent die of aids

    • 2007-07-24 8:26 am
      vege

      1) governments buy, partially with the support of several funds

      2) they prepared the OLPC-laptop for that case: just take a look at the specs/images

      3) this is a great chance to show the children and their parents

      4) we’ll die in cancer – to be practically as serious as you are

  • 2007-07-24 2:01 pm
    Silent_Seer

    to the OLPC team. This product will go a long way in addressing the digital divide.

    As for all the naysayers, yes it runs Linux. The purpose is not to introduce them to computing or open source but to help them learn better. OSS happen to be the right tool for the job regardless of what anyone may see it as (and oh by the way, the opensource OS and the libraries do not prevent anyone from creating close source software if they choose to). And the OLPC team have built an impressive piece of hardware for the task.

    As for the porn issue, yes gentlemen there are side effects. But they are not as bad as many people may think (we all faced the same situations). Imagine them being able to see demontrations in physics that are not possible to be shown in their school labs or simulations showing the passage of blood through the heart. The fact that the same machine can be used to see porn or waste time gaming (excessively that is) can be counted as a small disadvantage as compared to the benefits.

    Edited 2007-07-24 14:03

  • 2007-07-24 3:45 pm
    kittynipples

    …for misplaced priorities.

    Members of Academia take themselves far too seriously.

  • 2007-07-24 8:11 pm
    mmcgreal

    Who is USD 100? I looked all over the British article which talks about the “$100 Laptop”, as it’s called, which the article points out would be about £50, but nowhere can I find reference to the “USD 100 Laptop”, except here on OSNews.com. The pedantry here is a bit overwhelming at times, is all I’m trying to say.