MIT Unveils Prototype for $100 Linux Laptop

Examancer2 writes "MIT is showing off a prototype of a $100 laptop. It uses a 500MHz AMD processor, stores everything on flash memory, and runs Linux. The AC adapter acts as the carrying strap, and there is a hand crank so if you can't find a source of electricity you can charge it kinetically. The prototype laptop is also much more flexible and durable than your average notebook. In addition the unit has a screen that has a special daylight-friendly black & white mode that makes a great ebook." From the article: "Nicholas Negroponte, the co-founder of the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, detailed specifications for a $100 windup-powered laptop targeted at children in developing nations. Negroponte, who laid out his original proposal at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January, said MIT and his nonprofit group, called One Laptop Per Child, is in discussions with five countries--Brazil, China, Thailand, Egypt and South Africa--to distribute up to 15 million test systems to children." More coverage of this story available from ITWorld, InformationWeek, BBC, ZDNet, and the Associated Press.

Re:Extremely cool, but...

[Luke Psywalker]

Extremely cool, but is it really wise to encourage young people to hand crank their lap-top.

Re:Extremely cool, but...

[Deinhard]

One of the articles I read said that Negroponte wanted a design that was so distinctive it would be easily recognized and that it would be a stigma to carry one if you weren't a teacher or a student...like "filching a mail truch or taking something from a church."

Re:Extremely cool, but...

[DingerX]

I don't see a problem, if they've already been "mated" with it.

Re:Not for sale here

[Anonymous Coward]

Since it's from MIT, and they consider the rest of the world to be the developing part of the world, can I have one? I'm in the Netherlands.

Gates foundation

[lovebyte]

Now let's wait for the Gates foundation to buy these linux laptops for 3rd world kids.

Re:Better use for US$100

[iapetus]

Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Give a man a hand-cranked laptop, and your employer will outsource your work to him on the grounds that he'll work for fish, whereas you want tens of thousands of dollars per year.

In Soviet Russia...

[laejoh]

...and there is a hand crank so if you can't find a source of electricity you can charge it kinetically...

In Soviet Russia, MIT laptop's crank you up!

Better productivity

[radionerd]

Sure, anybody works faster running on Crank!

Trading Stigmas

[The Monster]

it would be a stigma to carry one if you weren't a teacher or a student

...but it will no longer be a stigma to say that you were 'cranking it' while surfing the net.

Re:Extremely cool, but...

[Anonymous Coward]

Computers are great, but they aren't very useful for growing food or anything.

Wow. You don't know much about growing food, do you?

Shades of Neal Stephenson

[FrankDrebin]

One Laptop Per Child, is in discussions with ... China

Sounds like a platform for A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer [wikipedia.org].

Re:Worse use

[krough]

One full stomach per child.

Sticker: "Do not eat laptop"

Re:To all the "feed them first" crowd

[Profane Motherfucker]

I always hated that fucking saying too. I really mean that. Give a man a fish, he eats for lunch then uses the afternoon to tell everyone how great getting free fish was and how much better free fish is than fish that came with the plate. He'll claim that fish that is sold cannot possibly be as good as free fish given to the public, despite the smell and odd color. He'll then pretend as if he's a fucking sage about fish and insist that everyone have the same beliefs about fish as he.

Fuck fish. I'm eating pork.

Re:but I would pay more helping the development pr

[poot_rootbeer]

I for one would happily pay more than $100 for a $100 laptop just for the geek factor.

I've got an 8-year-old Toshiba P100 laptop. I figure it can't be worth any more than $100 by now.

I'll sell it to you for $150.