Working Model of MIT $100 Laptop a Hit

capt turnpike writes "The One Laptop per Child association and its chairman, MIT Media Labs's Nicholas Negroponte, unvelied a working model of their $100 laptop at the Massachusetts Innovation and Technology Exchange (MITX) show, and the little laptop that might was a hit. It's got a version of Fedora Linux, is rugged, and each unit will work as part of a wireless mesh automatically. From the article: "However, as Negroponte put it in his address, One Laptop per Child isn't all about the laptops. The main goal is to tap into the ability of every child to toss away a manual and figure out how to make gadgets work on their own, thus helping children help themselves to learn." eWEEK.com also has photos."

Teach a kid to fish...

[TripMaster Monkey]

From Negroponte's address in TFA:

"The main goal is to tap into the ability of every child to toss away a manual and figure out how to make gadgets work on their own, thus helping children help themselves to learn."

Negroponte then went on to say:

With this in mind, we won't be supplying any documentation for these laptops. Instead, we're going to make the children sift through MAN pages and beg for answers on various bulletin boards, where they will be ridiculed as clueless n00bs. Hey, it seems to work for the Linux community..."

For the children

[m-wielgo]

I know it's meant for children, but damn that thing screams Fisher-Price ugliness!

OMG THE SICKENING COLOR! :)

[Theovon]

Seriously, aren't bright reds and oranges supposed to make you a little nuts if you're surrounded by them too much? The orange would make me ill after a while. Are we trying to make the users hyper-active or something?

Everything else is great, but PLEASE TONE DOWN THE COLOR.

This will all be worthwhile

[dr_dank]

This will all be worthwhile when we have first African child get first post on Slashdot (and then gets modded down. Welcome to the interweb, n00b!).

Re:Just for third world counties?

[Rob T Firefly]

We need to encourage this sort of thing overseas, so these kids can grow up into the next generation of outsourced tech support reps serving the next generation of American pointy-haired bosses who can barely work a can opener.

no manual?

[Anonymous Coward]

>The main goal is to tap into the ability of every child to toss away a manual
>and figure out how to make gadgets work on their own, thus helping children help themselves to learn.

So in other words, a global pandemic of people who don't know how to RTFM.

Re:Just for third world counties?

[neonprimetime]

Yeah ... it reminds me of the new math they're teaching in elementary schools. My wife is a teacher ... and we both agree that it's as gay as hell. Instead of teaching kids long-hand division and how to actually do their math ... they teach the kids how to guess & check on division ... So for example ...

What is 400 / 20 ?

The student is supposed to guess ...

• Well, 20 * 2 = 40 ... nope that's too little ... guess higher
• Well, 20 * 5 = 100 ... nope that's too little ... guess higher
• Well, 20 * 10 = 200 ... nope that's too little ... guess higher
• Well, 20 * 100 = 2000 ... nope that's too high ... guess lower
• Well, 20 * 20 = 400 ... yes! I did good math! I got it write!

The frickin' school system pisses me off.

OMG NOES!

[ackthpt]

It's cute! It's almost kitsch!

It'll be a hit with the /. crowd which will drive up the price through demand.

Heck, I already want one for the kitchen!

Re:Where's the crank?

[magicjava]

I think you're confusing this with the Amish laptop.

At least someone will be learning engineering ...

[DysenteryInTheRanks]

The main goal is to tap into the ability of every child to toss away a manual and figure out how to make gadgets work on their own ...

... so that by age 18 they can change their professional name to "Bob" and tell Americans weaned on PlayStations that "WiFi connections do not involve 'gremlins,' sir;" "any software company offering free pornography for each install probably should not be trusted" and "there is no 'feng shui' component on your iPod, and if there were it would not be defective, and if it were defective then no, it would not be covered by AppleCare."

Yay capitalism ;->

Re:This will all be worthwhile

[$RANDOMLUSER]

> This will all be worthwhile when we have first African child get first post on Slashdot

KUNTA PSOT!

Re:no manual?

[Anonymous Coward]

So in other words, a global pandemic of people who don't know how to RTFM.

You're at /. You're already experiencing a global pandemic of people who don't know how to RTFM

Re:Just for third world counties?

[mikalveli]

Yeah, I agree with you because I grew up in a third world county in South Carolina... ;-)

Re:butt-ugly, but

[Kesch]

Actually, the crank idea seems to be trashed now. Plans seem to be for a foot-pedal device. I will of course do the hamster-in-a-wheel mod.

Re:OMG THE SICKENING COLOR! :)

[shreevatsa]

Oh, you're speaking of the laptops. I thought you were speaking about Slashdot.

Re:Food?

[Limburgher]

Man, you people just wanna feed those poor kids instead of learning them how to feed themselves.

I love seeing poor grammar in a post about education. It's a hoot. :)

It has to be said....

[penguin_dance]

Yay, now that Nigerian prince can email me directly!

Re:Teach a kid to fish...

[SatanicPuppy]

True enough. Teaching millions of kids to run linux, with all those programming tools right there and available, in an environment where you can get the source and piddle with it any time you want, is bound to create a whole new level of computer savvyness.

Also, since they have to be cranked, all those kids will also have Popeye forearms.

I would like to be the first to welcome our future giant forearm/elite hacker overlords!

Re:$130

[LordVader717]

Fuck yeah!

Re:Teach a kid to fish...

[sharkey]

"I code to the finich, 'cuz I eats me spinach, I'm PERLeye the Recursion Man!" *printf-printf*

Re:Where's the crank?

[Aedon]

Actually the laptop comes with its own fold-out dance pad power adapter. The more you boogie, the more the battery is powered! If you want to use one of these babies, you best get to steppin!

-Aedon
(rolls fist out a la Breakin 2, Electric Boogaloo)

Re:Teach a kid to fish...

[autophile]

Also, since they have to be cranked, all those kids will also have Popeye forearms.

Popeye has TWO massive forearms. Since you crank with only one hand, I think you mean a Trogdor forearm!

--Rob

Re:Typing two words to get help

[Anonymous Coward]

I think a better system is to click on a control and hit F1, which can explain to you everything you need to know about that input.

"This is a checkbox. It is used for selecting one or more options from among a number of choices".

Yeah, real fucking helpful that is.