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."

Usability?

[fritzk3]

I wonder how useable these things will be - the screen looks awfully small with regard to resolution. Just looking at the calculator (the thing takes up about a third of the whole screen!) makes me wonder how cluttered the interface will be when people start trying to shift between one app and another.

Does anybody else think the demo model resembles a Speak & Spell, with its bright orange color and its handle? :)

Huh, that laptop already exists

[feijai]

Extremely rugged, no moving parts, flash RAM, inexpensive, small screen laptop designed for K-12. Where did I hear of such a thing before? [the-gadgeteer.com]

Oh that's right. $800 back in 1997. By Moore's law, that should be about $25 now. So with a color screen, USB, and wireless, $100 isn't bad. Lost the touchscreen though. :-(

Brilliant, MIT Media Labs

[k1980pc]

You said you could get it done..more than half the world did not believe you. You have got it delivered within such a short span. Its sheer brilliance compared to certain companies promising certain products and the timelines getting forwarded by years. I remember a specific company doing that about a product called Vista :)
Speaking about the OS, great that it uses fedora core.. Open Source for a Good Cause. Way to Go.
BTW, fire the designer for that orangey look..uh..wait..may be this might catch on like the old ibook..keep him for the timebeing.

n00bies on the raise

[layer3switch]

"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..."

As a future warning for Fedora community, expect sudden jump in n00b questions in several different languages. Also keep in mine that those n00bs are mostly children. Please refer "RTFM" as "Read The Fine Manual" and "STFU" as "Stop Talking Fast, User".

And most importantly, every time you use "LOL" and "ROTFL" and "LMAO", just remember; You are laughing with them, not at them.

Thank you,

concern citizen from Softer Gentler Linux community

An idea

[Dexter77]

I have strange feeling that this laptop will be more popular in western world than in developing countries. I, for one, will definately buy it, just have a nice new gadget. $100 is cheap for any gadget.

But hey! I have an idea. Let's make the price $200 in western world and each computer that we buy, will give one for free to someone in developing countries! $200 isn't much for a working computer. Plus, atleast for once, you get a good feeling for buying something that you don't really need :)

Why just third world?

[nizo]

I know schools here in the US who can't even put a computer on the desk of any of the kids; many share 5 crummy machines between two (or more) classes. There are many places here that could use these things; I don't understand why there is no interest in marketing them right here. It seems like having electronic books would be cheaper/easier too?

Re:Just for third world counties?

[SatanicPuppy]

It's the way we've set up the system. You go to school so someone can tell you the facts, and present practical math and science concepts in the driest, most abstract way possible.

Every time I talk to a kid and they say something like "Algebra sucks. I'll never use this again in my life" I want to jump out of my skin. And hell, I didn't know it myself, because I was taught the same way. I just ended up in a lot of fields, not even complex fields, where you had to have a grasp on practical math.

If you teach the answers then people are always going to be looking for someone to tell them the answers. If you teach people how to find the answers themselves using manuals, newsgroups, and, if all else fails, their damn brain, then you'll end up with well educated people.

Re:For the children

[DrXym]

Ugly or not, if you offered me a laptop with a keyboard, touch pad and hi-res screen for $300 with some useful productivity apps, I'd buy one like a shot. Whether it looked like a demented speak & spell or not. I hate lugging around expensive, fragile, battery sapping laptops just to get internet access when I'm away for a bit. I hate the small unusable screens on a Pocket PC. These things are meant to be kidproof so you toss them in a backpack without much concern, or whip them out on a train or airline clip tray for practically instant-on computing. It's no wonder Bill Gates is afraid of these things. Who the hell would buy his Origami concept costing twice as much when this thing fits the bill so well? That's assuming a commercial version does appear.

Re:Usability?

[daybyter]

The screensize is not that much of a problem, if you reduce the number of applications. We are working on a system for senior citizens, and I guess we reduce the number of apps to 20 or less.
Use multiple desktops, and your screen could look like this:

Seniorix desktop [seniorix.de].
  Sorry, only available in German yet, since we only cooperate with local retirement home yet...

There are a number of things you can do

[Colin Smith]

1: Dump the desktop metaphor.
2: Get rid of menu bars, status bars, process bars, window borders, titles etc.
3: Go full screen for every application

Unfortunately we're still getting portable machines, handhelds, pdas with very limited screen real estate ridiculously cluttered by windows, borders, menus, button bars, status bars. Qtopia for instance is a pain in the arse because of this.

Re:Me so hungry - But Get A Fishing Pole

[cannuck]

Naturally kids and adults need to eat enough food to be well. Then kids and adults would not have destoyed immune systems - and wouldn't come down with ever dis-ease possible. There is more than enough food to feed ever person on this planet. But, the self apponted elite - the Rich, who control the flow of food on this planet - are not the least bit interested in feeding people. In fact they are interested in the reverse - destabilization. Keeps the price of oil/gasoline up!

The $100 communication/learning tool can be a way out for Africans. Not the only tool needed; but, one of the tools needed. An "internet system" is part of the $100 laptop notion. With a well developed "Peer Interdependent Learning" systems approach - people can quickly learn rapidly. An example of a simple outcome:

a) The farmer's kids will then get weather reports via the internet to assist in planting of crops etc.

b) They can also get info via the internet on drought resistant seeds - if need be.

c) They can find out the market price for their crops in the nearest big city via the internet to see if the middle men are screwing them finacially.

Etc.

Looks like an Apple eMate to me!!!

[macentric]

Is it just me, or does this laptop remind anyone else of the short-lived Apple eMate? In fact it seems to me that the concept of the computer was lifted from Apple. Gaudy colors, slimmed down OS and functionality, built rugged for students. Obviously the tech in the machine is a decade newer and as such likely significantly more powerful, but the same principles apply, low power footprint, small screen, readable outdoors.

Outside of some modernization of the concept and technologies can someone show me what this device does that the eMate didn't? The eMate even lasted up to 28 hours on a single charge. I don't want to discount what MIT Media Labs has accomplished, but it looks to me like another rip-off of Apple technology.

Here is a link to a picture and the specs of an Apple eMate 300.

http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/messagepad/s tats/emate_300.html [everymac.com]