I often wonder why I bother to post comments as they normally just make me sound as stupid as the rest of you. But I feel like plucking some shit from my ass and smearing it across your intellectual black bridge over the great divide.

Simpler, a 100MHz pentium, 68000, or ARM ~1.5M transistors, should be sufficient for most applications.

Expandable, storage, communications, and display

Interfacing, think what other uses can be made, weather/crop/medical/water/energy how could these be controlled/monitored what sort of interfaces would be required.

Communcations, would a longwave or multiband reciever be useful for one way data comms, what about packet radio for longer distances.

Economics, how can the systems be made to pay?, can we get the third world to decode captchas for us or work as a typing pool using the systems?

As regards power 1.5M transistors on a .2micron die running at 100MHz at 2.3V should draw average .5W if properly designed. It's possible to get north/south bridges processor and a basic gfx adaptor in 1.5M transistors.

About 3 three years ago I bought a palm iiixe for around £28 brand new, so according to moores law a pentium spec handheld should be available at the same price now, where is it?.

Would a computer be useful for monitoring the environment in an effluent digester controlling PH and chemical additives to optimize the system for producer gas generation. Can crop production be improved on a small scale farm by monitoring the weather or the soil condition?. What type of control systems can be cheaply produced and interfaced to the computers that would improve third world techniques?

I don't think we should just give computers with no idea how they can best be used and how they can benefit us as well as the poor we are giving them to. If we can give something that can be used to earn and learn then there will be something the poor can offer to trade.

I do like to see people trying to do things whether they are right or wrong progress is always made by those who try something new. I am sure there is much more to say but I don't think I should say it, make your own minds up. Don't let the bastards grind you down, do what you enjoy, etc...