First million OLPC laptops ordered, 2500 test units readied

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Sunday, 18 February 2007 12:49

Your IT - Entertainment

The XO also features no moving parts, all valuable parts like memory or flash storage soldered onto the motherboard so they can’t be easily removed or stolen, no vents to let in dust or water. A 366Mhz x86 AMD processor with 128Mb of DRAM and 512mb of storage powers the XO, three USB ports allow access to storage or other USB devices, while a built-in webcam, microphone and speakers gives access to videoconferencing, voice calling and the ability to listen to music, online streaming radio and video and also use a music composition program that will be included with each OLPC as standard.

Besides soldering important parts to the motherboard, the XO laptop will connect to the Internet on a regular basis to ensure it is not a stolen unit. If the laptop is stolen and the serial number reported, the next time the laptop connects to the Internet, it will be remotely switched off, also known as a remote kill switch. When the XO connects and is verified, it will grant a lease of time that the laptop can be used before switching off, so Internet access will be necessary to ensure the unit continues working.

The OLPC expects hackers will get around this but say they are doing to make them not worth stealing in poor countries where the black market price could be US $300, giving the thief enough money to buy food for months. Concern has been noted about what happens if the laptop cannot get access to the Internet while legitimately in possession of the child it was issued to, although the laptop is designed to easily mesh with other XO laptops, at least one of which will be connected to the Internet somewhere, giving Internet access to all XO laptops in the vicinity.

While a hand crank was originally designed to be attached to the side of the XO, it was then moved to become a charging ‘brick’ with crank that plugged into the laptop through a power cable. Reports now suggest this has been replaced by a string pully – pull the string and the mechanism inside spins to create electricity. One minute of such pulling gives you 10 minutes of power.

Good news also is that if electricity is available, a full charge delivers 40 hours of battery life, partly in thanks to the XO only using 2 watts of power compared with the 30 to 40 watts a typical laptop would use, and also thanks to the elimination of hard drives through the use of flash memory technology.

While many criticized the OLPC’s dream of affordable laptops for children in third world countries from the beginning, the project has hit several important milestones in the past few months despite costing more than the US $100 goal each laptop was said to cost. The first million orders are confirmed, with at least five million more set to be built in July for distribution by the end of the year.

So far, the dream of bringing affordable, genuinely useful and educational, astoundingly interactive and Internet connected technology to third-world children seems well on track – long may it continue!