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[BeninTucson]

Hi everyone . . .

I registered here last night and thought it would be a good idea to test out the forum software and, if nothing else, post a basic “Hi, I’m Here” message.

The OLPC computer is something that has always intrigued me. I remember hearing years ago about the $100 laptop with a hand crank that was destined to ship exclusively to the Third World. Even back then I was saying to myself “Hey, I want one of these things too!” After catching an update on it’s progress on the radio in the summer of 2007, I followed up with some web searching and that’s when I discovered OLPC News. I then finally got to see actual photos of XO-1 prototypes instead of just conceptualized drawings. "This thing actually got built!" I remembered thinking. I got caught up in the concept of the OLPC educational mission to a certain degree but I was mostly intrigued by the hardware and technology of the machine itself.

I didn’t take long for me to start contributing comments onto the OLPC News daily blogs and, before I knew it, Wayan Vota asked me to author an article. He sensed a frustration I was having, extracting a seemingly simple piece of information from the OLPC development team in regards to the size of the power supply plug. By not being able to make much headway in getting a clear answer, I had the makings of a story. The result was this article and the memorable series of exchanges that followed . . .

http://www.olpcnews.com/hardware/power_supply/dc_power_input_connector.html


I’m sure that there are people walking the corridors of MIT who still cringe when my name is mentioned. But I have no regrets sticking my head out and making waves.

While I wasn’t in a good enough economic position to participate in the original G1G1
XO-1 program in late 2007, I watched from afar at all the frenzy. I eventually drifted away from keeping track of the latest OLPC developments but would, on occasion, log onto the blogs at OLPC News to find out what was going on. Even if I wasn’t going to be among the first to get one of these machines, I knew I would eventually have one. Now, after placing a winning eBay bid the other day, I’m about to make good on that promise. For about $150, I should have my own XO-1 showing up here fairly soon.

So . . . what am I going to do with my own copy of this cute little green and white computer? Well, the first thing I’ll do is measure the plug on the recharging unit! After that, I’m going to charge it up and turn it on. Having owned nothing but Macs and dabbling with Windows machines at my workplace (and never getting much beyond the GUI on either platform,) I’ve got a feeling that I’ll be lost at first.

I’m in no technical position to start writing Linux codes but I may surprise myself and actually learn how to do something like this eventually. I’m reading here, for instance, with great interest the adventures of those wanting to install the Puppy operating system in place of Sugar. This sounds like a logical way to adapt these little machines to adults wanting to use them as practical netbooks.

My main interest, though, is still the technology of the hardware . . . the adaptable and rugged exterior shell, the viewable-in-direct-sunlight display, the doesn’t-let-dirt-in sealed keyboard and the Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4) batteries. I tend to think that all of our consumer gadgets should be built like this and, sadly, few are. Being in the 50+ year old demographic (read “old guy who knows what a vacuum tube is,”) I’m also disturbed by the built-in obsolescence and throw-it away-before-its-broken aspect of modern consumer culture. I sincerely hope that the original XO-1 - because it is such a cool form factor and seems to have a real cult following - will live on with new motherboards and software inside long after the latest slew on netbooks break down and add to the electronic junk landfill problem.

In any event, I’ll log back on here as soon as my XO-1 arrives. I’m sure I’ll have questions that some of you can help answer for me.

Benjamin Nead

Tucson, Arizona, USA

 . . . known to many on the web (and herein after here as) . . . Ben in Tucson

[XOIOWA]

WELCOME to the forum!

[BeninTucson]

Hi folks . . .

Well, the day finally arrived. I received my eBay purchased XO-1 in the mail (actually
via UPS) on Wednesday, September 9, 2009 . . . and I’m thrilled to finally get my hands on one. My 14 year old son, even though he’s a jaded American tech savy kid who owns a Macbook and an iPod Touch, found the XO-1 to be an appealing tech toy.

My machine, while not abused, is definitely used. The case is clean (and no cracks or scratches,) but one of the four small green rubber-ish feet on the bottom side is missing. It looks as if it sheared off at one point, since there seem to be bits of the old one still attached within the plastic frame. Also . . . the spring on one of the battery release latches is missing and/or out of adjustment. Fortunately here, the battery pack fits fine, stays firmly attached and releases when desired. Minor stuff in the grand scheme of things.

Not expecting it to be charged up, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it turned on when I pushed the power button. It booted up just fine. I spent a few minutes scrolling the cursor around but didn’t have time before leaving for work that evening to attempt to launch anything. Not knowing how to properly power down, I actually had to refer to a downloaded XO-1 manual on my iMac from the OLPC Wiki to do this correctly . . .

http://www.laptop.org/8.2.0/manual/

As time permits, I’ll perform the 2.8.1 Sugar update as outlined here . . .

http://wiki.laptop.org/go/No-fail_update

While the screen was up and the power was on, though, I did notice another more disturbing mechanical problem . . . a wobbling and looseness at the pivot point of the screen mount. It was later, under closer inspection, that I saw one of two small mounting screws was missing. This discovery was actually a relief . . . far better than having a broken metal or plastic mechanical part of some sort floating around inside. Any pivoting of the screen assembly, though, is now currently done with extreme care, as it would be possible to stress the assembly or break something (and, consequently, mess up something electronic) in its current state with that screw missing.

Having a fair assortment of tiny machine screws on hand, It seemed that I would need
something like a 3-48 X 0.25”L pan head. But it was only after I got back from the local Ace Hardware that I noticed that this wouldn’t do . . . very close, but too large, and I didn’t want to strip the thread on the monitor mount. I obviously needed an almost identically sized metric one. While at the Ace, I noted that metric sizes there start at M3 and size upwards. Anything metric that they would have would certainly be too large and there was no need to head back there searching for a smaller one.

I started my renewed hunt for this tiny metric screw at a good electronics parts store that used to sell tiny fasteners, but doesn’t any more. They were nice enough to give me a couple of similar looking - but shorter - examples that had come off of a small broken laptop. They also referred me to a computer recycle center located across the street and around the corner.

At the computer recycle place they asked me “What kind of computer?” and, before I could properly explain what an XO-1 was, I had one of the counter guys googling OLPC News to show him a picture. The funny thing is that this part - a simple machine screw - could come off just about any computer. It’s not really “a specific XO-1 part” and it took a bit of time having me convince them of this. "It's a common metric machine screw, guys" I lamented "Don't you have an assortment of small machine screws cabbaged from old machines around here?" Their tech eventually brought out a large cardboard box filled with hundreds of screws of all sizes in no particular order. He offered to sell me a handful for $5, but I declined.

Next stop was a used tool shop, which is staffed by folks who know arcane and not-so-arcane fastener sizes and can typically identify anything of that nature. The guy there eyeballed it and thought it to be either a  M2.3 or M2.5 of some sort. Their collection of tiny metric dies, though, were close to being sold out on that day. That prevented them from making a definitive identification. So they referred me to another tool store.

An hour later, driving across town - and getting lost along the way, trying to locate this place in a generic-looking industrial park - I finally arrived. But it was worth the journey. A sharp fellow behind the counter there confirmed that this little thing is, in fact, an M2.5 X 0.45 X 5mm . . . about as close as you can possibly get to a 3-48 X 0.25” without actually being one. A least now I know what I’m looking for.

Naturally, no one in Tucson actually has one . . . or if they do, they don’t realize it and have it in a similarly disorganized cardboard box like that one at the computer recycle place. So I came back home a went online to google “M2.5 X 0.45 X 5mm pan head machine screw.”

After visiting the usual sort of industrial web sites web sites that want to sell you a shipping carton of 10,000 delivered directly from China, a few other retail places in the US that didn’t insist on mass quantity purchases but were out of stock - and a couple of others who did, but were located in places like England and Germany - I finally came across a site for a company in Massachusetts called Bolt Depot . . .

http://www.boltdepot.com/

Bingo! They have exactly what I need for 6 cents a piece. I ordered 10. So I wouldn’t have to pay the minimum $9+ shipping to get the 60 cent order sent to Arizona, I found it prudent to also stock up on 10 each of just about every other size and length of sub-micro metric stainless steel pan head Phillips slot machine screws they had . . . along with matching washers and nuts. Something tells me that the XO-1 is full of tiny metric machine screws of all lengths and sizes and that an assortment like this might come in handy someday if/when I get brave enough to probe further into the interior.

So . . . life is going to keep me busy here with other matters while I’m waiting for my definitive metric machine screw collection to arrive. Should be next week sometime. I’ll report back on my further adventures of the XO-1 when I get the wobbly monitor mount taken care of.

Ben in Tucson

[XOIOWA]

Hi Ben.

The only reason I'm commenting here is to say how much I enjoyed reading your story.  You've got a way of writing that I like.  I guess, being an engineer and a computer geek of sorts I'm sympathetic to the story.  It's good to know that you found something. 

I know you have an assortment coming, but for anyone else's reference, I found the screws here too:
http://www.mcmaster.com/#pan-head-machine-screws/=3lbtsu

Later!

[BeninTucson]

Hi XOIOWA . . .

Thanks for the warm welcome.

Yes . . . McMaster-Carr! Why didn't I think of them for various sized metric machine screws? I often use them for supplies pertaining to my model airplane/rocketry hobby endeavors. They seem to have everything and always have it in stock. Good folks to deal with.

The long entertaining story regarding the search for oddball parts is kind of typical
for me. I'm still surprised at what you can't find in a medium-to-large American
city when you need it. The internet seems to come to the rescue more and more these days. [Open note to OLPC: when/if you send out tens of thousands of 1.5 upgrade
parts to retrofit all those old XO-1s in the field, don't forget to include big baggies of metric screws!]

Actually one of the screws I got from the electronic store on Thursday, despite being a millimeter too short, ended up being an M2.5 X 0.45. The monitor mount now feels stable enough to pivot the screen around with greater confidence (the perfectionist in me will retrofit it with  the proper 5mm long one when the lifetime supply of metric fasteners arrive next week.) This allowed me, unexpectedly, to experiment further with actually using the XO-1 yesterday.

The classic stereotype of men not asking direction with women doing so is completely reversed in our household. I'm very cautious with new electronic gear and I'm constantly referring to manuals for advice. My wife, Rebecca, on the other hand, likes to turn things on and mess with them until they do what she wants: no manuals . . . ever. This gets her into trouble sometimes but it can also lead to surprising results. I spent about an hour unsuccessfully attempting to get my XO-1 online yesterday, gingerly exploring options without wanting to take things too far before consulting for help. Rebecca, on the other hand, did it all on her own in less than 10 minutes! The following is my XO-1 on our kitchen table late last night displaying my web site . . .



Other observations . . . Rebecca is a music educator and her specialty is working with very young children: Suzuki violin and Music Together. She spent a few minutes having fun with the Tam Tam program and I'm sure she'll explore this more thoroughly at a later date. I told her about some of the OLPC stuff we talk about here and, specifically, what the upcoming XO-2 is supposed to look like. Knowing all too well how rough little kids can be with electronic devices, she agrees with me that the rubberized keyboard form factor of the XO-1/1.5 is probably a better choice for real-world durability than the double touch panel (shatter-proof glass?) of the current XO-2 mock ups.

Ben in Tucson

[BeninTucson]

Hi again everyone. . .

Just to see how and if I could do it, I'm typing - and sending - this message from
my XO-1! It's a bit of a jumpy interface, but it works. 

Ben in Tucson

[jkovats]

Swivel screen to boot!