One Laptop Per Child News on Hardware

XO Accessories: XO Camera Two Mirror Periscope

Posted on March 22, 2008 by Wayan Vota in Hardware: Peripherals

Meeting up with Mike Lee at today's OLPC Learning Club DC meeting, I remembered his amazing contribution to XO hardware hacks from the last meeting: a XO camera two mirror periscope.

While Mike's rig was very alpha, it served its purpose. You can now use the XO laptop to take photographs of images behind the screen.

Better yet, Mike has a call to action for crafty XO laptop users - develop a XO camera periscope pattern for children to cut out of cardboard. They can then glue on thin plastic mirror sheets and everyone can have their own periscope.

LCD Projecting the XO Laptop in Southern Maryland

Posted on January 07, 2008 by Guest Writer in Sales Talk: G1G1, Hardware: Peripherals, Countries: USA

XO laptop in the spotlight

My name is Mark Czajka, and I'm president of the Charles County Technology Council. Being part of this all volunteer non-profit organization is very rewarding, and we want to use the XO to give back to our local community. Three of our Board Members have ordered one because we have been very moved by the Give One Get One program.

By educating kids and adults here in Southern Maryland, we hope to bring more exposure to this cause. We also feel that the technology built into this laptop could be utilized (some day) in our area, to support kids that cannot afford computers as well as help us reach "the last mile" in rural areas that do not have broadband Internet access. We can all learn a lot from the mesh networking capabilities built into the XO.

As part of our education efforts, we would like to use the XO with an LCD Projector. I haven't been able to find any information on this topic. I would assume some hardware would be required, as well as some drivers on the XO. If anyone has any information about this, please post it in the OLPC News XO Accessories Forum. In the mean time, we will use an XO emulator on a Windows laptop.

The kid in all of us is intrigued by the technology. Like many of you I am waiting patiently for my XO to arrive. I don't think I've been this excited since getting my first video game system (I was an original owner of a Pong system – ok, now I'm dating myself).

When I get my XO I'm going to stop by the Panera in Waldorf, set it up and see what type of reaction I get. I would recommend you all do the same. There is even a OLPC News XO Publicity Forum to give you ideas on promotions and fliers to help spread the word.

You will probably get a lot of questions about it, and you could use that brief moment to educate others about the OLPC program. What are you going to say?

Actions: | Comment (18) | Digg This | Add to del.ico.us | Slashdot It

OLPC News Christmas Shopping List for XO Laptop Lovers

Posted on December 16, 2007 by Wayan Vota in Countries: Canada, Sales Talk: G1G1, Hardware: Peripherals, Countries: USA

We may all be hoping for a Green Christmas, but by the looks of the G1G1 shipping lottery, not everyone will have an XO laptop under their tree by December 25.

Before you curse OLPC, remember that they are focused on children in the developing world. You should be focused on being a good American consumer, and I'm here to help. I've just complied the OLPC News Christmas list for XO laptop lovers on Amazon.com featuring the thought leaders of One Laptop Per Child:

Nicholas Negroponte

Being Digital - Negroponte's breakthrough work on the history and future of technology
OLPC on 60 Minutes - a must-have for every OLPC-loving geek if only to see Craig Barrett squirm.
I ♥ Nicholas Negroponte - you know I will be wearing this T-shirt with pride come summer. (my favorite!)

Seymour Papert

Mindstorms - the book that started the computer revolution in school education
Chilren's Machine - the basis for the XO, a stimulating case for computers as a primary route to knowledge
Connected Family - a guide for parents looking for constructive strategies to educate their children

Order today, and you can still use Amazon's Super Saver Shipping and get your treats by December 25!

Now, you might be one of the Give One Get One lucky ones who is already creating Starbucks envy in your neighbourhood. If so, then check out the OLPC News XO Laptop Accessories Forum for more stocking-stuffer ideas.

Last but not least, you could really be anti-OLPC, or just be different. In that case, here's two options that are free of all this philanthropic holiday cheer:

Alternative Geeky Gifts

Asus Eee PC - the OLPC alternative for those who want XP-like foolishness on a UMPC
Amazon Kindle - if you want your eBook reader with DRM

.

Actions: | Comment (7) | Digg This | Add to del.ico.us | Slashdot It

The Brightest Nighttime Lights in the House

Posted on December 06, 2007 by Mike Lee in Hardware: Keyboard, Hardware: Peripherals, Laptops: XO-1

My XO and I love the iLite I'm Mike Lee and I'm starting a series of posts here on OLPC News about accessories for the XO-1. I have also been asked by Wayan to help run the OLPC Learning Club - DC blog and meetings, which I am looking forward to doing. Because I've had a couple B4 machines since August, I've had some time to look into accessories such as carrying cases, AC/DC adapters and alternative power sources such as solar panels. I still have a lot to discover--and learn from you all--but for this first post, I'm going...

Continue reading "The Brightest Nighttime Lights in the House"

The Brightest Nighttime Lights in the House | Comment (16) | Digg This | Add to del.ico.us | Slashdot It

What's In Our G1G1 Box? And Where's My XO Laptop Now?

Posted on December 03, 2007 by Guest Writer in Sales Talk: G1G1, Hardware: Peripherals, Laptops: XO-1

A very lucky lady!

I am Eden Krehbiel, a fan of the OLPC project and the Give 1, Get 1 program. Like many others, I also received my First Day Donor Email. I rolled out of bed to order online in the pre-dawn darkness of November 12. I know I am not alone in wanting to know the details for when XO laptops will be in the hands of ordinary folks here in North America.

We've been told by Donor Services they will be shipped UPS, and that the first batch comes early enough to begin arriving in the Americas between December 14 and 24. My supposition is that packing and direct shipping will be done by the manufacturer, Quanta.

This is based on a complaint I found about the packaging of the B4 Test laptops in August and then word of a new box design for the XOs at the factory earlier in November.

The OLPC developers posted a schedule with a " Ship.1" date of November 20 and "Ship.2" date of December 1. Could it be that some are already on the way? I got on the UPS website and used their "Calculate Time and Cost" feature to guesstimate length of time needed for transit to my area, in the Western USA.

Continue reading "What's In Our G1G1 Box? And Where's My XO Laptop Now?"

What's In Our G1G1 Box? And Where's My XO Laptop Now? | Comment (38) | Digg This | Add to del.ico.us | Slashdot It

The Fifty Dollar eBook Reader Component Costs

Posted on September 12, 2007 by Martin Woodhouse in Sales Talk: Competition, Hardware: Peripherals, Content: eBooks

Martin a few years ago

I thought I should report on where we are with the design of the $50 I-Book Reader. "We", in this instance, being myself, my young business partner Ben Wibaut, and David Thornhill, who teaches engineering at Queens University, Belfast and who is making a model of the I-Reader for display purposes.

Before I list the components we suggest for this machine, with their costs and their estimated power consumption -- an absolutely vital aspect of things for a solar-powered device -- may I remind everyone that its design process is quite different in approach from most information processing gear, including the XO.

We are here asking not how much in the way of function we can supply for a given complexity, but rather the reverse. The only task we have is that of taking a few kilobytes out of memory and displaying them on a screen as a picture in 64 colours or less.

How, then, can we achieve this as simply as possible, and using what in the way of power? The answer here is "with a power demand so small that we can supply it from a solar panel built into the lid of the Reader itself."

Continue reading "The Fifty Dollar eBook Reader Component Costs"

The Fifty Dollar eBook Reader Component Costs | Comment (25) | Digg This | Add to del.ico.us | Slashdot It

One DC Power Input Connector Per XO-1 Laptop

Posted on August 22, 2007 by Guest Writer in Hardware: Peripherals, Hardware: Power Supply

OLPC DC power input port

Much has been written here on OLPC News concerning any and all technical aspects of the XO computer. I am Benjamin Nead, an itinerant tinkerer in the broadcasting industry, and I tend to think that just about anybody that takes a critical look at this remarkable machine from afar typically walks away quite impressed with what has been accomplished by the OLPC consortium.

That it has been developed "behind open doors" makes the entire engineering aspect project all the more impressive. Indeed, one can visit the official OLPC web site and study all the details of the XO that one could possibly ask for . . . except, curiously enough, for a rather important one: the size and polarity of the DC power input plug.

For the record, the official OLPC Hardware Specifications web page has basic electronic criteria, but there's almost nothing in regards to the mechanical aspect of the connector itself

"Power: 2-pin DC -input, 10 to 20 V usable, -50 to 39 V safe, one- time fuse for excessive input"

If one were to visit a typical electronic supply store (which may or may not be conveniently located in one of the various third world countries where the XO will be showing up) and ask for a "2-pin DC -input" connector - or any DC connector, for that matter - the first words from the salesperson behind the counter will be "Which one?", as there is a rather large variety to choose from.

Continue reading "One DC Power Input Connector Per XO-1 Laptop"

One DC Power Input Connector Per XO-1 Laptop | Comment (26) | Digg This | Add to del.ico.us | Slashdot It

A Missing OLPC Product: One Printer Per School

Posted on August 21, 2007 by Wayan Vota in Hardware: Peripherals, Sales Talk: Products, Content: eBooks

OLPC XO: printed

As I was printing out Steve Cisler's excellent ebook reader, and there could even be a Library of Alexandria's worth of electronic content, but nothing beats the printed word. Especially when you want to spread your ideas, dreams, or just classroom writings with those in the offline world, like parents, teachers, community members or secondary school admissions counselors. As Steve says in his evaluation:

In order for teachers to take the information they find online or on the CD-ROMs I recommend extra resources for printing black and white documents, diagrams, and maps that can be taken to the coordinating centers by the CCTs or directly to the schools by teachers. There must be ways of delivering information even where no ICT exists.

And yet there isn't a printer in the OLPC product mix.

Continue reading "A Missing OLPC Product: One Printer Per School"

A Missing OLPC Product: One Printer Per School | Comment (16) | Digg This | Add to del.ico.us | Slashdot It

An XO Oscilloscope to Measure Children's OLPC Learning

Posted on August 09, 2007 by Wayan Vota in Software: Applications, Content: Education, Hardware: Peripherals

OLPC XO's TamTam in action

When designing the XO computer, One Laptop Per Child designed the sound card to be able to measure DC voltages. Now why would the talented team behind the "$100 laptop" go to the trouble of hacking an audio jack microphone into a data port? Maybe they had the same revelation as Martin Visser did:

A colleague of mine who has quite a few OLPCs, mainly for testing the wireless stuff out, told of the absolutely clever analog input port the OLPC has. Not content with a regular AC microphone input, it can be configured in two other modes. One is a straight DC input that can measure between 0 and 3VDC. I immediately thought of kids in Africa being able to hack electronics together from old radios and the like and using the OLPC as a simple oscilloscope or voltmeter. The other analog input puts 2.5V and allows you to measure across this. This means a simple potentiometer can be read. Great for all sorts of science experiments, but also a good way of providing another interface to control the Tamtam musical instruments.

Taking this idea a step further in his comment on Building One Laptop Per Socialized Child, Nick explains how children could use cheap sensors to learn about electricity:

Continue reading "An XO Oscilloscope to Measure Children's OLPC Learning"

An XO Oscilloscope to Measure Children's OLPC Learning | Comment (8) | Digg This | Add to del.ico.us | Slashdot It

OLPC Product Roadmap to Financial Independence

Posted on July 12, 2007 by Wayan Vota in Use Cases: Business, Hardware: Peripherals, Sales Talk: Price, Sales Talk: Products, Hardware: Screen

Looking at the One Laptop Per Child product roadmap slide that Digitimes captured at Mary Lou Jepsen's keynote presentation at the International Display Manufacturing Conference (IDMC) on July 4th, I was struck by a vision on independence. Just look at the slide - do you see the same vision that I do? A vision of OLPC financial independence!

Do you see what I see? Do you see the One Laptop Per Child Foundation shifting the $30 Billion dollar cost burden from participating countries, all of them financially challenged beyond the capacity to buy one computer per child? Do you see all those commercial products?

We can always start with a commercial version of the OLPC itself, as many of us already have, in our dreams. An XO stepped up to adult computing needs, but sill not the bloatware of a Wintel set-up, priced per the slide at $1,000, but built using the XO cost methods. Right there, OLPC could rack up per-computer profits to buy a whole country's worth of Children's Machines.

Continue reading "OLPC Product Roadmap to Financial Independence"

OLPC Product Roadmap to Financial Independence | Comment (16) | Digg This | Add to del.ico.us | Slashdot It

Steve Cisler's Potenco Presentation Impression

Posted on July 05, 2007 by Guest Writer in Hardware: Peripherals, Hardware: Power Supply

This post originally appeared on digitalcommons and is republished here with Steve Cisler's permission.

Colin Bulthaup, Potenco

On July 3, 2007, The Institute For The Future hosted a talk by Colin Bulthaup, CEO of Potenco, a spinoff of Squid Labs, based in Alameda, California. Colin characterized SL as a Do Tank, not a think tank.

Fourteen months ago they had been working on smart rope, a rope that knows when it is about to break, but with a grant from the OLPC team they developed a pull-cord generator (PCG) that can be used to charge mp3 players, mobile phones, LED lights, portable batteries, GPS devices, and the XO laptop.

Their base line human is an eight year old pulling on the yo-yo device. They even tested the amount of CO2 produced as a kid uses it, as well as calories expended (very few). One minute of pulling generates enough energy for 20 minutes of talk time on a mobile phone and four hours play time on an iPod Shuffle.

Continue reading "Steve Cisler's Potenco Presentation Impression"

Steve Cisler's Potenco Presentation Impression | Comment (31) | Digg This | Add to del.ico.us | Slashdot It

OLPC Products: XO, Server, Charger, Antenna, & Repeater

Posted on June 11, 2007 by Wayan Vota in Hardware: Peripherals, Hardware: Power Supply, Hardware: Production, Sales Talk: Products, Internet: Routers, Hardware: School Servers, Hardware: Wireless

OLPC multi-battery "gang charger"

In this weekend's , OLPC VP Walter Bender casually drops an OLPC product lineup bombshell:

We are shipping five products this fall: (1) the XO laptop; (2) a school server; (3) a multi-battery charger; (4) an active antenna; and (5) a solar-powered WiFi repeater. Much of the emphasis has been on the laptop, but a push from Quanta this week has resulted in firmer plans for the other products.

While we are all intimately familiar with the OLPC XO, what are the other four "products" that Water speaks of? The last time we checked, school servers were still very much an idea or barely Beta, and now they're going to be production ready?

The multi-battery charger, or "gang charger" is even more mysterious. There is a basic Wiki entry, and now a photograph, but not much else.

Walter tells us about the active antenna for the first time in the very same update:

Thanks to John Watlington and the team from Cozybit, we have out first working "active antenna" prototypes. Attaching them to an XO lets you optimize the placement of the antenna: use with a mesh portal will double the network throughput. They can be used on the school servers or attached a 5V power supply to build a stand-alone WiFI repeater.

Luckily, thanks to Aaron Kaplan, we now know more about the solar mesh repeaters, but that was only last week.

Continue reading "OLPC Products: XO, Server, Charger, Antenna, & Repeater"

OLPC Products: XO, Server, Charger, Antenna, & Repeater | Comment (17) | Digg This | Add to del.ico.us | Slashdot It

New OLPC Competition: One Macbook Per Child!

Posted on March 20, 2007 by Wayan Vota in Hardware: Peripherals, Commentary: Press

First, there was One Laptop Per Child. And then there was Intel's Classmate PC. And now there is a third one-to-one laptop initiative to bring computing power and Internet connectivity to the developing world: One Macbook Per Child

While I expected OMPC to be announced in Steve Job's secret diary, it was Mobile Macs that first noted Jobs' efforts in conjunction with Metalab veterans.

Continue reading "New OLPC Competition: One Macbook Per Child!"

New OLPC Competition: One Macbook Per Child! | Comment (5) | Digg This | Add to del.ico.us | Slashdot It

OLPC: The First Easy Linux Desktop Distribution

Posted on January 26, 2007 by in Software: Operating System, Hardware: Peripherals

The OLPC laptop has a unique feature, which up until now, only Apple has possessed. The hardware and software configurations are known. So this means that the people writing the software and drivers for the OLPC laptops know exactly what they are writing for.

Up until now, every version of Linux has suffered from this problem. Yes, Ubuntu and the newer flavours of Linux are far better at recognising hardware, and choosing the correct drivers, but soundcards and USB peripherals still often cause problems. OLPC won't have this issue.

Continue reading "OLPC: The First Easy Linux Desktop Distribution"

OLPC: The First Easy Linux Desktop Distribution | Comment (2) | Digg This | Add to del.ico.us | Slashdot It

One to One Video Conferencing Per Child

Posted on December 21, 2006 by Wayan Vota in Use Cases: Community, Hardware: Peripherals, Software: Third Party

While Christopher Blizzard points to the initial trick by Robert McQueen, it will take a Geek-to-English dictionary to sort out how Robert got video conferencing on the OLPC XO via Telepathy VOIP/IM:

Using telepathy-gabble's (our XMPP backend) Jingle implementation, and telepathy-stream-engine with the Farsight GStreamer RTP library, we got a bidirectional voice/video call going pretty quickly

Now that was a decent hack in itself - video conferencing on a 400Mhz AMD Geode processor - but it wasn't until a week later that Robert went from OLPC to standard laptop video conferencing, to full fledged OLPC XO-1 to OLPC XO-1 simultaneous audio and video transfer.

Continue reading "One to One Video Conferencing Per Child"

One to One Video Conferencing Per Child | Comment (6) | Digg This | Add to del.ico.us | Slashdot It

2B1: We Have Cameras

Posted on October 21, 2006 by David in Hardware: Peripherals

Christopher Blizzard has revealed yet another exclusive over at his 0xdeadbeef site: a picture of the 2B1's on board camera in action. Its rather difficult to tell how good the imaging is from a photo; that doesn't look like the revolutionary dual mode screen in action - but according to Christopher:

[...] it looks great. Good frame rate, Xv overlay in X and with a really good resolution.

Continue reading "2B1: We Have Cameras"

2B1: We Have Cameras | Comment (0) | Digg This | Add to del.ico.us | Slashdot It

Secure Digital Isn't Open Source

Posted on September 05, 2006 by Wayan Vota in Hardware: Peripherals

Reading the ~~CM1~~ 2B1 production specs, I was struck by a curious diversion from the One Laptop Per Child's Open source manifesto. If you look closely at the hardware profile, it will come with "three external USB-2.0 ports, plus an SD slot." A SD slot? Now that's odd.

Continue reading "Secure Digital Isn't Open Source"

Secure Digital Isn't Open Source | Comment (5) | Digg This | Add to del.ico.us | Slashdot It

2B1 Camera: VGA 640×480

Posted on August 29, 2006 by Wayan Vota in Prototypes: 2B1, Hardware: Peripherals

Lost in the breaking the news that One Laptop Per Child's first computer was going to be called the "~~CM1~~ 2B1: The Children's Machine " was the slight change to the standard hardware the OLPC 2B1 would have. I noticed and pointed out that the ~~CM1~~ 2B1 was now shipping with a camera, a change few cared to comment on, maybe because I, like everyone else, didn’t have the exact design specs for the camera.

Continue reading "2B1 Camera: VGA 640×480"

2B1 Camera: VGA 640×480 | Comment (2) | Digg This | Add to del.ico.us | Slashdot It

Children's Machine (CM1) Production Specs

Posted on August 24, 2006 by Wayan Vota in Prototypes: CM1, Hardware: Peripherals

Now that One Laptop Per Child have given its computer a name, CM1, The Children's Machine, it's also reveling more about the notebook's specs. On the OLPC Wiki CM1 page, Walter Bender, OLPC President for Software and Content, has a few new surprises for the initial CM1 production run so that the CM1 is:

"a unique harmony of form and function; a flexible, ultra low-cost, power-efficient, responsive, and durable machine with which nations of the emerging world can leapfrog decades of development"

What might those surprises be?

Continue reading "Children's Machine (CM1) Production Specs"

Children's Machine (CM1) Production Specs | Comment (2) | Digg This | Add to del.ico.us | Slashdot It

Your independent source for news, information, commentary, and discussion of One Laptop Per Child's "$100 laptop" computer, the OLPC Children's Machine XO, developed by MIT Media Lab co-founder Nicholas Negroponte.