XO Gen 1.5

Sat Apr 18 13:53:39 EDT 2009

On Sat, Apr 18, 2009 at 6:41 PM, Tomeu Vizoso <tomeu at sugarlabs.org> wrote:

> On Sat, Apr 18, 2009 at 19:27, Tiago Marques <tiagomnm at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >
> > On Fri, Apr 17, 2009 at 8:24 PM, John Watlington <wad at laptop.org> wrote:
> >>
> >> OLPC is excited to announce that a refresh of the XO-1 laptop is in
> >> progress.  In our continued effort to maintain a low price point, OLPC
> >> is refreshing the hardware to take advantage of the latest component
> >> technologies.  This refresh (Gen 1.5) is separate from the Gen 2.0
> >> project, and will continue using the same industrial design and
> >> batteries as Gen 1.  The design goal is to provide an overall update
> >> of the system within the same ID and external appearance.
> >>
> >> In order to maximize compatibility with existing software, this
> >> refresh will continue with an x86 processor, using a chipset from
> >> VIA.  The memory will be increased to 1 GB of DDR2 SDRAM, and the
> >> built-in storage will be 4 GB of NAND Flash with an option for 8 GB
> >> (installed at manufacture).
> >
> > The best news, probably.
> >
> >>
> >> The processor will be a VIA C7-M [1], with plans on using one whose
> >> clock ranges from 400 MHz (1.5 W) to 1GHz (5 W).  The clock may be
> >> throttled back automatically if necessary to meet thermal constraints.
> >
> > I'm hoping for a lot closer to 1GHz than 400MHz or it won't be much
> > different than the current 433MHz Geode LX. It's still a very slow,
> in-order
> > architecture.
>
> Not sure about Windows or GNOME, but my IMO improvements in storage
> (so NAND plus the filesystem used) and graphics hardware (plus it's
> support by drivers) can improve a lot the performance of Sugar without
> touching the processing power of the cpu.

Indeed, I wouldn't expect to see a revision with more than 512MB of RAM but
it sure will be useful. If the distro is able to fit the 4GB without
compression, while leaving enough free space, that will surely alleviate the
CPU also. Excellent news for sure!
Best regards,
                               Tiago Marques

>
>
> Regards,
>
> Tomeu
>
>
> > Best regards
> >>
> >> The enabling chipset is hot off the fab line, the VX855 [2].  This
> >> single chip provides the memory interface, a 3D graphics engine, an HD
> >> video decoder, USB, SDIO, and other system interface and management
> >> functions, in a low power and small footprint package.   One change
> >> induced by the chipset change is a move from AC'97 to HD Audio.
> >> This brings higher sampling rates and allows an upgrade to a stereo
> >> external microphone (and DC sensor) input.
> >>
> >> The CaFE chip is being retired, and replaced with an external Flash
> >> management controller, possibly one of the low cost SSD controllers
> >> currently being tested.  The camera will now be tied directly to the
> >> VX855's video capture port.
> >>
> >> The network interface will be upgraded to an 88W8686, which will halve
> >> its power dissipation and move it to an SDIO interface (further
> >> dropping the power consumption).   The current goal is to locate it
> >> in a removable module, allowing its replacement for repair.   It will
> >> remain powered while the laptop suspends, waking the laptop if a
> >> packet addressed to it arrives.   It is likely that early production
> >> models will not directly support 802.11s (i.e. forwarding mesh packets
> >> while the interface is asleep), but we are working with Marvell on
> >> several different 802.11s solutions.
> >>
> >> Gen 1.5 will continue with the existing display, although OLPC is
> >> working with PixelQi to try to improve the brightness and efficiency
> >> of the screen.   The DCON is retained (even though the VX855 includes
> >> much of its functionality) as it provides the low power interface and
> >> the timing controller functions for the existing display.
> >>
> >> Overall, the target is to match the Gen 1 XO-1 in power consumption
> >> while making aggressive suspend easier, and in price (while changing
> >> to components which are more likely to decrease in price).   It is
> >> likely that both goals can be met.
> >>
> >> We also expect the Gen 1.5 machines to ship with an OLPC 8.2.x
> >> software release, modified to support Gen 1.5's new hardware but
> >> otherwise unchanged from the current production software release and
> >> compatible with our current software in the field.  Gen 1.5 machines
> >> will be deployed in environments already populated by Gen 1 machines,
> >> so seamless software interoperability is an important goal.
> >>
> >> Early versions of the hardware (bare board) should be available for
> >> driver development at the end of May.   A larger number of prototype
> >> laptops (several hundred) for software development and testing will
> >> become available around the end of August.   The OLPC contributors
> >> program will be the preferred way of requesting a Gen 1.5 machine for
> >> testing your software for compatibility or development.  We hope to
> >> use the contributors program to ensure Gen 1.5 support for the wide
> >> variety of application and OS solutions created for Gen 1.0.
> >>
> >> We're excited to be finally able to make this news public.  While
> >> members of the technical team have been working on this for several
> >> months, it was not until last week that we could with any certainty
> >> say that we were going to refresh the hardware and what that refresh
> >> was likely to be.  We're now committed to this project and look
> >> forward to working with you to make it happen.
> >>
> >> ---John, Ed, and the OLPC Tech team.
> >>
> >> ========
> >>
> >> [1] http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/processors/c7-m_ulv/
> >> [2] http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/chipsets/v-series/vx855
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Devel mailing list
> >> Devel at lists.laptop.org
> >> http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/devel
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Devel mailing list
> > Devel at lists.laptop.org
> > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/devel
> >
> >
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.laptop.org/pipermail/devel/attachments/20090418/7fcc827a/attachment.html>