No subject

initiative has been working on is targetted towards somewhat older
kids, kids who will soon start "working", and aims at providing basic
computer related skills (eg: Word Processing, using Spreadsheets, etc)
to them (the kids).
The OLPC software environment, on the other hand, is _primarily_ for
much younger kids, and the aim is to make learning (not just
computers) more meaningful and involving - as some people put it, it
aims towards "learning by doing". The laptop is here, just a
educational tool, like a slate, or a pencil, or a book.

I do not see any reason, why the two cannot co-exist together. In
fact, I think the two efforts complement each other quite nicely.

As for technical issues like fonts - I think we can sort them out -
Sugar and the other activities are quite minimalistic when it comes to
textual information on the UI. I have 0 knowledge about Khmer, but I
can definitely try to help you guys out if you want sugar to handle
your language properly. And what's more - if you want to run Sugar on
a low cost desktop system that has already been deployed - yes,
definitely you can run it, maybe with some tweaks.

Yes, the XO laptop might be one of the most valuable things that a
family might have (as Jim often seems to mention in his presentations,
in many situations, the XO is the first artificial light source for
the kid's homes in many cases), and the idea of selling the laptop
might be tempting for many parents. There are many ways in which this
can be handled - search wiki.laptop.org for "theft" and "resale" for
ideas/proposals and actual implementations. I would specially
recommend http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_Bitfrost#P_THEFT:_anti-theft_protection.

In short - there are difficulties. No one ever claimed that this is
going to be a smooth ride. There are numerous issues to be solved,
numerous problems to be tackled. But I do believe that with everyone's
help and support, we are going to reach our goal :).

Hope I managed to address at least some of your concerns.

Thanks,
Sayamindu

Disclaimer: All of the opinion above represent my own personal views
and thoughts.



On Fri, Feb 22, 2008 at 8:48 PM, Javier SOLA <javier at khmeros.info> wrote:
> Gerard,
>
>  I know that this is the wrong forum, but here is how I see it.
>
>  There are number of technical problems that any computer for Khmer or
>  Cambodia has to solve.
>
>  - The first one is the difference in size in letters. Some letter are
>  five times smaller than others. In small text (for a small screem like
>  the XO) you cannot see the small letters.
>  - Spacing between lines in Khmer is double than in English (only half
>  the entries fit in a given menu)
>  - The second one is that these FOSS applications for which there are
>  already books and training materials in Khmer... cannot run in the XO
>  because of its specs (small screen, little memory and little storage).
>  - The target public for teaching ICT in schools is upper secondary
>  schools, not primary schools, because they will join the labor force
>  soon, and the county needs them.
>  - The only realistic way to teach is in the schools with a trained
>  teacher. Training teachers, specially in remote areas is very very
>  expensive.
>  - Maintenance of laptops is an huge issue.
>  - The price of a laptop is the money that a rural family needs for one
>  year... at the minimal problem, the laptop will go (for $25, because
>  nobody can pay more)
>



-- 
Sayamindu Dasgupta
[http://sayamindu.randomink.org/ramblings]