[OLPC-Philippines] OLPC Pilot Enquiry

[Jerome Gotangco]

On Thu, May 28, 2009 at 8:15 PM, Milagros simpson <milagros8 at bigpond.com> wrote:
> What is your view on the green laptop, does it work like a 'proper'
> computer.  Can a child be comfortable to shift from the green laptop to a
> 'real' laptop?

Hi,

I'd like to answer this on a technical point of view.

The XO-1 laptop is the first generation release of the said machine
from OLPC. The architecture of this laptop is similar to that of
conventional laptops with the exception of a few things:

1. The CPU is x86, meaning that it is similar to most machines running
an Intel processor. However, the XO-1 device runs at 433MHz which is
enough to run conventional applications. The unique proposition of
this processor is the low power requirements.

2. The laptop has a unique display at a resolution of 1200x900 with
two modes: A reflective monochrome mode which provides a paper-like
display when used under direct sunlight; and a backlit color mode.

3. The XO-1 memory is at 256MB running at 133MHz, and the storage is
at 1GB NAND flash.

So looking at this specs, this is comparable to a laptop during the
late 90s/early 2000, but the thing is that, you don't need Gigahertz
of power to provide an educational platform at the lowest cost
possible. The XO-1 was designed for that, along with the Sugar
interface.

A few months after the general release of the XO-1 and through the
G1G1 program, the community were able to provide alternative systems
to the XO-1 despite its limited hardware. We now have full blown
operating systems like Ubuntu and Debian running with the use of the
SD card or USB sticks (3 slots are provided).

There is an expected hardware "refresh" of laptop, the XO-1.5 by the
end of the year. This would be the same form factor of the laptop,
with a more powerful CPU, more generous amount of memory and flash
storage to enable a full blown operating system to run natively when
needed. This roadmap provides an opportunity for a student who starts
with a simple interface (Sugar) to a more complex one (like Gnome)
when needed (say a student moves from grade school to high school).

Physically, the laptop was designed for little hands so grown up kids
to teenagers would most likely have more problems using it than a
conventional laptop. Although this is a physical limitation of the
device and not with the software.

Jerome

-- 
Jerome G.

Pinoy Tech Podcast: http://www.pinoytechpodcast.com
Blog: http://blog.gotangco.com