The OLPC XO-1 is a cyber-hippy's dream come true: a simple, practical wireless laptop packed with cool new technologies and stuffed with open-source software. It's currently not available for sale to consumers, although Negroponte has said that the UK is in line for a 'Give 1, Get 1' donation program during 2008.
The XO-1's primary audience is children, who'll love the bash-it-about ruggedness, textured plastic housing and comfortable built-in grip -- no need for a poncy laptop sleeve here. There are dozens of smart design touches, from the show-off -- flip-up Wi-Fi rabbit ears that also lock the keyboard in place -- to the simply sensible -- the three USB ports are in different orientations to suit different devices and cables.
Open up the 7.5-inch screen and you're faced with a splashproof ZX Spectrum-like rubber keyboard that's definitely on the squashed side for adult fingers. The keys need a good firm press to work, but are very well laid out in a PC style, with dedicated volume and brightness buttons -- but no Caps Lock.
The screen itself has gaming controls on either side -- a direction pad and four action buttons. There's also a button to flip the screen's orientation, as it can rotate through 180-degrees like a tablet, and fold back in over the keyboard. In normal use, the screen is a decent full-color affair that's fine for Web browsing. But pull the brightness down to its minimum level and the LCD transforms into an ultra-sharp mono display that looks fantastic in full sunlight -- and saves power, too.
A modest 433MHz processor has to handle operating system, software and graphics all on its own, with just 256MB of RAM to work with, and a mere 1GB of Flash memory storage. Multimedia features are pretty good -- a built-in VGA webcam can capture video at up to 30fps, and the stereo speakers are loud, if tinny.
Forget Vista or even XP -- the XO-1 struggles to run Linux under a super-minimalist GUI called Sugar. Supplied as standard are basic word processing, paint, calculator, chat, RSS and games software. The browser, based on Firefox, is great, and an open source Flash player (Gnash) even lets it work with some rich content Web sites (although none that use Java).
Creative tools are especially well represented. The TamTam music creation suite includes easy to use composition, sequencing and even synth tools, and there are numerous programming/scripting gadgets to introduce kids smoothly to computing.
It's easy to download new software from OLPC's online library, and the selection of titles (all free and open-source) is growing daily. Loading software and switching between packages isn't seamless however: there are delays and crashes.
Because there's no hard drive, the XO-1 is completely silent in use and doesn't get hot. Battery life is a healthy three hours, depending on multimedia use, thanks to clever new controllers that power down a large portion of the chipset when it's idle.
In short, this is a device for people who want to interact with the world beyond their keyboard. In an era when downloading other people's creativity accounts for 80 per cent of all Internet traffic, that can only be a good thing.
Specifications:
The XO-1's primary audience is children, who'll love the bash-it-about ruggedness, textured plastic housing and comfortable built-in grip -- no need for a poncy laptop sleeve here. There are dozens of smart design touches, from the show-off -- flip-up Wi-Fi rabbit ears that also lock the keyboard in place -- to the simply sensible -- the three USB ports are in different orientations to suit different devices and cables.
Open up the 7.5-inch screen and you're faced with a splashproof ZX Spectrum-like rubber keyboard that's definitely on the squashed side for adult fingers. The keys need a good firm press to work, but are very well laid out in a PC style, with dedicated volume and brightness buttons -- but no Caps Lock.
The screen itself has gaming controls on either side -- a direction pad and four action buttons. There's also a button to flip the screen's orientation, as it can rotate through 180-degrees like a tablet, and fold back in over the keyboard. In normal use, the screen is a decent full-color affair that's fine for Web browsing. But pull the brightness down to its minimum level and the LCD transforms into an ultra-sharp mono display that looks fantastic in full sunlight -- and saves power, too.
A modest 433MHz processor has to handle operating system, software and graphics all on its own, with just 256MB of RAM to work with, and a mere 1GB of Flash memory storage. Multimedia features are pretty good -- a built-in VGA webcam can capture video at up to 30fps, and the stereo speakers are loud, if tinny.
Forget Vista or even XP -- the XO-1 struggles to run Linux under a super-minimalist GUI called Sugar. Supplied as standard are basic word processing, paint, calculator, chat, RSS and games software. The browser, based on Firefox, is great, and an open source Flash player (Gnash) even lets it work with some rich content Web sites (although none that use Java).
Creative tools are especially well represented. The TamTam music creation suite includes easy to use composition, sequencing and even synth tools, and there are numerous programming/scripting gadgets to introduce kids smoothly to computing.
It's easy to download new software from OLPC's online library, and the selection of titles (all free and open-source) is growing daily. Loading software and switching between packages isn't seamless however: there are delays and crashes.
Because there's no hard drive, the XO-1 is completely silent in use and doesn't get hot. Battery life is a healthy three hours, depending on multimedia use, thanks to clever new controllers that power down a large portion of the chipset when it's idle.
In short, this is a device for people who want to interact with the world beyond their keyboard. In an era when downloading other people's creativity accounts for 80 per cent of all Internet traffic, that can only be a good thing.
Specifications:
- Processor type: Geode LX-700
- Processor manufacturer: AMD
- RAM installed: 256 MB
- RAM technology: 133MHz DRAM
- Motherboard Chipset type: x86 compatible processor with 128KB cache
- Hard drive size: 1 GB
- USB: 3
- Wireless networking: Yes
- Input devices: VGA camera
- Display technology: Dual-mode TFT (mono/colour)
- Display diagonal size: 7.5 in.
- Maximum resolution: 1200x900 pixels
- Soundcard: Integrated
- Audio inputs/outputs: Headphone out, microphone in
- Built-in speakers: Yes
- Estimated battery life (mfr): 3 hours
- Operating system: Linux
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