Talk:OLPC FAQ: Difference between revisions

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If you posted a question here it has either moved to the [[Ask OLPC a Question]] or included in the main [[OLPC_FAQ]]
'Others have already started a website that sells our laptop for $300, so the balance of money can be used to support the poorest children.'


==The FAQ could use some organization==
Where is this website? It might be good to have a link so interested parties can sign up. -[[User:206.58.200.30|206.58.200.30]] 19:35, 12 February 2006 (EST)
I was thinking breaking the Questions into catagories to make finding questions Easier. Some of the catagories I was thinkin of were
*Introduction - i.e. what is the OLPC
*Impact
*Design
**General
**Software
**Hardware
*Distribution
It would reduce the number of redundant questions and make finding the needed information much easier. I'll start working on this later tonight once I have some free time. Also if you have an sugestions for catagories feel free to post--[[User:Stranger|Stranger]] 14:28, 13 June 2006 (EDT)


Oh and one more thing. What does everyone think of an Ask a Question Page?--[[User:Stranger|Stranger]] 20:12, 13 June 2006 (EDT)
http://www.pledgebank.com/100laptop [[User:Foneros|Foneros]] 11:33, 25 May 2006 (EDT)


Here's what I'm thinking of....[[Ask OLPC a Question]]
== Which countries are confirmed? ==


Alright I did it and everything is about done. If you have any suggestions or comments I'd be interested in hearing them. Also I might have misplaced a question or 2 so feel free to move questions around.--[[User:Stranger|Stranger]] 21:46, 13 June 2006 (EDT)
Why not have the product available to poverty level children in the USA? We have an art project for low income kids that could use this.
http://www.riversidenet.info/


I'm wondering if it wouldn't be better to break this FAQ up into multiple pages. Something like a page for hardware questions, a page for software questions, etc.--[[User:Stranger|Stranger]] 01:00, 14 June 2006 (EDT)

I remember reading something about Costa Rica, is this Central Anmerican country at the project? --[[User:Dagoflores|Dagoflores]] 02:57, 19 March 2006 (EST) Answer: ___

== Where/how should interested parties ask questions about OLPC? ==
I think it would be useful to put that question in the FAQ (aka "What if my question isn't listed here in the FAQ?")

A very nice idea. --[[User:Walter|Walter]]

In addition to the FAQ, I wonder if an "AQ"--Asked Questions, i.e. not necessarily frequent--area might be useful, since many people might come with a specific question or two, but might not easily find what they want by browsing the wiki.

Perhaps we can use this Talk page for these sorts of things. --[[User:Walter|Walter]]

Here are some questions of mine (Qwertie):

* I've heard that individuals won't be allowed to buy OLPC laptops, or that it won't be available to the public. If so, why not? Wouldn't it be good for the project? You can sell them without having to provide a general-purpose OS preinstalled, after all.
* OLPC relies on economy of scale to reach low prices. To improve scale, why not sell important parts separately from the laptop? For example, the screen technology could be sold for use in home theatre remotes and in-car computers at higher prices to subsidize OLPC somewhat. Assuming there is some central OLPC organization with employees, I would suggest creating a few non-laptop departments focused on other mass-market uses of the technology--then again, attempting to find companies that would be interesting in buying a million or two units might be a better strategy.

I feel like restricting the laptop and its components to one purpose is unnecessary--then again, I haven't studied the problem. Maybe someone can explain why it's necessary, but I wonder if it's just a lack of managerial resources.

The bottom line is that our mission is learning, not laptops. While we will be working with a commercial partner at some point for both machines and interesting parts--we've been looking at models where by the commercial side can help drive down the cost for the kids--our immediate priority is the non-commercial machine. --[[User:Walter|Walter]]

== What is the $100 Laptop, really? ==

I moved these discussions from the article page to this discussion page. [[User:Walter|Walter]] 01:57, 5 May 2006 (EDT)

Hello. Wouldn't it be better to have a small HD instead? As far as I know, Flash memory has a much higher Gb cost than that of a standard HD. I also know that there are ridiculously small HDs with really large storage capacity, at least in comparison to the meager 512Mb you currently propose. Wouldn't a larger capacity storage help to extend the life of such a machine?

:The biggest single point of failure of laptops is the HD. We are opting for robustness over more on-board storage. Synchronization with the "school server" should help mitigate some of the capacity challenges raised. [[User:Walter|Walter]] 02:03, 5 May 2006 (EDT)

Somewhere in this wiki (in the discussion of system software), the starting paragraph "seriously questions" Linux for OLPC. But in this FAQ, it starts off by saying it will be Linux-based. To cut short the argument, why not try [[PuppyLinux]] now so that the project can move forward to content, training and localization concerns?

:The Fedora kernel[http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/OLPC] is sufficiently far-enough along that developers can start exploring some of these higher-level issues. Also, we hope that many of these issues will be addressed upstream such that they benefit the entire community, not just those using this particular platform. [[User:Walter|Walter]] 02:03, 5 May 2006 (EDT)

== How do I request an answer? ==
How do I request an answer? --[[User:Dagoflores|Dagoflores]] 01:45, 24 May 2006 (EDT)
:What is the question in question? [[User:Walter|Walter]] 06:37, 24 May 2006 (EDT)

== Cambodia test? ==
The FAQ mentions Cambodia twice. Can you link to more information about the pilot
in Cambodia? Or provide details about it in the FAQ? When? How many devices? What hardware?
What ages? What type of network access? What software was used? What operating systems?

== *BSD operating systems ==
Has there been work with using any BSD operating systems on the hardware? journaling flash
file system for any BSD?


== Inclusion of BASIC / easy to learn programming? ==

The inclusion of BASIC in the early home computers in the west created a generation of children who could program, many of whom turned into professional programmers. The UK IT industry for one owes a lot to these early home computers. Will a language, such as BASIC, be included with these laptops? - Dan Huby, dan at huby dot me dot uk.

:We will ship with at least three "Turing machines": Python, Javascript, and Logo. [[User:Walter|Walter]] 14:44, 24 May 2006 (EDT)

== How will these socieites will be impacted ==

How will the poorest socieites in the world will be impacted by a sudden injection of technology on this scale? This is a critical question that needs much deeper answers than this FAQ has given. I've added [http://www.everythingisok.org/archives/20051220/66/100-questions some necessary questions] to dig deeper:

* How will the success of the project be gauged?
* How much research has been conducted on how the societies will be impacted?
* How will family, community, and religious structures that have existed for generations be impacted?
* How will the project affect relationships between generations or traditional social structures based on age?
[[User:Everythingisok|Everythingisok]] 11:21, 25 May 2006 (EDT)


==Does anyone remember the Cybiko?==

I made a quick page about it, [[Cybiko]], and I can add more if anyone wants to know. This was back in 2001 that I spent 24/7/365 working with the device over RS-232. http://wiki.laptop.org/index.php/Cybiko

== Would optional sound capabilities lower the price? ==
I wonder if the sound capabilities are really necessary, an option would be to leave them out to lower the price of the basic PC, and produce an optional USB device for sound capabilities for those that need it (blind people, analphabets learning to read, etc.). --[[User:Dagoflores|Dagoflores]] 01:04, 17 March 2006 (EST)

:: The sound card can also do modem. A modem can attach to radio and phone lines, that gives you the internet. [[User:62.252.0.11|62.252.0.11]] 10:12, 18 March 2006 (EST)

::Music is fundumental and will not be compromised. We will have sound. Also the microphone input can be used for sensor input. Finally, a modem is of little use without a phone. [[User:Walter|Walter]] 10:56, 26 May 2006 (EDT)

== Will the display be able to rotate orientation?? ==
I visualize a display with the ability to switch orientation, from a horizontal (traditional PC) display for work with width needs, such as Internet pages, into a vertical (book page format) for reading e-books, with the lines running vertically, hopefully in two columns of text, (which has been demostrated to be easier to read, and to add graphics into it at one column width). --[[User:Dagoflores|Dagoflores]] 00:54, 17 March 2006 (EST)
Answer: ____ not yet. --[[User:Dagoflores|Dagoflores]] 13:48, 23 March 2006 (EST)

::yes [[User:Walter|Walter]] 11:00, 26 May 2006 (EDT)

== What software will be used with the $100 laptop? ==

* (User-contributed) - [[PuppyLinux]] is one open-source project very much suited to the OLPC machine. Its creator and lead developer is an Australian professor, Barry Kauler, bkauler at goosee dot com.

== FAQ from Teachers ==
I was talking with some teachers in Laos about this project.
Here the FAQ from teachers [[OLPC_Laos]].

== Wording ==
Is "olpc" and the "$100 Computer" the same?

Latest revision as of 06:58, 17 December 2008

If you posted a question here it has either moved to the Ask OLPC a Question or included in the main OLPC_FAQ

The FAQ could use some organization

I was thinking breaking the Questions into catagories to make finding questions Easier. Some of the catagories I was thinkin of were

  • Introduction - i.e. what is the OLPC
  • Impact
  • Design
    • General
    • Software
    • Hardware
  • Distribution

It would reduce the number of redundant questions and make finding the needed information much easier. I'll start working on this later tonight once I have some free time. Also if you have an sugestions for catagories feel free to post--Stranger 14:28, 13 June 2006 (EDT)

Oh and one more thing. What does everyone think of an Ask a Question Page?--Stranger 20:12, 13 June 2006 (EDT)

Here's what I'm thinking of....Ask OLPC a Question

Alright I did it and everything is about done. If you have any suggestions or comments I'd be interested in hearing them. Also I might have misplaced a question or 2 so feel free to move questions around.--Stranger 21:46, 13 June 2006 (EDT)

I'm wondering if it wouldn't be better to break this FAQ up into multiple pages. Something like a page for hardware questions, a page for software questions, etc.--Stranger 01:00, 14 June 2006 (EDT)