english | español | 한국어 HowTo [ID# 69683] +/-

Add a question | See all questions | Reorganize questions

This section is for new questions for OLPC. Please read through Ask OLPC a Question before adding a question here.

archives: through 2006; Jan-Jun 2007

Image about the World Summit in Tunisia

Hello, I am writing an article in the german Wikipedia on the "100-Dollar-Laptop" aka "Children's Machine" (link: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/100-Dollar-Laptop). I would like to add an image showing Nicholas Negroponte and Kofi Annan in Tunisia on the World Summit. Unfortunately on flickr there is no photo, which is compatible zu the gnu-licence. Only Creative Commons 2.5. with the right of commercial use and of course the gnu-licence are allowed to be uploaded in Wikipedia. Do you have such a picture in your portfolio? Can you upload this picture with compatible licence on Wikipedia?

In my opinion such a picture would have positive impact on OLPC's image. If you google for "Children's Machine" the german Wikipedia-article has the best page rank. You can contact me on the german Wikipedia, search word "Betbuster".

Thanks, Wikipedia user: Betbuster 134.2.57.213 09:20, 19 December 2006 (EST)

Maximum Altitude Spec

According to the Hardware specification the Maximum altitude: -15m to 3048m (14.7 to 10.1 psia) (operating), -15m to 12192m (14.7 to 4.4 psia) (non-operating... would it be possible to operate (safely) above that altitude? After all, in the Andes (and I'll assume the Himalayas) many people live higher... El Alto 4150m, Potosi 3967m, etc... --Xavi 12:47, 30 November 2006 (EST)

Usability and User Testing

There is very little public information about requirements gathering, usability and user testing. In other words, how do you know whether the OLPC (i) will meet your users' needs and (ii) is easy enough for them to use? Have the target user groups been characterized? What ongoing plans do you have for this? I`d Like test the OLPC in Argentina, Please contct with me to know how. Thanks.

As far as I know, there are two local groups in Argentina with test boards (don't know if anybody has the 2B1/XO prototypes though). They are Ututo and Tuquito. I know Ututo had some explicit arrangements to let other people use/test the boards. If anybody knows about other groups (or about any local XOs) please let me know (or post in the OLPC Argentina pages. --Xavi 07:23, 6 December 2006 (EST)

There is more to life and education than requirements gathering. Usability and testing are of course important, and on-going. Research is often just trial, error, and adjustment. If you want, you can participate by setting up an emulator and seeing how the software works now. The research is going on now, and you can participate. Exciting, don't you think? -Jeff 21:47, 9 March 2007 (EST)

What about usability testing for children? A recent article quoted the OLPC chairman as saying: "Granted, I'm not a child. I don't know if it's going to be intuitive to children." Was there research?

Deployment Criteria & Metrics

Although these issues are basically 'national' prerogatives, is there anything being done at the OLPC level? In many countries, 1 million laptops will either be too little or too much. All along, before, during and after the deployment they should be able to assess the result of the effort (metrics), be it to keep the course, or change things, or try new things, etc.

We do not believe there is such a thing as too little. In countries where 1 million laptops is too many, we won't be able to do an early deployment, but we do expect that after a few million units are in the field, there will be other organizations who will deploy smaller quantities to smaller countries, such as many island nations. In fact, Libya has announced their intention to buy laptops for some poorer African nations.

I think that spanish speaking latin american countries do fit in a gray-zone there; there are many that individually would have to wait for later stages, but together they could probably put something - ie: central american countries.

As far ans metrics are concerned, we take that very seriously both in the design of the laptops and in the whole deployment process. We are constantly measuring, analysing and making course corrections based on the data. We will continue to do so.

Seriousness is good. Transparency too. :) I've somehow managed to reach the Pilot Projects#Diversity Matrix, which I find a bit shallow and unstructured for my taste, so I'm assuming that more structured guidelines are being thought out, planned and to be published, right? After all, as the proposers of the idea, the performance analysis and other measurements should be your domain of expertise. For example, which population segment is known to make the most out of the laptop experience? Is income considered a (key) factor? People with very-low, low, medium, high, or very-high income are 'all equal' or they somehow 'profit' differently in respect to their original educational levels? Under all circumstances?

I'm well aware that these are mostly unanswered questions (I'm not looking for an answer here) and will be subject to many factors and variables; notwithstanding, what kind of information is being thought as necessary to evaluate or consider? All I'm asking is to be able to see the guidelines - and hopefully a way to collaborate.--Xavi 17:04, 9 December 2006 (EST)

Support for Self-Learners

However, what about those children who cannot attend to schools and have no teachers, which is not uncommon in really poor 3rd world countries? I still cannot imagine how illiterate kids (probably having illiterate parents) teach themselves the usage of the OLPC laptop and moreover teach themselves basic reading, writing and math.

The goal of the project is to provide/propose to governments a laptop that is (financially) cheap enough to be massively distributed to kids while being powerful enough to do all sorts of things. It'll be upto those governments to decide how they'll be deployed, what content will be included (and/or developed), etc. In some target countries schooling is so widespread making your scenario a marginal one (but nevertheless important). In other countries, I agree, things are quite the opposite. An interesting reading is the Learning Vision and its reference to the CREATE project in Costa Rica, where some families moved into a town that had 1:1 computer education just so that their kids would have access to that kind of education. IOW, the population pro-actively flocked to that schooling system.

If you can't imagine how kids can use a computer for learning in the absence of teachers then you need to read about the Hole In The Wall Project in India.

Accessibility

What mechanism olpc is going to adopt to make it accessable for child with physical disabilities? Will there be seperate keyboards for blind with braile? Will there be alternate input methods for child with dysfunctioning hands?

--Ankur Sharma, olpc Nepal

As far as I know, OLPC keybords are standardized for each country's language/s, but not braille. The OLPC has 3 USB ports to which external (braille) keyboards may be connected (quick search and sample result or alternative method). In order to better gauge the dimension of the issue, the World Health Organization (WHO) has some statistics on the incidence of blindness.

I have posted some observations about Dasher as an alternative input method, not only for physical disabilities but general use too. --Xavi 09:45, 21 December 2006 (EST)

Further to the question above, does the OLPC initiative include distributing laptops to children who are currently going through patient care in a hospital setting? And if so do you have links to devices that can allow a child to utilize a laptop from a hospital bed (i.e., wall mounted mechanical laptop ARM)? This is a great initiative!!!

Regards CReid

Technically, it's the governments buying the laptop that will distribute them (not the OLPC), and while I see no difference between a child in a hospital bed or a cabin in the mountains (from a distribution PoV), my guess is that hospitals in these countries have other priorities to allocate their budgets instead of fancy trays (as cool as they might be ;) --Xavi 08:05, 23 January 2007 (EST)

As a representative of an NGO type organization I just recently commented to a UN officer about a similar subject. “Fancy Trays”' are not always at the request of the country or donor agency in general. Part of what makes these items or services that may not at first glance seem functional is the vision of the donor. Just like the water go round in Africa sponsored by Ex US president Bill Clinton and the water see saw in another nation that promotes the washing of your hands. It is not always up to the receiver in what it is they are to receive . There are also many sites that go in-depth about theses issues and the how and why's of the matters. If you are interested in finding out more you can direct searches about: third world programs, world aid and I am sure you can find more information as to why a fancy tray may have been purchased or donated as well as many other interesting things.

I question whether there is some benefit for us or you by getting involved

We are a St. Louis MO based charity doing Health Related activity in many poor parts of the world including Ecuador, Africa, Asia etc. We have recently been asked by Ecuador officials to assist in several different activates, including build schools, clinics, furnish computers etc.(we have a current request for 100 computers that we are trying to fulfill.

Or name is Wings of Hope and you can view our website at www.wings-of-hope.org to get some idea of what we do and who we do it for, both locally and around the world. We are a volunteer organization with pilots, nurses and support people stationed in many countries in poverty stricken areas. We are non political, non religious based, have no ethnic motivations nor any other motivation based issues except to help people in need.

We furnish air transport service to poor people in the central part of the United States to get them to health care facilities. We set up health clinics in poor areas of the US and we Donate aircraft to many areas of the world to be used as Air Ambulances. The website above will reveal a lot about Wings of Hope activates.

I saw the article in Popular Science about your computers and I just feel there is something that we can offer that will advance your cause. Our relationships appear to be with the kind of folks you are trying to reach. If you feel we can be of any assistance to your efforts, we would like to discuss the issue(s).

Please Contact our Director, MR. Douglas Clements, www.woh206@earthlink.net or,.

Keith Barbero, WOH Board Member

Contribution towards Programming

Hello,

I am really interested in contributing towards the programming efforts in linux kernel and python. Please let me know how shall I proceed and start contributing towards it?

Suresh, Bangalore, India.

Suresh, check this page "Getting involved in OLPC" and this page"OLPC Python Environment" -Jeff

Volunteering

How does a computer science professional contact OPLC about volunteering their time to help deploy the laptops and train new users? Is there an affliation with GeekCorps?

See the section about Ask OLPC a Question about Distribution#Training & Capacity Building... but in general, that is upto the deploying countries to decide how it'll work - you should contact that side of the equation (or any organizations they name when the time comes).--Xavi 17:54, 13 January 2007 (EST)

Where can I see an OLPC in the UK?

Hi,

I'm really interested in the OLPC project, and often add things to the wiki... But I've never actually seen one in real life... How many are there in the UK, and what are the chances of actually viewing one? Maybe you should do a grand tour?!

Well, you can try the alpha software in emulation: Using QEMU on Windows XP. If you run into problems, you'll have to research and learn. --Jeff 27 Feb 2007

What about American Senior Citizens?

Why are American Senior Citizens being excluded from this very worthwhile project? As a computer-literate senior citizen I have found that most wives (mine included) in the senior age category will be computer-helpless when they become widowed. Please, puhleeeeze consider opening the OLPC program to American seniors who have been left behind in the current computer obsessed world. Thanx, M. Zipes, Poughkeepsie, NY (Moved question originally posted by 69.121.101.152 in Image talk:Contentatlaptop.png.

Uh? Not only this question was out of place, but also, dare say, conceptually. OLPC = One Laptop Per CHILD. In the best of worlds, it would be One Laptop Per CITIZEN—regardless of nationality, age, etc. but it's not the case. Children are the priority, and in developing countries.

A more congenial answer would be to point you to OLPC4USA and ask you to lobby your government with them.--Xavi 09:59, 2 January 2007 (EST)

there are classes available almost anywhere in the US for any adult, and specifically seniors, to take. in addition, US seniors, as a group, are the wealthiest people on the planet. your wife has a computer in the house and does not learn. puhleeeeze think of others who do not have the resources and try to help them. dee pearson

-- I think that there are some related questions for Seniors where at least referals to other organizations or resources would be useful. There are a lot of seniors out there that are afflicted with alzheimers or other dementia that have earlier been used to using computers, even if only playing games such as solitaire. When they get into this state, finding almost anything to help keep their mind occupied and exercised is a blessing. Trying to get them to learn to do anything different than what they are used to doing is a challenge, even if very simple, so something like this device dedicated to being used for one software app they've used in the past would be ideal.

It's hard to justify spending top dollar for a computer this day and age that isn't designed for simplicity of doing single, simple programs designed more for exercising one's aging brain, than to help encourage kids to start simple and be conditioned to grow to more heights later. Therefore the physical needs for a device is very similar to what the OLPC provides, even if the goal and usage objectives are very different than that of children. It would be helpful to know if there are plans for selling used OLPC devices for seniors, or other projects that are more targeted to use by seniors in this fashion. Not all seniors are wealthy and those afflicted by dementia often are institutionalized and costing their families quite a bit, and aren't able to afford the additional expense of such a device. Our rest home is already complaining about how my father is becoming too much of a pest using their computer to play solitaire on. I'd like to find something affordable to keep him occupied instead. OLPC seems to be the only thing close out there to what would be an ideal machine. I suspect that there are many concerned relatives like myself out there with similar needs. (mike n.)

I agree that the OLPC sounds pretty good for seniors (aside from the tiny keys and lack of a mouse). Until the OLPC (or a similar device) becomes commercially available, though, have you considered a tablet PC or an "internet appliance", like the Nokia 770 or the PepperPad? I believe there is also a collection of card games available for the Nintendo DS, as well as several games specifically designed for "brain exercise" (although the smaller screen may be a problem). —Joe 16:38, 7 May 2007 (EDT)

Beyond education

These machines could be used by adults as well as kids. Surely selling crafts on ebay, checking which markets have the best prices for livestock and downloading info on AIDS would be a great use for these. Why the exclusive focus on education, and the consequential skew to mesh networking?

See Earth Treasury for business, mapping, research on poverty, and other programs. Mesh networking is useful for any collaboration, including business. --Mokurai 18:36, 6 July 2007 (EDT)

--And if the IT companies can offer the kids after-school paid assignments like light programming and data entry tasks for like 1-2 hrs a day, it will also solve the problem of the kids or their parents selling the laptops for food money

JK, USA

First, the OLPC laptops have no Internet access and the users likely will not speak English. Forget ebay.

They can access the Internet, if Internet is available in the area, and there are local programs run by Novica and others to support sellers in Africa and Asia. In addition, eBay supports several languages other than English. In every former colony, there are lots of people who speak the language of their former masters, usually one of English, French, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, German, and Russian. Overstock.com was certified after the war as the largest employer in Afghanistan. --Mokurai 18:36, 6 July 2007 (EDT)

Second, you point out that the devices would be great for educating about AIDS and then ask, "Why the focus on education?". Thirdly you suggest that kids could do "light programming" to earn money but you ignore the fact that education is required to be a programmer. India is an example of this. It has a good education system producing many skilled programmers who were unable to find work locally. This was exploited by foreign companies who offshored their programming needs. But it all began with "education". Now, perhaps you see why the OLPC project focus is on education first. --Memracom 05:14, 13 January 2007 (EST)

Yes, education is needed for programming. And the children will be educated in Smalltalk and Python by using the XO. With appropriate typing tutor software, they can be ready for data entry within two or three months. --Mokurai 18:36, 6 July 2007 (EDT)

---Yes but you cant ignore Maslow's hierarchy of needs. A starving kid with a starving family at home will not see OLPC as an education tool but instead as something he can sell to buy food. Exploitation in India by international IT companies may be morally wrong by the developed world standards but the alternative for indian programmers to that kind of exploitation is unemployment. I'm not ignoring the fact that one needs education to be a programmer, OLPC can provide that education. "Education first" slogan sounds great, but realistically speaking you can't skip the layers in Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

Programmers in India do not feel exploited just because they make less than programmers in the US. Living expenses are also much lower in India. In fact, there is a significant trend of programmers returning to India, particularly those who are in a position to start their own businesses. --Mokurai 18:36, 6 July 2007 (EDT)

The interesting thing about Maslow and technology is that it sometimes results are counter-intuitive. For example, many reports have been written about how cell-phone technology actually has improved the standard of living for subsistence farmers, fishermen, etc. because they extend one basic need: communication & mobility (two things targeted by thinlaptop). --Xavi 08:58, 17 January 2007 (EST)

Similarly the ITC e-choupal project in India has substantially raised income for village farmers, just by placing one computer per village with free access for farmers to the Chicago Board of Trade, along with a commitment to buy at a stated discount from those prices. Analysis in Harvard Business Review.--Mokurai 18:36, 6 July 2007 (EDT)

I am asking the same question as JK. What happens once the kids have bridged the technological gap? Some might consider this question to be beyond the scope of this project but surely it is the next vital step. Its also in my mind that old chicken and egg situation. Unless there is a real opportunity the chances are that a hungry child will sell their heritage for a crust of bread.

See Earth Treasury for projects aiming to teach children how to start businesses, so that there will be enough jobs for everybody else. --Mokurai 18:36, 6 July 2007 (EDT)

I have been asking this question for the last couple of years and not having much faith in government and the system believe the answer is to empower an individual within a community and to rely on the natural process of things to bring about a situation where one mentors their peers. Theoretically it is possible for anyone with a reasonable grasp of English to make themselves useful on the net and to earn $200 or $250 a month. All thats needed to make this work is a vision and the structure to drive it. rainchild ZA

I favor empowering the whole community and everyone in it, using the Sarvodaya model. Otherwise, I agree with you. Although it isn't just theory, and they can make more than that. I have a vision, and I'm building a structure at Earth Treasury. Would you like to join us? --Mokurai 18:36, 6 July 2007 (EDT)

Basic concept

Isn't the idea of this as a laptop a bit limiting? Why can't it be a phone, a lamp, a radio or whatever too? All this could be added very cheaply, and features like the swivelly screen seem such a distraction compared to such basics. Cellphone technology would also enable this to be networked over much larger distances.

because a phone, a lamp, or a radio doesn't make a great learning tool like a laptop does. Cellphones have limited capabilities like the screensize, lack of fullsize keyboard, costly airtimes, data storage etc. A radio doesn't allow interactive learning like a laptop does. A lamp is a necessity but with the LCD screen in the laptop the child will be able to read and do his homework in dark. OLPC project isn't about providing them with life's basic necessities, it's about giving children a great tool for education so that they can learn skills to end povery and hunger in their communities in future.

JK, USA

Indeed the idea of this as a laptop is a bit limiting. The OLPC project has put a considerable effort into making this much more than a laptop. If a student wants to use it as a lamp, they can because they are the producers of the electricity required. If they want to communicate with their friends, not only can they send text messages and SVG drawings, they can also record messages and share activities that they have programmed. This is far more flexible than existing cellular phones. The main thing missing is the long range communications ability of cellular but since that comes with a very steep fee per minute of use, it won't be missed. Because the OLPC laptop is an open system it will allow people to build low-cost cellular bypass systems like Motoman.--Memracom 05:21, 13 January 2007 (EST)

Science curriculum

I do not see any content related sections for the sciences (physics, chemistry, biology) and math. Can you please point me to that section or include this in your curriculum?

Every page has a search section in the column on the left. If you don't see something in the table of contents then use the search capabilities to find it. If you still can't find something which you think should be on the wiki, then start a new page and write an outline of what you think we should have. Others will fill in that outline for you. If you return in a week or two, you will have your answer. --Memracom 05:23, 13 January 2007 (EST)

does OLPC not serve to widen the gap between the haves and have nots?

My question is, by not supporting any of the common technology in the first world, and forcing a totally unique paradigm of user interface and technology, how is it that these disadvantaged societies will become more "advantaged"? It seems that a proprietary system will only serve to make a greater distinction between the poor and the rich.

--Ryan Cameron, Haberman Educational Foundation

the OLPC and its Sugar User Interface are NOT a proprietary System. The technologies are open source and built on a tried and tested Kernel and Operating System. in fact, the OLPC's use of Free/Open Source technology will serve to ensure that children are not forced to think like the ms drones of today who believe that computer literacy is knowing how to operate MS Excel. These children are being given a computer where nothing is hidden from them, the internals of the operating system are there for them to inspect, learn from, and hopefully learn to improve. the sugar ui only serves to simplify things for the children until they are ready to look further into the OS and see what makes it tick. ideally in 10 years or so, these children will have an understanding of computers that greatly exceeds the children in our own developed countries because they are not forced into a proprietary paradigm of computing. If we gave these children a copy of windows on every laptop, what purpose would that serve? they could learn to use the applications that they are given, but that is NOT What this is about. the children need to learn how computers work and why they work the way they do, this cannot be accomplished with a closed-source proprietary operating system. I believe it is especially important that these children are able to see and improve the source code of these systems, that way, when they are older and have learned enough, they will have a new outlook on computing, much different from our own. their ideas of how to interact with computers will lead to new innovative software that will benefit everyone. diversity is important and we are giving these children the opportunity to progress in their own direction without the preconcieved notions that the rest of us have from being exposed to Windows and Mac OS for so long.

to Summarize, since I rambled so much, your question is completely backwards. the disadvantage is OURS, the RICH have suffered from the proprietary nature of the Operating System that has been forced on many of us. these children are being given freedom to do as they please with their operating System, and at the same time, it will give them a firm understanding of the linux kernel and the underlying OS that will be much more beneficial to them in the future that anything microsoft or other proprietary software vendors can offer.

Understanding sugar code was written to educate people like you on how you can get into the guts of an OLPC laptop. Any children who have an OLPC could potentially do exactly that, and learn a lot about computing at a very low level. OLPC volunteers will develop curiculum in all languages, in civic, sciences, and arts. This is an opportunity to diminish the divide. -Jeff

Adaptation of Musical Editor for local music systems

Hello, While browsing through the software that will be put on the B2 release, I remarked the screenshot of the Musical Editor, and I saw that it was based on the western notes system (do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si, do). These notes have more or less fixed frequencies ('la' has 440 Hz, and going from one note to another happens by stepping of halve tones where the frequencies need to be multiplicated or divided by 1.059, the twelfth root of 2).

The OLPC project is ment for children in third world countries, like for instance India and China and other countries, where different music systems are used. Therefore I propose to foresee these adaptations within the Musical Editor (after all, it can't be the intention of forcing children to abandon their own musical culture :-?).

In case OLPC people are interested, I am willing to do some investigation in order to figure out which are the mostly used music systems with corresponding frequencies in order to facilitate the work. I can be reached via my e-mail address under my OLPC subscription account 'scampsd'.

The OLPC includes csound software which can be adapted to work with any type of musical system. If you want to document these systems and any csound software that works with them, feel free to start a new page on this wiki. --Memracom 05:30, 13 January 2007 (EST)

Best regards and good luck with the project Dominique

Hey "scampsd" i couldnt work out how to contact you about this, I am interested in alternative scales, mail me, simon att simon chadwick dt net

---from another contributor---

yes - i can see nepal, peru, thailand and india on the pilot project map that will be using different scalings 'naturally' without the fixing of the western scale to their use of the software. from the wikipedia.org page on microtonal music: "By this definition, the following systems are not microtonal: a diatonic scale in any meantone tuning; much Indonesian gamelan music; and Thai, Burmese, and African music which use 7 approximately equally spaced tones in each (approximate) octave." - there should be a module in csound for microtonal music: the most sensible option would be to have a special settings page to configure a preset choice of tunings for different regions to fit with preferred choice of tuning for the region. to eliminate locally tuned music would be an ethical crime, and is a big risk with a music program dictating that users have a 'western scale' for their music. i would not like OLPC to be responsible for the destruction of some of the most musically interesting and unique styles of music simply because there was no option for local tunings in the easily available and (relatively) powerful sequencing capabilities of freely available computers. it looks like Csound’s value converters for microtonal programming are functions "ampdb" and "cpspch". documentation on csound available at www.csounds.com/chapter1/index.html

Random generator entropy

Hi, we came up with this issue at the 23c3 in a lecture about the /dev/(u)random generator in Linux. The algortihm gets most of its entropy from the harddisk. Because the OLPC lacks a hdd, this could be an issue, when you need a random number for cryptography at boot time. Of course the algorithm is still strong and sufficient enough for most applications (or at least i think so), but not as good as some people maybe think. (Other entropies: camera, microphone,...) (DustyDingo)

Your question is confusing, as I'm not versed in random number generators based on hard disk... Isn't the built in Flashdrive good enough? It acts like a conventional hard drive, but it's all memory. --Jeff

No, the flash is not good at all. Hard drives have unpredictable timing, and thus the kernel uses them to supply /dev/random data. The DCON chip really should be modified to include a random number generator that works based on electrical noise such as the thermal stuff in a semiconductor junction. (note: NOT a pseudorandom number generator) 24.110.145.57 19:40, 27 February 2007 (EST)

Hmm... Chaos Communication Congress... OK! So you are looking for a way to seed a random number generator from an on board OLPC component (mostly for cryptography a boot time). OLPC doesn't seem to prioritize encryption as a core value (it seems to go against the BitFrost mantra of transparency). That said, you've got a pair of WiFi like transmitters, a monitor, keyboard, touchpad, battery, etc. Does hard drive access time really provide an evenly distributed random number? I find that hard to believe. Also, is this topic really critical to the goals of OLPC as a project? --Jeff

The very first thing an OLPC XO does is generate a long-term public/private key pair. All the over-the-air stuff is at least cryptographically signed. If a kid publishes a Sugar XO bundle, it gets signed with his key. Hard drives are decent; the fast-moving air inside the drive provides randomness. The WiFi may be a tolerable choice; it's both public and subject to lack of input though. The monitor is no good. The keyboard and touchpad are OK, though very slow. The battery is unlikely to help. The digital camera may be the best choice. The microphone is tolerable. Use of many of these devices will require lots of power and/or background daemons. It's just way easier to do as Intel did with their motherboard chipsets. VIA put a random number generator right in the CPU. AlbertCahalan 22:14, 28 February 2007 (EST)

This is a serious issue. There's a paper on the quality of the linux kernel RNG, and how it has relied on obscurity. When people wanted to find out how it works, they got no help from the developers; after analyzing it, they found serious weaknesses, and published.

http://www.pinkas.net/PAPERS/gpr06.pdf

In a nutshell:

Linux RNG is overly complicated, and could be made much simpler at no loss of quality if a random source is available.
Linux RNG is predictable with no random source
A "must" for diskless systems is to save the RNG state across shutdown/bootup. At the very least, each laptop should ship with a 512 byte file fetched from random.org (or similar) so that they can initialize to an unknown state on first boot.
Instead of using the linux RNG, perhaps consider a better one. Apple claims that its RNG -- "Yarrow" -- is better than Linux's, however it warns that a lack of random input will degrade it without warning (versus linux's estimate of entropy remaining in the main pool).

I do **REALLY** hope that this is fixed before any "for end user" machines are shipped. --Keybounce 21:36, 31 March 2007 (EDT)

It is a serious issue, but that stuff about Yarrow being better is wrong. People get recognition by publishing alarmist "research" about supposed defects in important software. The Linux developers have little time to help clueless people who won't study the history behind the Linux /dev/random and /dev/urandom devices. Yarrow has one feature of dubious value: it recovers quickly from an attacker who somehow exposes the content of the pool. If an attacker can do that, you have bigger issues to worry about because the attacker is reading your kernel memory! Yarrow does have two weaknesses. First, it assumes that there will not be a successful attack against the cryptographic operations it uses. The Linux /dev/random and /dev/urandom instead assume that such attacks will be somewhat successful, and thus does not depend greatly on the cryptographic operations being unbreakable forever. Second, Yarrow fails to track entropy. Even if no data goes into the pool, you can pull infinite data out. This makes Yarrow a pseudo-random number generator. Linux makes a conservative estimate of the amount of true randomness available in the pool and will cause /dev/random to block (stall) if there is not enough available. 24.110.145.57 00:26, 1 April 2007 (EDT)

The AMD Geode LX processor includes a hardware random number generator. Linux's /dev/{u,}random uses it to seed the entropy pool. Also, keyboard and trackpad input are used to add to the entropy. There should be few issues with the quality of the random numbers.

Look at the Measure activity - it reads unbiased voltage data from the audio in port. I don't know how sensitive the a/d on that is, but if it's sensitive enough to get some random noise when there's no mic attached, this would be an excellent, constant source of random data (I saw an article once arguing that a noisy a/d is either brownian motion - which has quantum input from molecular vibration modes - or direct quantum tunelling of electrons in the chip. Quantum random = gold standard.). I don't know if there are Bitfrost/Raibow issues with accessing this port - I think that's only for the physical mic, not the port. --Homunq 11:06, 24 September 2007 (EDT)

About emulating the OLPC disk Image

I am not sure where to post this as it's a rather technical support like question. I am emulating the OLPC image (I am using olpc-182.zip) in a intel iMac using VMWare tools beta. The emulations runs well, but with a limited size (640 x 480) and I know the laptop goes way beyond this. I have read somewhere an email from the OLPC mailing list that this was a recurring issue and many of the blog posts with screenshots and reviews of the SUgar interface where getting it wrong because of this.

I wanted to investigate this further (and help correct those blog reviews) and posted this question to the VMWare foruns, but they believe it's a problem with the OS image.

Any insights on this?

thank you

Alexandre Van de Sande www.wanderingabout.com alexandrevandesande (at) the email provided by google

Please refer to the emulation section of this wiki, specifically OS images for emulation and User Feedback on Images. --Walter 08:43, 8 January 2007 (EST)

I just want to try the software

I've read about the software and the UI online. I want to try the software. I want something like a "liveCD" that I can stick in my computer to try it out and show other people. a) Is it possible? b) If possible, is it explained anywhere on this eiki? c) if yes, why is it so hard to find? A nice big link on the homepage might be nice.

Don't know if there's a LiveCD, but you can try an emulator. On the left there's a navigation bar with a section titled "about the laptops", and under it you'll find the emulation link that'll take there... That wasn't so hard, was it? Enjoy!--Xavi 07:05, 5 January 2007 (EST)

I would desperately want...

Hello!

I've heard about your project on the program "Click" at BBC World. I think the idea of a 100$ computer is absolutely marvelous!

I would desperatly like to get one of these computers myself, eventhough I can afford usual computers. The problem is, that I'm living in Switzerland, which is still tinted grey on your world map.

I would be prepared to pay double the price (200$) to get one of these computers. That way, you could actually build two of them and donate one of them to a child that really needs it.

I think it would actually be a great idea to allow people who aren't eligible to own one of these computers, to get one for double its price - thus financing a free notebook for a child who really needs it.

It would also prevent people who are eligible to get one to put it on an auctioning site to sell them to people who don't really need them.

Thanks for a reply!

Best Regards

C.Beeli - Switzerland

It's good to read about your enthusiasm, but alas, quite some people had similar ideas before as the "Ask OLPC a Question about Distribution#Availability - Can XXX in YYY get one paying ZZZ ?" section shows, and to which the short answer is no. A longer answer is that you can still participate and collaborate with time and effort to make the project a reality. And a full answer would be this whole wiki, your government, local NGOs, etc. --Xavi 07:23, 5 January 2007 (EST)

Food For Children

Shouldn't we be making sure that there is at least one meal per child rather than one laptop?

there are plenty of organizations that already do this, and you are free to contribute to their cause, there is no need for yet another Red Cross or whatever other NPO, the goals of the OLPC have not been addressed before and many people consider education a very important cause. "teach a man to fish"

I'm all for it! But what about drinking water? That too! And medicines? No doubt! Shelter? Peace? Love? Education? We is a lot of people (sometimes, the whole 6.5 billion)... much in the same way that specific organizations try to bring medicine to the dispossessed (ie: Medecins sans frontieres), or fight for their human rights (ie: Amnesty International), provide better feeding and agriculture technologies (or emergency rations) (ie: FAO / UN), and education (ie: UNESCO), the OLPC is trying to get this 'simple gadget' (a full blown laptop) into the hands of kids for them to learn, communicate, interact, and many other things...

Not one of the aforementioned organizations can make a better world by itself, each one is needed in their domain of expertise and competence. So let the specialized organizations do what they are good for: battle the odds to make a better world in their 'little' areas of competence. They are all needed, in an interconnected set of efforts that together they stand, divided they fail... (I know, it should read 'fall', but in development issues, it usually and nonchalantly fails).--Xavi 12:27, 5 January 2007 (EST)

Can we look at them as two approaches to solve short-term and long-term problems of the developing world? Giving basic needs to the poor & needy in the 3rd world = helping them with their immediate needs while giving them OLPCs = investing in a better future for them and their societies. While I agree with Maslow's hierarchy of needs we must also realize that teaching IT to children in the 3rd world countries is equally important so that hopefully one day they can use that knowledge/skills to get out of poverty and hunger.

Request for direction to power generation discussion

I am having a hard time finding a discussion about the power generator for the XO. Can you please direct me to the appropriate person or place? I have noticed that while my wife computes, her knee often bounces. And I wonder if that natural movement might be harnessed to generate power for the XO.

I have calculated that such a movement of 2 to 5 cm twice a second under 100 to 200 Newtons of tension (or more naturally 1 to 2 cm at 4 Hz and 50 to 100 Newtons) could input 2 to 40 Watts depending on the level of conscious effort vs. habituated movement and the ability to harness both legs. This is an old concept that was employed for treadle sewing machines and pump organs. The only difference in the case of the XO is the challenge to build it extremely portable for a few dollars, using such things as nylon straps and plastic pieces.

Anyway, I would like the opportunity to follow the discussion of these concepts with the project team if possible if you would be so kind as to direct me. If it wouldn't be too much trouble, you could e-mail me using my gmail address and my first name dot last name.

Thanks. Tom Haws

Most of this is discussed on the Battery and power page. The OLPC laptop doesn't have a built-in power generator. Instead, it has a DC power input that will accept a wide range of voltage with protection against polarity reversal. This means that any number of alternate power sources can be used. We will be shipping a hand-powered generator with the initial devices but we are open to any new ideas, especially if they are backed up with prototypes and with some solid research showing how they are used by kids in the field. In addition, if a device can be built by the kids (with the help of their teachers) then it would be appropriate to provide detailled building instructions in one of the Ebook formats that we support. --Memracom 05:37, 13 January 2007 (EST)

What about OUR children in the US?

I am tired of us giving and giving to other countries. What children right here in the United States? I teach in a poor Appalachian school district in Eastern Ohio and our children don't have computers. I have 2 computers in my classroom and one is very, very old. My own students do not get to use a computer, so why are we giving to other countries?

Nobody is asking you to give anything! As a matter of fact, the 'other countries' are investing. So, if you're tired, sit back, relax, and read this or you can lobby together with OLPC4USA your government to invest... --Xavi 16:02, 7 January 2007 (EST)

May be a project similar to OLPC can be initiated to narrow the digital divide in the US. But instead of inventing a whole new laptop like the OLPC old PCs and laptops can be recycled and install linux to save cost? You'll find that when you run Linux on old computers they're not so "old." :-)

Black Market

How do you plan to fight the black market of this computers? They more or less cost $100 each, and in many of the countries mentioned, families could try to sell them to buy food or fullfill any other basic need.

This will be the responsibility of the country in which the laptops are deployed. They are more familiar with local culture, local social issues and local laws.

- Availability at $399 will hurt the black market. (availability at $100 would just about eliminate the black market)

I'd like to help teach.

I think your idea is marvelous! I heard recently about how cell phones are benefitting rural peoples in Africa, where landlines are almost non existent. and I can see how OLPC could be similarly beneficial -- perhaps more so.

Are you are recruiting folks yet to help train teachers or children to use the laptops? I've worked as a newspaper journalist, writing instructor, and am now in marketing and public relations for a community college. But I'd like to do something more meaning and helpful on a larger scale. How can I find out if there is a use for my skills in your organization? I am willing to work oversees and in primative conditions.

The OLPC does not actually deploy the computers in these countries. If you want to work in the field, then start by reading our news section to see where the first computers are headed. Then contact the ministry of education in one of these countries to offer your services. They will likely be working together with one or more charitable organizations who operate in their country. Currently, Brazil, Libya and Rwanda are target countries. --Memracom 05:40, 13 January 2007 (EST)

Governments & schools - a western construct

Schools are nothing more than a western construct which the developed world seems hellbent on imposing on the devloping world even if the result is social destruction. Governments of all complections have a vested interest in exploiting this project. It seems to me that there is a desperate need to develop a new pedogogy involving non-traditional formal educational structures, possibly working with NGOs. Governments in developing countries will go the same way as many western governments and impose a nationalised curriculum which will be delivered via these laptops.

First, the OLPC project is not developing new schools to be delivered to these countries. We are developing laptop computers to be delivered to children. The laptops themselves will be a rich educational environment even in the absence of teachers. In addition, the philosophy that we follow is a constructivist educational philosophy which focuses on leading the child to discover knowledge for themselves. --Memracom 05:45, 13 January 2007 (EST)

I think the "Buy two get one free" idea is great because consumer demand for the OLPC will drive the production to mass numbers and it will help the future availability of used spare parts for service needs. I would also like to suggest for the creation of an online database where OLPC users in need of replacement parts can find donors and order them online.

There is no "Buy two get one free" idea. Check the Retail page for details. As for spare parts, the OLPC project is recommending that recipient countries maintain a reasonable level of spares for the computers that they receive. --Memracom 05:45, 13 January 2007 (EST)

Rugged Laptops

There is a huge market for basic rugged laptops for use "in the field" in a number of industries. These would be cases that don't need the full functionality of e.g. a Panasonic Toughbook, and where basic will do and cost is critical. Develop a suite of work-related applications and/or provide certification for apps developed by others, and sell those on CD at reasonable cost, to bring in more money for free laptops for kids.

The basic arrangement would be: Companies buy laptops at e.g. $200 per unit plus a required $200 per unit tax-deductible donation to the nonprofit foundation. Thus the effective cost is $400 per unit, but half of it is a tax deduction. If you do this, companies will buy these things in huge numbers and thereby pay for equivalent numbers of machines to be given away to kids.

'Huge' is relative, you can measure it in number of units or monetary value. And given that the market is a niche, it implies a small volume and high monetary value—the opposite of what the OLPC target market is (afaik). I see your point in 'overpricing' this 'commercial rugged laptops', but that would only create incentives to divert machines to the black/grey market. --Xavi 15:10, 13 January 2007 (EST)

School Gateways follow follow up

Thank you very much for the response on School Gateways -- I had a big misconception about the internet. I am still curious, however, about how the School Gateways for the mesh networks are intended to be powered, and how much energy they will require. I looked at the power page, and it mentioned microbial fuel cells, which is what I was going to ask about. Are the gateways going to require a lot more power than a microbial fuel cell could provide? Thank you!

---(JK, USA) There ought to be a sister project of the OLPC to bring internet connection to schools in the developing world. One internet connection per school wouldn't be a bad name for such project. Wireless Gateway/APs powered by environmentally friendly and renewable energy sources like solar or wind power, perhaps linked to a bidirectional satellite internet receiver, and then use [1]WifiPaypal so that donors in the developed world can donate mothly Satellite connection bill direct to the schools using Paypal.

I think you should develop your idea and get about doing it. Gus, Chile

Yes, that would be great to get internet capabilities, I agree -- I hope you do start that up!

Does anybody know about the approximate power needs for the gateways? I know somebody working on microbial fuel cells and he asked me to find out what the power needs would be, and I just have no idea. I'm assuming that power is going to be a biggish issue for the gateways, as many of them will be in areas with no elecricity -- Am I wrong? Thank you!

This question might be bettered answered on one of the Tech pages.

One Laptop Per how old? Child

We're saying One Laptop Per Child, but how old does a child have to be to qualify? Attending school? How old is that? I know, personally, of 3 year old children who could make good use of this device.

Generally ages 6 to 17. (First grade to the end of high school in the US.) The emphasis is ages 6 to 10 or so. A careful look at OLPC pictures indicates that they are really sized for 6 to 10 year olds. --tef 13 Jan 2007

I hope you aren't serious. The keyboard is way too small for a 10 year old. Just forget about age 17. The keyboard is about right for a toddler, but tolerable for a 5 year old. 7 year olds could use it for brief periods of time. AlbertCahalan 00:18, 20 February 2007 (EST)

Regular Laptops as OLPC Clones?

I think the OLPC OS and all the software should be made to run on regular x86 laptops and distributed freely. One benefit of making the OS and software opensource and multiplatform compatible will be that the kids will be able to run it on donated used laptops until there are enough OLPCs for everychild :-)

The software being developed looks like it will run reasonably well on a conventional laptop, through emulation. My laptop doesn't have a camera, mic, or wifi, and it's behind a firewall, so I only have some peripherals. OLPC software is distributed freely (I think it's GNU V2), just search the emulation pages. That's how I got my copy of the software.

Is the 'buy 2 and get 1' scheme going to happen?

Hi there, Is the 'buy 2 and get 1' scheme going to happen or not? There have been many reports that suggested that it was planned for next year.

It will run for two weeks in November 2007; see http://xogiving.org

Relaunching software as freeware

We are reviving ChipWits - an award-winning iconic programming game - and would like to encourage a freeware version to be developed for the OLPC. Is there a forum to discuss it?

There are several mailing lists (note the link in the 'about olpc' box at the top-left of the page. Also, there's a section on how to get around Sharing your content with OLPC.

BTW, the OLPC is commited to Open Source, so 'free' would probably not be enough, methinks.--Xavi 16:43, 13 January 2007 (EST)

ChipWits will be open source. Thanks for the pointer to the mailing list.

LiveCD OS Images

I downloaded a few of the recent LiveCD image builds (231), but for some reason the system does not load up and run. Obviously in this case you need a PC that has a CD/DVD reader etc. I may not be burning the CD correctly although Grub seems to start ok. Is there any particular hardware needed that a typical PC does not have, or something that I am not doing properly? Anyone out there that has this working and can share some ideas would be great. Thanks in advance.

This question might be bettered answered on one of the Tech pages.

Could you put a link to the "Tech Page". I'm having the same problem, what do I type at the grub prompt?

Color Coded Maps and Color Blind People

Would you please consider a written list of country status for those of us that are colorblind and can't make heads nor tails of your map?

There's an OLPC Status by Country page with a table - but darn! It too is color coded! ...just checked :(

I'll update it to make it text AND color coded.

It covers Africa, the Americas and Asia, and it's NOT official (iow, the coding of some countries could be wrong).

And yes, there should be a link to that table in the Countries section above and in the Map page.--Xavi 18:30, 21 January 2007 (EST)

Bad netiquette, answering to self, but it's already done! See OLPC Status by Country.

This question and it's answer will soon be moved to the #Country section above.--Xavi 18:58, 21 January 2007 (EST)

Chrekula Uganda

We are opening aprivate school in the village of Cherekula Uganda. I was going to provide two laptop computers but we are facing a problem with the lack of electrical power. We are exploring the purchase of a gas generator. I have bee folling the OLPC project for seceral years and am now convinced this is a better alternative. How do I enlist the Ugandan government so that I can take sveral OLPC computers to the choll when we visit this March (2007). We are completely willing to purchase them and we can transport the or have them shipped. I know that these would be pilots (beta?). We just want to try and get moving ahead on providing internet access to some very deprived children. This school is a high school. The first one ever in this village. It is located about 250 km from Kampala. Can you advise me on how to proceed. We can document the school i required. THanks ./Jim May jimlind@ameritech.net Farmington Hills Mi. USA 48336

You are going at this the wrong way. The first thing you need to do is find someone who is an expert in electrical power generation and storage to give you advice. They are unlikely to suggest buying a gas-powered generator for two laptops. Ten years ago people in Africa were running laptops off car batteries that were charged up by bicycle-driven generators. You should be doing something similar today. That means choosing older laptops with lower power consumption, choosing laptops that run off 12 volts DC (like RV owners and yachtsmen do) and then getting a generator rigged from old car parts. The one thing different today from 10 years ago is that solar panels are a viable source for charging the batteries.

Forget the OLPC. You cannot buy them (Retail) and you need to get your government's support in order to get access to them.

Website woes

Am I the only one having a problem with www.laptop.org? It seems to be formatted for those using widescreen computers. I suggest you reformat the page so that it can be accessed by any computer user. The verbage also seems to be targeted toward the academic community. While I can read what was written, it isn't user-friendly.

Have you considered your target audience? It's difficult to build support for your movement if you make it difficult for potential supporters to access your information.

L. Mundschau

Scroll your screen to the left to find the Contact link in the upper left hand corner. http://www.laptop.org/contact.shtml

Either send an email or write a letter with your concerns. If you can include a screenshot of your screen that would help.

What about students k-12 and college students in the USA?

Do I qualify? I filled out the fafsa forms do you need those to determine those for financial need? If so, is there a way I can pass the computer to another "financial need base" student? I see that your organization goes around the world but didn't know if you were including the United States.

There are no plans to distribute the OLPC computers in the USA. If you want to lobby for this to happen, then read OLPC4USA.

WELL THIS HAS CHANGED:as the USA has at least in the news, been talking about the OLPC program.Is this a good thing? I am sure this Wiki is open for your comments about this issue!

can i get one for my 2 kids???

dear sir/madam;

i am a mother of two from the Philippines, my eldest son is only 4 yrs. old, he's now at the nursery level, and i notice that he is interested about computers, he even know how to operate my laptop and start his educational game and i am proud of it. that is why i am asking you a question if i can get one for my eldest son so he can pursue his interest in studying by using laptop, and soon will teach his baby brother to use it.

thank you very much,

laarni muldong

As explained in several places, the short answer is no.

See

freifunk.net volunteers

I wrote an e-mail to volunteers@laptop.org ten days ago, which has not been replyed to yet. I will submit this mail here just for making sure it reaches you:

Deleted this private letter. If you do not get a reply to your email, either wait patiently, or send another email. This wiki is not a mailbox!

We noticed that you are looking for people from the freifunk.net community for implementing the BATMAN software into your system.

---Konstantin 09:27, 27 January 2007 (EST)---

The OLPC OS already has a built-in mesh networking system. It is highly unlikely that your BATMAN mesh networking system will be of any use. There is already a Developers program where you can offer your services.

Actually, the B.A.T.M.A.N. free software for mesh networking is the most complete, widely deployed implementation of mesh networking under Linux. It's been running in production use for more than a year, which is more than anyone can say about the OLPC Marvell/CozyBit mesh. B.A.T.M.A.N. may well be useful for wide area networking of the school servers (the 802.11s mesh will only extend as far as the WiFi radios can reach; there's no plan to extend it via DSL or wired links to other parts of the network). Does B.A.T.M.A.N. support IPv6 yet? I concur that you should contact Jim Gettys at the Developers program, and ask for laptop into which you could port the software. --gnu

Information about OLPC for people in poor countries

There is lots of written material about OLPC for people in rich countries. The newspapers are full of OLPC stories. People in poor countries don't know much about OLPC but maybe the children will receive a laptop in near future.

It is up to each nation to order the OLPC laptops. It cannot be a decision made by groups or private citizens even of great means. If you like you can contact your government's Education Ministry and start from there.

I agree that more information about OLPC should be translated into other languages and made available through channels beyond mainstream westerm media. We are trying to do this, but can always use help via local news and blog networks, and through translation of important news and pages on this wiki... perhaps we need some sort of graphical flyer with minimal language to localize and make available for anyone to print and pass out, to spur discussion in new communities. Sj talk 02:46, 17 July 2007 (EDT)

RealPlayer in OPLC and applications download

We are developing some applications that can be used to education purpose and we have some doubts: - Is it possible to make applications download using the OLPC ? - Is it possible to run the RealPlayer in OLPC ? Thanks in advance Vivian (vivianlona@hotmail.com)

The OLPC is based on downloadable activities, not applications. It will not have any RealPlayer support so you will need to encode in an open-source format. Ogg/Vorbis is good for music while Ogg/Speex is better for pure voice recordings. Read the Activity bundles page to see how to program a downloadable activity in Python.

What format do you require? RealPlayer can play many different formats. Quicktime can be played with GStreamer through OpenQuicktime and Gnash is mostly SWF v7 compliant (this makes Flash an open-source format). Gnash can play Flash movies from local files. If you would like to see either GStreamer or Gnash included you could add them to Category:Feedback. Thin client explains about use of the OLPC as a web client or thin client. --Fasten 11:40, 31 January 2007 (EST)

Economies of scale?

How would it not be in your interests if you hired a non-profit-org to sell laptops to citizens of more rich countries?

You claim that it has to do with scale and all, but do you understand how many of these would sell? I'm sitting in front of a dual AMD turion laptop, yet I'd love the idea of having a laptop for my room and car both. You could sell millions of these here in the states. Would that not be scale for you? What # are you looking at would be for "scale" to occur?

This is not so much of answer given that I ignore the details, thus I'm assuming.

It would seem that the deal struck between the OLPC and Quanta is ~USD 135 per unit EXW / FOB for a minimum order of 5 million units. So the OLPC has to ensure at least a 5 million order, before Quanta pushes the go button. Afaik, that is the "scale" needed.

Preventing Porn/Adult Content?

At launch time will the laptop include any software for content controls (to prevent porn, etc). I realize that one's definition of "acceptable content" varies over regions, but isn't most content filtering software for the client Win-based?

This will, as far as I know, be left up to countries. Because the hardware and software OLPC will provide is as open as possible, there is no real way to implement such filtering on the laptops themselves; the kids could just change the software to get around such restrictions. --18.85.46.22 19:16, 17 February 2007 (EST)

Since most computers will be used with no Internet access whatsoever, this is a minor problem. In areas where there will be Internet access it will be provided by a school gateway. The filtering will either be implemented on the school gateway or at a central regional gateway.

Sorry, but lack of the Internet won't matter. OLPC is all about locally-produced content. This laptop has a camera. Having an Internet connection is only required for worldwide sales and distribution.

The laptops will have Internet access. Children will be both exploring and producing content. --Walter 11:40, 2 April 2007 (EDT)

This question has not yet been answered with sufficient care Please click here for a comment (on another talk page within this wiki) about the machines being used to create pornography. The OLPC team will be making a grave error if they expect developing world governments to address this issue without guidance.

My guess is that considering that the XOs will basically access the Internet through the mesh (connecting to the School server—acting as the gateway) a simple filter or proxy can be configured... it is (imho) a worthy preocupation, but must not be taken as the issue; most kids will not care about such things, and when they do, they'll manage to get their hands on it regardless of how adults feel about it... --Xavi 00:39, 23 March 2007 (EDT)

Are you talking about a particular already existing sort of image filter? Please elaborate. What sort of proxy? The reason that I am stressing this issue is because the reactionary element within a developing country will see this as "the" issue when it hits the press and they can keep these computers out of the hands of their children. Even if computer literate people can look past this sort of issue, large traditional populations are not likely to. Again, I'm not concerned about people looking at pornography. Every single internet cafe that I visited in 24 African countries last year had at least two young men looking at porn and nobody cared. I am concerned about the video camera being used to exploit poor young women and children. Whoever is putting this project together doesn't seem to know enough about the resourcefulness of the people who they will equip with these machines. Why isn't someone from the actual OLPC project bothering to respond. Have any of those guys actually lived in the marginal areas of the developing world? --[User:Onlinementor] 24 March 2007.

The School server can be used for content filtering; the extent to which it will be is based upon a country-by-country decision. In regard to the children being exploited in the creation of pornographic content, it is certainly a concern, one we are trying to address through a number of mechanism, some technological, but most of a societal nature. The camera and microphone are hardwired to LEDs and are protected against remote access (See BitFrost for details). The Journal logs all activities, including picture-taking. But neither of these measures is adequate if the family and community turn their backs on their children. We are striving to engage all community members in the program, which includes guidance about the exploitation of children. --Walter 11:40, 2 April 2007 (EDT)

Thanks for the feedback, Walter. Is there somewhere on this site where I could track the conversation about how to create a suitably vigilant societal mechanism to protect against the creation of exploitative content? It's a huge challenge and while it is particularly relevant to the OLPC initiative, it is an OLD, often-confronted, unbested challenge. To paint it as a question of family and communal back-turning is somewhat misleading, as it suggests that any shortcoming on behalf of the responsible community will be committed with purposeful disregard. It is much more likely that they will be ignorant of the situation, powerless to do anything about it or coerced into accepting it.

I'm sure you are familiar with the fact that it is not uncommon for teachers in the developing world (especially in Sub-Saharan Africa) to use their students sexually--indeed the notion of what constitutes "exploitation" is rather variable. If you cannot have a meaningful allegiance with educators, I don't know how you hope to engender this new breed of social responsibility. I don't mean to sound glib. I would just love to hear, in reassuring detail, what sort of local and regional expertise is being applied to the question.

On the other page, I suggested a possibility that is less trusting of the local community; but productive of jobs and, perhaps more reliable.

A possible suggestion: Whenever someone is uploading pictures or video (via the mesh) to the internet, it must be approved by human eyes. Those eyes should belong to women in another part of the world. For instance, Uruguayan women, approve every image and video that Nigerian computer users upload. Libyan women approve every image and video that Uruguyans upload etc. It will be harder to corrupt the filter if it exists further away, speaks another language and is built of women.

The countries where you are going to pilot this program are full of women who would happily take an image filtering job for $50/month or thereabouts (and that, in many cases, would be a generous salary). Invest an extra $60,000 in each country towards the power of external, female filtering and you might be able to save yourselves considerable embarassment. In the context of this project, $60,000 sounds like a very modest investment; but it could create scores of jobs in each country and help to protect young people from the world's thirsty perversion. --[[User:Onlinementor] 2:20, 9 April 2007 (EST)

The laptop is a tool, and can be used "for good or evil". Personally I think that censorship is evil and that kids should be free to see what humans look like without their clothes. The kids I've known who grew up that way didn't turn out badly. So please stop trying to push your own cultural prejudices onto every kid in the world. If you made colored pencils for kids, would you set up a system of censorship to make sure they didn't draw anything sexy?

I think it's not about Onlinementor's, yours, or my prejudices. What counts is what the parents of the children want, that we are trying to influence here. They have the right to decide, if pornography/violence is accepted in their community. They should be empowered to limit the influence of the internet on their children.

Society change is always a violent process. The faster the change, the more violent it is. The best chance for success of OLPC in a community will be, if it does not change too much.I think it it very important to fit the filtering to the local community and their values. Internet-Access is a Social Change Tool. If the social change it creates is not wanted, the programm will fail. Every community might need a different level of porn/violence/political filters, so the change doesn´t get too much. But developing the restriction mechanisms should be a high priority for OLPC. Parents/community/nation want to stay in control of the minds of their children. If you refuse to let them have some control of the new influence on their children, they might refuse the whole offer.

In the end OLPC has to listen to the parents of the children, and take on all their key concerns. There is no way of saying: "we from the big wide world know what´s best for your child!" -[User:Bones, 1st post] 14.09.2007

Mesh Network Emulation

I'd like to try running a mesh network with emulation software; using say several laptops and a server (they could all be on one physical machine). I can't figure out how to create a mesh network using the qemu image, and don't see any images for the server. Thanks.

(I am a graduate student in Computer Science and Education, and would like to contribute to this project; but need to evaluate a working environment first)

Could this Virtualized Sugar page be what you're looking for? --Xavi 08:26, 6 February 2007 (EST)

Thanks... maybe. I fired up two instances of olpc on moka5, on separate machines in the same LAN, but couldn't them in the neighborhood. What more tinkering is required?

Looks like it didn't work, uh? I would suggest then that you raise the issue in one of the mailing lists probably networking. If you find an answer (solution or reason on why not) please post it here, so that we may then add it somewhere. Thanks and good luck! --Xavi 00:45, 7 February 2007 (EST)

Try turning on Bridge network for the virtual machines. There is an option to select that on top of the window.

By default, it is NAT.

All of the Mesh software is running inside the Marvell chip set on the OLPC, in currently-proprietary software; there is little or no support in the free Linux kernel or the Sugar UI. (Just configuration interfaces, and a way to gateway to the broader Internet.) So without the hardware, you can't run the mesh -- just an ordinary network. But since the mesh emulates an ordinary network, it's not usually a big deal. As the OLPC's higher level collaboration software starts working (soon, I hear) it should work over both ordinary networks (e.g. WiFi with an access point; WiFi in ad-hoc mode; or a USB Ethernet adapter) and over the mesh. --gnu

Environmental End-of-life considerations

The environmental impacts and economic costs of disposing of obsolete/broken ICT hardware are well-known. The energy-efficiency of the laptop helps minimise it's impact during operational life. Can some details be given on steps that have or will be taken in the manufacturing and "ultimate disposal" stages of the hardware lifecycle to minimise environmental costs? I'm thinking here of embedded energy in manufacture, and disposal costs. Will recycling costs/incentives be built into the purchase cost? Will a recovery program be up to the individual government , or part of the agreement between OLPC and clients?

That is a very valid concern, but with in reason. When you buy clothing, or you buy furniture, or computers do you take that issue up with the manufactures everytime? Yes I am sure each government has a program that addresses these issues or there program is they do not. I suggest that you take this issue up with your locall EPA and request information on what you can do. You may be able to start or join a group based on your concern. I believe the OLPC knows about conservation and most likely the subject has come up.--216.194.7.250 12:09, 24 March 2007 (EDT)

MARVELL?

I notice that Marvell is the provider of the wireless solution, but there's no hyperlink to the company. Is this the same company? Marvell Semiconductor, Inc. 5488 Marvell Lane Santa Clara, CA 95054 Phone: Fax: A search on their website: http://www.marvell.com/products/wireless/index.jsp Does not show a "Libertas" product, which is what is mentioned on the hardware page: Wireless: Marvell Libertas 88W8388+88W8015, 802.11b/g compatible; dual adjustable, rotating coaxial antennas; supports diversity reception

The reason for the question is if this wireless product draws such low power, it seems like a good fit for other applications? Just wondering...

It would seem so. Particularly noting that the drivers mentioned in the wireless page link to that site, and other info in the Libertas page. I'm guessing, but 802.11s (mesh) is still fuzzy, so it probably hasn't made it to the 'product' level yet. See also Category:Network. --Xavi 15:48, 8 February 2007 (EST)

autoreinstalation image through usb is not working..help..

i have successfully update image from this site...(olpc/manuals%20notes/Auto re installation_image.htm)...but after giving response ok at the end of setup...machine didn't reboot or shutdown... after waiting long time i shutdown the machine and then turn on .. then message comes : trying startup script disk:\boot\olpc-boot.fth..........and then no response for 5 minutes...after 5 minutes again a 4 lines message comes....

boot-file = ro root=mtd0 rootfstype=jffs2 console=ttys0, console =tty0 fbcon=font:sun12*22 pci=nobios video=gxfb:1024*768-16 boot-device = nand ..... and machine held with this message....and no response ....

can any body help me in this issue ?? -- Salman Minhas System Administrator Electronic Government Directorate

We have seen a few cases of auto-installer failures apparently due to "botched" downloads onto USB disks. We plan to mitigate that by including a manifest in the installer image, with checksums/hashes. In the interim, please try downloadinga new build image. --Walter 20:21, 17 February 2007 (EST)

What are the costs of implementation/not implementing?

I am doing an economics project regarding the OLPC as an economic policy to solve third world education. I was just wondering if you could provide me with answers regarding these questions, espsecially about the long-term and short-term costs including social, political, and economic, domestic and international.

Thanks, Kevin, Toronto

The costs of implementation are just those you'd expect: infrastructure, hardware, distribution, etc. I'm not sure what you're asking about "economic costs of not implementing"; the idea is that economic benefits of education vastly outweigh the costs of laptops. National governments will pay, for the moment, though other schemes, such as one nation helping to pay for another's laptops, etc. will undoubtedly be explored as the program expands. --Jacobolus 19:34, 17 February 2007 (EST)

computers for children?

yes having a computer is great.but shouldnt we all make certain everyone is fed,first of all.people in every country go hungry each day.where is your 100$ technological advancement for that?

Congratulations. You are the 10,000th person to ask this question. We direct you to the answer prominently displayed in Our mission.

Corruption and Extreme Poverty

I understand that it is the responsibility of the country to contact you, but what about countries that are too poor to afford millions of laptops even if they are only $100? and how are you addressing highly corrupt nations where the leaders interests are not aligned with those of the population they govern? Arguably the corrupt nations are ones that would benefit the most seeing as there population could see how there leader compared to others around the world.

That is a good question. The OLPC program has already handed out laptops throughout out the world in small markets. From the information has been made publicly available a big launch will be coming up very soon in several nations around the world but not every nation. I would think, that as the laptops become more of a common item the market might open up and different types of Governmental Organizations, that are sponsored by United Nations.UN programs may then have a chance to create programs to distribute the laptop to different nations based on a OLPC Around the World Program. This could very well be the future of the program that any nation may be able to see OLPC laptops in their countries based on a UN initiative.--216.194.7.98 19:21, 19 March 2007 (EDT)

Arbitrary section break 1

minimum order

NGOs and retailers are supposedly excluded based on quantity, but that really doesn't make sense. In theory, an NGO or retailer could order many millions of laptops.

Some countries are initially excluded because they are too small. It seems you want quantities of 1 million.

Is that the magic number? If an NGO could buy a million, would you then work with them? What if Walmart wanted a million?

Would 5 million do the job? How about 10 million?

It'd be nice to replace all the "NO YOU CAN'T BUY ONE" stuff with a more-understandable "minimum order 1 million", or whatever it is.

AlbertCahalan 00:42, 20 February 2007 (EST)

The fact is that the OLPC does not want to sell large numbers of laptops. Rather, they want to get large numbers of laptops in the hands of children along with educational support for those children to ensure that they actually receive educational value from the laptops. In addition, the OLPC is at a very early stage in its project, so they need to focus their relationships on a small number of countries which are willing to put a lot of energy into pilot projects.

There is no minimum order number because the OLPC is not selling laptops, not at retail and not at wholesale. Sometime after the pilot projects are well under way and there are a few million satisfied child users of the laptops (2 years or more) then there will be alternative distribution channels for the laptops. However, NGOs may take lower priority than small quantity projects with ministries of education in smaller countries, or poor countries which cannot support a full national rollout at one time.

If an NGO really wants to get involved in OLPC laptop distribution, then they should start by providing people and resources to support projects in the countries where OLPC has an agreement. That way, the NGO personnel will gain experience and will be able to speak with the OLPC project on a more reasonable basis than waving dollar bills and demanding minimum-order-quantities.

OS languages that OLPC will release

What are the languages that OLPC will be released with? What are the first Priority ones?

The first priority languages are the languages of countries where the ministry of education has signed an agreement to deploy OLPC laptops to their children. In some of these countries there is more than one official language such as Nigeria with Edo, Efik, Adamawa Fulfulde, Hausa, Idoma, Igbo, Central Kanuri, and Yoruba.

If there is a language that you would like to see higher priority then you need to convince the ministry of education in a country where it is the official language, to sign an agreement with OLPC.

Financial support for OLPC?

How is OLPC supported? How does one make a financial contribution?

You can make a financial contribution to the OLPC foundation, which is not the same as the OLPC association. Contributions will be used for "grants and loans for the development and use of open educational resources and grassroots learning innovations that enhance the effectiveness of the XO" and for the Special Laptop Program. --Fasten 17:30, 27 February 2007 (EST)

Proxy configuration

Is there any way to configure a proxy in the OLPC Firefox?

The web activity is just a version of firefox. As such, you can get to the firefox configuration by typing "about:config" in the location bar. Once there, you can narrow the settings to "network.proxy". Now, edit the fields to configure things properly from behind your corporate firewall :) -Jeff 12:06, 12 March 2007 (EDT)

Trade and market considerations

Considering the initial limits on distribution, do you anticipate extensive legitimate trade or black market trade in these devices? It will be interesting to observe the reaction to the initial distribution. (I can see people getting $500 or $1000 for the first ones). I think the open source concept suggests an unrestricted distribution as soon as practical. Would not the free-and-open-source development of code and content be greatly enhanced by general distribution? Will proprietary content appear in the marketplace, or government controlled and distributed content? --Dfourer 11:05, 25 February 2007 (EST)

East Africa in the picture?

Im a kenyan who has been in computer trainning for the last 10 Years. I really would like to be involved in laying the OLPC ground work and later trainning to the youngsters. The East African countries (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania) are not Participating in the OLPC programme at the momment. Is there a way I can be involved?.

Also, how often does a child need to wind the laptop to keep it working for say, one hour session?.

Yes and No. You can stay involved by keeping up with the OLPC news and find out more information as it becomes available about the distribution of the OLPC laptop. But if your nation is not at this time ready to commit to the purchase of the laptops then you will have to wait and see. Look at it this way the OLPC laptop could take off and be a must have for every developing nation and Walla they will come to East Africa too! As far as how many winds I do not know that. Maybe ten seconds worth or less.I think it last about an hour or less.--216.194.7.98 19:36, 19 March 2007 (EDT)

Paulo de cruz roja argentina

Ante todo impresionante la idea...

 Lo que me gustaria saver es si llegara a lugares como los que

estamos acostubrados a trabajar el personal voluntario de cruz roja argentina y en mi caso en particular de la localidad de Quilmes al sur de Buenos Aires.La mayoria de los chicos no save ni siquiera como prender una computadora por lo cual estaria bueno que sea lo mas practico posible.

 mi email es paulouriel@hotmail.com

porque avlas en espanol stamos en stados sunidos! i cant write that good in spanish

Photo use suggestion

Apologies if this is the wrong place; I couldn't find a better spot on the wiki to suggest this. I hope someone can route it for me.

As I understand it, the OLPC system takes a photo of the laptop's owner at an early stage, and uses that in various UI elements to identify the child (e.g. the "neighbourhood" view).

Suggestion: this photo should also be displayed during startup, so that a teacher can work out who owns a laptop left behind in the classroom immediately, instead of needing to wait for the entire boot sequence.

It should also be displayed when/if the laptop is locked out due to a failure to contact the authentication server inside 21 days, or because it's been explicitly disabled due to theft.) This would allow a stray laptop to be reunited with its owner far easier, and/or make it simple for the police to ascertain that the person holding the laptop is not the owner.

That may well be the case.--216.194.7.250 11:39, 24 March 2007 (EDT)

About internet access

I am very interested about the OLPC. I am a pc programmer too and I am interested on programming for other plataforms, like the Playstation2, cellphones, and now, to the OLPC, too. I know almost all about he OLPC, ecxept one thing: What are the plans about the Internet access on the OLPC particulary on Brazil?

You can find informations about this, in portuguese, at the DMU site

I think the platform is similar to all the other nations except the language is different. The subject matter is to reflect each nations individual lifestyle and customs. Brazil is also one of the first nations to receive the proto types.--216.194.7.250 11:54, 24 March 2007 (EDT)

A little question

The user install other programs on the pc, like on a normal pc using linux? If not, there is a way to run programs on the OLPC? The programs that I am referring are other programs, developed by users, etc...

The OLPC has a pretty small footprint. The OLPC Redhat distribution is very small, and has few program. There is an OLPC Redhat Development distribution which has a few more Linux programs, but it's still small. Sugar is the GUI interface, and has special activity programs. Activities are inherently networkable and sharable. -Jeff 21:45, 6 March 2007 (EST)

The answer to your question is yes. You can install other programs on the OLPC, like on a normal PC running Linux. The window system (Sugar) currently makes that hard, though someone is working on fixing that.

Internet access

How is internet connectivity achieved?

OLPC laptops talk to each other in an ad-hoc mesh network. Each school has a server which connects laptops on the mesh to the internet. -Jeff 21:28, 9 March 2007 (EST)

Egypt - GILO

USAID/Egypt issued a request for proposal (RFP) entitled Girls Inhanced Learning Opportunities 263-097-003GILOFeb 19, 2007 that calls for provision 30 computers and one lap top to 300 schools in seven (7) governates. The source/origin code for this procurement is 000 (United States). Assuming the OLPC laptops are not of US sources/origns, are you willing to provide princing information so this approach can be reflected in technical and cost responses to USAID/Egyupt's RFP(assuming a waiver can be obtained from USAID)?

Wayne_Jerry_King@yahoo.com

Which Unix-like Operating System?

I can find no link among section sub-headings to give me any clue as to where I find information about all the Operating Systems under consideration for this OLPC machine. It will be a Unix-like Operating System I am sure but that could be a Linux Distro, a version of FreeBSD or some other OS such as Minix. Or will this machine be a platform capable of running a wide range of Unix-like OS's?

The OLPC group is developing an open-source laptop OS using Redhat Fedora Linux as the base from which to start. This software will be freely made available to the countries deploying the laptops. However, since the CPU is a standard AMD Geode and the entire design is open-source, a country is free to develop their own OS or to choose some other OS for their laptops. The OLPC group will provide support for the OS and software that we develop.

Assistive Technology Software on the OLPC Laptop

In regards to accessibility, I think the 3 USB prots are a great idea. But what kind of assistive technology will be avaliable on the computer itself? Will synthesized speech, for example, have to be provided by an external synthesizer? Or, will a separate Nraille display and Braille keyboard have to be connected for a blind user to use the machine? Will the system have the necessary drivers built into the kernel or provided by external programs (such as Brltty)? What about support for mouse alternatives such as switches and head mice? Will the laptop be capable of playing sounds on events? I appologize for all the questions, but these are questions we are still trying to answer in mainstream operating systems.

The OLPC system has it's own set of rules and computing factors as mentioned on the many pages devoted to that subject.USB is also answered on this page. The answer to main stream operating systems would be Yes they have servers that are cross coded to allow them to give a limted out put via these servers. Will you beable to directly recive taged pages? Not at first but because from what has been said and the feed back they seem to work well and have few glitchs that will end up in

the main stream if any at all.--216.194.7.136 23:04, 3 April 2007 (EDT)

Has there been any News stories this year about the programa?

I found a page that has some news stories [2] If i find any more I'll add the link. --216.194.7.250 11:10, 24 March 2007 (EDT)

A Question about site submission

I was reading on one of the Wiki pages that you are looking for articles. But in the question and answer section you said the local communities will be adding things to the laptops internet mesh. Once the Laptops are received do you think it would be better to write to the government directly and submit sites based on simple graphics and texts that they can add them selves. I would like to submit but I wrote you people before and no one answered me and it is easier to get the Governments address and phone number . What do you think?

Well I think your idea sounds great! But you should hold off for right now in contacting the governments about submission ideas. If you look around the OLPC Wiki there are some ways you can make suggestions. But I am sure in the future once the program is off and running there will be ways to submit lessons and other suggestions to each OLPC location as well as to the OLPC program itself.

Bakersdz

Accessibility

I'm not sure if the information about accessibility on this WIKI answers the questions we have received about the laptop/program. So here goes: Someone asked me if the device would work for children with disabilities? And if you been designing this device with disability accessibility in mind from the outset? For instance, most persons with vision disability are not Braille readers so might need font enlarging capacity or some sort of audio outputs? Likewise for children with fine motor skills disabilities (e.g., one hand or less than the usual number of fingers or dexterity impacted by other neurological damage) would the keyboard design work for them? Likewise, for children with intellectual disabilities, is the interface usable for children who are not average? We've heard that 10% of the world's population, or more than 600 million people, live with life altering disabilities, and two thirds of those persons are in developing countries (UN statistics). We assume many of these are children. Would you give me a heads-up if you are designing, developing and fabricating this $100 laptop with disability accessibility needs in mind? Thanks! J. Simpson Senior Director, Telecommunications & Technology Policy, American Association of People With Disabilities (AAPD) 1629 K Street, N.W., Suite 503 Washington, DC 20006 Tel Ext 31 Website http://www.aapd.com

We are thinking about this; there are certainly significant disabled populations who will hopefully be using the laptop. You can sign up for our accessibility mailing list: accessibility at laptop. Thank you for your interest. Sj talk 16:51, 6 April 2007 (EDT)

OLPC and eyes

What about OLPC screen? Doesn't it damage eyes of a child? Especially if it is used as textbook's substitution and children will have to spend many hours reading from the screen

Why would you assert that it is harmful? In ebook mode it is nonemissive and rivals the resolution of paper. --Walter 15:38, 6 April 2007 (EDT)

I'm Russian. I noticed that many laptop manufacturers, as well as the majority of dealers oppose to the OLPC idea. Analysts usually describe OLPC disadvantages in mass media. Such apparently unexplicable hate is, in my opinion, the strongest demonstration of OLPC potential utility for millions of people. Expensive laptops manufacturers and dealers are afraid the majority of potential consumers will prefer such low-cost device. I am uneable to understand why OLPC manufacturers don't plan a parallel production for people who are ready to pay more (some USD200) and to credit production beforehand. In some countries away from OLPC distribution plan there are - I'm sure - millions of people who are ready to pay these USD200 or even more just now and receive laptop in some 6-8 months

Related Projects

There is a need for a directory list of related projects. Who else is working in this field? What is being done? Would a 'Useful Links' page not make sense?

Visit To Thailand from Mozambique

As a resident American in Mozambique but former teacher of computer skills, I am interested in seeing OLPC in operation. I will be traveling to Thailand next week and would appreciate meeting a teacher or visiting a school in Bangkok where OLPC is presently working. Thanks. Phil Gray

Ghana

My church would like to do some mission work (5-10 people) in Damongo, Ghana where we know some one who has done extensive mission work. There is a school with approximately 800 students at this time. Our small Minnesota church would like to buy 20-30 computers (or pay the government in hana for 20-30 of them). Are you allowing the government to give these computers to some schools and not others at this time? Could you give 20-30 to a school with 800 s tudents or does every student need to have their own?

I have e-mailed the US Embassy in Ghana to see if we could pay for 20-30 if they were to apply to get the OLPC laptops (and were accepted). Is this possible?

Barb Tonn tonnb@district279.org

It is not really the choice of the program as the governments have control of who gets them. But it is a program for thoses children who may because of poverty need extra help. This is the Mean Guideline. Paying for a few computers is a very nice mission but the program needs a big order to be shipped. If 100,000 people did what your church is doing then it might work out.

   Hello Barb,
   you should have remarked that all students shall have a

computer, so you would need about 800 * 150 $ to satisfy demand (or maybe only 100 $ each,

   if costs have been reduced to the original goal by then). 
   While Ghana is not yet on the agenda, it would be nice if

your church would start to collect the 120.000 $ to support "your" Ghanese school.

   Starting 2007, you may have to wait a while until

your "order request" will be satisfied, but it will take a time until you have collected

   the 120.000 $ anyhow. It would be a good way

to support the community, and of course the bible will be available on the computers. So start your

   support on a scale that make sense (20-30

computers would be inefficient to operate, and you will see 800 happy recipients! Joa (private statement)

Local version of SUGAR (particularly, Korea for me)

I want to make a Korean Version of SUGAR UI. I know the fact that currently you are making local versions for participating countries and, unfortunately, Korea is not one yet.

However, I think there is no reason to block writing local versions of SUGAR. Having one's own local version will help people persuade their governments to participate in OLPC.

Thanks.

Yes that is a valid point, but whose blocking it? If the government is blocking this then there is really not a lot you can do. They may have a good reason and later they will stop. But that is if it's the Government. You have to figure that part out first.

Sugar is designed to be easy to localize. It's a true pain to work on Sugar, though, as a programmer. If you want to localize it to the Korean language, I suggest going on the #sugar IRC channel on freenode.net and seeing if anyone there can tell you how to get started. They'd probably be happy with well written localization for the Korean language; it would shake out bugs in their Asian language support.

Why go the government route?

"Education must be Free in a much more fundamental sense, like Free Software (Free as in Speech, not free as in beer). We must educate all children in Freedom itself. The most important kind of educational freedom after access to educational materials and institutions is the ability to teach oneself. This would be the most important thing that schools could do, but for one problem: It is not in their power to do. Children already know how to teach themselves."

Why do you say you intend to teach children about freedom yet then demand that governments tax people to pay for their "free" education. Don't you believe this project would be much better if it were Charity sponsored and not government sponsored?

I just dont believe in teaching kids that using force to pay for education is "freedom".

Also what about Somalia that has no government at all.. Are children there are not eligible to get laptops until the UN tries to force a government on the people again?

Additional remark by Joa: In some contries, the (central) government is not engaged in school issues anyhow, such as in Germany, where the federal states are responsible for education and its funding (with less than 1 mio. pupils each). I think in the US the responsibility is at even lower levels of government. Should be similar in several developing conutries. Therefore, if at least one school should decide to participate (or if a charity provides the money)and would provide laptop to all pupils, and if the language (e.g. Spain) is already supported, why not include them in the project in second phase?

There is a reality truth in all of your comments, but then there is reality. Many people in Developing Nations have certain defining beliefs about the place of child, women and men in their culture. They also have a very strong belief about punishment . Some of these beliefs are some of the problems in some nations today. Based on the ability for each nation to guide their populations away from some older system there are some gaps. Some people do not believe that some children should learn to read or write. This is also the base of why school has to be paid for. In a school for free taxed system there are many other benefits like police, transportation , roads, bridges as well as the maintenance of such. With in the dividing line including access to healthcare, full personal freedom lessens based on what is better for most including those who want total freedom of free will and choice. Democracy is most times one party like a democratic one . Then there are others or the lack of that type of system. This in all nations represents the freedom of choice in which way you go as a nation and people. Bakersdz

I think this project would be MUCH better as charity program. We could already have laptops in children hands by now, while we wait for the governments to pony up the cash.

On the freedom issue.. true freedom means that parents get to decide if their children learn to read or write. It's sad if a parent made that choice but I think parents always want the best for their children.. whatever they think that may be, and that is untimely their right and the childs right. If a parent does not want his child in school, and the child itself is in good care and does not want to go, then that child should not go. Democracy is tyranny of the majority over the minority. Somebody always looses in Democracy.. We want a system where everybody wins, a system that embraces liberty.

I can not support this project if it is not a charity project. I'm sorry, I don't believe in these social education goals you have.

Yes that is what you believe. But in Charity Projects it's most times what the people you are helping believe. You can try to lead them by example to feel as you do but if they do not change then what? Part of the answer some might would give is, "Never mind if they do not listen or do as I do or say!" This is a normal reaction for most. In charity you have to with in your mission have a lot of love even if the people you are helping do not do what you would do. This is not a statement it's just plain fact! Thats why OLPC is not a direct charity venture.

Inbuilt Ruler on Case

Would it be possible to put a ruler on the front of the case embossed into the plastic?

15cm long with mm marks as well if possible (metric by default as 90% world metric, but could be imperial as required due to large numbers ordered per country)

I know you could do this in SW on the screen but this would encourage kids to measure up against the screen possibly scratching it and dropping dirt and water all over the keyboard.

This would be useful in teaching basic metrology as well as allowing the kids to make their own rulers out of whatever is avaialable. ie: make a 1m rule from string by measuring 10 lengths of 10cm and using the string ruler to measure their house, progress of the maize crop, height of the goat as it grows etc etc...

Laptops for african children

I am formative in a cabinet(office) in Africa. At present, we think with the government about the solutions to develop the skills of the children in schools and bring them to master the computing tool. Can you say to me if it is possible to get itself the computers which you distribute? What are the general conditions? Thank you.

It is hard to respond to an anonymous post. If you contact us at countries@laptop.org for inquires about specific deployments. --Walter 08:55, 17 April 2007 (EDT)

Emulation-screen size control

I emulated Qemu on Fedora 5 but all I get is a full size version of the top 50% of the screen losing all the bottom icons and it will not seem to scroll down. How can I control screen size so that I view full screen?. Also How do I access the Shell or Konsole?.

Data security regarding the camera, microphone and mesh network

Data on a laptop, that is in the hands of a child can never be called secure against malicious intruders, but that is not a great concern as long as the data consists basically of the childs homework. But the OLPC XO has a microphone a camera and a mesh function (through the latter other people can observe its movements through the house). A malicious intruder might manage to remotely turn those devices on and gather a lot of private data on the family, including high risk data, like political opinions. This is a problem in the first world already, but in the third world, with its dictatorships or unstable democracies and often powerful criminal organizations the damage can be huge. So to my question: Does the XO have off switches for the aforementioned three critical devices and, if yes, are they physical (really cutting power off)? If they are not physical, how does the system prevent malicious software from turning them on? Is there an accompanying paper, that explains the security precautions necessary for such a device to the child? --Steve

Please refer to the Bitfrost specification, which goes into detail about our plans to address this potential threat. Also note that there will be LEDs that indicate that the camera and microphone are on physically attached to the power lines of those devices. --Walter 09:01, 21 April 2007 (EDT)

I was imprecise. Certainly there are features, to make an attack difficult in the xo as well as in any other system. But ways around will be found, and my question is, what if (and it WILL happen) the software layer of security is already broken and the computer "owned". What safely prevents the aforementioned devices from gathering data, when they are not explicitly used? --Steve

I'll also try to be more precise: Please refer to OLPC_Bitfrost#P_MIC_CAM:_microphone_and_camera_protection. "The use of the camera and microphone require a special permission, requested at install-time as described in its chapter, for each program wishing to do so. This permission does not, however, allow a program to instantly turn on the camera and microphone. Instead, it merely lets the program ask the user to allow the camera or microphone (or both) to be turned on. This means that any benign programs which are taken over but haven't declared themselves as needing the camera or microphone cannot be used neither to turn on either, NOR to ask the user to do so!" --Walter 09:53, 21 April 2007 (EDT)

Thank you for your reply. The LEDs are certainly a real gain of security. If permissions are a protection depends on the severity of the attack. If the attacker achieved kernel privileges, all protection measures, that come from the operating system are off. Since in unstable countries governments and their agents must be counted among the potential attackers, the signature exception is furthermore a major hole in the (by its software nature already imperfect) protection.

The simplest actually secure solution to the problem would be three good old-fashioned power switches, one before the camera, one before the microphone and one before the antennas. Steve

Typical scenario: A democratically elected president turns into a dictator and wants to spy on his people. Millions of microphones with communication gear are already in the households and, as a leftover from his old democratic days he has the cryptographic keys necessary to activate them. Steve

Now they said, that the XO will run 3$ Windows too. Not even Bitfrost is there when Windows is running and the project has no legal way to even see, where that OS has its weaknesses. This makes a physical solution to the microphone problem almost unavoidable. But since on-off switches are really dirt cheap when bought in masses, it should be easy to do. Steve

The LEDs in the B4 laptops turned out to be great for debugging all the times when the camera and mic were powered on when they shouldn't be by the software. They really work. Of course, that only tells you that the cam or the mic is in use; the LEDs don't provide a way to turn them off. A piece of tape, or a gooey bit of rice, will suffice to shut off the camera if it's turned on and you don't want it to be used. The microphone is a bit harder to shut off temporarily (if you've lost control of your software), since ambient sound penetrates the case. --gnu

OLPC and developing countries

In Ethiopia, the per capita cost in education is less than 100 US $ per year (including donor grants). Do you really think that it is feasible to introduce OLPC in developing countries ?

I have nothing against Ethiopia, but really I don't think it's representative of the developing countries... According to the IMF, Ethiopia is:

# 168 out of 179 in GDP PPP / Capita

# 177 out of 180 in GDP nominal / Capita

(See Wikipedia's per capita income)

To answer your question: yes, I think it's feasible, and doable. But each country has to decide. --Xavi 20:57, 21 April 2007 (EDT)

One laptop per family ?

With 3-5 children in a typical family in developing contries, wouldn´t it be better to distribute the computers to a 3-5 times larger section of the country by limiting the distribution to one unit per family? Supply 100% of the scholl districts instead of 20-33%? One Pupil should not sit the whole day in front of the computer, anyhow. Use by the brothers/sisters in the meantime would also be a safeguard against theft, e.g. when the other child is working on the family´s cropgrounds. That would also be a small incentive against population increase, when parents with more children do not get more laptops for their families free of charge. Schools may decide to work with computers on alternating days with boys and girls, to avoid that always the boys pick the laptops. Sure, the distribution method is not the decision of OLPC organisation but made by the governments. I suggest one laptop per family only as an interim solution as long as and where one laptop for every child in the whole country is too expensive. When kids (and their finger size) grow out of the original OLPCs, their smaller brethren may inherit the machines for their own. by Joa

Spreadsheet Program

Shouldn´t a calculation program - some clone of EXCEL - be part of the standard software delivered with every computer ? Remember, most of the kids are living in families that are peasants, and they might like to make accounts of what their "business" is producing, what resources are needed to produce it, and so on.

Afghanistan

I am a 17 year old girl, a foreign-exchange student nearing the end of a one-year visit to the U.S. How can I get started to implement OLPC in my country, Afghanistan?

Hello, I am a development worker in Afghanistan and am also interested in brining the OLPC to Afghanistan. My questions are #1 How can i contact user User:216.194.21.214 so we can possibly colaborate #2 Do you know of any mailing lists or forums specifically for the OLPC and Afghanistan (or central asia) #3 As I understand it the OLPC is (will be?) selling in large quantities bought through governments, what about organizations that want to buy in smaller quantities (presumably at a slightly higher price), is this an option? (We would like to buy maybe 10-20 for some of our field staff and our child rehab probram). Cheers -Gaiko

We aren't currently looking into programs that work with older audiences, but are working to make small-group purchases possible. At the moment, your best bet would be the xogiving project. Sj talk 23:53, 10 October 2007 (EDT)

Please let us know how we can learn Micro Finance? : OLPC

Dear Sir/Madam,

We are interested to learn regarding OLPC and we in Kenya, Mombasa, Coast Province, especially Kilifi, is among the poorest in the world. We are around 10 million muslims in Kenya and we are very concerned and interested to help the needy in our areas.

Council of Imams & Preachers of Kenya (C.I.P.K.) was registered in 1997 as non-profit and charitable organization build in a very strong grassroots network with membership all over the country. The organization has branches in Western, Eastern, North Eastern, Nyanza and part of Rift Valley with its headquarters in Mombassa, Coast Province.

Our main activities include: 1. Peace, Security and development. 2. Sensitization of the public on Hiv/Aids, Drugs & substance abuse. 3. Dangers associated with Female Genital Mutilation. 4. Early/Forced marriages. 5. Propagation and Preaching. 6. Exchange programs. 7. Women /youth empowerment. 8. Disaster response. 9. Committment to ensure poor & orphaned children attain high education. 10.Direct support/sponsor converters and high education to Muslims students. Funds from mosque contributions and well-wishers.

Please let us know how we can learn on Micro Finance & Peace Prize and we are ready to learn either thro':

- Correspondence Learning. and/or - We send someone via return ticketc to come and learn, but if you can provide accomodation.

Looking forward to hearing from your prompt reply.

Thanks in advance.

Mohammad Dor Muhammad Organising Secretary Council of Imams & Preachers of Kenya P. O. Box 85130, Mombasa, Kenya Our E-Mail: conofimams@yahoo.com

Dear Mr.Mohammad Dor Muhammad,

The OLPC program is right now in the launching stage in many nations some with a strong Muslim population. Some of the issues you speak of have in other fourms and privately been addressed with the founders of the program. They are in a very high regard of Muslims and many others around the world! As time goes on and the program comes out of the launching stage. These issues will be taken up agian. Feel free to keep in touch by asking questions based on news of the program in your lands and other places. The OLPC program is a program for all people including Muslims and any one eles.So keep in touch. The answer to your question is: They are working on it!

--216.194.21.242 14:15, 15 May 2007 (EDT) S.L. of The LWSF Program

Does Allowing Windows Violate A "Core" Principle?

Negroponte has said this is a "learning" project, not a laptop project.

One of the "core principles" you outline in this Wiki is the use of open source.

You state that the child should not be a "passive consumer" -- which means that he should have access to the source.

Now the news is reporting the XO will run Windows?

This seems like a contradiction.

Allowing closed source to ride on top of the OLPC makes it no more than a Trojan Horse...right?

___

John A. Bailo The Texeme Construct

The Microsoft announcement has resulted in some confusion in the press. It is being suggested that because of the Microsoft announcement, OLPC will be switching from Linux to Windows. On the contrary, OLPC remains steadfast in its dedication to FOSS and has no plans to distribute Windows. However, we have consistant and public with our position that the spirit of openness and freedom; everyone, including software engineers at Microsoft, are welcome to develop for the machine. The fact that Microsoft has been making efforts to bring the price of Windows within reach of children in the developing world gives those children more choices. --Walter 04:11, 28 April 2007 (EDT)

http://www.mobilised.com.au/content/view/947/1/ --Steve (on second look that author may not be very knowledgeable. He understands the 3M minimum units as 3M minimum dollars) --Steve

I wish that we could build a $1 laptop, but that is out of reach for the time being. --Walter 16:42, 29 April 2007 (EDT)

http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=379 --Steve

I am unaware of any government asking for Windows. There is more to the difference between Windows and Linux than just $3. --Walter 16:44, 29 April 2007 (EDT)

But http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2007/04/negroponte_olpc.html --Steve

It's only a contradiction if you have more then education in mind. Like future consumers. Children are just like many computer systems; always changing and growing.Their Tojan Horse could be a brighter future inside! I think it was hard for the OLPC program to keep giants like Microsoft out of the program for as long as they did. But as we can all see by the news as of late every one wants in. Well when you have created something great every one wants one. Don't you think? Bakersdz

Thin Client Model and OLPC? Sugar

Hello, --Sam-c 04:57, 28 April 2007 (EDT) (Please Recategorise if needed, Thanks sam) 1) How do I Download Quickly Sugar On My Linux Machine that at Present Has Limited Resources, For Development and Evaluation Purposes. 2) What about the Thin Client Model? Which Many think is best for inexpensive Educational Purposes? Thanks, OLPC Newbie Sam --Sam-c 04:57, 28 April 2007 (EDT)

RE (1), please refer to the OS images for emulation page in this wiki; (2a) it is not clear that one could build a thin client for significantly less than you can build the XO; (2b) you can use the XO for thin client applications; and (2c) laptops are useful even when they are not connected to the network. --Walter 19:35, 29 April 2007 (EDT)

volunteers

How can I get my wealthy , resourceful high school students involved to help?

Other linux?...

Can I install other linux OS?... in particular can I install Debian etch? And if so will all hardware work?

Not able to buy a your laptop?...

If I wish to raise and educate my child will I not be able to acquire the PC? Why is there a political barrier between your PC and my child (and every other that do not go to school)?

OLPC has no plan to ship XO laptop direct to the consumer market. But Quanta, the manufacture of the XO laptop, will perhaps sell a commercialized version of the same laptop to the normal consumer at about $200[3]. This Quanta version laptop will perhaps also use the same open Sugar OS system, like the official XO laptop, developed by Redhat and OLPC Project. --Scott Zhu 20.20, 01.May 2007(EDT)

What do you do for process virtualization in bitfrost?

I had read that in the Bitfrost security system you do true virtualization of processes with almost no overhead. I was wondering what kernel module you use for that and where I can get it.

Donations

after tonight's 60 minutes' show, you should revamp the site to accomodate the flood of donation offerings. How may i send one? best wishes, tom

Try this site[4] Bakersdz

Laptop Security

I think it is pretty obvious these laptops will be quite possibly the most valuable thing in villages. What security features will these laptops have to make sure they don't get stolen? I have heard that they will be unusable if not used by the owner for 24 hours. Is this true?

There are several ideas aiming to avoid the problem, amongst them is saturation (why steal something that everybody has access to?) If you are interested in the more technical aspects, please see the Bitfrost security platform, and the specifics on anti-theft protection. --Xavi 10:29, 21 May 2007 (EDT)

computers for my school

Hello, My name is Sonia Ponce, I work in two high school´s in Matamoros Tamaulipas, Mexico, Escuela Secundaria Tecnica #46 & Escuela secundaria Tecnica #76, I teach cumputer sience but the problem is that we don´t have the resorces to get new equipment, we ask our local and state goverment for funding to purchase the much needed equipoment but we get no answer, your computer, if the cost is $100 USD looks to me to be afortable, the schools are located in a area where the people just don´t have much money they leve pay check to pay check, or how can we get choosen for a trial basis?

Yours Truly Sonia Ponce e-mail, saponce@gmail.com

why can't I contribute by credit card on the OLPC site?

I'm trying to make a donation. All I see is an address to send a check: nowhere to donate via credit card.

Try this site [5] Bakersdz

feedback

What mechanisms are in place to get feedback and bug reports from the participants in the third world?

How can I buy this lap top?

I definitely want to buy this lap top. How can I do that? Should I just call this compamy?

This is covered on the Ask OLPC a Question about Distribution page. —Joe 14:11, 22 May 2007 (EDT)

How can I help translating contents?

I am japanese. I would like to help translating contents of this web site. Though I looked at help,FAQ,I can't understand. Someone help me how to translate,please.

A (too) short answer: see Translating & Translators. If you have any questions or doubts, you can drop me a note. Cheers, --Xavi 22:28, 22 May 2007 (EDT)

external USB

Will this laptop be compatible with external devices such as a USB CD-ROM Drive or a USB Hard-Disk?

yes. --18.85.19.140 17:01, 24 May 2007 (EDT)

OLPC News Feed?

Is there now or are there any plans to make OLPC news available as an RSS feed? I would very much like to provide my site's readers with up-to-date news on OLPC's progress. Best regards! MT

Will corrupt governments use laptops to line their own pockets?

You seem to have left a lot up to the individual governments for distribution. I can see many advantages of this, however, living in one of your target countries (Dominican Republic) and having lived in other poor countries, I can see how leaving anything up to a country's governement leaves room for corruption leaving the poor children out-of-luck again.

Will corrupt governments give the laptops to the very poor children or the highest bidder to line their own pockets?

Well the OLPC Laptop is designed

for children with it's own information core to a main frame designed for use with in the OLPC market. Which is the schools that have been selected to receive the program. I would try to think positive and not believe they would do that until you hear news of this going on. Since it is the government that has most of the control so far they have given them out unless you have heard other wise.-- 216.194.21.158 17:08, 29 May 2007 (EDT)

School Sponsors

After I saw the 60 Minutes piece I thought this would be a great school fundraiser. It would be cool to have US children e-mail children in third world countries. Much of today's issues, I think, could be improved with an understanding of each other. Do you have plans for schools to invest in a laptop and then have the US children e-mail the laptop's recipient? I know there are such opportunities in developed countries, but I know of none for third world countries. cmshaughnessy@msn.com

There has been some interest shown by the US and other First World nations. As the program grows this could be a very good idea for children to have email pals across the globe. Bakersdz

That would be great, but the OLPC software doesn't handle email. --gnu

Say what? The XO has a full-featured web browser, which is more than adequate for using gmail, among other email systems. We haven't ported a native email client to the laptop yet, as it is not as high a priority as other activity development. --Walter 21:35, 7 July 2007 (EDT)

Arbitrary section break II

Will Limited Storage Impact Feeling Of Ownership?

I have been impressed by Seymor Papert's idea that the relationship that users have with their personal computers makes them more powerful. I also note that the storage limitations of the OLPC mean that some portion of the materials of an individual student are likely to be stored on the server. What I am curious about is how this will impact the student's sense of ownership and whether the software will be designed to mitigate this limitation by blurring the distinction of local/remote storage. I imagine that this might be done by something simple like establishing a virtual volume that contains the local and remote materials. Of course it may well be that this isn't an issue at all.

The objective is to have the 'server' space transparently integrated into the 'user' space, so that accessing a resource (ie: a file) stored in the server will be transparent. For more info, you can read OLPC Human Interface Guidelines#Automatic Backup and Restore or OLPC Human Interface Guidelines#The Laptop Experience for a broader view. --Xavi 22:46, 31 May 2007 (EDT)

What's the optimal business model to assure a healthy future for the $100 laptop?

I am wondering what the business model will be for the $100 business model. Selling directly to countries and leaving it to them how to distribute might not prove the most sustainable solution. In the vaccin business in the third world one of the biggest problems is reselling subsidized vaccins to 2nd or first world countries. Why not think of business models as innovative as the laptop itself? I think a great product like this deserves it. Why not leveraging micro credits to make it affordable to families to buy it themselves in stead of giving it away? Or monetize the cult status the machine now already has in western countries? I think it would be a missed opportunity to limit the business model to selling to countries only, and would be very willing to leverage my experience and network to come up with a more creative and innovative solution space.

bramellens@gmail.com Business developer at eBay

You see the program is an open source program this means that any one can contribute. With in the frame work of the program some of the contributions of ideas and programs are used some are not. With in the upper branch of the OLPC Foundation there is some consultation done in regards to how the laptops are distributed. In reason we would have to assume that it is in part done by foundation members and those who banner the cause that are programers, developers and logistics people of the nation it self. You see the business model has some merit but this is a program for children. With in the laptops build are those who set up builds on regular computers to mimic the laptop and those who received laptops for testing and developing.

There is also the support from Fedora and Linux as this system is based in part of these mainframes and a few others, as well as having an individual platform that is unique to the OLPC laptop all by it self. The United Nations was one of the platforms that originally presented the program there are variables based on some of the social and economic conditions of some of the nations the business build will come out of sustainability programs with in the business of aiding the populations that are with in the criteria of a OLPC laptop if they cannot develop the framework to articulate the necessary criteria to get the laptops on their own. After the laptops are fully distributed which will be a number in the millions there would have to be a review period. Nothing can be done until this has taken place. There could only be one base plan and a few alternate scenarios to make this a reality as with any business or program. This is indeed a real format of sustainability and aid through education and information for future progress. So with in the world aid business the OLPC program has an excellent business model.BakersDz July 2,2007

social impact of completely computerizing small villages

Previous attempts at bringing small communities up to speed with the rest of the world have been disastrous on family, existing social norms and community ties. For example, some forays into taking previously entirely communal areas dependent on agriculture that were deemed "backward" through standard measures of yearly income and daily caloric intake were in fact highly successful and ideal with regard to satisfactions of personal, family and community life. Commercial transactions were introduced where previous common growing areas existed. Some crops were then discarded in favor of more profitable ones, traditional bartering disappeared, rituals surrounding the harvest and preparation of foods also were eliminated, the extended family dependence and home life virtually disappeared. Has ANYONE looked at this?

I'm not sure about other groups, but presumably the individual ministries of education are investigating it in their pilot studies. They are the ones best able to assess the effects of the project on their culture, since they are the most familiar with their culture. They are also the ones paying for the laptops, so they have the most to lose if they do not consider both the educational and cultural effects of their decision. Of course, that will only detect problems on a small scale; it is quite impossible to predict what will happen with many years and many laptops. After all, we are still discovering weekly new social consequences—both good and bad—of the U.S. government's decision to research the Internet in the 1970's. —Joe 20:55, 4 June 2007 (EDT)

Numbers

I have heard in the Fall of 2007 a big shipment will go out. *As of July 2007 how many Laptops have been given out in the Thousands by nation? 8/1/07

Why is this information such as stats not found in a simple to find place?

Yes there is a a page with sats now.

I have over viewed the site and diffrent members seem to say they will do this or do that and then they leave the page this is based on the dates in history. I think that the people should delete the pages if they cannot stay focused. When will you do this have each member delete their pages they never finshed?

They have been deleting pages but there is a process

What page do these members go to on a regular basis where we can tell them this and question them about the page and its reason?

I depends what you are in to.

There is a question on this page that is a tech question that has been unanswered for a long time.

It was removed.

Is this a message or something or a code?

No it is not.

If not why then does not one of the Wiki people answer this persons question?

They did some one keeps erasing the answer.

We would like the other users to answer these 6^Questions and not Walter the VP of the program. Miss Weakness Someone who might join or a member who needs to know.June 15,2007. Get back soon.

Yes some one else did.

How will children "personalize" their machine to make it distinctive?

In a class environment with several dozens children (or even less), where each child has her own laptop, It might be possible that the fact that all the machines look exactly the same will not have positive impact. Are there any provisions on the laptop to help personalize it? For instance, if there was a "pocket" in the external shell where the child could slide in a picture of herself, and if there is (at least) one printer per class, the laptops could be personalized. of course, this is just a crude idea, and i am sure that the creative people who created the olpc can think of much better implementation, but the main question remains: how will the children personalize their laptops, and if there is no obvious way to do so, is it possible that the fact that each child will have a machine that looks exactly like everyone else's will have adverse effects?

[did you ever wonder why, with all the useful applications available for download on a cell phone, by far the most popular is the personalized ringtone, which adds exactly zero to the functionality, but is the thing that makes yours distinct from everyone else's? my question above can be rephrased as "what will fill the function of the "personal ringtone" of the olpc machine?]

I don't know the machines have any features to expressly enable customization, but I expect stickers will play a major role in customization. Markers, too. The 60 Minutes video shows XOs with the child's name written on tape on the lid, which is a similar thing. This type customization may upset adults more than a "slide-in pocket", but it is definitely going to happen, and it doesn't seem to hurt anything but conformity. And these modifications have another benefit: they make the laptop less appealing to thieves (even though a lot of stickers and markers will come off with the right solvents). —Joe 18:49, 8 June 2007 (EDT)

The B3 machines also added this feature "colored XO on the back cover (400 different color combinations so kids can distinguish their laptops from each other" Crazybus 00:38, 28 June 2007 (EDT)

Cost, Distribution, Technical Support and Competition

It is apparent that in-country sponsor organizations must be involved to distribute and support the PC. These organizations may be governmental, or perhaps even charitable (aid) agencies.

OLPC should create "franchises" of a sort. The sponsoring organization will be responsible for providing a systems integration and technical support center (or centers) in which the PC will be assembled, tested, packaged and distributed; and from which limited technical support will be provided. The centers may also be responsible for establishing the WIFI networks required. The centers must be created by the sponsoring organization per OLPC specifications and should be supervised (from creation) by an OLPC employee. The centers will be funded and owned by the sponsoring organization, and all of the employees at the centers will be employed by the sponsoring organization --- except the OLPC supervisor. It's important to keep the OLPC supervisor independent of the sponsoring organization, since the OLPC supervisor will be responsible for auditing manufacturing and distribution per OLPC guidelines.

Expense in setting up the centers should be minimal for the sponsoring organization. I am happy to aid in the creation of specifications for centers. The specifications for each center will be similar to all others, with capacity being the only unique component of the basic equation. Network establishment for sponsoring organization's geography will also be similar to all others, with capacity and physical terrain being the unique components of the basic equation.

OLPC will establish credit/payment arrangements with each of the sponsoring organizations.

After account establishment, OLPC will send kits of PC materials to the centers for final assembly. The centers will perform top-level assembly only. Kits of parts will include, cases, power supplies, batteries, LCDs, unit packaging, etc. --- and perhaps a calculated spares supply based upon estimated (eventually, known) reliability of the PCs to ensure in-field functionality for 5 years. The centers would also be responsible for PC repairs and refurbishment, as well as network maintenance, to OLPC guidelines.

The sponsoring organization is responsible for distributing the PC per OLPC guidleines. Distribution expenses are borne by the centers.

The OLPC supervisor will audit the performance of the sponsoring organization. In the event that the sponsoring organization fails to meet OLPC standards, OLPC may stop shipments of PC parts to the center.

OLPC cost is reduced by transferring the labor costs of final assembly, test, packaging and distribution to the sponsoring organization, thus relieving the PC unit price of these costs. The countries most in need of the OLPC program have plentiful and inexpensive labor. Perhaps a penny or two per PC must be added to the PC cost so that OLPC can pay its center supervisors (and perhaps area - continent? - supervisors, auditing the center supervisors). The creation of in-country infrastructure --- and local employment --- virtually assures loyalty and continuity of the OLPC program.

I can tell you that we make can even make the OLPC "franchise" work in the U.S. I can provide up to 50,000 employees who can assemble the PC in the U.S. --- legally --- for less than $1.00 per hour. Assuming OLPC program control in the U.S., these employees can even kit and ship the top-level parts to centers throughout the world.

I am aware that certain for-profit companies are threatening competition. Such competition is a serious threat to OLPC and its vision. If a commercial enterprise can thwart OLPC's vision, and cause OLPC to cease to exist --- PC prices will rise due the lack of competition.

The establishment of in-country partnerships with sponsoring organizations (probably governments) will be the only way that OLPC can manage competition from firms such as Intel.

dekedeac@bellsouth.net

While it is possible to do assembly in-country in the future, in order to deliver the lowest-cost laptop in the first year, final assembly needs to be done close to where the some 800 parts in the laptop are manufactured. One needs to consider not just the total cost of final assembly, logistics, packaging, and shipping, but also the cost of logistical coordination of all the parts and their shipping for in-country final assembly, plus duties and capital equipment investment. OLPC and its manufacturing partners are happy to work with countries to explore a local-manufacturing option in future years and to create a phased plan for in-country manufacture now.

OLPC does not want to limit in-country industrial development to only a few low-wage, low-skill, no-growth jobs such as assembling laptops, while the higher value-added, high-skill, high-growth jobs remain elsewhere. Focusing only on parts or system assembly is not sustainable economic promotion. Our commitment to open-source software and content allows rapid, viral growth of these industries in country, which dwarf the assembly-line manufacturing industry.

Serving the OLPC “ecology” will create in-country business opportunities. There are numerous devices ranging from solar panels, generators, point-to-point wireless hardware to extend the network, novel, inexpensive educational accessories to be used with the laptop, and so on that can and will be invented in a grassroots, bottom-up fashion. Software is also an opportunity: systems such as the XO will enable both commercial and non-commercial software to be built to address needs in the majority of the world where computing has not been available due to lack of suitable computers and networks. --Walter 03:47, 16 June 2007 (EDT)

If we have learned nothing, we have indeed learned that simply dumping money, food --- or PCs --- into a needy geography does little long-term good for the intended clients. Don't send fish --- teach your clients how to fish. Without OLPC control of PC distribution, network creation and maintenance and repair/upgrade capabilities, the PCs you dump into the third world will disappear into oblivion.

The concept of client investment is a well-accepted method of creating the sense of ownership necessary to create and care for the in-country programs. The "cost of logistical coordination of all the parts and their shipping for in-country final assembly" bears exactly the same level of complexity as shipping the PCs. OLPC ships KITS of parts to produce X PCs --- not random shipments from various hardware manufacturers. In the unlikely event that there is a country on this earth that will not waive tariff or tax for humanitarian shipments, the kits of parts will be taxed at a much lower rate than the value-added PCs.

In-country assembly and support operations will be the ONLY way to keep your competitors at bay. Don't be naive. Intel can sell its PC for any price it choses. OLPC will lose a price war with any competitor that can produce and provide substantial hardware value a lower-than-market prices.

The in-country assembly plan works because labor rates will be directly proportional to each countries abilities to pay those rates. It's a perfect equation.

OLPC is a GREAT idea. However, there comes a point where idealism must yield to reality to ensure success.

OpenDocument in Write?

What will be the default format for saving documents in Write? I think I read somewhere that all Write documents will be saved in Microsoft's proprietary doc format. It seems to me that OpenDocument should be promoted wherever possible. Will it be OpenDocument or some other open format? -Danny 75.47.72.74 12:31, 17 June 2007 (EDT)

We are hoping that we'll be able to use open document (odt) as the default, although there is some more work QA work to do. --Walter 13:01, 17 June 2007 (EDT)

Cambodia

Does the Ministry of Education of Cambodia show any interest until now ?

How do make OLPC function? "No init found."

Problem in OLPC B2-1

I try booting using DSL Linux, still doesn't work.

What CAD system was used to design the Laptop?

Is it possible for the children to get a qualification?

Is it possible for the children to get a qualification? Over the Internet or controled by government?

What kind of qualification?

Game Jam

Can Game Jam games be accessed through FireFox in a format that people can can try it or see an in action demo of the games themes?

If not as many programs can be presented for view in diffrent system formats do you think becuase of the Google link that the program is not being relistic in the real world of internet? In some ways the clanist social pratices of many people and nations is a mid level part of their problem. By following this type of only if you.... belong to the group ,have this kind of system, have a laptop ect... may not be progressive. WHAT DO YOU THINK? jULY 7,2007

XO não conecta na rede Wirelles

Atualizei o XO e não consigo mais me conectar na Internet. Como devo proceder?

I brought up to date the version of the XO and now I do not obtain more to connect in the net wirelles. Exists some procedure?

Make sure you are running the latest stable build. Go to the mesh view and click on the triangle that represents the access point that you want to connect to... Note that WAP is not yet supported. --Walter 14:10, 28 June 2007 (EDT)

Brief Translation: Você deberia utilizar a ultima build estável. A rede não funcion beim com tudas as build, a gente esta cambiando moitas cosas pra garantizar eso.

If you updated to the latest unstable build, you may need to downgrade to 406: see the downgrading instructions for details. Sj talk 14:20, 28 June 2007 (EDT)

Code of ethics

I think it's time to establish Code of Ethics and Code of Standard Practice for OLPC related activities in each nation. For example, OLPC Korea plans to have presentation tours all around the nation and to meet various people with various backgrounds; teachers, governmental officers, businessmen, those employeed, and housewives etc. If anyone of them want to contribute to OLPC related activities or financial support, what can we do? just receive donations? recommend them to donate to OLPC foundation or national OLPC volunteer groups? without no guidelines at all? It's a serious problem, and will be more serious issue in the future...php5 02:27, 4 July 2007 (EDT)

I thought you were going somewhere else re a Code of Ethics: should OLPC be taking a stance re how the laptops are distributed and used. We cover that to a degree in our Core principles. Regarding contributions, there already are several local "OLPC" groups that are raising money for local deployment of OLPC. Some of these groups have an affiliation with OLPC and some are wholly independent. This does pose somewhat of a dilemma, because some unethical group could raise money using the OLPC name and never deliver laptops to children or charge some usurious "management fee". I'm not sure what to do about this, except to recommend that people solicit contributions that are routed through the OLPC foundation (http://laptopfoundation.org). --Walter 07:06, 4 July 2007 (EDT)

In Korea also, if anyone or any company donate/contribute to educational or research facilities, s/he will be given tax-reduction benefit (reduction from taxable income), but not for foreign colleges or research institutes. So, I hope OLPC designate one (or more than one) educational/research institutes to which Korean citizens and corporations can donate and take tax reduction benefit. Or I will recommend some institutes or colleges to OLPC, then OLPC may pick some among them. I hope some of those donations to be used in developing XO variations such as Larger OLPC for youths and operating XO Service teams in Korea. php5

I think all donations had better go to OLPC Foundation, and then redistributed to the world and monitored/supervised by OLPC to maintain the ethical standards of our activities.

Liberia

Are there any discussion with the Country of Liberia? If so what are they and do you have insight as to whether Liberia will be interested in OLPC?

There are some ongoing discussions in Liberia. Details as soon as they are available. --Walter 07:46, 5 July 2007 (EDT)

Christian content

Are there any Christian based initiatives with regards to providing Christian content on thumbdrives to be used with the laptops?

OLPC is only looking at basic literacy and numeracy; we leave it to the countries to determine what other content to provide on the laptops.

B2-Friendly Software/Firmware Builds

Its been a while since the olpc406_c11 build came out and it doesn't seem (my observation) to bring out the best in the B2s. Are there any future releases that will be B2 friendly while serving the B3s and B4s? I'm asking because the XOs being tested in Nigeria are mostly all B2s (if I'm correct). --Ahmad 12:04, 4 July 2007 (EDT)

There will be two new builds coming out in the coming days, both of which will be (largely) compatible with B2 hardware. One will be a variant of Build 406, but with the power management and suspend/resume in place. This should make a big difference in regard to usability in the school trials as the laptops should last a full school day on a single charge. The other build will be an experimental build that exposes a number of new features regarding the mesh and our model of sharing. It will also include the basic Journal functionality and the new tabbed Sugar UI. Initially, it may not be suitable for the school trials--the idea would be for a few machines in each school be set up with the new software so that the teachers and children can give us feedback. --Walter 16:21, 4 July 2007 (EDT)

The Needy Children of the U.S.A.

To all of those people that want to donate things to all of the children. Shouldn't we think of all of our children in the states?

Stop & think of who is responsible of all the teaching that the Americans are the enemy's. with all of the organizations in this country i would think that our country that a lot of AMERICANS FOUGHT FOR & SO MANY LOST THEIR LIVES FOR.THAT EVERYONE THAT WANTS TO START A DONATION &FUNDING TO SHOULD START IN THEIR COUNTRY THAT THEY LIVE IN.

STOP & THINK HOW MUCH DID OUR COUNTRY DO FOR A LOT OF OTHER COUNTRIES & WHAT DID WE GET ION RETURN.

THE BIG CORPORATIONS SEND ALL OF OUR WORK THEIR & PUT HOW MANY PEOPLE ON THE OUT OF WORK LIST.

JUST BECAUSE OF THE GREED OF BIG MONEY PEOPLE. I THINK IF ANY MONEY IS SPENT IT SHOULD BE SPENT IN OUR COUNTRY FIRST.THEN WHEN OUR CHILDREN HAVE ALL OF THE LEARNING TOOLS THEN WE CAN HELP OTHER COUNTRIES.

NOW STOP & THINK WHO HELPED US ON SEPTEMBER 11!!!!! WE NOW ARE INVOLVED IN A WAY IN A COUNTRY THAT TEACHES THAT ALL AMERICANS SHOULD BE KILLED. IS THAT THE KIND OF CHILDREN YOU WANT TO TEACH MORE TO?? STOP & THINK WHAT YOUR FATHER & HIS FATHER WOULD SAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SO PLEASE STOP & TEACH THOSE CHILDREN IN OUR HOME COUNTRY. ALSO THINK THAT HOW MANY CHILDREN DO WE HAVE IN THIS COUNTRY FROM THE COUNTRIES YOU ARE GIVING THESE THINGS TO.

WE NEED TO BUILD THE U.S.A. BACK TO THE PROUD COUNTRY IT SHOULD BE.

There is a lot more i would like to say but it all comes back to we should help our Country first.

-- AN AMERICAN VET.

OLPC is interested in helping children in all countries, including the United States. We have been in discussions with many governors and are discussing possible deployments in individual school districts. That said, I have two comments regarding your note: (1) OLPC has not been diverting any funds away from the United States into other countries; and (2) it is our belief that one of the roads to peace is making sure that every child in every country has an opportunity for learning. If we can help to eliminate ignorance, perhaps we can eliminate much of the underlying cause of hatred and violence. --Walter 18:11, 7 July 2007 (EDT)

computers

When I turn on my laptop it looks like it is starting normally but then says windows has encountered a problem. it gives me the choices of starting Windows Normally, Safe Mode, Safe Mode with networking, or Safe mode with Command prompt. When I click on any of these, the computer goes to a blue screen that says the computer began and finished a physical memory dump. How do I fix this?

First unpack your Fedora installation CD...

MOTHERBOARD

I'm an Italian student and i'm working on XO as my degree project. I'm looking forward to find someone who are able to help me. I just need the dimensions of the motherboar in cm or inches in order to do a benchmarking analisys. I alrealy wrote down a lots of emails but without any results.

Thanks in advace.

Samantha

olpc, nicholas

I am currently doing a project on Nicholas Negroponte and I need to interview him, however I've contacted OLPC and they said he has no time. So I was hoping someone from the company would help to answer my questions as I can't lift questions from the above and also I need someone with credentials to answer my questions. So here are my questions:

Other than OLPC, what was he involved in before that makes him so confident in this project?
Is the laptop accessible to children with physical disabilities?
Even though the laptop is just a 100$, what happens when countries cannot afford to pay but the children are in desperate need for a laptop?
If OLPC is a non-profit organisation, where would the money go to after being collected?
Would people from other countries be able to volunteer to teach the children how to use the laptop?

Sorry for taking up too much of your time. I would really appreciate it if the questions could be answered as the results of my project would be able to get me into a good university. Thank you.

Many of these questions have been answered elsewhere in the wiki, but here are some summary answers:

Nicholas and his colleagues, including Seymour Papert, have been working on technology and learning since the mid-1960s. They have lead or participated in numerous one-to-one computing projects in the field in both the developed and developing world, in places as diverse as Senegal, Cambodia, Costa Rica, etc.
We have incorporated the standard Linux accessibility features and are working with various groups on additional enhancements.
We have a foundation that is trying to help reach children in the LDCs.
OLPC doesn't collect money; CitiCorp transfers funds directly to the supplier chain. The laptop is always sold at cost, so there is no additional money to "go" anywhere.
We are mobilizing volunteers to work with children regarding learning learning, but the children will not need help learning to use the laptop itself.

--Walter 10:11, 11 July 2007 (EDT)

Should the OLPC project be outside of the USA?

Considering that US export laws are at times irrational and politically motivated, is it wise that this project is in the USA and have it software be configure managed in the USA? This project should be outside of USA's jurisdiction.

does this laptop use programs such a word?

I am curious to know if the laptop provided uses programs such as word for things like typing reports.

The laptop comes with a wide variety of software (See Activities) including a word processor based upon Abiword. --Walter 09:14, 13 July 2007 (EDT)

Can the ARTICLES OF INCORPORATION of OLPC be disclosed?

Dear Walter

Please let me know whether it is publicized. I would like to write a similar one for our Korean XO community sincerelyphp5 05:31, 17 July 2007 (EDT)

Can any one translate this page to English?

[[6]

XO logo colors

What are the 20 colors that will create the 400 different XO logo color combinations so kids can distinguish their laptops from each other?

If you don't mind reading source code, the hex codes ('RRGGBB', like in HTML) for all the color combinations are in the xocolor.py file in the repository, under the sugar/sugar/graphics directory. —Joe 01:33, 26 July 2007 (EDT)

I made a page with the colors. It turns out there are 29 of them, and around 200 color pairs defined. —Joe 22:09, 30 July 2007 (EDT)

i am a homeschooler

are homeschoolers going to be able to get a laptop like this

It will probably depend on your country for now.

-----------

quote from elsewhere on this page

As much as we would like to see an OLPC in the hands of every child on the planet, practical issues and humanitarian :criteria help decide the first people to get laptops:

Children and teachers in developing countries whose governmental leaders have partnered with OLPC

-----------

But Quanta the manufacturer will probably be selling a commercialized version in the future for a higher price so you :may be able to get one then if your country isn't buying the laptops. Crazybus 00:05, 24 July 2007 :(EDT)

Support for application languages like Java?

I think this laptop could have huge potential as the hardware infrastructure for supporting scientific projects in the developing world. I´m a software engineer and I think it would be great to begin building custom applications that suited this particular kind of machine.

Does anyone know what programming languages or software development kits work with this? Dare I ask whether standard Java applications would work on this? Java is supposed to work on Linux based systems but I wonder whether the AWT works with the kind of display used in the laptop.

By the way, it would greatly help the developer community if we could get easier access to the laptops themselves. It could spawn all sorts of open source development projects to build software applications that were relevant to the groups who used them.

You might want to take a look at the Getting started programming page. The main programming environment supported on the laptop itself is Python, but you can also develop in Smalltalk in Squeak and Javascript in a browser-based activity. Note that Python is currently used for a variety of scientific applications.

Java is not in the official build, but I imagine Java and AWT can be made to work, since it works on other Linux/GTK systems (although performance may be poor, given the limited-resource environment). Running a full Java (or C/C++) SDK on the laptop may prove difficult, though... The easiest way to get a particular Java application on the laptop might be to compile it to an x86 binary on a more powerful system.

You can apply for a laptop through the Developers program. —Joe 17:23, 25 July 2007 (EDT)

Source-code editor with transparent native-language display

This is just a note to draw people's attention to my concept of Source-code editor with transparent native-language display. I think it is a perfect fit for the OLPC. --Homunq 16:48, 25 July 2007 (EDT)

Power Issues

Now that the laptop is in use does it get hot slightly, hot or pretty hot.? How long would you say it takes to get hot; like an hour of use or longer? This is question for the people testing the laptop it self. It has also been noted cord connections in photos. Can the laptop be connected to electricity? 7/27/07

Yes it can be connected to electricity quote "The laptop is capable of taking a DC input ranging from 5 volts to 25 volts to charge the 5-cell NiMH battery inside" http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Battery_and_power. The heat question is better answered by others but I can tell you that the laptop has been designed to be very power efficient so it shouldn't expel much heat. They were experimenting with a new battery type which is a lot safer and cooler but I'm not sure if it's been included in all the mass production units. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_iron_phosphate_battery Crazybus 08:25, 27 July 2007 (EDT)

To obtain a laptop in Peru?

I have family in Peru that are of low income and there are4 kids within the family how would they be able to ontain a laptop and where woud they have to go?

The laptops are paid for and distributed by the ministries of education of each country, so you'd need to contact the Peruvian ministry of education to get the details on how the laptops are being deployed. There may be additional details on the OLPC Peru page. Other means of getting a laptop may be available in the future; for example, Quanta may sell a commercial version of the XO, or the OLPC may distribute to non-governmental organizations. —Joe 01:23, 26 July 2007 (EDT)

Accessing another school's Mesh Network

If a teacher takes an OLPC laptop to another school for a meeting, can they access the other school's Mesh Network to transfer documents and software, etc? Is a laptop strictly limited to only accessing one school's network (without some time-consuming reconfiguration of access-permissions)? If access is possible, how would it be granted?

--Ricardo 12:43, 26 July 2007 (EDT)

I don't think this has been entirely worked out yet, but a recent post to the Sugar mailing list shows that the developers are indeed considering the case where an external laptop (either XO or non-XO) wants to participate in the school's local network. —Joe 19:07, 26 July 2007 (EDT)

access of offline content with browser

I am interested to see some of my html content on the OLPC before the content is uploaded. My content is on flash disk. I managed to mount the Flash Disk using the shell. Then I tried to use the browser in the sugar interface to access my index.html file from the Flash Disk. But, so far, all I got is error message. I need your guide.

What is the error message? Crazybus 07:32, 28 July 2007 (EDT)

Page Load Error is the message. I am just trying to access an html file from my flash disk with out being connected to the internet. I used the path to my html file in place of URL.

How can Wikipedia editors help?

I'm a relatively experienced Wikipedia editor (User:Creidieki@en), and I've heard that the Wikipedia project will be involved in some way with OLPC. However, I can't find any concrete information about this, either on this site or on Wikipedia. Are there wiki-related tasks which need to be done to help prepare content for the OLPC project? Which wikiprojects will be included on the OLPC? How can I help? -- Creidieki 12:41, 2 August 2007 (EDT)

You might want to ask SJ Klein, as he is apparently something of a liaison between OLPC and Wikipedia, as well as being the OLPC director of content. I believe the plan is to ship a subset of Wikipedia with either the laptops themselves or the school servers (in case internet connectivity isn't locally available), although I'm not sure how the subset is being chosen. I think contributions to the Simple English Wikipedia would be helpful, as these articles are likely to be used both for English instruction and in the case where translated articles are not available. —Joe 18:42, 2 August 2007 (EDT)

The One encyclopedia per child page may be relevent to this (see both the Article and Discussion pages). It covers a Wikipedia for children, cut-down to fit on CD/DVD. --Ricardo 04:44, 12 August 2007 (EDT)

how is it fun?

what can my children do to have fun?

Play games, learn, create content, draw, make music, film videos etc Crazybus 19:47, 9 August 2007 (EDT)

can they install games?

That depends on the game. There are lots of linux games already out as well as some on the xo already. Windows games are more of an issue. The hardware is also not suitable for playing the advanced 3d games. Crazybus 19:47, 9 August 2007 (EDT)

my children play an online game.is that possible on this?

That depends what game it is. For example if it's just a browser game it can be played. If it uses flash then you would have to install the flash plugin yourself. Crazybus 19:47, 9 August 2007 (EDT)

Actually, I saw an XO demo unit recently, and Flash (or some sort of Flash substitute) was working well enough to play videos from YouTube in the web activity. I don't know if the final distribution includes Flash capability, but it seems likely, given that the demo unit did. —Joe 00:36, 10 August 2007 (EDT)

I just tested on my laptop with a base install of build 542 and it has gnash installed by default. It can indeed play a lot of the flash games though some may not work ()http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnash Crazybus 02:39, 10 August 2007 (EDT)

how far does the internet reach?

That depends on your router or wireless provider. If you mean the mesh network then there has been a test of over 2.1km line of sight on flat ground from machine to machine. Of course this would be much less in buildings. Crazybus 19:47, 9 August 2007 (EDT)

I provide free English as a Second Language lessons to students in different countries. My main method of communication is Skype. Will this laptop and its peer-to-peer network be able to handle Skype?

http://wiki.laptop.org/go/VoIP Crazybus 19:47, 9 August 2007 (EDT)

Where are you and your children from as all nations have not recived the laptop yet?--216.194.21.130 17:52, 9 August 2007 (EDT)

OLPC's NEW FORMAT

how do i order one?

http://wiki.laptop.org/go/How_can_I_get_one%3F Crazybus 22:50, 11 August 2007 (EDT)

is this able to access yahoo and myspace?

It has a web browser so yes. Crazybus 22:50, 11 August 2007 (EDT)

If I make sites for kids how can the OLPC child find me? and can you give me the best Meta key words?

Display Technology

Is there in-depth information available on the display technology, including any associated patents?

In addition to reading the Display page, you might try reading the publications of Mary Lou Jepsen, who, as I understand it, is responsible for many of the display's innovations. —Joe 16:51, 15 August 2007 (EDT)

How to get the price down

I use computer for 30 years and what I see is the price getting down and the power up.

You may have some good political reasons to limit the spreading of the OLPC to some countries.

What I think is the OLPC can become for rich countries a cute device like the iPod, and you could sell millions getting the price down. I am sure that getting a low price (with a good quality) is very important for the poor children of developping countries.

I see another point, by selling OLPC to the developped world you create a mode (like iPod) that would make easier to negociate with governments and make the OLPC more accepted by people. Did you like me to give (or sell) you, poor guy of Vietnam, a special device just made for you, a device that I, and my children, would not use. That mean that this device is just good enough for you. It is not very pleasant. But if I give or sell iPod (or Nokia phone, or ...) I will be welcome.

My idea is OLPC must be a "must have" in Paris, NYC, London, ... before to be given to children or teacher in Ouagadougou.

Remy Pericard from Versailles, France (I have 4 PC and 1 MAC at home and I don't need OLPC but I would buy one OLPC just to help decreasing the price.)

Laptop case/bag?

Why does the olpc has no bag or simple small case which could optimize its lifespan ? Hardouin 07:56, 15 August 2007

The handle is designed to accommodate a strap; but we hope and expect it will be something that is done locally, not by us. --Walter 17:12, 15 August 2007 (EDT)

Hard drive?

How come it doesn't include a built-in hardrive?

The XO laptop is designed without a mechanical hard drive in an effort to minimize the number of moving parts, to make the laptop more rugged. By some estimations, the mechanical hard drive in a typical laptop is its most fragile part; it can fail after being bumped or dropped, especially if it is reading or writing data at the time. Instead, the XO laptops use an internal flash drive for storage—flash memory is nigh-invulnerable to bumps and falls, and it consumes less power, too. (see also Hardware uniqueness.) —Joe 16:23, 15 August 2007 (EDT)

A Camera For Education?

I need to know... how does a web camera (or digital camera whatever it so be called) help educate children? Don't get me wrong, I think education is extremely important and I use computers to learn more than I ever learned in school. The OLPC is a great idea with pros and cons like any tool ever invented. However; being a graduate of a Computer Security Investigations diploma and working with law enforcement on the subject of technology involved with online child exploitation, it is evident that yes a powerful and positive tool may be used for most any ill intended act.

What I do not understand is why a web camera is essential in a tool for education. I understand that a large portion of communities who receive this laptop will not have Internet access, but it doesn't take Internet access to exploit children. One camera that can self develop digital photos is just as dangerous as having so many young children prowling through the Internet. I do not see loosing any educational value by removing the web camera from these laptops. The only outcome would be less power consumption, lower cost, and a safer experience for any child. I agree that Internet safety training can help educate children safe Internet use, but even with just community networking, is “safe computer training” really as efficient as removing a piece of this laptop that does not contribute to any educational purpose. D, Canada.

A big part of this project is the idea of the children creating content themselves. And a camera allows them to do this in a large way. Whether it's just filming each other for fun, or creating a video to show others (showing people across the world what your town looks like or a video showing a cow giving birth etc (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOzBTGGVWNg)). The camera only uses power when it's on, and the cost is small due to the improvements caused by mobile phones. I will leave the exploitation question up to others since its late and I must sleep. Crazybus 10:39, 21 August 2007 (EDT)

Any science-fair, nature-observation, or drama project can benefit from a camera, just to start.

As for exploitation, it would be good if you elaborated on what specific threats you see. I'm especially confused by your statement that "it doesn't take internet access to exploit children"; while obviously true, it seems that any such threat (for international profit, or by simply local perverts) would also not need this laptop to succeed. As for other threats: this laptop has extremely high security against traditional "virus" and "spyware"; and its social and sharing features make it relatively likely that willing participation of children in their own exploitation will be caught before it goes too far. Homunq 12:30, 21 August 2007 (EDT)

Yes! As the saying goes, "A picture is worth a thousand words"... be a picture of yourself, your friends, your house, your pet, or whatever critter may be crawling around that weird plant... great for learning biology and/or botany; being able to capture something (in a picture or video) is a great way to learn about many things: time based pictures that show how a bean grows into a plant, or how the position of the sun changes through the year, and these are just off the top of my head.

I think that there are many more positive (read educational) uses for cameras. A strawman argument is to replace 'camera' with 'pencil': you can write lies, rumours, even poke yourself in the eye with them... but nobody is about to take pencils away from children, are they? Xavi 13:08, 21 August 2007 (EDT)

From maddyj123@hotmail.com maybe sometimes kids want to video tape themselfs or something but i agree why is a camera there but its a use full idea for kids that ill like to purchase one myself for my child!

Network library for Python

I am trying to write a code in Python that will establish direct communication between OLPC computers via WiFi.

Normally I would use the "twisted matrix" library or the "raknet" library. Does anyone know if one of these libraries (or other equivalent) will be included in the OLPC build?

Thank you.

The main networking library to be distributed with the laptops is Telepathy Tubes—see the relevant section of Getting started programming. According to that page, other libraries are not being distributed, probably for space concerns. The python socket library is, of course, also available. —Joe 09:58, 26 August 2007 (EDT)

Any place where OLPC applications usage experience is documented?

I've looked at the several Wiki pages on OLPC activities (applications) and done extensive Googling, but I don't find any place where those experimenting with OLPCs are documenting what they find out about using them. While the essence is trial-and-error to teach yourself, it is easy to just plain get stuck or to overlook some feature.

For example, and this is just one example, I've started to use Write to compile my comments on using the OLPC. While I appear to be saving the document from session to session, I absolutely can't find a way to give the document a name, so that if I accumulate several documents I can find the one of interest. Gotta be there, but I'm knocking myself out trying to find it.

There's a box in the top left side of the screen in most activities where you can give it a name. Crazybus 00:43, 25 August 2007 (EDT)

If there is such a box in the Write activity, I don't see it. I've poked, prodded, and clicked every place I can think of in Write and can't figure out how to save a file by name or then, later, open it by name. - Bubba Bob

On the first tab in the Write Activity's toolbar, there should be an oval containing the text "Write Activity". This is actually a text entry box for the document's Journal entry label; "Write Activity" is the default label for things made in the Write Activity. You can change the label by clicking in the oval and typing something else. —Joe 09:35, 26 August 2007 (EDT)

Here's another reason for wanting to know the file name. I concluded that there is probably not an email activity installed yet. So I used the Web browser to go to my Gmail account and send myself some email. I wanted to email myself the Write document, but what to attach, how to navigate to the file itself? Best I could do was try attaching my current Write journal, but on the receiving end that proved to be an indecipherable binary.

Besides, these specifics, this is the kind of discussion I'm looking for, across the range of activites. - Bubba Bob

There has been some discussion of applications, initial impressions of Sugar, and cross-platform communications on the Sugar mailing list. A lot of this stuff is still being decided (and changes weekly, it seems), so the mailing list tracks it better than a wiki or web page. You might try asking your technical questions there. —Joe 11:07, 25 August 2007 (EDT)

How interact with the SUGAR operating system?

I've seen several answers to questions that indicate it is somehow possible to interact with Linux or the SUGAR interface, such as to install software, but in those instances there is no indication of how to do it.

Is that discussed anywhere? Is there some magic key combination (a la Windows) that allows interruption of the boot sequence at the right moment? Or, after booting up to the normal user interface, is there some magic way to escape to a Linux prompt and, if so, would it indeed look like Red Hat Linux? Or ... ?? - Bubba Bob

One of the ways to interact is to use the terminal. Which can be accessed via pressing "alt +" You can there use yum etc. I assume by looking by Red Hat Linux you mean using gnome as the window manager. If so then no, as you would have to install that separately. Crazybus 00:39, 25 August 2007 (EDT)

See Sugar Instructions shortcut keys. —Joe 12:28, 25 August 2007 (EDT)

Refugees returning to Southern Sudan

I will be helping set up aid programs for Nuer refugees returning to their homeland in Southern Sudan. I have over thirty years computer (programming) experience and would like to help set up an OLPC program for the children of the refugees. If you could give me a contact I would appreciate it.

03:43, 1 September 2007 (EDT) This is a follow-up comment: I've been checking every day and haven't seen a response. We will be going to Juba and then to Akobo where the people are returning. I would like to talk to someone from OLPC about a possible program either funded by charities and or the provisional government. Am I in the right area for a question like this? Thank you.

I am not an OLPC official, but according to the distribution page, the OLPC people are currently limiting their efforts to large orders from ministries of education, although there may be other options available in the future. Sudan is not currently on the list of interested countries. You could also try the OLPC contact page, but that will probably get you a similar answer. —Joe 12:36, 1 September 2007 (EDT)

Can I raise funds to purchase olpc computers for a third world school and my own?

I am a principal of an elementary school in the United States with a significant number of students who are impacted by poverty. If I were able to mobilize my community to raise enough money to purchase these computers for a school in a third world country, would it be possible for us to purchase these computers for ourselves? I believe our community could raise $30,000 to fund the purchase of these laptops for a school of 300 students. I actually have a school in mind?

You might want to read the Ask OLPC a Question about Distribution page. —Joe 13:30, 1 September 2007 (EDT)

Yes! For the two week period between November 12-26, 2007, you will be able to buy OLPC laptops for $400 each. You could buy 300 of them for $120,000. This would fund a second 300 laptops for children in a developing country. -gnu

Charging the Battery

Hi all, I an a Software Tester browsing on the BBC Web Site when I came across an artical about your laptop. I see that to charge the laptop you need to pull a rip cord. I was wondering why solor cells where not used on the top of the laptop (otherside of the screen) So it could be charged when closed? Or even a Solar-powered tray that slides out from the bottom so it could charge while being used.

I ask out of pure curiosity. Good work with the Project, I think you are on the right track. A Laptop with Books stored on it for education and internet access is a lot better than books on there own.

Lee Clifford Senior Technical Tester lee.clifford@virginmobile.com

We will have a solar-power option for the laptop, but it will be tethered, not attached. This gives the children more flexibility in terms of how they position themselves relative to the sun. --Walter 06:52, 27 August 2007 (EDT)

Algeria?

I am very intersted to know the progress of working with the government of Algeria. I have a journalist friend who writes about the problems with the children of his city of 160,000 where they have only two swimming pools, a summer heat of 118 F, no parks and rising drug/alcohol use. While the OLPC would not solve these problems they could provide an opportunity for the children to learn and be occupied in more potentially educational activities. Please advise as while I would not want to jepardize any ongoing talks with Algeria I would engage in promoting this project. Thank you,

Margie Reese San Diego, CA

Arbitrary section break Three

Coming to the US ?

is this laptop going to be sold in the U.S. like in stores or just for the peolpe in need? If so how much would it cost and when will it come this is the coolest laptop anybody invented for years!!!! thanks for the help! email me at maddyj123@hotmail.com thanks sooo much!!!! i live in florida in the united states in ft. laraudale. thanks!

See Ask OLPC a Question about Distribution#Where or how can I get one?. —Joe 13:33, 1 September 2007 (EDT)

Yes, the laptop will be sold for a two-week period (Nov 12-26, 2007) initially; see http://xogiving.org. I presume that if this trial succeeds, a more permanent way to buy the laptop will be created. --gnu

I know a Program incredible powerful to operate these,U aparatus

the program is so simple and powerfull that you must have it! basically is pictures in/out almost by brain power so to speak! i like you to have it because i am Braziliam Born american, and love to do somthing big for the poverty of the richest nation on earth! Your project to Brazil "Brasil" was welcome, because the President know what is to be poor, he can see what you see! depending on circustances i personaly am willing to donate equivalent to serveral millions to your porgram! jrb.my cell phone 8178973421 any time gemssuply1@aol.com

3 inquiries: USB boot? SD boot? SD expansion?

~Will it have an option (either in BIOS or automatically) to be bootable off of USB or SD for either use of other operating systems, diagnostic work, or system backups/restores?

Yes

~In today's market, SD cards can reach up to 64-128 gigabytes. Will this OS recognize these sizes?

Yes. SDHC works. 8-gigabyte cards have been tested. As larger cards are created, they will also be tested. -gnu

My reasoning for these questions is for the potential of programmers in the fields.

About e-waste

At some point this products will be obsolet. What about then? Will they be recycled? How is this going to be managed? Can they be refurbished? In third world countries there are no regulations about e-waste management. Will OLPC take care of recolecting the laptops when they are no longer in use?

How many schools will have internet connections on rollout?

As far as I know most (all?) of the trials in Peru, Uruguay Nigeria and elsewhere, schools where provided with permanent internet access via dial-up, satellite etc. I would like to know if there are any estimations on how many of schools will actually be connected to the internet when the big rollout begins`?

--Nils 11:20, 12 September 2007 (EDT)

The roll-out plan includes providing a connected school server; our plan is that 100% of schools will have a connection to the Internet. --Walter 11:53, 12 September 2007 (EDT)

Single family homes

I have a niece who is in a one parent home struggling financially to make ends meet here in the USA, she has 3 sons, 2, 11 and 12 years old. Her oldest son is in the 6th grade, she cannot afford the monthly fees for the internet, nor the cost of a computer for her oldest sons. I think this is an unbelievable project! I checked the website out just to see if I could purchase one for my nephews but I see from the reading material I cannot.

But, I sure would like the idea of prioritizing single family homes as the first to receive them, if you eventually allow state or county non-profits to buy them for individuals or schools or maybe the USA federal government, naaa that would take too long.

Anyway, if a non profit could be set up in South Carolina, I would be willing to be a volunteer.

Thank you.

Lima,Peru

Are children in Lima expected to get the laptops? And when?--216.194.22.10 07:31, 20 September 2007 (EDT)

Peru is one of the "green status" countries, so I'd expect they would, although the exact distribution and timeframe would be determined by the ministry of education. There may be more details on the Peru page, and you can read about a Peruvian pilot program taking place "not far from Lima". This article suggests that the deployment by the ministry of education will happen sooner than later, due to opportunities presented by recent earthquakes. —Joe 13:04, 20 September 2007 (EDT)

FreeDOS

Any plans of a FreeDOS alternative or to drop GNU/Linux completely? FreeDOS is very effective and small. It is open source. Greowsigbwoe

No plans to drop GNU/Linux, although we expect that some children will want to experiment with other operating systems. --Walter 15:00, 23 September 2007 (EDT)

So it will only be possible if they download them selves? And how will they be able to boot and install? The laptop have neither CD-ROM or floppy drives. Greowsigbwoe

Is FreeDOS preinstalled not even an possible alternative to you? Greowsigbwoe

They'll be able to boot from an SD card or USB. --Walter 15:33, 23 September 2007 (EDT)

I have heard that LinuxBIOS can not boot DOS, but OK. You have not answered if the company might consider FreeDOS preinstalled. Greowsigbwoe

We are not using LinuxBIOS. We are using Open Firmware as our bootloader. OFW does not emulate all the legacy PC hardware you'd need to run DOS, e.g., VESA (since the VESA emulation code in AMD's Geode VSA was the one part they could not open source due to not owning rights), and the PCI configuration emulation code (which gets in our way for fast resume). There are third parties working on a BIOS for the machine but there is a fair amount of driver work required, e.g., DCON. As far as whether or not we would consider FreeDOS preinstalled, if there is sufficient demand for it and it enables us to meet our epistemological goals, then yes. --Walter 15:52, 23 September 2007 (EDT)

I hope there will be someday. But i am not so sure, GNU/Linux is taking over almost everything. From big mainframes to these laptops. Thank you for your answers. Greowsigbwoe

DOS knows nothing of PCI, so the emulation code is not needed. DOS programs generally don't care either. DOS also doesn't need VESA, but many DOS programs do need it. DOS certainly needs a pile of BIOS calls, but these could be built right into FreeDOS. (in other words, hack FreeDOS to boot from OpenFirmware and supply its own BIOS crud) DOS also needs a text mode video screen; this would be difficult but possible. AlbertCahalan 17:18, 23 September 2007 (EDT)

One of the emulators is probably a better choice. It could even be wrapped up as a Sugar activity. If the emulators shipped with the OS itself, then one might be able to write DOS-based activities that are thin wrappers around DOS programs. Maybe there could be an easy way to share DOS disk images, much like TamTam projects can be shared. AlbertCahalan 17:18, 23 September 2007 (EDT)

FreeDOS should run just fine in Bochs on the AMD Geode chips being used. It would make more sense to leave the base machine alone and just run FreeDOS from a USB key containing Bochs and a disk image. That way you make the machine more useful because you aren't subtracting any of the core package and capabilities.

Partnering Schools

My children visit a small primary school in Scotland, which is actively looking to find a partner school in the developing world. From talking to other parents, I believe I would be able find enough interest to purchase 30-40 OLPC laptops on your 'buy two - get one' scheme. Would it be possible to distribute the 'donated' laptops in one particular school and such create a community between the two schools?

I don't know if it's possible to designate which country or school your "donated" laptops go to -- I doubt it, since that would increase the overhead of selling them to the public (and they're trying to keep the overhead very low). But what I suggest is that your Scottish school children find another school (anywhere in the world) which is also using the XO, and partner with that school. Nigeria might be a good candidate, since there would be less of a language barrier. -gnu

Also, you can probably run your own "School Server" by getting an ordinary PC and downloading the appropriate server software that's published on this site. You'll need either a Marvell USB-based Mesh WiFi dongle (not yet available, but maybe soon), or you'll need to use one of the OLPC laptops as your mesh portal (gatewaying the school server onto the mesh, so the kids can access it). -gnu

individual use in USA

If I "buy one - get one," I would give mine to my 6 year old grandson. Will he be able to network with kids around the world? Can the camera-mic be used to communicate with kids in Nigeria, Peru, etc?

Yes. Don't forget that Peruvian kids probably don't speak the same language as your grandson. But they may be able to play together and show each other things. -gnu

Along the same lines, how will networking work outside the expected Mesh Network environment. For instance, can my 6 year old nephew use the WiFi hub in his home?

Yes. -gnu

How can I get an XO outside USA and Canada?

Why is the Give One, Get One program being restricted to the USA and Canada only? Lots of application/content developers in other countries will also be interested in buying an XO to work with. If you use the services of an international shipping company like DHL and accept credit card payment only, then it is really no more difficult to ship to other countries than to North America.

I don't know the details of any country restrictions for the Give One Get One program, but please note that developers in other countries can also apply for a machine through the developer's program. —Joe 12:31, 24 September 2007 (EDT)

You've obviously never tried shipping outside the USA... shipping the XO prototypes had its saga of glitches caused by local bureaucracies and some 'issues' (to put it mildly) from the shipping company. So I would disagree that it would be no more difficult to ship to other countries... Xavi 14:05, 24 September 2007 (EDT)

I realize that there are some countries in the world where it can be difficult to ship things. I myself have experienced difficulties with Russia and Ukraine. But surely Western Europe, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand are pretty straightforward. In any case, this is not a prototype circuit board that someone thinks might be a bomb controller. It is a finished and packaged laptop. Every single box going out should be identical. This is the type of situation that a shipping company like DHL can easily deal with. --Memracom 16:16, 24 September 2007 (EDT)

My story, heard similar ones for Peru, Brazil, but also in Switzerland & France (iirc). Each country has their own rules governing imports & customs, and unfortunately DHL (and others) together with the recipient have to abide by them. So I wouldn't assume that shipping is some kind of fire-and-forget deal... Xavi 16:44, 24 September 2007 (EDT)

Parallel Purchasing Program

Have you investigated the idea of having Dell or other major manufacturers give people the option of adding an OLPC Laptop to their orders? I think this is something my company and others could easily support; throwing in one of these laptops every time we buy a new computer. It would be nice, simple method of supporting your efforts. Just a thought

Server applications: Squid caching, Sendmail

Should the server include Squid cache, Sendmail or some other open sourece POP3 and SMTP server, and an admin interface such as WebMin? My experience is that there is a great benefit to using off-peak network capacity and one-way satellite downloads so people have their e-mail with attachments waiting nearby when they log in. Many web documents can be e-mailed to the viewer and downloaded as low-priority bits, what Nicholas calls "Stand-by Bits." from Edresor (I now have a username.)

yes, it should. join the devel@lists.laptop.org list if you want to help...

using xo machine as music streamer

i am interested in doing the 2 for 1 program; I would like to know if the machine can be used to contually stream music off the internet (using rhapsody service)/ thank you

The hardware is certainly capable of streaming music continually. As shipped, the XO can't play MP3 files, because of the MP3 patents; it uses the freely available Ogg codecs instead. But freely available MP3 software is widely available and would work on the laptop. There has been an effort by Real to port their pseudo-free Helix player to the Sugar XO user interface (called Watch and Listen). I don't know if it will stream anything from Rhapsody. Unfortunately, the Sugar implementation makes it hard to install common Linux GUI programs (like other music players) on the machine. -gnu

Unlimited Give 1 Get 1 program

I think that OLPC has underestimated the general interest and strong demand for their laptops. I think that the Give 1 Get 1 program should run for now and forever, and not be just a limited 2 week engagement - there are far too many people in the US that want to provide a laptop for their children, like the laptop designed, and think that the Give 1 Get 1 program is perfect - they can get 1 for their children or relatives, and at the same time they can give 1 to another country that needs it. As many other people have requested in previous questions and comments, they wanted the ability to directly purchase the laptop or somehow provide it to their communities in the US. The Give 1 Get 1 program helps to fill BOTH needs simultaneously. Do not just run this program for the limited time. You accidently hit upon what can push this program into overdrive. As you have found, Governments will never shovel out cash for anything. BUT private individuals will - if they can get something for their efforts as well.

I don't speak for OLPC, but my guess is that they're going to gather up all the orders over that two-week period and then order and ship that number of laptops, so that they're ordering thousands at once for efficiency, rather than one or two at a time. I presume that if the first burst of orders doesn't satisfy the demand, they will be amenable to doing something similar every few months. (Of course, anyone who wants to invest in buying a bunch of XO's during that two weeks is free to sell them to others -- for whatever price they can get -- after the order period closes. So an enterprising person could make some money selling them for e.g. $500 during times OLPC is unwilling to do so. And people could then get them in small quantities at any time.) --gnu

access to email & the internet

Will access to email and the internet be available if a wireless connection is available?

I've seen the XOs working at a conference using the convention center's commodity wireless connection, so I believe the answer is "yes". Of course, such access will be easiest if you are using webmail and everything you need online can be accessed via Firefox, since that is the main internet application shipping with the laptops. Running other internet programs may be more difficult, depending on a number of factors (whether someone has made an XO version of it, whether it is bundled for Fedora, whether it is ported to Linux, how many resources it uses, etc.). —Joe 20:19, 24 September 2007 (EDT)

The browser is not Firefox (unfortunately); it uses some of the guts of Firefox but trashes the user interface. So you can only view one web page at a time, for example. And there is no email client at all. However, there's a rumor about Installing Debian as an upgrade on the machine, which when perfected, would free it from many of its software limitations. --gnu

While we haven't exposed all of the Firefox features (yet), it is essentially a fully featured web browser. Contrary to the assertion above, you can have multiple webpages open at once and multiple windows when spawned by a page. Other options include loading Opera on the laptop. Switching to Debian won't make much difference. If you are so inclined, you can run X Windows without the Sugar UI and use a standard Firefox, but you will miss out on many of the Sugar features, such as mesh collaboration and the Journal. --Walter 23:21, 24 September 2007 (EDT)

Other software

Will you be able to load other software packages (small) on OLPC? For example data logger or GPS software?

OLPC is physically capable of loading all kinds of Linux software, and some of it can be run in a terminal window, or by replacing the Sugar UI with a more capable GUI. There are DRM modules that some OLPCs will ship with, that prevent installation of new software. I hope and pray that these will be disabled on OLPCs that are sold under the "Buy 2 Get 1" program. In theory, "developer keys" that would disable all the DRM will be available to any OLPC owner, but OLPC has not actually created a mechanism for getting one yet. --gnu

Internship Updates?

I'm interested in the internship program. How can I get updates on this?

OLPC potential to foster self-sustainable development

Rhythm of Hope is looking for opportunities to facilitate the fostering of self-sustainable development in Brazil, India and possibly Africa. Will OLPC consider providing training and collaborating on providing resources to set up remote "in other country" production shop in a slum ('favela' in Brazil) or poor rural community? This would provide jobs, which are as immediately important as (if not more so than) computers. Phillip Wagner, founder and director of Rhythm of Hope in Brazil

The jobs associated with assembly are few and menial. We'd rather work with you on a broader range of jobs, such as software and content development, support, etc.

Warranty

In the Give 1 Get 1 Program, how do you handle warrenty questions?

Technical Help

In the Give 1 Get 1 Program, how do private users, receive technical help if needed?

Through Internet resources such as this Wiki, the bug tracking system, IRC, and mailing lists. So far the technical help has been outstanding. --gnu

If the computer malfunctions, what is the return policy?

Is there some way to expand/upgrade the OLPC?

This could be by adding or upgrading flash drives, upgrading memory, deleting and adding a new operating system, one of the more high powered Linuxes, perhaps?

Generally the answer is No. If upgradeability is important to you, the XO is not for you.

The OLPC's internal RAM and Flash sizes cannot be upgraded once it's built. Any size of SD or SDHC card can be inserted inside the XO for extra mass storage (8 GB available now for about US$70; soon 16 and 32 GB SDHC cards will be on the market.) You can also use USB disk drives or thumb drives, but because they hang off the screen, they would make it harder to use the XO portably; they would also tend to run down the battery quickly, unless the software was improved to power them down when not in use (a hard job).

If you can get past the DRM misfeatures, then replacing the operating system is possible. An early experiment along these lines is Installing Debian as an upgrade, though it doesn't actually replace the original OS. The Fedora Linux that the XO comes with is no less "high powered" than Debian, Ubuntu or Gentoo in general, though it lags behind in a few key areas such as online package management, and has a deliberately incompatible experimental GUI called Sugar. --gnu

OLPC on a disk?

just heard about the buy 1 give 1 program, which sounds great, but i wonder if there aren't many in north america who would appreciate a kid-friendly computing environment for whom $400 is a bit much to spend, especially if they already have access to conventional hardware.

i haven't analyzed the pros and cons thoroughly but the following qestion occurs to me:

would it be practical to create a knoppix-style live CD version of the OLPC environment (or a useful subset) that would run on generic hardware and use it as a fund raising device? an automated site could permit downloading disk images and assertively request a donation . (as it's open source you can't charge a licensing fee, but requesting a donation is probably OK.)

donations could then be used to subsidize the cost of distributing the complete machines where they are needed.

many folks already have kid-unfriendly PCs at home. others have access to hand-me down or refurbished hardware incapable of hosting contemporary grown-up computing environments but that would probably work OK with the OLPC software. making a $25-$50 donation and getting an OLPC-like environment on disk might be an easier sell in such cases than a $400 expenditure.

as a side benefit, such a project might permit experimenting with expanding the target audience for the software. there are folks other than young children who might benefit from a more approachable computer. (the elderly, adults with special needs, etc.) frankly, in some respects this may be a better general purpose computing environment than some of the fatter mainstream ones.

also, getting the software in broader use in developed countries might preclude any stigma connected with the idea of a special product for the poor. it could change the OLPC hardware from an specialty computing system just for the poor to a specialty platform for hosting a software environment that is popular among the affluent.

(as the software is open source presumably it's already possible for somebody to do this independantly and perhaps somebody will. this might be benfit the project by popularizing the software, but it wouldn't help the project raise funds. might be good to get there first.)

Right, poverty is right here in the USA. $399 is no good for the kids of a West Virginia coal miner or truck stop waitress. These kids often have just one practical option for getting out of poverty: join the military. $100 might work, barely.

testability

what test have been done to see if giving a child the laptop will increase their education and to what extent? is there any articles showing these test and results of OLPC in its theory phase?

There are trials in schools in Cambodia, Thailand, India, Rwanda, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Brazil, Uruguay, Peru, etc. Each of these trials is being run by a local organization, most often in conjunction with the ministry of education or a university department of education.

is it wireless? and what is the operating system?

Yes, it supports wireless networking (802.11b/g). It uses a modified version of Fedora Linux. —Joe 01:51, 26 September 2007 (EDT)

can you watch youtube videos on the green machine?

yes, you can watch youtube but it is very slow, I've tested it both on a B2-1 and B4 with an Adobe Flash player plugin installed on the XO. ~User:Wenmi01

And you can create videos on the XO to post to youtube!!

What about perl? Will this be added? -paul

We opted to use Python as the primary scripting language on the laptop. You can certainly load Perl, but it is not part of the default build.

What power source will come with the November Give one get one XO for the purchaser?

What Power source will come with the xo laptop for the purchaser during this November's give one get one? WIll it be an AC adaptor and/or a pull cord? Thanks, Greg

AC adaptor.

Distribution over missionaries?

The project wants the country governments for the buying and distribution of the XO to their students. But is there a possibility for missions (Christian) to buy laptops for their development projects? In many countries missions found schools and start educational programs. Are there possibilities for missions to get involved into the distribution of the XOs? The "give 1 get 1"-program is not an opportunity for the missions, because they can't afford the doubled price. I think missions could be a great distributor, because they go with schools where governments aren't.

We are open to discussions with NGOs.

Who will own the patents to the technology that is used within the laptop?

I'd be interested in knowing who will own the intellectual property that finds its way into the laptop?

OLPC owns some IP. Other IP belongs to our various suppliers.

Will developing countries be able to manufacture their own eventually?

Yes, but until volume is to sufficient scale, it is not efficient to do local manufacturing.

Will the patents be placed into Trust so that indigenous clones can be created?

Yes, for the IP that OLPC owns. We cannot speak on behalf of our suppliers.

Mono libraries on OLPC for activity developped on MonoDevelop

Hi,

I will make an activity for olpc, but i want to developpe on c# with monoDevelop how can use gtk librairies for the Gui of my application.

It is possible to install the Mono librairies on the fedora core how works Sugar ? and it is possible to execute c# code on the olpc

Thank you for your answer.

It is possible, but we are trying to keep the number of dependencies minimal in order to keep the footprint small. Is there some reason Python anf pygtk cannot work for you? --Walter 16:13, 27 September 2007 (EDT)

thanks. I carry out a work of diploma and the goal of this work is to make the portage of already existing .net code on sugar linux as an activity. I have also the possiblity to re-code all in python but the portage would get the possibility to the .net developer to create activities for olpc and to make this portage I absolutely need the framework .net on olpc and Mono makes it possible. --Cihan 09:53, 28 September 2007 (EDT)

how much do they cost to make?

the cost is always the same as the price. --Walter 16:11, 27 September 2007 (EDT)

Is there a way to find local developers/testers with the physical units?

I hope to participate in the Give 1 Get 1 program. I would like to find someone in my local area to test (read as 'play with') the mesh concept in real equipment. Emulation is neat, but not real. Is there any plans to provide a place on the Wiki for finding fellow OLPC'ers for testing, development, etc? Or have a I completely overlooked an existing feature of the Wiki?

See Presentations

word processor

I am not a computer person, so this might be a dumb question, but it is one that confuses me. Say I use the word processor on this laptop to write a document. Now say that I send the document via e-mail to someone with a conventional computer. Before I e-mailed it, would I have to convert my document to Word? If so, how would I do this? If not, can it still be done? Or can conventional computers read the document no problem? Thanks a bunch for answering.

The XO laptop uses AbiWord as its word processor. If the person receiving a document cannot open it using their normal PC software, AbiWord is available for many platforms and many languages from this site.

Laptops for children with disabilities in group homes

Hello, My name is michael Goldstein and I am a father of a young man with multipe disabilities who lives in a group home. I have purchased my son a dell computer but it is beyond his capabilities. Could you not consider the disabled chilren in the U.S.A.as a group akin to any nation which you have targeted for assistance? You have my email as I registered for a reminder. Looking forward to your reply Truly, Michael Goldstein

how many XO laptops per person

May a person make multiple $400 donations and get an XO laptop for each one under the buy one get one program?

See See xogiving.org or XO Giving for further information on the "Give 1 Get 1" program.. Note that a very limited number of computers will be made available through this program in November. Contact webmaster@xogiving.org to ask a question or be added to the mailing list for notifications.

The One Laptop Per Child Foundation has a page where you can make larger donations if that is your goal.

for a school class room in usa

My name is Steve and I would like to know if you can set up for a classroom to network from a teachers to 30 kids for testing in the 2nd grade, to help our teachers and children learn, and to help teachers find and help slower learning kids and bring them up to speed?

Please get back to me on this; Thank you, Steve

Not sure what you are asking. We've been working in classrooms of up to 80 children. We are certainly interested in children and teachers learning and believe that the laptop will give them that opportunity. In regard to "slower learning kids", often times "slower" is really a matter of needing a different path to approach a problem; one nice thing about computers is that they offer many different venues for engagement. --Walter 10:06, 1 October 2007 (EDT)

shock damage

Do you have specific shock requirements for each component? I see there is a general operating/non operating value in the hardware environment. I am interested in the vulnerability of the whole package - do you require a 'bag' to protect in normal transport? If so, how would you specify that? regards Mike Hinds

I don't know that we have things broken out by component; since the components are all solid state, for the most part, it would be connectors and the like that would be the most likely points of failure (I can try to find data on the display). We do use a bag in packaging from the factory, but do not require one for normal use. --Walter 09:55, 1 October 2007 (EDT)

Is purchase of an XO by the relatively wealthy unethical?

I am very attracted by the simplicity and rugged design of the XO but as a citizen of arguably the wealthiest nation in the world is it an ethical choice for me to own one? I travel and commute by motorcycle so the ruggedness and simplicity of the XO is perfect for my uses as my only computer.

My misgivings about owning an XO come from the following thoughts. The production numbers of the XO are limited therefore would it be more ethical for me to spend $200.00 (US) for a used laptop and give another $200.00 to provide an XO for a child? By doing this I am keeping a used machine out of the bin longer and providing a purpose built machine for it's intended user.

I am not passing or implying judgment on those in wealthy nations that purchase one but asking an open question. Because the XO is available and the wealthy can afford them should they when the available numbers are relatively low and therefore the supply to the intended users is reduced by their purchase?

The more production, the lower the per-unit cost. Ignoring environmental effects and short-term supply issues, purchasing a few million for your local landfill might ultimately help kids by getting the per-unit cost down closer to $100. :-)

Of course the better solution for wealthy people is to Give 1, Get 1 and then donate money for additional laptops to go to kids. If you have PayPal, you can donate money now on the Give 1, Get 1 site. Or, if you want to write a cheque, then send it to the address on the One Laptop Per Child Foundation page.

How you can make sure the price will be under $100?

I just have no idea how you can keep the price low?I mean,if you can,why not the other profit-organization?even if you are using second hand computer,but to fix a broken computer,i think it will cost some money too...can you figure me how you will make this?I just feel curious..

In point of fact, the machines currently cost in the neighborhood of $180, due in part to hardware modifications and the recent fall of the dollar. $100 was just a reference point, not the ultimate goal of the project, which is to create a low-cost, capable, uniform platform for education—a goal which would not be accomplished by refurbishing discarded laptops. OLPC can provide a lower-cost machine than for-profit organizations because it delivers in bulk, doesn't have to worry about advertising, and, of course, doesn't need to make a profit on the machines. —Joe 12:51, 2 October 2007 (EDT)

Payment plans? for low income

Will you take $40.00 a month for ten or even twelve months? To get the buy 1 give 1 program? My daughter and I live in poverty,but can pay $40 a month for this most wonderful program. I want to help with the success of 'One laptop per child' program. What can I do? Please reply.

OLPC does not yet have this functionality on its website. We are working with our credit card vendors and hope to introduce it in the next couple of months.

trial numbers

How many kids have been given the hardware, and for how long on average?

How many laptops have failed from abuse? (like the one destroyed in a fight)

How many laptops have failed from manufacturing and software defects?

How many laptops have been stolen?

Any other failures and losses?

United States

I think the idea of distributing these laptops to the countries you have listed is a great idea! However, what about the parents here that can not afford to buy laptops for their children. I am a single parent and work two jobs and then after working 10 hrs and cooking/cleaning we then have to go to the library so my son can finish doing his homework on their computers at 10:00 at NIGHT!. Why isn't our goverment involved in this project? Why isn't our goverment taking care of it's own? people!

Printing

Will you be able to Print from the OLPC

G1G1 for school servers too?

Schools in the USA also need servers.

Colorblindness

I'm colour blind, and it is likely that any sons I have will be too.

How will they be able to fully access the Sugar interface?

For example, will my son be able to tell how much battery charge is left? Will my son be able to distinguish his friends' icons on the mesh map?

Red-green colour vision deficiencies affect around one in twelve caucasian europid males, although other types of colour vision deficiencies affect tiny numbers of all races and sexes.

The XO is unique in that it has both a backlit color mode and a sunlight-readable monochrome mode. The interface is being designed so that it will be usable in both modes; for instance, colors are being chosen both for their difference in value as well as their difference in hue, so that they are distinguishable in both modes. Hopefully this should go a long way in making the laptop easier for colorblind people to use. (See also Colors in the OLPC Human Interface Guidelines)

Also, there are alternate ways to identify users beyond the color schemes; since there are only 200-some color pairs, some duplicates within a school are inevitable. —Joe 15:53, 5 October 2007 (EDT)

OpenOffice?

Will students be able to install OpenOffice?

Printing

Can the XO Laptop print a printer? If so, does it print to all printers or just some?

Swedish keyboard?

Hello.

I signed up for participating the 1 for 1 program, and look forward to obtaining one of the exciting XO laptops for myself.

I wonder what the keyboard options will be? I see that there are "international" layouts, so I guess I will be able to use our swedish umlaut characters Å Ä Ö?

/Mike

Those work fine on the US-International keyboard. AlbertCahalan 18:59, 6 October 2007 (EDT)

Give 1 Get 1 for a U.S. school?

If I were able to convince enough local parents and other donors to raise $400 times the number of students in our kindergarten, could we participate as a group in the Give 1 Get 1 program, thereby equipping all our local students entering elementary school and an equal number of children in some other part of the world? If we were to do so, could the OLPC provide us with contact information for a corresponding class in some other part of the world, so the school children here and there could engage in cross-cultural dialog as a mutual learning experience?

Do you need help on marketing in Europe?

I am a marketing and communications professional and see many ways on how XO could become a great offer on the children's and educational market whilst helping children and schools in other regions get equipped.

Will we be able to purchase a Pull-Cord Generator and/or Solar Cell for the Give 1 Get 1 laptop?

You have answered that the G1G1 laptop will come with an AC adapter. The unique (and amazing) capabilities for manual and solar power are something I would like for my "keep 1" laptop. Will there be a way for us to obtain these OLPC laptop accessories? Additional cost would be acceptable.

will olpc work on a open wifi network in a bookstore

I realize that OLPC uses 802.11s and that is based on 802.11b/g.

Will it be able to communicate on an open wifi network that is common in the better bookstores and coffee shop, colleges etc.

It does normal networking too.

Link between the two give 1 get 1 laptops ?

Wouldn't it be great to have some kind of link between the laptop I get and the laptop I give?

The kid getting the laptop I give could write me an email, maybe send a picture. This way there could be great contacts with people who otherwise would or could never communicate with each other. That would really broaden the mind of me and of the kid, too.

I know this should be difficult to accomplish, but think about the possibilities. Think about how happy both the donator and the donatee would feel to have such a bond. Think about how many many people in the richer countries would gladly give money, because they can really really see where their money is going.

Since all laptops surely have some unique number or sth. like that, it should be doable.

Ok, so my question is, could there be such a link between two OLPC?

Wireless on/off switch?

Does the X0 have a hardware option to turn the wireless off and on? If so, what key(s) are used? If not, is there a simple software option?

Zane

Multiple users per laptop?

I know the philosophy is "One Laptop *PER CHILD*". However, we were wondering about getting just two or three XO's for our preschool, and having the kids share. Is that feasible? Would all the kids have to share the same file space, or is it possible (with user profiles, or separate flash memory cards) for them to have their own space?

SD card size?

How large an sd card can the xo use?

dial-up

sorry if I'm dumb. If I do the "buy one, give one" thing, and I don't have wireless access, will I be able to access the internet via dial-up?

Ask OLPC a Question/New

Image about the World Summit in Tunisia

Maximum Altitude Spec

Usability and User Testing

Deployment Criteria & Metrics

Support for Self-Learners

Accessibility

I question whether there is some benefit for us or you by getting involved

Contribution towards Programming

Volunteering

Where can I see an OLPC in the UK?

What about American Senior Citizens?

Beyond education

Basic concept

Science curriculum

does OLPC not serve to widen the gap between the haves and have nots?

Adaptation of Musical Editor for local music systems

Random generator entropy

About emulating the OLPC disk Image

I just want to try the software

I would desperately want...

Food For Children

Request for direction to power generation discussion

What about OUR children in the US?

Black Market

I'd like to help teach.

Governments & schools - a western construct

Rugged Laptops

School Gateways follow follow up

One Laptop Per how old? Child

Regular Laptops as OLPC Clones?

Is the 'buy 2 and get 1' scheme going to happen?

Relaunching software as freeware

LiveCD OS Images

Color Coded Maps and Color Blind People

Chrekula Uganda

Website woes

What about students k-12 and college students in the USA?

can i get one for my 2 kids???

freifunk.net volunteers

Information about OLPC for people in poor countries

RealPlayer in OPLC and applications download

Economies of scale?

Preventing Porn/Adult Content?

Mesh Network Emulation

Environmental End-of-life considerations

MARVELL?

autoreinstalation image through usb is not working..help..

What are the costs of implementation/not implementing?

computers for children?

Corruption and Extreme Poverty

Arbitrary section break 1

minimum order

OS languages that OLPC will release

Financial support for OLPC?

Proxy configuration

Trade and market considerations

East Africa in the picture?

Paulo de cruz roja argentina

Photo use suggestion

About internet access

A little question

Internet access

Egypt - GILO

Which Unix-like Operating System?

Assistive Technology Software on the OLPC Laptop

Has there been any News stories this year about the programa?

A Question about site submission

Accessibility

OLPC and eyes

Related Projects

Visit To Thailand from Mozambique

Ghana

Local version of SUGAR (particularly, Korea for me)

Why go the government route?

Inbuilt Ruler on Case

Laptops for african children

Emulation-screen size control

Data security regarding the camera, microphone and mesh network

OLPC and developing countries