Talk:Main Page

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Italian Version

Added Italian version of the wiki home page. I hope that it could be ok. I'll improve it tomorrow :)

--Frafra 01:36, 26 July 2007 (GMT +1)

French Version

I can offer my help by translating this page into French.

• Is the OLPC team interested ?
• How could I add the link in the translations bar when it's done ?

--EdX 16:38, 8 March 2007 (EST)

Ok, I found it alone, to add the link I will edit The OLPC Wiki/translations

--EdX 11:23, 9 March 2007 (EST)

Language links

we should include a bar at the top of the page that quickly lets people get to the proper language wiki that they're looking for. maybe we could use a template --Stranger 11:42, 2 July 2006 (EDT) Template:Languagebar

Spanish link

[[1]] --Dagoflores 23:42, 16 January 2007 (EST)

Wikifying the Front Page

'A good place to start is the One Laptop per Child page, which gives an overview of the project. There is a detailed FAQ on the project; and there are numerous pages on Hardware, Software, and Content. There are also discussion pages on issues of deployment and country-specific discussions. An extended Table of Contents is also available.'

Another reason why you should create an account and login

Or see Serel, (I would have made a link here to fastboot.org, but your Wiki refuses my input. I did answer the silly addition problem correctly; it has a bug).

If you'd create and account and login instead of making anonymous comments, you'd not have to answer silly questions. The Captcha is there to cut down on the volume of spam that wikis seem to attract these days.Walter 09:03, 24 June 2006 (EDT)

Recent changes page

Could you consider changing the Recent Changes page please so that more than the last 50 changes are shown? Sometimes more than 50 changes are made in a day so it may be impossible for some of the people who like to follow changes to catch all of them. Could 50 be the default with the user able to select a greater number? Could a criterion of "latest 50 or all changes in the latest two days if greater than 50" be used; that would mean that usually 50 would be displayed, yet more if editing activity has increased.

William Overington 7 April 2006

Hi William. Please consider getting an account at this wiki. Try this link for a longer list of recent changes. -- Mathias Schindler 07:44, 7 April 2006 (EDT)

If you have an account, you can set the recent changes to show a few hundred changes by default. -Jeff 14:02, 7 March 2007 (EST)

Who are you guys? Is OLPC a community project?

I saw a pseudo-thread over on here, linked from 'myths':

http://wiki.laptop.org/index.php/Software_Ideas_-_System_Software#Operating_System_Selection and http://wiki.laptop.org/index.php/Education_Ideas_Esperanto

And it raised my eyebrow. Of COURSE this has to run a flavor of linux, perhaps a really lite flavor, relative to the latest kernel. Proposing otherwise (like using Syllable OS or PalmOS) "contributes" as much to the project as debating whether the native language should be Esperanto. Generous estimate of 2,000 "native speakers"? 100,000 skilled users? There was a lot of text devoted to debating Esperanto. I posit that various editors had to expend more than expedient effort to 'debate away' esperanto w.r.t OLPC.

The http://www.laptop.org/ webspace contains the official project pages. The project management has decided to provide the wiki facility at http://wiki.laptop.org and allow anyone who so chooses from anywhere in the world that the webspace can be accessed to join in discussions and put forward comments and ideas. http://olpc.com has the latest news on the project. Some ideas put forward may well not be accepted. People can put forward ideas which might be regarded as highly controversial, yet it is useful for such ideas to be put forward as they have been put forward in a spirit of goodwill for the project to succeed. A different approach could have been to say that an idea will not even be considered unless it is put forward by someone who is an employee of one of the sponsoring organizations. That way some good ideas could have been missed through an unwillingness to assess ideas on their merits rather than on from where they are suggested. It is good that they took the approach that they did. Also, it is a two-way street so to speak. I feel that I have learned a great amount myself by participating in reading from and writing in the wiki. Indeed, I am thinking that that very process may well be an example of the process of constructionist learning which is advocated as part of the project ideas for learning for the children, though it would need someone who knows more about constructionist learning than do I to say whether I am correct in that thinking.

From there, my question: Is OLPC a community project by the editors of this wiki? If not, what is the purpose of this 'pedia? Does Negroponte read these pages?

Well, it is not a 'pedia, in the sense of an encyclopedia, it is a wiki for discussion and idea generation. Two items, discussions of whether to use an operating system other than linux and of the role of Esperanto in the project, were mentioned. Yet there are many ideas which have been put forward by many people in the ideas pages. If only one of them is used by the project then the wiki and the policy of allowing access to everyone will have been of value. If lots of them are used by the project then the wiki and the policy of allowing access to everyone will have been of great value. Once the project has developed, how many aspects of the system and infrastructure that then exist will be as a result of ideas put forward in this wiki?

• Yes, if this were truly community-focused, there should be Brazilians, Nigerians, Chinese, Thais here now. Let's face it—once the machine is ready, how it is used shall be the least of Project's concerns. It's hardware-power is at least 10 years old, so the people in involved countries can help themselves with the software.

Erm, well, there are, actually. Check out OLPC Brazil and so on in Category:Countries.--Mokurai 20:15, 7 November 2007 (EST)

The orange machine

A new picture has appeared on the Main Page. There appear to be two upward-pointing arms. It looks as if they may be moveable and would be folded down when the machine is being transported. Is that corect please? Yes, they fold in to cover the USB ports and to be out of the way during transportation. Walter 10:44, 10 May 2006 (EDT) Do the two upward-pointing arms contain aerials for the WiFi system? Yes, these are the aerials for the WiFi. Having them rise above the screen will make a big difference in the SNR of the system.

I am wondering as to the health and safety aspects of having these items sticking up in the air when the laptops are being used in a room full of children. However, maybe the arms are just up in the air for showing some aspect of the design in the photograph and would not be up in the air like that when the laptop was being used. What is the situation please?

What is the health issue that is raised by having aerials that raise? Walter 10:44, 10 May 2006 (EDT)

I am expressing concern at the possibility that a child (not necessarily the child sat using the machine, perhaps a child walking by in a crowded classroom) might slip and then fall onto a machine and receive an injury from the sticking up item, perhaps a serious eye injury. From the picture, it just seems to me to look dangerous.

Has a health and safety assessment been made of the design, made in the context of using the machine in a room full of children?

We are working hard to make the laptop as safe as possible. Walter 10:44, 10 May 2006 (EDT)

I miss the crank or the replacement of the crank.

It has moved to the power brick.Walter 21:45, 3 June 2006 (EDT)

The power brick.... Could you give a better description.. It just sounds like a removable battery. In that case i don't appeal to it.. The crank gave it a big thumbs up to the ecosystem :-) Yes, doesn't really sound like a battery would be the way to go, unless solar powered. What if the child were to accidentally leave it on? Perhaps you could incorporate an automatic shut down, but I am sure there are ramifications for doing that as well.

There will be several options regarding power. Every machine will include a removeable 5-cell battery pack that is described on the Hardware specification Page. One idea we are pursuing is a "gang" charger at the school. Another, where applicable, would be a conventional AC adapter. Finally, there will be at least two different human-power options: a crank and a pulley system. We've designed the power system to be robust in light of third-party solutions as well, which expect will be numerous. Walter 09:18, 16 June 2006 (EDT)

 Walter, I ordered the laptop under the buy one give one program.  Will there be an opportunity to change out the battery for a hand crank (or one of the other off the grid options) later?  Specifically is the charging upgradeable and changeable once the laptop has shipped?  I agree with above commenter that the green cred is seriously diminished without that.  I want to be part of the army of change, by using mine at T-mobile enabled public venues where others can experience it first hand.  Without the hand crank I am just another desperate idiot trying to find an available outlet before I loose power.  Availability of power is not just an issue in third world countries, it's also an issue at/in airports, parks, beaches and planes.  With the hand crank/foot pedal/pull cord I would be a walking evangelist for the power of the XO to free all who use it from the tyranny of power outlets.  I can see my 4 year old saying "mommy, can my new friend billy pull the cord?"  --ExperimentsInHonesty 18:45, 14 November 2007 (EST)

Looking at the design with the two antennae on either side, would it be possible for these to flip open when transporting or is there some means of avoiding this problem? Perhaps having them shut the other direction would allow the bottom, keyboard side of things hold it shut when closed as a simple means of addressing the issue.

I was wondering: Apart from the colors, are there any differences between the Orange and Green machines? Ahmad 11:15, 27 October 2006 (GMT+1)

There an numerous idustrial design changes between the orange and green machines, the most dramatic being: a change from a 7 inch to 7.5 inch diagonal display; the addition of a video camera and SD card slot; a latch system; game controller buttons; indicator lights; and battery placement. --Walter 08:12, 27 October 2006 (EDT)

A good use for the 3rd laptop...

I mainly use my laptop at home as an X term to my main Linux box. The features of this laptop make it very suitable for this task. So, for $300 you get a nice X term (at least!) and donate 2 to a great cause. And letting my children use it may produce some good ideas for improvement from a child's point of view.

I hope this project takes off and flies high.

--I vote for that, hope Negroponte reads this...Mexico/Aguascalientes/--Dagoflores 19:53, 7 December 2006 (EST)

If only it were true!

This may well not be the best place to put this comment, but where is a better place?

The web page http://crank.laptop.org/gitbrowse.php has a footer saying the following.

We're putting a laptop in the hands of every child in the world. Learn more!

That is not, unfortunately, true. That is a pity, but nonetheless it is not true.

If, someday, it were to become true, then good, but at the moment it is not what is happening now and thus is potentially misleading to some people reading it.

Packet Forwarding in Reading Mode

I noticed under hardware specs that the wifi chip was chosen for its independent packet forwarding abilities. Does this mean that the laptop will consume power for the wifi chip in reader mode? Will users be instructed to keep the rabbit ears extended while reading for altruistic purposes?

Whenever possible, the laptop will route packets. While it will be possible to turn packet forwarding off, the aggregate performance of the mesh network will be better served if everyone is cooperative. Meanwhile, we are working hard to minimize the power penalty of routing. Walter 18:16, 19 June 2006 (EDT)

Attrition

As someone who has been heavily involved in a one to one initiative, I am curios about your plans for attrition. As you or someone else here stated children are very curios. Some of them will break machines to see how they work or in some cases just break them for fun. There are many reasons the machines will break. I know the price makes them relatively easy to replace compared to other solutions available today. However, no other solution will be implemented on this scale. What is the expected rate of failure and damage per year per 1000 in use devices?

-DK USA

We are assuming that there will be failures for any number of reasons and therefore some to-be-determined number of replacement machines will have to be on hand, however, since the laptop is being designed with harsh use-conditions in mind, e.g., no harddisk to break, minimal internal connectors to fail, sealing against dust and moisture, shock-resistant display, etc. (See the Hardware specification for details), we are confident that the failure rate will be much lower than in other one-to-one initiatives, where laptops designed for other purposes, e.g., office work, are used. The use scenario also comes into play: there is evidence that when children are given machines rather than just given access to them at school, the failure rate is also much lower. Walter 03:08, 20 June 2006 (EDT)

Makes good sense. Children are highly possesive. They are unlikely to damage somtehing that is "theirs". I would certainly reccomend that schools replace computers damaged by accident, but intentional malicious damage shoud require the student to buy a new one, or be required to wait a long time to get a new one, durring which they must borrow one. 24.185.233.39 12:27, 8 July 2006 (EDT)

Punitive measures for deliberate vandalism should be outside the purview of this project. Parents, teachers, and other locals will certainly have their own views and measures to implement. -- a passing-by stranger

OLPC Albania

Would it be possible to link OLPC Albania from [2]? I recently saw news that the Prime Minister of Albania had expressed interest in the project, so I wrote a small bit in Albanian. Thanks. Dori | Talk 09:03, 13 April 2006 (EDT)

Done. --Walter

OLPC in India discussion

Please refer to the Talk:OLPC India page.

The Time for the OLPCWiki in Spanish has come...

Y aqui les dejo la primera... página...

Me permito someter a su consideración los siguientes artículos que describen un IMPORTANTE avance tecnológico, que ayudará a cerrar la brecha entre los países pobres y los desarrollados.

La adopción de estas computadoras y su distribución en México, permitirá:

1.- Un salto cuántico en la calidad de la educación al permitir que cada niño, jóven y adulto posea su propia PC con acceso a Internet.

• Quisiera centrar el foco en que es un proyecto educativo orientado a niños, y no es exactamente un PC conectada a internet. Justamente eso es lo que se pretende que no sea. No es un PC portatil muy barato para el tercer mundo. Es una herramienta facilitadora del aprendizaje, que podra o no conectarse a internet.

2.- Permitirá desarrollar una política de NO EXPORTAR TRABAJADORES, sino IMPORTAR TRABAJOS, al facilitar la realización de trabajos virtuales desempeñados sobre la red.

3.- En Australia, donde las distancias entre los vecinos no se miden en metros, sino en HORAS DE VUELO, los médicos han desarrollado mecanismos para atender a sus pacientes a través de Internet, la aplicación de estas técnicas, podría poner a los médicos de México al alcance de toda la población rural y de pequeñas comunidades, sin necesidad de construir costosas clínicas y hospitales por todo el territorio nacional.

• Esto se podria hacer pero con otros medios como las redes ciudadanas o wireless, el hardware del OLPC sera una pequeña red con los mas cercanos, y si hay algun punto cercano con conexion a internet, tambien la aprovechará.

4.- Permitirá a los jubilados y discapacitados trabajar desde sus casas, brindando consejos y ayuda a los ciudadanos para sus problemas de...

---

a) Tareas y Estudio,

---

b) Domésticos y familiares,

---

c) Emprendedores y Pequeños empresarios,

---

d) Tramites y apoyos Gubernamentales,

---

e) Asesoría en Turismo. y haciendo traducciones, apuntes y otros trabajos.

Todo con cargo a las tarjetas de todito.com de los que requieren ayuda, de lo cual un 15% o 30% queda al organizador y el resto (85% a 70%) se entrega al asesor o tutor.

5.- Desarrollar una industria propia de computadoras, mediante la contratación del la fabricación y ensamble de sus partes en México.

   * Actualmente el ensamble se realiza en China

Gracias por su atención; agradeceré una respuesta franca, breve, clara y práctica a este mensaje, con su opinión y aportaciones, así como la justa oportunidad de participar en el desarrollo de los conceptos expuestos.

Atentamente,

Ing. Dagoberto Gmo. Flores Lozano Consultor en Ing. Industrial y de Sistemas, desempleado. Ex-Investigador y Profesor Universitario, Ex-becario de la Fundación Ford, en Berkeley, Aguascalientes, AGS. MEXICO dagoflores@prodigy.net.mx --Dagoflores 20:00, 7 December 2006 (EST)

German version

Ich vermisse die deutsche Version dieser Seite Jakob Mitzlaff

I have focused this project since mid-2005,at first I don't believe that it can become true,but as many world lead level scientists and corportation joined in this project,new achievement in every course, I do believe it can make this dream true.

I have some ideas to improve the project in China if the product will be finished,and there are maybe many problems facing the fact because China has large area,different culture,how to manage transportation,how to repair,how to train them ,etc,it's real facts.It must be considered before the donation,otherwise it will bring some trouble,I think it is important to establish a small office or to find a cooperative enterprise first.

I heard that Mr.Negroponte will visit our country in couple weeks, it maybe take a blockbuster .I wish I have pleasure to meet him.I hope I can learn from core team ,I try to contribute something .

Interesting interview here (6th April 2006): http://www.zdnetindia.com/news/business/stories/140370.html

Hi Jakob. I have just finished translating laptop.org into German. See the source file at OLPC Germany/translation. -- Mathias Schindler 07:46, 7 April 2006 (EDT)

Dear WiKianer! I want to help translating the WiKi into German, how can I help you at this?? Also I'm trying to programm at the OLCP-Linux for a better world. :D --Weschii360 10:01, 12 April 2007 (EDT)

There are several things that can be translated... check the Translating 'docs'. I would also suggest/recommend taking a look at the localization of the 'static' Localization/www.laptop.org site. If you have any questions, please ask! --Xavi 10:35, 12 April 2007 (EDT)

Let my wiki go!

Protecting half the wiki isn't going to make it grow. Unprotect pages until that specifically becomes a problem. Protect pages by noting that they are maintained by OLPC with a colorful template at the top, not by physically locking the text down. Keep them on a watchlist if you want to see whether anyone comes by and alters some Official Word.

Ahh, much better now :-) --Sj 16:25, 26 June 2006 (ASD)

vetting spatial metaphor in the wiki

Actually, the OLPC Human Interface Guidelines do such a good job of vetting spatial metaphor and using it only to mean real human-navigable space, as is fitting for mobile devices, that it's a shame to have "/go/" in the wiki URLs, "go" and "here" and "site" (all of which imply non-spatial page flipping) in the mediawiki interface. There's a relatively good list of all such metaphor and consistency problems in the standard mediawiki interface and it would be beneficial to follow the lead of the OLPC HIG and remove all spatial metaphor that doesn't imply real motion through real space. The non-English speakers will thank you for it especially.

Substitutes worth considering: "/get/" instead of "/go/" (as in REST), "this wiki" instead of "the site", "this page" instead of "here".

There's really nothing more important than consistent use of metaphor.

Also lowercase is preferred, OLPCwiki is an acceptable name, OlpcWiki is not. WikiWords are a scourge that create endless namespace problems.

Typo in first URL link...

fuseproeject.com doesn't exist...

Todo el material referido al proyecto deberia estar elaborado en la mayor parte de idiomas posible. Las brechas idiomaticas en nuestro mundo son una realidad que no podemos olvidar

Jorge Aguirre, de Quito Ecuador, recomienda que el material del proyecto "one laptop per child" se lo divulgue en todos los idiomas que se pueda, ya que la brecha idiomática del mundo actual aun no puede ser superada por la ciencia y la tecnica. 25 de julio/2006 Email jaguirrech@gmail.com

First URL link (www.fuseproject.com) nonfunctional

Please remove the link to http://www.fuseproject.com . It is neither functional with Firefox (1.5.0.4, X11, U) nor with Konqueror (3.5.2). The site immediately wants to open a popup window on Firefox and http://validator.w3.org/ shows 18 errors. This makes the site completely inadequate for the first URL given. --Frief 16:22, 8 August 2006 (EDT)

Your point is well taken. Alas, we don't have any leverage over what these guys do with their website, only the ID they are doing for us on the laptop. That said, I use Firefox 1.5.0.3, and while I don't like the fact that it opens a pop-up window and even though Tidy reports 21 warnings, I can view the site without any problems. I would prefer to err on the side of providing more rather than fewer links to our sources. --Walter 17:10, 8 August 2006 (EDT)

My mail to webmaster@fuseproject.com returned (550 User unknown). I cannot get access an imprint, so I don't know whom else to address there. From what I see with wget the site seems to require popups to be enabled, javascript to be enabled and macromedia shockwave flash to be installed and enabled. If OLPC was to specify a policy for URLs I hope that at least two of these prerequisites are not required. Given that the site deviates pointedly from what would be expected by an Open Source audience I would be surprised if the issues could be resolved within, say, three months. --Frief 19:19, 8 August 2006 (EDT)

How do I get a laptop for my kids?

Short answer: You can't.

(Temporary longer answer: North American users can for two weeks in November 2007. See http://www.xogiving.org/ for details.)

I live in a developed country that isn't located in North America. Surely G1G1 should have been limited by number of units available, rather than location of users, particularly for a world 'centric' project like OLPC...

Please refer to Ask OLPC a Question about Distribution for a better explanation. Also, Ask OLPC a Question for other questions regarding the project.

---

The name of the project is OLPC. My kid is a child but from a developed country. This does not mean we are able to spend money on expensive hardware for our kid ... Why we cannot buy an OLPC in developed countrys? Is there pressure from the industry ???

This sounds like a GREAT project!! I have two kids, ages 9 and 11 and live in the US. I didn't see a 'How to get yours' page, so where do I go to fill out the paperwork?

If these were sold in developed countries for $200 you could give them to children in the developing world for free. I'm sure there would be a large retail market for these, in addition to interest from schools.

Do you really think so? There have been many retail efforts in the past, including [3] and [4] and [5] and [6]. Not to mention that it would be no big thing for schools in developed countries to buy thin clients like these: [7]. I believe whole-heartedly in the OLPC vision (and I'm happy to be on the team), but I doubt very much the claims that there exists a retail market in the US and other developed countries just based on past marekting and sales failures.--JordanCrouse (Talk to me!) 11:53, 15 August 2006 (EDT)

Those are links to toys not PC laptops. Why pretend those machines compete with OLPC? What is the real reason developed countries will not be allowed to build and buy this hardware? -- Ownut

I second Ownut's objection. The low demand for toys shaped like computers or for less-capable, more-expensive thin clients is not an accurate reflection on the market potential of the 2B1. For one thing, the posted links are for devices with no real technical innovation. In contrast, the 2B1 has a screen that is so innovative, there is no other device in the world available with one. Not even the newest e-book readers. In addition, the 2B1 has many modest technical innovations in its engineering, packaging and the software concept of activity bundles. From a marketing viewpoint, it reminds me of the iPOD. At the time iPOD was introduced there were several other MP3 players on the market from Creative, Archos, and iRiver. Yet, the iPOD surpassed them all. The reason was that it was an innovative product, therefore it had a sparkle that other competing products did not have. That sparkle led to vast amounts of free media coverage which drove demand. The 2B1 is a device that has that kind of sparkle. I can understand that OLPC does not want to directly market the 2B1 to consumers, however they are missing the beat if they do not license it to a commercial organization, preferably one that drives a substantial share of its profits into providing 2B1 units to less-advantaged countries like Ethiopia or Afghanistan. If nothing else, the OLPC should issue a public RFP to solicit potential licensees to submit proposals. --Memracom 16:49, 9 September 2006 (EDT)

There has been some discussion of selling these in developed countries; primarily a discussion of doing so in bundles, not individually (which is a completely different logistical problem). See for instance The pledgebank pledge, which is aiming for 100,000 signors but has only 3% of its goal to date. Sj 16:17, 15 August 2006 (EDT)

I think not developing olpc commercially is a huge mistake. As soon as the releases are made, every kid who sees one (and hasn't got one) will want one, the same wil apply for linux users. Someone will fill that demand, if it's not olpc, that money will go to someone's pocket... someone who will once again make money off a good hearted, open-source project, but will not contribute to it.

Developing a commercial version will have the effect of exposing the design to user-driven instead of functional or objective-driven demands. Some will want a faster cpu, others more memory, or a gps, a bigger screens, this or that. This will make the number of SKUs to be maintained, stocked, distributed, etc. (and associate costs) go through the roof. I see the OLPC as the Model-T of laptops "Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black."--Xavi 11:54, 23 December 2006 (EST)

I absolutely agree with the original poster. Like them, the first thing that I thought when I saw this was "How can I get one for my kids, and get one for a needy child at the same time?" My kids would love to think that somewhere in the world a child was able to use a laptop just like theirs, because of them. It seems like a no brainer to me. Set up a web page and charge $200 per laptop. Then make sure that for every one that ships to a developed country, there is one shipped to a developing country. I would also be happy if the laptops are as robust as you describe, because my little monsters seem to break everything anyway. ;o)

same with me! I could imagine that olpc could bring the e-book idea foreward. no socket needed, i could take it to the beach or camping. and a lot of parents are willing to pay € 200,- or more if they could get a pc instead of a toy. and not to forget: it simply looks good.

never mind the kids what about the advantage of us adults having a cheap laptop that we can use anywhere with the ability to self power if necessary...this is just too brilliant an idea to be consigned to the scrapheap because you wont sell them at twice the price to ordinary folks. It seems to me that you are not getting the funding you wanted or they would be out there in the third world already, so let us help fund this project by buying the laptops at $200

How about, How can I get one of these for adults? I think every grown person would want one to fit their slightly larger fingers.

I'd like to buy one for supporting, testing and developping, but only at 100$. If I want to give 100$ more, it would be something else.

I sit in a college classroom with my $2000 machine, just to type notes in vi. I don't do much else with it in class, and I would love something like the OLPC that I don't have to worry about eating batteries, destroying power supplies due to repeated plug/unplug and wrapping in odd places, (I'm on #3 for batteries, #5 for chargers) or having to find an outlet. I support OLPC for all, even at up to $300 [heck, maybe even more]. 67.83.133.218 19:36, 23 July 2007 (EDT) (tonsofpcs on wikipedia)

Under the terms of the new G1G1 (Give 1, Get 1) program, users in the US and Canada will be able to acquire XO units during a two-week window in November 2007. Please visit http://www.xogiving.org/ for details. -- ScottSwanson 12:55, 24 September 2007 (EDT)

Developping Countries
I live in a developping country and so far neither has the govt expressed interest in purchasing laptops for kids (financial reasons probably) nor is my country listed anywhere on your plans. But I still maintain interest in the project and I'd love to buy one of your laptops but at $100 not more for the simple reason that for $200-$300 I can easily get a P3 computer and yes $1 costs damn much over here. So you have any plans to include countries (developping country, small market, govt means limited..) like mine in your roadmap?
fluxy

I live in Germany. I want one, like many others. As soon as they are shipped and in Childrens hands, there will be some on the grey market, e. g. some on contries ebay site. If these devices are not available legally at your local market and are as good as you say, there will be a remarkable collectors price for them. This makes it even more attractive for some criminal ore despaired parent to steal it and sell it. The lower a price on a legal consumer market the less you support a grey market and the more will stay in childrens hands.

Marcel

Users = Supporters in developped countries
Hi, I'm from Germany, now living and working in Switzerland. Like many others in the higher developped countries, and though I have a high-priced Laptop myself, I would like to have an OLPC Laptop - but not only for my children or those that I know (like my sister's), but also for myself: I think it would be a good idea for developers (I'm only playing around a little bit with Squeak and Python ;-) to have an item so they can work with it and try to help develop the platform and/or the applications.
I want to suggest to (a) sell the Laptop in the developped countries, but with a different colour - say, for instance, blue instead of green, and (b) sell it at a higher price (for instance, 200 US-$) So everyone could see that you did not take it away from a child in the developping countries and that - knowing that you purchased the laptop at a higher price, that you supported the project by buying one. I could imagine, that many people would be proud to have one and glad to help.
One could even think of the opportunity to (a) sell the OLPC laptop for at least 200, but also for 300 or 400 = giving people the chance to give more money to the project, and (b) "linking" the purchased computer somehow to the children that could get one laptop for free because you supported the project.
In fact - hopefully - like the iPod mentioned above, the "blue" OLPC could become very popular but also something to show that you support the project and realised that you are living in one world - where education is important. - I would like to buy 4-5 for 200-300 US-$, keep one for me and give the rest to children and, in doing so, hopefully help them to get an (or a better) understanding that there are other children working with the same laptop all over the world. I hope this could also help to create a little bit more consciousness in our children worldwide that they belong to one world where supporting each other is better than ignoring or even fighting each other.
"You may say, I'm a dreamer / but I'm not the only one / I hope some day you'll join us / and the world will live as one" (J. Lennon)

Bernd Kulawik

My first thought on reading through the sugar UI specs was "I want one!" My second thought was "I would gladly pay double so that a child somewhere could also have one." I came here to say that and found others already saying the same thing. I agree that it's a "no-brainer."

Any thoughts that you can somehow keep this machine simple by keeping it out of the hands of parents in developed countries is misguided. One way or another these machines will find their way to people with money. And nothing you can do will stop them from evolving and spurring imitation. This is a good thing to be embraced, not a bad thing to be avoided.

The interesting challenge is that, because this is such a deeply social machine (which is exactly why I want it!), it won't do much good to just get one of them. You really need to get a batch at a time (along with the server contraption that allows them to talk to each other). The other parents at my school would gladly pool their money to do this for our grade-school kids. That is, they would pay double: once to do it for their own kids, and again to provide for another classroom somewhere else in the world.

John Cartan www.cartania.com

Official Response?

Has anyone on the OLPC team given a reasoned, official response or rebuttal of the brilliant ideas in this thread? An iPod-like version for developed countries seems too brilliant and potentially synergistic to be ignored. Why isn't this part of the OLPC plan? This idea deserves a cogent rebuttal at the very least.

I couldn't agree more. Something like the Nokia N800 could really take off and would offer many orders of magnitude more in terms of software development by standardizing the platform. I think the commercial version should come first to provide the funding of the educational version. They are being a bit elitist about it by not licensing the design. I guess they don’t want to be trumped by someone else. Well I guess if money is not an issue for them then they can do whatever they want.

I'm a teacher in the UK and this project is excellent, every kid i teach should have one! Firstly I want one for myself - basically and initially to try it out. A considerable amount of money is spent in education on computers and software only to be tied to 'schools' and as a glorified 21st century typwriter. These computers and their new approach to working has the ability to really make a change in the way teaching and learning is carried out in schools and beyond. What is more the infrastructural savings in a school would be potentially large. Therefore this project should not just be about one laptop per child in the third world but for all children. In terms of cost - yes charge the developed countries $200 per machine to subsidise and provide access for others. I would also suggest and predict that once these machines and their potential are realised they will be finding their way into the classrooms of developed nations - how will you protect against this?

Just a few thoughts - i think these laptops have the potential to break the strangle hold of some companies - how can it be right that the software for a computer costs more than the hardware? I will be following this project closely and keen to get my hands on one!! In fact a class set to develop real network learning..

On a lighter note - the wind up handle will be a great way of encouraging developed countries kids to do some fitness and fight obesity!!

Topcheese

Clarification about Higher Resolution than 95% of laptops

Engineer speaking here. While your statement interpreted in one fashion may be OK, your statement isn't exactly true if strictly interpreted in engineer terms, if you are using a patterned R/G/B pixel pattern (similiar to a shadow mask) and addressing them at the subpixel level (It seems you are measuring a pixel as being as an individual R or G or B subpixels, basically using a different yardstick than that used for other laptop displays). While a 1200x900 (individual R or G or B subpixels) display may be claimed as higher resolution than an average 1024x768 (combined R and G and B full pixels) display, a 1024x768 display can be thought of as a 3072x768 display from the perspective of Microsoft ClearType, which uses subpixel antialiasing techniques by using individual R or G or B subpixels of each full pixel, since most LCD displays arrange the subpixels horizontally. Most LCD displays actually have three times as many subpixels as they do have pixels. So when comparing apples to apples, the statement that the OLPC display is higher resolution than 95% of laptop displays, is technically incorrect if thinking using subpixel terminology. However, it can be reworded to clarify that the carefully optimized pixel arrangement (instead of the traditional pixel striping) more easily allow much higher resolution use. Subpixel usage definitely is a creative and clever way to get more out of a display, especially if filtering techniques is done in order to avoid color fringing/color artifacting (a common problem when addressing at subpixel level instead of pixel level). (Note -- I am assuming you are using a similiar pixel pattern commonly used on digital camera and camcorder LCD's which is roughly similiar to shadow mask [[8]], at least a modernized variant thereof. These are traditionally excellent pixel patterns for subpixel-level pixel addressability and maximum sharpness with minimum color fringing using fewest subpixels, and naturally OLPC may have chosen a similiar approach.) Mdrejhon 14:08, 17 August 2006 (EDT)

In reflective mode, our laptop is 200dpi in both X and Y, which is higher resolution than any laptop I've ever seen. --Walter 14:32, 17 August 2006 (EDT)

Various issues

Please correct the map link; south korea is not china. Please Do Correct This. Can't you differentiate korea from china?

Just three things:

1. Unless the same product or similar one can be bought roughly the same price by anyone, and it becomes frequent outside schools, children and schools will be stolen promptly and we'll create a black market.

that's it!! lot of olpc laptops will be imported into US and EU directly from the brazilian, egypt or nigerian harbours or even the production facilities

2. The gap will not be solved so easily, for lack of internet access in poor or remote homes/ areas. Also, I wish these children will get a _safe_ access to the internet.

3. Deals with country governments and mesures at the manufacturing stage must ensure this tool will reach the children with the educational contents provided in their mother language, and within a government-proof container. Otherwise many governments will be just too happy to deculturate children while educating them in some other language. Governments/oragnizations would also be tempted to change the contents to introduce political and religious biases.

Red Hat selling OLPC out Marvellously.

http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=openbsd-misc&m=116007094304009&w=2 http://www.osnews.com/comment.php?news_id=16080 http://undeadly.org/cgi?action=article&sid=20061006000709

It would appear as though the project has been sold out already, isn't that just Marvellous. 74.13.33.153 11:45, 6 October 2006 (EDT)

re: about this wiki

The purpose of this wiki is to both share information about the project and to solicit ideas and feedback.

thank you User:Jg for considering twext as a last-minute candidate for OLPC_Google_Summer_of_Code 2006.. in preparation for SOC 2007, and in response to above solicitation for ideas, i posted twext + wiki = wixi which has been removed by an anonymous user and cited as spam.. regrets..

if one has an idea (which has already met with some acceptance from a multilingual education project aka OLPC) what is the protocol to share updated status of the idea? i will gladly edit any version to be of service to you (and kids to construct language learning).. please advise.. thank you

Please restrict edits to the article pages themselves to facts, not opinions.

constructivist pedagogy is strongly advertised throughout this site.. in fact, there are many learning theories and styles eg: http://www.funderstanding.com/about_learning.cfm .. while i'm actively in agreement with your preferred "opinion", please help me understand how it might seem ok for you to appear maybe slightly opinionated while claiming to prefer only "facts".. thanks..

You will note that these pages were not added by OLPC employees, but by outsiders interested in the project. I don't think OLPC necessarily advocates constructivism as much as that page may suggest. Facts are generally to be preferred in article pages --Jacobolus 18:55, 16 October 2006 (EDT)

i love OLPC!! <- opinion AND fact.. thank you =) Duke 12:46, 10 October 2006 (EDT)

If you had simply written a simple one-page summary of twext with URLs to other resources on OTHER WEB SITES then I would not have edited your page. However, what you in fact did was to create several pages that were not very concise and which gave the misleading impression that twext was an integral part of the OLPC project. One major factor in my decision was that you were MARKETING your ideas, not simply presenting them. By creating made up names such as twext, wixi and others, you are MARKETING not explaining. In addition, it is unclear whether or not this stuff of yours is patented and since OLPC has a goal to use open source as much as possible, I removed your text. You *DO* have a website that explains your twext concept. If you want to write a single page describing your system with a title like Twext - A System to Support Language Learning, then it would be more acceptable. However, if you persist in making that page a long rambling incoherent attempt at marketing, expect it to be edited down so that it has just the facts, including pointers to your competitors.

--195.16.185.35 08:58, 11 October 2006 (EDT)

very helpful, thank you.. again, apologies for crossing the line and sharing opinions.. but in fact, might there emerge new systems to support language learners?

made-up-names = marketing.. fact? if in fact what you want specifically is to block marketing from this wiki (while in fact soliciting public ideas), then opinion: EXPLICIT policy page might be helpful :)

patent: twext has an explicit open license for GPL and CCL uses (more soon).. patent's purpose is to cross-license with closed systems (ie locked copyrights) thus open, as much as possible, resources for any language learner..

edit one-page twext as you like =) thanks Duke 20:37, 12 October 2006 (EDT)

Security Concerns

So.... I get the whole concept of bringing technology to all demographic groups around the world. To that point I do not disagree with the effort and believe it to be a great initiative. However, I have concerns and questions about the security of this technology. It would appear you have some encryption and disk I/O algorithms that protect against malicious code. You've also stated that these laptops function in a web mesh network for code sharing. Do you not have concerns that children can be exploited by these laptops? Advanced computer users how have vast amounts of knowledge on how to attack Lynux. It would seem reasonable that you have built some level of file encryption or network protocols that restrict most types of content, sites, and unauthorized access. The real question lies in what controls you have in place to protect the children from attacks by individuals who seek to exploit children via the laptops. Opening the door to technology for younger generations has played a major role in recent exploitation in the US and around the globe. More and more children are chatting with predators and accessing content that is not suited for children. So, what measure of control and efforts to control this technology by monitoring and protecting the users (the children). I've read an article that spoke to your technology which indicated that files will be uploaded to a school once the laptop is within wireless range. Does that mean that every chat, email, or file will be monitored and then acted on by the school? It seems like a daunting task to get the level of coordination, technical support and awareness from less developed countries. Just protecting the system from disaster is not enough. You must also protect the children who use the technology. - Jay USA

Use in Brasil

olá sou de malacacheta/mg brasil. como inscrever minha escola no projeto? vai depender do governo brasileiro?

OLPC is working with the Brasilian government on the initial deployment plan.

Translation into spanish of The OLPC Wiki front page

I've just finished translating the The OLPC Wiki page into its spanish version. Since this is kind of the front-door page, where should it be hooked? I'm assuming that updates will be frequently required but I think I can manage them :)

Regarding translations, I've got a couple of doubts, suggestions and/or comments:

• I created a 'Spanish' category with which to tag translations (into spanish, duh!)
  • but a wikipedia-like 'in other languages' box would really help to hook them up in a more transparent way (instead of editing the pages themselves to add them).
• I'm (trying to) keep the original categories, but I'm afraid it kind of 'contaminates' the english categorization.
• The original pages I'm translating usually use the {{OLPC}} template, and I've decided to keep it just to avoid people messing with them like the originals, although a special template would probably make more sense...
  • I haven't thought about locking the translations - particularly because of typos or bad wording that could've slipped and let others correct them.

Am I making sense? I'm no wiki-specialist... Any thoughts? --Xavi 14:53, 9 December 2006 (EST)

Visitor statistics

I'm starting to wonder about where the readers of this wiki are... Are they from 'destination' countries? Or mainly from the 'central' ones? Are they reading news and local info about their countries; or reading general or 'developers' information?

Are this kind of statistics available? Or a hit-counter service should be sought? (I like the visual aspect of ClustrMaps :) ). I'm pretty sure that the site has raw data... I've found the Special:Popularpages, and helpful as it might be, it lacks detail.--Xavi 16:53, 19 December 2006 (EST)

Bold text what about american children???? as an amercian company,many of you benefitted from american education. why would you think about third world children first, when there are so many children who would benefit right here in america.... and now you are saying i cant buy a laptop??? where is your loyalty????

Recent AP Article

The local newspaper had an article Sunday on OLPC attributed to AP. It stated that the price of the OLPC laptop has been raised to $150, but I could'nt find any verification of that here or on laptop.org so I am thinking that this article (which was'nt very good IMHO) is a bit of bad press at work. Perhaps the Main Page should have links to one page that covers the most important correct and updated facts like: which countries are now onboard, the price, release dates and the like.

Will the laptops reach the children?

I love the core idea of this project, but as been mentioned before i'm a bit worried that, like other aid, the laptops will become desirable for criminals. And the end result is a free $100 for a drug addict in Namibia.

What metrics will be applied to verify that the project is successful? How will you distribute the laptops to ensure maximum success? How do you envision the distribution process?

I'd hate to see this *excellent* project to die out in 18 months at the same time we start reading news about how these laptops are helping guerilla groups in Africa, by use and re-sale, or how kids are being mugged or even killed for its value. A $100 electronic device (that doesn't need electricity(!)) must be a VERY desirable item in many countries.

Anyway. best of luck to you all!

How does one say XO please?

Some pages within the http://www.laptop.org webspace use XO within a sentence, yet there does not seem to be anywhere where there is an indication of how to say XO in speech.

For example, the page http://www.laptop.org/laptop/hardware/index.shtml has the following.

The XO is a potent learning tool created expressly for the world's poorest children living in its most remote environments.

Should this sentence be ammended to read something such as the following?

The XO (in speech please say "ZO", so as to rhyme with "GO") is a potent learning tool created expressly for the world's poorest children living in its most remote environments.

Or the following?

The XO (in speech please say "EX-OH") is a potent learning tool created expressly for the world's poorest children living in its most remote environments.

Maybe the first option above is preferable. However, if there is no guidance one way or the other then there may well be confusion on a long-term basis.

Maybe there is some other way of saying XO which is different from both of the above possibilities?

XO is now being used as a word and thus there is a need to know how to say it in speech.

Writing and saying the plural of XO

How about XOj as the plural of XO. In speech one would say ZOJ so as to rhyme with the English word JOY. The use of the j suffix for the plural and the way of saying the -oj ending coming from Esperanto. Esperanto does not have a letter X or x so XOj is not an Esperanto word.

OLPC Foundation site

Is the http://www.olpcfoundation.org link valid? There's nothing there (except a domain host dummy site)... all I see is

This page is parked free, courtesy of GoDaddy.com

followed by a whole bunch of links... --Xavi 23:04, 6 February 2007 (EST)

olpcfoundation.org is registered to the same person (Michail Bletsas @ MIT Media Lab) as laptopfoundation.org, which is the "real" foundation site. It appears that merely a redirect is in order unless there is an actual difference between the two. -- ScottSwanson 09:28, 7 March 2007 (EST)

I had forgotten about my post! I must've been too anxious and followed the link even before the things had been set up... so feel free to delete this section. --Xavi 11:53, 7 March 2007 (EST)

Let's not delete it so fast; if there are references to http://www.olpcfoundation.org out there, then Michail (or someone) needs to set up that redirect so that people are directed to laptopfoundation.org and not the GoDaddy parking page. -- ScottSwanson 09:39, 8 March 2007 (EST)

B2 release notes?

Should there be a link to the B2 release notes on the first line of the 'News' section mentioning B2?

Also, if B2 users are supposed to also read the B1 release notes, that should be explicitly called out.

Hard Questions for OLPC

There are a number of issues that need serious consideration in this project:

1) The features being designed are exciting. Given the creative commons approach, one can be assured that these features, as happened with Linux, will appear on systems from multinational corporations to student computers in all schools. The technological advances and advantages will be neutral and accessible to all...

We are encouraging others to adopt and adapt our ideas.

2) With the exception of developmental issues needing the size of laptops, the developed world is going small. Think Ipods with movies, MP3, cell phones and PDA's. Think cell phones in remote villages in wired environments. Think about the need to work and learn since one of the major issues for developing worlds is the need for children to contribute substantively to family income. Wearable and small is the trend. Think cost to governments to off set income loss for school age children not working.

It seems there are two threads here: one having to do with form factor and the other with child labor. In regard to form-factor, it is our premise that a screen of reasonable size and resolution is important to activities such as sustained reading, programming, and visual expression. I am not sure that wearable and small is up to the task. Regarding child labor, I am not sure that the trade off of giving children an opportunity to learn is a bad one.

3) While the aim is for the $100 computer, real costs which will far exceed the cost of the laptop, is the bandwidth. Think about cell companies, cable and satellite companies who give away phones to sell bandwidth and content.

I am not sure I understand the question posed here. The mesh has no additional cost associated with it and it lets the community more efficiently share whatever infrastructure is available, so I don't understand the comment about real costs far exceeding the cost of the laptop. That said, where possible, we are find partners to help defray the cost of connectivity.

4) Social impacts are changes in learning from individual to groups. Think smart mobs and mmorpgs. This implies changes in how students receive knowledge and are evaluated causing new paradigms to impact on the cost to revamp the education system.

There is no question but that the education system will change as a generation of children and teachers come to school with different skills and expectations about learning, collaboration,and communication.

The question then is "why not just take 1000 computers and do several tests of concepts in the field. The issue is not having the creative technology but understanding the issues that such a deployment will raise within the communities. How about a test in Bangladesh, Guatemala and an English, Spanish or French speaking community in Africa.

We have been doing "tests of concepts in the field" for 30+ years. The challenge is how to scale those experiences, not just replicate them yet again in small pilots. --Walter 17:56, 6 April 2007 (EDT)

tom abeles tabeles@hotmail.com 19 March 2007

For the children

I wonder the feasibility of OLPC,if there is no internet,it doesnt help to fill in the digital gap.Besides,For the poor country like China (where I was born),the rural educational expenditures are very limited,and some primary school teachers in the country side only earn 50 US dollars a month and the payments are often fallen behind,you may understand the major problem for the developping country.They just need to invest more money to basic educational infrastructure,not the expensive little machine.--193.54.193.1 23:20, 19 March 2007 (EDT)

Do not be mistaken; though wiki.laptop.org focuses on the machine, the actual project recognizes that this is about the learning, not the technology, and Negroponte and others have been driving the larger issues to that end. --ScottSwanson 16:25, 20 April 2007 (EDT)

Arabic Translation

I would like to translate those pages to Arabic. How can I do that?

Nalrawahi 14:24, 13 April 2007 (EDT)

Welcome! Take a look to Translating and if you then need help, please drop a note! :) --Xavi 14:37, 13 April 2007 (EDT)

Wiki feature request

I observe that one can edit without having logged in. Even when one fills in the comment summarizing the import of the edit, there is no clue there that the history will display your internet address rather than your name, if you have not logged in. It would be better if the attribution about to be recorded showed there. More of us would sign in. But even just a question like Have you logged in? would often be enough of a reminder for many of us.

My personal 'hack' was to change my Special:Preferences... under the Editing tab, I have the Show preview on first edit checked and unchecked the Show preview before edit box. That way, I have some 'visual clue' if I'm logged in or not when editing a page through the position of the edit pane... Cheers, --Xavi 12:47, 19 April 2007 (EDT)

OLPC's spanish translation

I am just starting to help the project translating to spanish and I see there are different versions for the acronym OLPC ("una laptop por chico", "un portátil por niño", ...).

Is there an "official" version? I think it is a main issue since the acronym often appears.

Welcome! :) as for the OLPC term, since I have sort of monopolized the Category:Translations lang-es, I have (personally) settled for the Una Laptop por Chico version, basically because the strict abbreviation (ULPC) would be much closer to OLPC—instead of ULPN. Somewhere I've posted a small point trying to raise the issue, but no answer came back. Either way, that is something worthile debating and adopting some kind of 'standard'. Another thing to 'debate' is the El/La Portátil/Laptop issue... Glad you joined! --Xavi 13:42, 25 April 2007 (EDT)

Thanks! :-) You are right: abbreviation ULPC is much closer to OLPC than any other possibility. I do not know whether it works so for the rest of languages. Anyway I will use "Una Laptop por Chico" until there is no official decision about it. Oki? --imedina 11:30, 26 April 2007 (EDT)

Xavier and Iñigo, I admire your devotion to translating the OLPC web site. You are doing a great job. However, I would like to open the discussion again regarding the choice of terms chicos versus niños.

I agree that chicos is closer to the OLPC acronym in English, though here are some points to consider using niños:

1. We are talking about children from ~ 6 to ~ 16 years old.

2. Using chicos on the website might sound cool to some ears, but if we are consistent it might not sound OK to anybody's ears if we use the term chicos for technical and educational literature, more formal settings, or even some casual settings. See examples

a.- "La Psicología del Chico"

b.- Los chicos prefieren aprender jugando...

c.- Los chicos y lo maestros aprendieron collaborativamente...

d.- Los chicos chiquitos enseñaron a los chicos grandes...

e.- El chico es por naturaleza inquieto...

3. Niños is a more exact equivalent of Children, and Chicos would be more like kid, kiddie, young one, young 'un (because Chico also means little), tot, tyke, and lad and is more local, regional, dialectal, familiar, and informal. That is to say, it is not the universal way of saying Children in the Spanish speaking world. I must also point out that both Chicos and Niños are masculine in Spanish, but can be used to refer to Boys and Girls or Children. There is almost no way out in Spanish other than Niñas y Niños, which you might consider using.

4. About the "Laptop" term, I find it OK, since we usually use Hardware and Software without translating it. However, some people or even countries are very much against these kind of borrowings. And the term "portátil," is not exclusive for "computadora portátil," but for any portable device. I think it will be impossible to obtain everybody's acceptance regarding how to refer to Laptop in Spanish, and of whether its masculine or feminine. However the term Niños is undeniably universal in the Spanish speaking world.

Regards, --Carla 13:31, 5 June 2007 (EDT)

Points noted :)

(1) "Niño" wouldn't apply in a homogeneous way either within that age bracket.

(2) True, spanish tends to be more formal sometimes, and "Chico" will not cut it there—although in more formal settings the term "Infantil" (ie: La Psicología Infantil) would be the chosen term

(3) Yup... I doub't we can come up with a 'universally valid' term... I think the best we can aim for is a 'universally acceptable' one—which would probably be "Niño": everybody can understand it, although probably not as the first choice.

(4) good point about the 'attribute' of portability, and we agree. Finally, the gender... spanish is plural=masculine unless all individuals are feminine... I wouldn't spend too much time in trying to export the PC-ness of english into spanish.

There are some ideas, or rather a debate-space in Translating/Spanish terms that hopefully we can use to communicate. Cheers, --Xavi 10:46, 11 June 2007 (EDT)

Open source?

"Give me a free and open environment and I will learn and teach with joy."

Is Open Source still a core project commitment in view of recent news? Thanks.--luke 12:39, 29 April 2007 (EDT)

• OLPC to Run Windows
• Will corporate greed kill OLPC?

Part of being open is being open to all. We are open to Microsoft, or anyone else, developing software for the laptop. That said, OLPC remains steadfast in its commitment to FOSS and, despite what you may have read in the press, we will be shipping Linux on the laptops. --Walter 16:33, 29 April 2007 (EDT)

Walter, Thanks for your reply. Appreciated. Excerpt from p.2 of the second linked article:- "Project founder, the former Director of MIT Media Lab, Nicholas Negroponte, has now revealed that the organisation sent early production samples to Microsoft so that Redmond engineers could work out how to squeeze XP onto the diminutive device. Worse still, it is now reported that OLPC engineers have been working with M$ engineers on porting the proprietary operating system onto diminutive machine. And although the OLPC organisation still insists the machine will not ship with Windows pre-installed, it seem inevitable that Microsoft will seek to influence the deployment of computing power in the third world to its advantage."

So was there any such cooperation with Microsoft. If so, how does that square with your core commitment? Thanks once again for replying so promptly.--luke 16:41, 30 April 2007 (EDT)

We may have to agree to disagree. We certainly have not gone out of our way to encourage Microsoft, but we have not tried to stand in their way either. We have answered questions when asked (although, ironically, their policy of not allowing their developers to look at open-source code has slowed their development process--they have had to reinvent a number of wheels). As I said earlier, we believe that being open means being open to everyone. --Walter 17:54, 30 April 2007 (EDT)

"We may have to agree to disagree" - I'm just trying to find out what happened....and it seems from what you say that what happened was that OLPC were responding to questions when asked by Microsoft engineers. Take care.--luke 22:57, 30 April 2007 (EDT) //p.s. (added 03 May) - OTOH I just noticed this from Wired:The One Laptop Per Child's tiny XO computer got an added boost from its maker specifically to enable it to run Microsoft Windows, says the project's founder Nicholas Negroponte. Speaking with Wired News editor Kevin Poulsen over e-mail, Negroponte said that an SD card slot was added to the OLPC machine so it could meet Windows' minimum performance requirements. "The XO always ran Windows... that is why we added the SD slot," he said. Negroponte's comment was in response to Friday's news that the OLPC would hit the market later this year as a Windows-capable device. Even though the machines would ship with the OLPC's Linux-based Sugar user interface installed, the alliance with Microsoft seemed to be out of line with the OLPC project's commitment to open source software.

This will presumably have the effect of adding to the unit cost, as well as the more obvious implications - luke

I haven't seen the email and don't know the context, but the first-hand history of why there is an SD-card slot on the machine is: (1) We needed to add an ASIC to improve NAND access; (2) We took this as an opportunity to add a video camera contoller at minimal additional cost; (3) At essentially no additional cost, we added an SD-card slot to give the kids more options re storing their videos (at the time, we were only planning on .5G of on-board NAND. While it is probably a cleaner solution for MS to take advantage of SD rather than USB, there was not and still is not room on-board for Windows and there has been from Day One external expansion capability. --Walter 13:48, 3 May 2007 (EDT)

Thanks for taking the time to reply. Also, I asked Michael Calore a question to try and clarify his position, since his blog entries seem confusing on these matters. e.g. see this entry from the Friday, three days earlier. Maybe his tongue is in his cheek, but it doesn't seem to be even slightly amusing.--luke 02:30, 4 May 2007 (EDT)

A "participant wiki" for...participants form various countries?

Hello OLPC, I was just wondering:

There is a "Teamwiki" where members who manage the initiative (XO testing, in this case), logon to post details of test-related activities and issues. Thats really a great way to keep OLPC informed about whats going on.

My question is, will there be a "Participantwiki" where teachers and students from each country can share their experience online for OLPC as well as other countries (and their participants) can share the rich, diverse experience too? Such a wiki wouldn't be too different from the Teamwiki except in the sense that it won't be restricted. --Ahmad 09:31, 2 May 2007 (EDT)

Hello Ahmad -- please consider this the participantwiki; it is both a source for information about the project and a place for everyone to share their experience without restriction, from taking part in the project as a school or student, to mentoring schools and student and creating materials for the project. Sj talk 16:19, 22 May 2007 (EDT)

Translation

Hi, everyone

I hope to translate SUGAR and other Activities, which, by default, will be provided with XO to children, into Korean. However, I can't find PO files for them. Please let me know where can I find those PO files. ...Sincerely

What I've found is not the POT (template) but some PO files—check Sugar i18n#Sugar in your language it should take you the git tree. Also, you may want to look at Customizing NAND images. --Xavi 21:01, 30 May 2007 (EDT)

Only one question

Will pupils with an OLPC-laptop be able to browse the world wide web and will they be able to use sites like google or wikipedia!? Are there any screenshots with the olpc laptop and a browser??? Which browser do you use (Firefox, IE, anything else)? --Michael Reschke 19:39, 23 July 2007 (EDT)

The browser is based on the same underlying technology that powers the Firefox browser. --Walter 18:30, 26 July 2007 (EDT)

Of course this only works if the school/village has an Internet gateway and the education ministry allows students to access the open Internet and the country allows their Internet users to have access to foreign websites. In most cases you should not expect that the students will have access to the world wide web and will not be able to use sites like Google and wikipedia. Chances are, WWW resources are in a foreign language like English which the kids do not know. And the speed of access will be slow due to limited bandwidth which is due to the high cost of telecommunications in the under-developed countries where many laptops will be deployed. Brazil is a notable exception to this rule since it is relatively wealthy and has the ability to make the bandwidth available if they desire. But even in Brazil, I think they will prefer kids to surf local sites in the local language. If a school or education-ministry or country is willing to foot the bill for wide-area IP internetworking, they will likely want that access to be used to access relatively local educational resources, not random sites in a far-away foreign country like the USA, where people have different (and strange) ideas about how the Internet should be used.

Do you have any data to back up your numerous assertions? --Walter 12:15, 19 August 2007 (EDT)

May anyone fix the main and the login pages?

• Sidebar on main page isn´t rendering side by news.
• Information on login page is the same color (white) of background. Then we can read it.

User.

What browser/platform are you using? What skin are you using? (Firefox under Linux seems to work fine for the default skin.) --Walter 18:31, 26 July 2007 (EDT)

When your browser's cache/cookies are clear the login page always uses the default skin. I've verified that the problem occurs with IE 6 under Windows XP.

Marcello D B Semedo 23:46, 29 July 2007 (EDT)

Skins

Actually, I liked the old skin better. Wikipedia, or monobook, or whatever, is too generic. I know, I can change it for me, that's not the point. 190.56.23.118 12:31, 11 August 2007 (EDT)

Where is the OLPC Skin? :-( --84.153.84.236 04:32, 22 August 2007 (EDT)

To chose a specific skin you go to Special:Preferences under the 'Skin' tab. The OLPCish looking skin is 'ShikiWiki'. But I think you have to be a registered user. Xavi 10:03, 22 August 2007 (EDT)

Is it possible to buy an XO?

I was watching 60 minuts the other day and they clearly state that you can purchase one of these laptops as long as you donate another 100$ to buy one of the needy kids one...wich is understandable...but according to the hundreds of sites that ive been to there is no way to get your hands on one....i am disapointed...and confused.. were can i buy one... if its possible anyway....www.onelaptopperchild.com

US and Canada citizens will now be able to acquire one under the G1G1 (Give 1, Get 1) program in November for two weeks only. Check out http://www.xogiving.org/ for details. -- ScottSwanson 12:34, 24 September 2007 (EDT)

Distribution of Computers

I had heard about this project some time back, but my interest was renewed yesterday when I heard a story on NPR. But the real reason the story got my attention is because I am preparing to work on a project to equip a computer lab in a school in Nagpur, India. I am a member of the Rotary Club of Miami, Florida and through an intermediary received a request from the Rotary Club of Nagpur Ishanya, India to help them with this project. We will be doing this on a volunteer basis using our own funds. If we can get the computers for $200/unit, needless to say more students will have access to computers.

While I am only working on equiping one school in India, I thought about the potential of using the network of 1.2 million members worldwide in over 32,000 clubs established in more than 200 countries. It may be advantageous for OLPC to work with Rotary International [www.rotary.org] to distribute these computers to the children of the world.

Most developing countries do not have the resources to buy computers and if given the choice between providing food, potable water or medicine--a computer and education will always be at the bottom of their list. In 1988 Rotary International [9] had a vision of a world without polio. We did not ask the governments to fund it. We did not ask governments to do the work. We just asked them to allow Rotary to help their people--most countries did.

It has taken almost 20 years and about $600M; tens of thousands of Rotarians partnered with their national ministries of health, UNICEF, the World Health Organization, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and with health providers at the grassroots level in thousands of communities to vaccinate every child in every nation. At this point with a few exceptions Polio is almost wiped out.

In my opinion, a better vehicle to distribute these computers to the children of the world would be through a partnership with Rotary International. Volunteers and private funding has a much better record of meeting people's needs than through governments that often displace the support given to help their people.

You can buy machines at around $300 per unit in quantities of around 100, falling to $250 for 1000, falling to $200 for giant quantities. Look on olpcgiving.org for the 800 number for the Give Many program. I suggest that Rotary International should get together an order of at least 1000 computers - your club could give to India, you could talk to Palo Alto,CA club about giving to a library in the Yucatan, etc. 20 clubs giving 50 coumputers. If it worked out, you could look at scaling that up into the tens of thousands it would take to really saturate a target province / population. You should also make sure that the OS exists in your target languages first.

ps. Re goverment priorities: Here in Guatemala, there was recently a doctor's strike because the government had stopped buying medicine, whereas it would be unthinkable for them to stop paying teachers (a month or two late as always). Education is a real priority everywhere (which is not the same as saying that it is effective or well-funded, just that there is some money there).

OLPC/Curriki in Mexico

In our school, EGAP [ http://cmpublish.itesm.mx/wps/portal/egap ], we have been thinking about how we can integrate Mexico in the OLPC project. This letter presents to you our proposal, which is open to changes according to your suggestions.We are a multidisciplinary group of students (bios in attached document) who want to generate content for the XO in Spanish. After doing web based research we found Curriki as the best option to introduce us in the production of educational content with open source standards. Thus, we want to generate content that serves both Curriki’s and OLPC’s priorities.

Our project is “Geomapping in Americas’Elementary Schools” which involves creating an interactive map of the Americas with geographical and sociological information that would help teachers in social science courses for children between 9 and 10 years old. The map will consist of two layers, one with graphical content and the other with language. Thus although the project will be in Spanish it can be easily adapted to other languages. This map will have images, colors and designs according to every country, as well as specific elements like flags, structure and other basic information. We are going to use Flash as a graphical base for the project. Our project will have to day as deadlines; first, for the information content, we will have the text and class contents (20 lessons) in a publishable format by October 26. The graphical part of the project, maps and design, will be finish by November 15.

In order to construct the map, we will research geography education in 4th and 5th grade in Latin America, U.S. and Canada, text books, remarkable research and interview geography teachers.

It is important to highlight that we already contacted the offices of the PHD and the Master program in education in our university this to get feedback and permanent reviews of the pedagogical and instructional design of the content. Also, we will prepare lesson plans on geography which we will link to the map. Finally, we will make copies of the product for elementary schools in our city, in order to have monitoring capacity.

We look forward to hearing from you and will wait for your response so that we can incorporate any changes and suggestion you may have.

Best Wishes

Fernando Rojas Andrews MSC Candidate in International Law A00881041@itesm.mx EGAP Building, Sixth Floor.ZIP 66269 +(5281)86258366

Bios

Dante Sanchez He was awarded in 2003 with the State Youth Leadership Prize and Candidate to the National Award of Youth Leadership; studied a Master Degree in economics and public policy at the EGAP in Monterrey Mexico. Dante has work as a Civil servant, NGO's volunteer and assistant in educational institutions; also he has worked for the World Bank as a Development Marketplace Program Evaluator and collaborates in projects of Education Measuring for Developing Countries sponsored by the OECD. Specialized in regional development and education, has worked at the ITESM since 2005.

Fernando Rojas He is a lawyer who studies the Master in International Law in EGAP. He also is currently working as a Research Assistant in the Master in Public Policy. He worked in consulting projects for the Mexican Education Minister and the UN. He is interested in Open Source, International Tax Law, Computer Law and Justice. Also he took a course of Information Technologies at the Kennedy School of Government (Harvard) and a course of American Law at the Law Center of Georgetown University.

Hector GHF He has a young creative mind. He studied Marketing in Mexico at the prestigious School of Business of Tecnologico de Monterrey. He has worked for companies like Disney, Coca-Cola, and Kellogg supporting marketing strategies within; however he recently changed his administrative focus to a more creative approach working as an Assistant Producer in animated and live-action advertisement for international markets. He has worked as an independent illustrator for museums and children's books. Also, he freelances as a Graphic Designer when he has the chance. He has lived in Mexico, United States, and Argentina, this last being his current location.

Nestor Guerrero He is a Mexican Master in Public Policy and Politics student in EGAP. He is a Bachelor in Computer Science Engineering of Tec de Monterrey. Actually he is half time working as Research Assistant in a Cathedra of Public Administration, Government and Citizens. His principal interest areas are electronic governance, open standards in public information, web services in public administrations, creating public value through information systems. He enjoys traveling and working with people from different countries.

Ricardo Martinez He is an EGAP grad student in Public Administration, currently working as a Research Assistant. He did my major in Political Science and Public Administration in the Universidad de Monterrey (UDEM). He has been working in Governance issues and in Public Security. Also he took the Information Technologies and Innovation in Government Executive Program at the Kennedy School of Government (Harvard) in summer 2007 where he heard about the OLPC program.

Mailing list page

What happened to the mailing list link that used to be in the sidebar? It seems to have been removed in favor of the "IRC and Email" link, but that page has nothing about e-mail. —Joe 22:44, 6 October 2007 (EDT)

One Laptop in America

Moved question to Ask OLPC a Question/New.

OLPC Namespace, cleanup

cleanup ideea:

OLPCWiki: to [[OLPC:]] and split the FAQ and related questions into the core sections (FAQ/Our mission)

links from FAQ to community Portal and vice-versa

merge Talk:Main Page into Community Portal

merge Wiki with talk:Main Page

link to xoxo and other communit ynews from [[community portal]

link to static FAQ from the FAQ page

Sj talk 16:26, 16 October 2007 (EDT)

OLPC EN PERU

OLPC en Perú

Luego de la aprobacion por mayoria de la partida que autoriza la compra de laptops para las escuelas más pobres del Perú, les comento que un video que ilustra el piloto de Arahuay ha sido publicado en www.infordata.tv

Les adjunto el link para que puedan dejar sus comentarios.

http://www.infordata.tv/vervideos.php?id_video=52&categoria=tecnologia

Olpc news Website

Acessem Já Olpc News

Notícias,informações e análises... você encontra aqui!!!!!

"A Educação é a arma mais poderosa que você pode usar para mudar o mundo!"(Nelson Mandela)

Toronto-Manila Content Generation - G1G1 Window

We are early retirees wanting to foster the development of OLPC pedagogical content for the Tagalog, Inuit and English languages. We have enlisted the participation of Dr. Michaele Robertson of the University of Toronto School and Dr. Mercedes Rodrigo of Ateneo University in Manila. The OLPC-PH team and Mel Chua have also been engaged.

The project would entail the deployment of 25 machines in each locale, part in the developer community and part in a model classroom environment.

Our name is Prosser not Gates so we are hoping to realize this goal through the G1G1 window whereby the Give 1 machines would be dispatched directly to Dr. Rodrigo in Manila or to Dr. Robertson in Toronto for on-shipment. The Get 1 machines would be delivered to Dr. Robertson.

Otherwise we would have to wait until you achieve general availability which would be a pity.

We realize you folks in Boston are very busy but hope you will be able to find some bandwidth to consider this proposed use of the G1G1 window.

Truly, Yolanda Prosser (Retired Schoolteacher) G J Prosser (Retired Banker and Sloan Fellow)

Check out the give many program - [10]. You are talking about spending $10,000 for 50 laptops; under this program you'd spend $30,000 for 100 laptops (and would be donating 50 laptops to a location of OLPC's choice). That's the best that's on offer. Or you could just do normal G1G1 and spend $20,000 for 50 laptops. Homunq 22:15, 3 November 2007 (EDT)

Clarification: I don't know much about the project, haven't yet met Graham and Yolanda in person or talked with them extensively online, and can't speak for their proposal one way or the other, but when Graham mentioned it briefly via email I suggested that they post a proposal on the wiki (more detail always helps) and suggested the same thing as Homunq with the GMGM program for slightly later on. Just wanted to clarify that "engaged" doesn't necessarily mean "endorsed" yet. Mel Chua 19:45, 6 November 2007 (EST)

OLPC news blog

OLPC News is an independent source of news on OLPC. It is generally a better source of news than this wiki, because it is just news, with no additional goals of volunteer organization, documentation, recruitment, or fundraising. This lets it be more critical of OLPC project weaknesses, though it is intended as constructive criticism. Also, being a blog rather than a wiki is a friendlier format for news. Homunq 22:15, 3 November 2007 (EDT)

OLPC news is a source of independent opinion of about the project, but it is a real stretch to refer to it as a source of news. It also has been the source of speculation and misinformation about the project. --Walter 22:11, 6 November 2007 (EST)

Oh Walter, don't be so bitter. OLPC News is an independent view of One Laptop Per Child that often scoops even OLPC and its wiki on news, speculates on the impact of XO distribution that you refuse to explore, and discusses all aspects of OLPC information - the good, bad, and ugly. And as Homunq rightly points out, its all about constructive criticism - a key aspect of learning and education in every society. Might it be part of OLPC's culture too? Wayan Vota, editor, OLPC News

As a contributor to OLPC News, I can confirm Walter's assertions. It isn't all, or even mostly, constructive. It is a forum for the naysayers, the armchair analysts, the envious, and me, the lone supporter.

Wayan Vota tells me that he supports the goals of the laptop project, but doesn't believe that OLPC knows what it is doing. He has invited every possible complaint about the project, justified or not, to counter what he considers to be hype from Nicholas Negroponte. I disagree with this strategy, and spend most of my time there shooting down rumors and other misinformation. But I also get to talk about the good the laptops can do.

I don't know where Homunq gets the idea that you can't criticize the project on the wiki. I have aired many complaints here. You can even post misinformation here, as you see. ;-> --Mokurai 19:59, 7 November 2007 (EST)

I didn't mean that criticism was out of bounds here, just that here it must coexist with some (healthy) boosterism. I think that things like the OLPC status by country page here are... optimistic to the point of stretching credibility, but I also think that extreme optimism is the right of, and the proper attitude for, someone involved in a change-the-world project like this one. In general, the attitude here on the wiki minimizes the work left to do. A ground-up redesign of UI, security model, user filesystem, and networking (both physical and user-model); porting of applications; deployment in a world where relatively few ministries of education own their own textbook content (and thus development of mountains of content); training 10**4 teachers then scaling to 10**7; with Microsoft sniping and others just honestly competing at every step; and I'm sure there are items I forgot; these are huge tasks, and while I have deep respect for what's been done, there's a long way to go and success is by no means guaranteed.

It is entirely appropriate that this wiki NOT be a place to say things like "this will never work". It is also appropriate that there be another place where such sentiments are not out of bounds. And it is more healthy if those two fora are linked. No regular user of OLPCNews is unaware of the wiki; I think it would be best if the reverse were true too. Maybe you wouldn't feel like "the lone supporter" anymore... Homunq 20:22, 14 November 2007 (EST)

I'm sorry, but as a long-time but esporadic reader of olpcnews, it reads to me that the editor(s) take _every_ chance to put down olpc project and ideals, even when they might superficially be praising it to the heavens. For an anedoctical example, all photos on the blog have cynical subtitles for it. It is also known that right in the beginings of olpcnews, there were ads plastered on olpc and simillar search terms in google. Now, for a non-ad blog, non-revenue blog, putting down money to promote oneself smells fishy to me.

I'm probably not the only one noticing the highly biased "independent news" of olpcnews, so I'll just finish now, and carry on interested in this new, mad, funny internet of ours :) .HoboPrimate 22:45, 14 November 2007 (EST)

Fiji

Educational Foundation for the Children of Fiji It's purpose is to build a All ECO- Conservation state of the art school campus

for 10,000 students in Fiji that has been entrusted for 550 years or the life of the school the ages of the students will be K-College. 

These students will be eqipped to go on to become the future leaders that God intended for them to be. Our Goals are to equip, encourage and empower. Carol Wachniak VP

Durable laptops for children with disabilities "schools"

What a brilliant idea, at last a durable computer for a child. I am so disappointed that these computers are not able to be purchased by the general public. Not only are these laptops brilliant for children in developing countries, but for students in schools with disabilities they would be a god-send. Please please make these laptops available to the general public and in Australia too!

Why?

Kids in developing nations are starving...maybe meeting their basic needs (food and shelter) should be your focus.

Laptop Project

Wow, you read the news and see bad things - but I read about this in People. I commend and THANK Mr. Negroponte. You are part of, if everyone does some part - the world is a better place. May God Bless You in many many ways. When you are done providing each child a laptop, if every, please consider the United States Servicemen who are overseas but could not afford a laptop. But for now good luck and May God Bless You!

Good Luck with this project.

Good luck with this project! The brilance of this project.... Giving kids the ability to have a open system to explore the inner working of a pc. I know it helped me when I got my first Commodor 64 and opend it up and learned that the fuse could be blown and the system would not work. The process of researching how to fix that problem was very educational. Linux rocks as a os and the basic system this XO is gives the kids the development enviroment to tap into learning how to make it work. The the move to virtual pc os's like http://g.ho.st and others like it with Google going to virtual applications and massive server farms this thin client concept put into the hands of a population is so powerfull. And a crank to power the power the battery... so cool... attach it to a excercize bike and you surf and sweat and build your body at the same time.

Would love to provide my own child whith a labtop

Im a single mother and would love to provide my own child.I think your program is great. But i cant afford to donate.

Problem with telephone orders ?

I'm not certain if this is the right place for this question ...

I feel quite passionate about the mission and your project.

However, I feel a bit uneasy at this point. I ordered a G1G1 via telephone on 11/12 at 6:15 AM, EST. Although I received a confirmation number, I haven't yet received an email, nor is my credit card charged. I called the 800 number last week, gave my confirmation number and still haven't heard anything. I wish that something would be published on the OLPC website, since I believe that others are affected as well.

Hi ~ It looks like you've posted this on Wednesday, 11/21. A longer post on this issue can be found on the Ask_OLPC_a_Question page here. As far as I can see here on this wiki and elsewhere on the web, no-one who placed an order by phone has said that the charges have yet appeared on their credit card accounts. On the other hand, as you'll see from the post I'm pointing you to, JC reports that "The supervisor (who was supernice) to whom I spoke to assured me that my queue position is not affected by the delay in getting a confirmation or posting the charge to my credit card which should happen by Friday." ~ Hexagonal 16:07, 21 November 2007 (EST)

Send a virtual XO on Facebook

Facebook users can now let people know about the XO Laptop by sending a virtual XO as a Green Gift on Facebook. Green Gifts is an application that was created by BC Hydro (the power utility in British Columbia, Canada) to promote conservation. When the Give One, Get One campaign was launched, BC Hydro decided to lend the application to promoting the XO and letting people know that they Give One, Get One until November 26th. To encourage Facebook users to spread the word about the XO, BC Hydro is Giving One and Getting One itself -- and giving its XO as a prize to a Green Gifts user.