Hand-Cranked $100 Laptops Intended For Children In Developing Countries

From ClickToNews

The XO, a hand cranked, low cost computer designed for children in developing countries

[edit] Abstract

A company works hard to finish and test its new design: the XO machine, an ultra low cost hand-cranked laptop designed for distribution to children in developing countries.

[edit] Details

The XO Machine, aka the '$100 laptop', aka 'The Childrens Machine', has been designed from start with low cost and distribution to children with no other computer experience in mind. The XO is the key element to the One Laptop Per Child project.

Nicholas Negroponte began the project originally at the MIT Media lab over 2 years ago. He then was able to begin the One Laptop Per Child project, a nonprofit organisation.

The XO has a number of features that makes it distinct from other laptop computers currently available:
Hand-Cranked - Since the intended users of the computer are in developing countries, the machine should not rely on a constant power supply being available. Instead, the XO takes it cue from the innovative and popular hand-cranked radio design, allowing users to manually rechange the battery using good old fashioned elbow greese and a hand crank.
No Harddrive - hard disk drives are bulky and power hungry, the XO has no harddrive, but comes with 512 of flash-card-like memory and a USB2 port for additional storage devices.
366 megahertz processor - low powered micro-chip processor to work with the low power battery and hand-crank design.
customized version of Linux operating system - a 'slimmed down' version of Linux operating system.
The XO also has a few of the features now standard on many laptops, including a built-in camera, color display, speakers and more.

The distribution of the XO is expected to start in July of 2007. Exactly who gets the devices depends on which countries enter into the program, how much money is donated by charities and other individuals, and the availability of the XO. The ultimate goal is the ability to setup a mass production facility which should lower the cost of the XO from the current $150 per unit to the goal / title cost of $100 per laptop.

The user interface for the XO is unique and has been redesigned for children with no computer experience. The common desktop has been replaced with a stick figure (representing the user) surrounded by icons for available programs. Instead of a folder and file structure, the users are shown their previous and saved work in journals of past activities. The XO comes with a built in wireless network card, so when 2 or more XOs are close enough, they will show a small icon of another stick figure in a circle on their desktop. The small icons represent other XOs nearby, and by clicking on them users can send each other messages, chat, and work together on projects.

The design is intended to allow users to focus more on tasks and activities, rather than learning standard office-use software like excel. Proponents of the new interface (dubbed 'Sugar') say that it avoids many of the conceptual pitfalls that can trip up new users to the standard computer system.