Anyone have experience with the OLPC XO?

[megarat]

Hey all,

Like the subject says, I'm interested in whether or not anyone here has had some hands-on time with the OLPC XO "laptop", and what your thoughts/impressions would be.

I know, the keyboard is totally pants, that's a given.  I'd probably use a HHKB with it anyway, or hack it into a tablet, or maybe do a mod like this.  Rather, I'm primarily interested in its usability as a cheap, no-frills computing unit, particularly for word-processing and web-browsing.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[timw4mail]

I haven't had any experience with it, (I've seen it in person, but haven't used it) but I'd guarantee you'd get a lot more out of a low-mid range netbook, than the laptop that spawned the netbook =).

Any netbook with an Atom @ 1.6 GHz is going to far outperform, and be more responsive than a ~500MHz Geode.

[lal]

There was an extensive review in a famous German computer magazine and AFAIR it's basically useless... [looks for the article]... it's too slow  (433 MHz AMD Geode CPU, no flash videos), 800x600 resolution in color mode(!), 1 GB storage (extensible through SD-card though), 256 MB RAM, keyboard is way too small (13,5 mm instead of usual 19 mm grid).  And it looks ridiculous of course  It's really only a super super cheap computer for poor countries.

[IBI]

Any netbook with an Atom @ 1.6 GHz is going to far outperform, and be more responsive than a ~500MHz Geode.

Yeah, the geode is apparently not even fast enough to play a youtube video. It's a fairly old design (2003 I think) so don't confuse it with the Pentium M-based 630/900 Mhz Celeron ULV 353 or the similarly performing 1.6Ghz Atom N270/N280.

For web browsing a far better choice would be a refurbished eee 701/4G which can be picked up for the same price. Or spend a little more and get something with a 1024x600 screen.

[timw4mail]

Yeah, the geode is apparently not even fast enough to play a youtube video. It's a fairly old design (2003 I think) so don't confuse it with the Pentium M-based 630/900 Mhz Celeron ULV 353 or the similarly performing 1.6Ghz Atom N270/N280.

For web browsing a far better choice would be a refurbished eee 701/4G which can be picked up for the same price. Or spend a little more and get something with a 1024x600 screen.

The Geode is older than that, as it was originally owned by National Semiconductor, and then sold to AMD.

[bigpook]

I don't think the OLPC was designed for high performance. From what I read, and I could be wrong, it was made for poor countries to give the children exposure to computers and computing. I don't think youtube was part of the deal : )

[timw4mail]

I don't think the OLPC was designed for high performance. From what I read, and I could be wrong, it was made for poor countries to give the children exposure to computers and computing. I don't think youtube was part of the deal : )

This is true. The OLPC was designed as a learning tool, not to view Youtube videos.

[wellington1869]

I dont think the OLPC guys (or anyone for that matter) saw the whole netbook phenomenon coming.

[timw4mail]

Why would you ever show a picture of that obscene IE 6? *shudders*

[wellington1869]

My  Fujitsu 8" P1510D is over 3 years old now.  Too bad it didn't come at netbook prices though...


I'd buy a netbook today and give $100 to "Save The Children."

Thats a *sweet* fujitsu.  I'm considering getting my mom Fios service just so I can pocket the free netbook they're giving away  (It'd actually be a decent deal for my mom too, lol -- phone, cable, internet, for about $100/month)

[ch_123]

I'd probably use a HHKB with it anyway,.

Funnily enough, that is what Richard Stallman does with his one.



I'm surprised PFU doesnt use this fact as part of their marketing. He had it before his OLPC, I've seen him use it in older pics.

[wellington1869]

You get FIOS in NYC!  I'm jealous.

ya its pretty sweet, my neighbors are all upgrading and I'm feeling left out already  Mum just bought an HD tv too. Not that she has any idea what that means.  She just likes hanging it on the wall.

Just sign your mom up and explain the bill later.

thats pretty much the plan Timewarner has no chance with their industrial revolution era 19th century copper. Electrons? How quaint.
I heard they've started offering triple play for $69 when customers call to cancel their service. (I'd actually consider staying for that price, lol).

[IBI]

The Geode is older than that, as it was originally owned by National Semiconductor, and then sold to AMD.

The original geode was yeah, I was talking about the particular chip in the OLPC-1.

[ch_123]

Well, their Japanese marketing, or even that of their distributors... Hint hint Majestouch...

Their USA online store makes me yearn for the elegance of Unicomps Web 3.0 design.

It looks worringly similar to Unicomp's one actually. I really don't get why Unicomp dis-improved the design of their website over time....

[timw4mail]

Stallman = bearded guy.  

Marketing HHKB might be tough.  

The HHKB - a keyboard for the 21st Century.  Complete with DIP  Switches!

The Realforce boards are also interesting.  I think they sell thousands to banks and airlines.  They claim to have 70% of the banks and 100% of the national computing center (whatever that is).  This retail business I bet is in the 100's.  On top of that the core biz is Auto Panels.  The synergy somewhat escapes me.

Interesting read with an interview with the director of development at Topre.

  I'm not sure but I think he's calling Topre users effeminate.

That's because men use the Model F ;p

[keyb_gr]

That's right.  The Realforce is the Chuck Norris of keyboards.

LOL. Good catch.

[xsphat]

I think PFU could call us all effeminate and we still would use our HHKB Pro2s.

[chimera15]

The one good thing that looked interesting to me with the olpc was the alternate power sources, like the crank,  which they apparently phased out.  Or the footpedal.  I think that's the best part, a cheap computer you can use in the middle of nowhere.  The rest of the laptop is a joke I wouldn't even give to a kid in the third world.

The rest of it seemed ridiculous since you could even at the time get a computer that was far more powerful off ebay for $50.  Ebay is filled to the brim with p3 and p4 laptops for under $50 right now.  I just bought a fujitsu t4020 for $100 BIN off ebay.  Thing has a 33k crystalmark score.  Only needed a new sata hd which are cheap themselves, and it was good to go.

They could have spent the money they spent developing a good human/solar powered alternative source of power that would power a laptop for under $100, which would have benefited the world, not just the third world, and sent them America's used laptops and probably would have made a lot more sense.

[Hak Foo]

The problem with a crateload of used laptops is that it's an inconsistent product.

One kid gets a PIII-1.13, another gets a PII-266.  Spares availability will be a mess.

[Hak Foo]

Well, in terms of easily fixing them, you want consistency.  Ideally, you'd have the entire machine made of swappable, standard parts.  Need a new screen?  Take one from a spare, and we'll send it back for replacement later.