An in depth pictorial look at OLPC hardware

The One Laptop Per Child project is unique in many respects the most prominent of which is its philanthropic goal of providing a cost effective medium to further the education of poor children in third world countries.

But did you know that on the technology front, the OLPC laptop named XO-1 is the front runner to a number of innovations ? Consider these facts ... The XO-1 has been designed from the grounds up with the goals of survivability, serviceability, and robustness in mind. The mother board is located behind the LCD screen instead of below the keyboard as seen in traditional laptops. The LCD is a dual-mode display, both a full-color, transmissive DVD mode, and a second display option that is black and white reflective and sunlight-readable at 3x the resolution. It is said to be one of the first devices to use the Li-Fe-P battery, which is considered safer than normal Lithium ions.

I came across this in depth article which details each and every part of the OLPC right down to the chipsets used, accompanied by a dozen or so high resolution photos of the parts. A very informative read indeed.

OLPC - Give one get one scheme

It has been an interesting journey for the OLPC aka One Laptop Per Child project aka $100 laptop. Right from its inception by its visionary Nicholas Negroponte who is a professor at the MIT, this project has continuously been able to grab the mind space of countless people as well as stir up interest from numerous governments around the world.

Over the 2 years it took to convert an idea into substance, the OLPC has gone through numerous changes. The cost of the laptop went up from the targeted $100 to something closer to $200 - partly (I suspect) owing to the slide in the value of the US dollar. It also received ramped up hardware with improved specs. While some countries did not jump on to the OLPC bandwagon, it did succeed in making a rear door entry into countries like India.

Now here is another news hot off the press. OLPC has brought out a scheme where in you can own an OLPC laptop or buy one for your loved ones provided you are prepared to sponsor one for a child living in the third world country. This scheme is open to only American citizens for the time being but I don't see why it should not be extended to other developed countries. In effect this is OLPC team's way of telling you - if you want to buy a unit for your child, it is fine with us but you have to also buy one for a poor child in the developing world.

So if you are one of those Americans with a philanthropic bend of mind and with sufficient cold hard cash lying around, then you should seriously consider buying an OLPC for your loved ones and at the same time have the satisfaction of knowing you provided to the well being of an under privileged child in a poor country. Believe me, it is much much much better option than queuing up for costly gadgets (like the iPhone) which at the most will help fill the coffers of a couple of billionaires.

You can buy an OLPC from the official site.

OLPC makes its entry into India - finally!

When the OLPC first made news, a prominent official in the HRD ministry of the Indian government had gone on record snubbing the OLPC project ($100 laptop), even making a preposterous claim that work was under way to create India's own $10 laptop. But as things have worked out, OLPC has already made an entry into India in the form of a pilot project in a rural primary school in a village in the state of Maharasthra.

The OLPC is currently being field tested at the Khairat primary school. The smiles on the children's faces indicate that this is going to be a very successful project if implemented judiciously - ie making sure the long tentacles of corruption do not touch the project.

Fig: Group study in progress

Fig: A student proudly displaying her XO laptop

Fig: Another student with her XO.

Carla Gomez Monroy who is overseeing this project being implemented in India has provided a detailed writeup of the day-to-day functioning of the Khairat school, how the OLPC is put to use by the one and only teacher and the students in the school, the bond formed with the villagers and so on. A very fascinating read.