Archive for the 'OLPC' Category

OLPC Update - new upgrade makes computers work better! XOs available on Amazon in Nov!

Published by
Tobias Eigen
October 20, 2008 in Bainbridge Island, Free/Libre Open Source Software, OLPC and Education. 0 Comments

It’s been a while since I’ve written about OLPC computers. There is some news now though - which I thought was well worth sharing. See below and click the links to read the two articles from olpcnews.com about the new XO upgrade that makes the computers actually work properly and the fine news that Amazon is going to be selling OLPC computers starting sometime in November 2008.

One reason for sharing the news is that, as our lives settle down this fall, I’d like OLPC friends on Bainbridge island to start organising ‘OLPC play dates’ - we just need to get them in the calendar and perhaps rotate through homes so we can spread the joy of hosting them. Please ping me if you’d be interested in hosting the first one.

Down the pipe, if enough people on Bainbridge have them and want to enable their children to play with them together, I’d like to explore possibilities for working with the schools to organise more formal sessions… like chess camp. We could combine upgrading, playing and learning about how these machines are used by poor children in the third world. Let me know if you have ideas or willingness to help out in this area.

Now on to the great OLPC news -

It is remarkably easy to install the upgrade, and well worth it. You should carry out this upgrade immediately - I’ll gladly help.. let me know if you need it.The procedure is basically this: download two files from the OLPC Wiki at http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Release_notes/8.2.0 to an empty USB key, press all four game keys on the XO and plug it in, then turn your computer on. Within 5 minutes you’ll have the upgrade completed (warning: your old setup will be completely wiped).

Poking around the OLPC wiki, I also found a number of very nice puzzles, games and interactive activities that my children have been getting alot out of since I upgraded their laptops a few days ago.

So it begins again! There is an opportunity approaching fast to expand our network of friends with these wonderful machines. Tell your friends that it will indeed be possible to get these in time for Christmas, and we can expand our circle of friends that are playing with them. The http://olpcnews.com website is a good place to monitor for news.

Also please be sure to participate in the xobi@googlegroups.com / http://groups.google.com/group/xobi mailing list so we can keep in touch and help each other with our XOs. If you know of others on the island or vicinity that you think would be interested in joining, please feel free to forward this on to them.

This email confirms that you have paid OLPC Foundation $847.90 USD using PayPal.

Published by
Tobias Eigen
November 20, 2007 in Africa, nptech, OLPC, ICT4D, Loband, Poverty, Education and Children. 0 Comments

olpc_100_laptop_price_raise.jpgMy kids can’t read, so I can safely share the news here that my father has very generously given me the go ahead to buy them OLPC Laptops for Christmas. Believe you me, they (and I) are going to be very excited to rip open their presents this year. The deadline for participating is November 26th, 2007 - so as of this writing it’s still not too late to order yours!

I complain alot about the OLPC project, but at the end of the day I am excited about the devices and am pleased that my children will finally get to have one - and in the process help to make sure that some kids (hopefully in Africa) also get to have them. I am also pleased at least to perceive that Nicholas Negroponte and his OLPC Foundation appear to be coming back to earth and are developing realistic plans for deploying millions of these laptops in the third world. Perhaps I will even stop calling it a dam project with bunny ears.

Despite my excitement, I can’t help but continue complaining a little. It’s not so much about the devices but the attitude of Negroponte and the appearance of OLPC as traditional, very costly, top-heavy and not especially participative development project.

According to the Terms of “Give One Get One” page on the laptopgiving.org website (reposted below), that $847.90 purchase has involved us irrevocably in a global educational movement - participation may not be cancelled - even though there are no assurances as to when our devices will actually get here. The reason for this is that their priority is not me but the children in poor countries that will get the donated machines. If we decide to change our minds and ask for our money back, we have to act within 30 days, even if the devices are not in our possession and we haven’t decided if the laptops work well for us. And once we have them we will be seeking help using it from friends, family and bloggers. Wow!

I’m a geek and am used to getting help online, and everyone who knows me can attest that I am always eager to join global movements for change, especially when they involve creative uses of computers and the Internet, but these terms are still fairly heavy handed.
Continue reading ‘This email confirms that you have paid OLPC Foundation $847.90 USD using PayPal.’

Small Price Laptop

Published by
Tobias Eigen
September 14, 2007 in nptech, OLPC, ICT4D, Loband and Nigeria. 8 Comments

OLPC Google Search

Tope Famayegun, a colleague and Time To Get Online training partner in Lagos, Nigeria, asked a poignant question in an email to our all-trainers mailing list today:

Does anyone know what has happened to Professor
Negroponte and the $100.00 Laptop per Child Project?

I was struck by this since she is in Lagos and probably held the laptop as it made the rounds in the audience during Negroponte’s speach at the Digital World Africa 2006 Conference in Abuja.

Since Nigeria signed up to be in the first round of recipients of the device, I’d be interested in hearing more from our Nigerian colleagues about how the project is unfolding there. Continue reading ‘Small Price Laptop’

Negroponte’s “$100 laptop” plans: yeah, right!

Published by
Tobias Eigen
May 8, 2007 in Africa, nptech, Free/Libre Open Source Software, OLPC, ICT4D and Nigeria. 3 Comments

olpc_100_laptop_price_raise.jpgBy way of the very useful and positively glowing with goodwill and open source optimism mailing list Bytes for All, I learned about India’s ambitious $10 laptop answer to Negroponte’s $100 laptop. The Times of India article reads like The Onion, I must say, and the first thing I did was go to The Onion website and look up related keywords. Unfortunately nothing about the $100 laptop, though I did find a good picture of MIT researchers and their $30 million dollar love tester and other silliness.

But I digress. I must agree with Jacqui Cheng when he writes in India’s “$10 laptop” plans: yeah, right:

It doesn’t take an engineer to realize that $10 per laptop will be a very ambitious project indeed. The current (and final) iteration of MIT’s OLPC stands at $176, 76 percent higher than originally estimated.

… Continue reading ‘Negroponte’s “$100 laptop” plans: yeah, right!’

XO Man: Sugar and Spice, and all things nice?

Published by
Tobias Eigen
March 2, 2007 in Africa, Free/Libre Open Source Software, OLPC, ICT4D and Loband. 1 Comment

The One Laptop Per Child “Sugar” operating system

This picture looks to me like an old Atari video game a childhood friend had hooked up to his TV, but in fact it’s the One Laptop Per Child answer to the traditional Mac/Windows Desktop. Continue reading ‘XO Man: Sugar and Spice, and all things nice?’

 

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