OLPC (or "XO") in more detail

[The Beatles]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6679431.stm

Wow, a great laptop and a great article. I read about the laptop a few weeks ago in Popular Mechanics, but the 5-page article failed to convey half the information this article does, so I strongly recommend it. The mesh network flash illustration at the bottom is both fun and accurate.

[Slasher]

In comparison to standard operating systems (OS), it is very small when compressed, taking up just 130MB of space. By comparison, Windows XP takes up around ten times that amount, requiring 1.5GB of hard drive space.

Just goes to show how much you can do with Linux compared to with Windoze

Using standard wireless protocols, the laptops are automatically able to form a "mesh network" where each machine acts as both laptop and router, able to pass information between computers.

That's awesome, mesh networks are more or less how the internet first started, it's nice to see this idea being used

If one laptop is switched on in range of an internet connection (usually at a local school) all other laptops on the network can share the access.

This could be a bit of a problem :\

It does not have an Ethernet port for use with wired internet connections .

Shame

Two choices of rechargeable battery are offered with different chemistries. Both cost $10 (£5) to replace and hold their charge for at least four-times the amount of time as a normal laptop battery, according to OLPC.

Holy crap!

In areas without access to the grid, various contraptions have been designed to plug directly into the laptop including a solar panel, a hand crank (similar to those used on wind-up radios), a foot pedal and a pull-string recharger, similar to a starter chord on a lawnmower.

Again, awesome idea, I'm surprised this hasn't been adapted for laptops like the one I'm using now, I'm sure they would be popular

The sealed green rubber keyboard is waterproof...

Why aren't current laptop keyboards waterproof, the amount of laptops that have been damaged by people spilling coffee on them is just mad.

In addition, the keyboard does away with low-use keys such as Caps Lock.

Caps lock is useless anyway so that's a good idea

[The Beatles]

In agreement mostly. Emphatically about mesh networks, because the original peer-to-peer nature of the internet has become very, very centralised -- partly due to the difficulty of setting up peer network, partly for efficiency (routing becomes more difficult).

However, I think sharing access is great. They don't mean that files on the drives will be automatically available, but that the laptop will route network requests -- i.e. granting internet access, not disk access.

[Slasher]

Yes, but shared internet access ----- the providor of the internet (school) would have to have a lot of bandwith and decent filters in place...

[The Beatles]

That's true in any case, it's true for any school network. Having the internet is of no less importance than having the laptops themselves. In fact, it's arguably of even greater importance.

[Slasher]

"it's true for any school network"

That is true to an extent, but don't forget most schools don't have loads of these laptops connecting to them from everywhere, only the students in the school can use it. Therefore a lot of abuse could be made from the school networks where the laptops are in use compared to in any old school over here.

[The Beatles]

Oh, that's true. This won't be a problem in rural areas where school density is low, but it might be a bother in urban areas.

[Slasher]

I would think they would find a way to limit bandwith per user though.

[The Beatles]

Nah, that goes against all the liberal Western ideas and assumptions the laptop was conceived and built under.