By Walaika Haskins LinuxInsider Part of the ECT News Network
05/21/08 2:11 PM PT
The One Laptop Per Child organization has revealed details about a new notebook it hopes to offer by 2010. Dual touchscreens will replace a physical keyboard, and the design will use half as much power as OLPC's current XO laptop. In addition, OLPC says the cost of the notebook may be brought down to just $75.
One Laptop Per Child (OLPC), the organization focused on bringing low-cost laptops to children in developing nations, announced it intends to release a newly redesigned version of the XO notebook, the XO-2, in 2010.
The second generation of the XO will include new technology to meet OLPC's goal of advancing new concepts of learning, lowering power consumption and decreasing the laptop's footprint, the organization said.
The new design will also lower the cost of the laptop, which currently costs US$188, said Jackie Luftig, an OLPC spokesperson.
$75 Target
The change was prompted by "the need to continue to drive down costs to make the laptops affordable to developing nations," she told LinuxInsider.
The new target price is $75 per machine, possible due to new developments in display, processor and other hardware and software technologies, according to OLPC.
The announcement followed news on Monday that OLPC would make a scaled-down version of Windows XP available on the XO laptop. The Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) partnership with OLPC disappointed many in the open source community who had backed the machine's original Sugar user interface.
XO Touch
Although the XO-2 will continue to sport the vibrant green and white case, gone is the bright green keyboard with the slightly chunky keys and traditional display screen of the original XO.
In its place are dual touch-sensitive displays intended to give children an experience analogous to reading a book. Doubling as a right and left page in vertical mode or a hinged laptop when held horizontally, the flat two-screen wide continuous surface can also be used in tablet mode.
The dual touchscreen interface, under development by Pixel Qi will allow younger children to initially use simpler keyboards; older children will be able to opt for customized keyboards geared to particular applications as well as for a variety of languages, according to OLPC.
Power Sipper
The laptop's new look will also consume less power. At 1 watt, the XO-2 has cut in half the power demands of the XO, which averaged 2 to 4 watts and already required roughly 10 percent of the wattage consumed by a typical laptop.
Reducing the amount of power required to run the laptop will also lessen the amount of time children need to generate power for the machine using the device's hand crank or other manual mechanisms.
The new design will offer children several benefits, Luftig noted.
"The XO-2 will provide a book-like experience that children will enjoy. The laptop will be lighter and easier to carry for small children and lower power consumption will be better for environments where electricity is scarce or non-existent and other modes of power generation are required," she explained.
Open Source House Design: Just for Starters May 21, 2008
The open source model has driven developments in design software, such as shared object libraries and open standards. There are plenty of options for those who would rather tinker than hire someone else to do it, even if the community hasn't taken it upon itself to build a GIMP-style CAD application yet.
Related Stories
XO Goes XP May 16, 2008
The One Laptop Per Child project has officially partnered with Microsoft to put a scaled-down version of Windows XP on OLPC's low-cost XO laptop. Originally, XOs were to use the Linux-based Sugar user interface. Though the XO will still be available with Sugar, many open source proponents have been left disappointed.
Intel Looks Closer to Home for Classmate 'Netbook' Sales March 20, 2008
OLPC was trying to fly in the face of the traditional technology diffusion process through which innovations begin in the hands of early adopters -- traditionally, wealthy Westerners -- and then spread from there to the masses and the poor, noted Wayan Vota, editor of One Laptop Per Child News. Instead, OLPC wanted to start with kids in schools in the developing world.
Negroponte Goes Fishing for an OLPC Chief March 07, 2008
When Nicholas Negroponte compared OLPC to "a terrorist group," that was probably his way of saying it's "a widely distributed effort," said attorney Van Lindberg. OLPC "is not a traditional, top-down directed organization. Now that it is growing up, it's facing very different challenges that require changing the organizational structure."
Related News Alerts
More by Walaika Haskins
ZeeVee's Zinc Browser Gets Web TV Right April 29, 2009
The Zinc Browser from ZeeVee updates the old Zviewer with tighter navigation and better catalog options. The finished application offers a great way to find TV shows and movies anywhere on the Web, regardless of whether they're hosted by Hulu, CBS, Netflix, Amazon's on-demand service or others.
Game Sales Sputter, 'GTA' Fails to Steal the Show April 23, 2009
It may appear as though the video game industry is beginning to join the economy at large in its slump, as March numbers from NPD were less than encouraging. However, a year-over-year perspective is difficult due to the timing of game releases and holidays. Meanwhile, Take-Two hasn't seen much success in introducing its violent "GTA" series to the Nintendo DS.
Can Microsoft Win the Online Game? April 16, 2009
Now that the major video game consoles have been on the market for two and a half years -- or more -- hardware sales have slowed considerably. Online services, however, still have room to grow. InStat says subscriber bases will take off in the coming years, and Microsoft's Xbox platform may come out the big winner.
Headline Feeds
Talkback: 
