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One Laptop per Child

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The $100 Laptop

The $100 laptop , sometimes called the Green Machine, is being developed by One Laptop Per Child (OLPC), a Delaware-based, non-profit organization created by faculty members from the MIT Media Lab to design, manufacture, and distribute laptops that are sufficiently inexpensive to provide every child in the world access to knowledge and modern forms of education. One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) was announced by Nicholas Negroponte, Lab chairman and co-founder, at the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland in January 2005. The laptops will be sold to governments and issued to children by schools on a basis of one laptop per child. These machines will be rugged, Linux-based, and so energy efficient that hand-cranking alone will generate sufficient power for operation. Ad-hoc wireless mesh networking may be used to allow many machines Internet access from one connection. The pricing goal is to start at $100 and then steadily decrease.

History

OLPC is based on “constructivist” theories of learning pioneered by Seymour Papert and later Alan Kay, as well as the principles expressed in Nicholas Negroponte’s book Being Digital ISBN 0679439196. The founding corporate members are Google, News Corp, AMD, Red Hat, and Brightstar, each of whom have donated 2 million dollars to the project. All three individuals and five companies are active participants in OLPC. In many respects it is the descendant of the 1997 eMate (based on the Apple Newton), also aimed at the education market.

Negroponte showed a working prototype of the device on November 16, 2005 at the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Tunis. However, the device shown is a rough estimation, as they are still doing work on the development of the device for both performance and pricing issues. Negroponte estimated that the screen alone required three more months of development. The laptops are scheduled to be be available by the end of 2006 or early 2007.

Participating countries

Brazil, Thailand, Egypt, United States (Massachusetts), Cambodia, Costa Rica and Tunisia have already committed in various ways. The laptops will be sold to governments, to be distributed through the ministries of education willing to adopt the policy of “one laptop per child”. In the United States, Governor Romney has submitted a bill to the legislature to deliver $100 laptops to all children in Massachusetts.

While the OLPC originally planned to make the laptop available only through governments, Negroponte has indicated that they may partner with well-known brand name manufacturers to create a commercial version which would sell in the vicinity of $225, that would subsidize units in the developing world.

Technology

File:Nn romney.jpg
Governor Romney with Nicholas Negroponte unveiling the laptop.

The $100 Laptop will be a Linux-based, full-color, full-screen laptop, which initially is achieved via flat LCD screen, in later generation products electronic paper may be used (for example E-ink developed at the MIT Media Lab). In addition, the laptop will be rugged, use innovative power (including a hand crank), be Wi-Fi- and VoIP-enabled and a touch screen (including a separate writing pad).

Hardware

Its hardware specifications, as of October 2005, are:

  • 500 MHz CPU (Processor) by AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) Inc.
  • 1 GB of flash memory (no hard drive)
  • SVGA 8" diagonal display (dual LCD Colour (470 by 350 resolution)/Black & White (800 by 600 resolution) mode for power conservation and outdoor reading); estimated cost $35
  • 128 MB of DRAM
  • Power sources AC Cord that doubles as carrying strap, 4 rechargable D size batteries and a hand-crank (one minute of cranking gives enough power for 30 to 40 minutes of operating in monochrome display mode).
  • WiFi support.
  • 4 USB ports.

The cost of materials and assembly for each laptop is estimated to be approximately $100.

Software

 
School children in remote Cambodian school where a pilot laptop program has been in place since 2001

All of the software on the $100 Laptop will be open-source. The projected software as of November 2005 is:

Steve Jobs had offered Mac OS X free of charge for use in the laptop, however according to Seymour Papert, a professor emeritus at MIT who is one of the initiative's founders, the designers want an operating system that can be tinkered with: "We declined because it's not open source"[1]. Therefore Linux was chosen. Negroponte has also said he'd like to see Wikipedia on the $100 laptop. Jimmy Wales himself feels that Wikipedia is one of the 'killer apps' for this device.[2] A number of open source textbooks need to be written in order for the $100 laptop to provide its educational goals.

Designs

Various use modes are currently being explored by the MIT Media Lab with the help of Design Continuum, including: laptop, ebook, theatre, simulation, tote, and tablet architectures.

Criticism

First generation prototype

Second generation prototype

Quotes

  • "Children will be able to learn by doing, not just through instruction - they will be able to open up new fronts for their education, particularly peer-to-peer learning." - Kofi Annan.
  • "Every single problem you can think of, poverty, peace, the environment, is solved with education or including education." Nicholas Negroponte.

See also

  • Simputer, a project to construct cheap handheld computers in India
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