werty316
07-26-2006, 06:26 PM
A laptop per child takes a giant step towards reality
According to a news release on Vanguard, the Nigerian government has ordered and fully paid for one million One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) notebooks. The order came through earlier this month and the Nigerian government hopes that the investment will encourage tech development and learning among its young citizens. The million-unit deal is the first large order of its kind for OLPCs.
The OLPC project is aimed at encouraging young people in development countries to work with technology and be connected to the rest of the world. The OLPC organization currently works with several government bodies, including those from Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Nigeria and other countries. According to the organization, more orders are eminent.
DailyTech previously reported on the $100 OLPC notebooks. The OLPCs recently went through some changes, such as the way it receives mechanical power. A user will now pull on a string which winds up a generator, generating electricity. Unfortunately, a lot of human effort will be required to generate enough power to keep the notebook going for any significant amount of time. 20 watts is required to operate the unit for roughly 10 minutes, but cranking the generator for a few minutes only generates about 5 watts.
Processing power in the OLPC is provided by a low power AMD 50x15 Geode processor. VIA announced in June that a competing processor called the pc1500 and pc2000 family. Both AMD and VIA said they are committed to the OLPC initiative.
Despite the large order from the Nigerian government, the OLPC organization says that production of the OLPCs will not begin until 5 to 10 million units have been ordered and paid for in total.
Article Source: http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=3513
According to a news release on Vanguard, the Nigerian government has ordered and fully paid for one million One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) notebooks. The order came through earlier this month and the Nigerian government hopes that the investment will encourage tech development and learning among its young citizens. The million-unit deal is the first large order of its kind for OLPCs.
The OLPC project is aimed at encouraging young people in development countries to work with technology and be connected to the rest of the world. The OLPC organization currently works with several government bodies, including those from Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Nigeria and other countries. According to the organization, more orders are eminent.
DailyTech previously reported on the $100 OLPC notebooks. The OLPCs recently went through some changes, such as the way it receives mechanical power. A user will now pull on a string which winds up a generator, generating electricity. Unfortunately, a lot of human effort will be required to generate enough power to keep the notebook going for any significant amount of time. 20 watts is required to operate the unit for roughly 10 minutes, but cranking the generator for a few minutes only generates about 5 watts.
Processing power in the OLPC is provided by a low power AMD 50x15 Geode processor. VIA announced in June that a competing processor called the pc1500 and pc2000 family. Both AMD and VIA said they are committed to the OLPC initiative.
Despite the large order from the Nigerian government, the OLPC organization says that production of the OLPCs will not begin until 5 to 10 million units have been ordered and paid for in total.
Article Source: http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=3513