Reach the poor

If you know of a class which uses One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) XO computers, let me know. I would be pleased to donate one to a teacher whose class uses these.

I bought this rugged, weather-resistant computer in November 2007’s  ‘Give one, Get One’ sale, so one XO-1 was received by a child, and one by me. It hasn’t been used (only tested) and hasn’t been in kids’ hands.

“A unique machine with features created specifically for children of the emerging world.”
See www.laptop.org/laptop/

These computers use the proprietary ‘Sugar’ operating system, developed by One Laptop Per Child, not Windows or Linux (which could be loaded). These computers and software were developed (and software is still being developed) specifically for primary-school children without prior knowledge of personal computers.

“XO is about the size of a textbook and lighter than a lunchbox. The laptop easily assumes any of several configurations: standard laptop use, e-book reading, and gaming.

“… sealed, rubber-membrane keyboard. The novel, dual-mode, extra-wide touchpad supports pointing, drawing and writing.

“Experience shows that laptop components most likely to fail are the hard drive and internal connectors. Therefore, XO has no hard drive to crash and only two internal cables.”

The XO-1 has a solid-state flash memory for data storage. It also has an SD card slot and multiple USB ports to which one can connect an external hard drive or optical media drive.

“For added robustness, the machine’s plastic walls are 2mm thick, (not) the standard 1.3mm. The display is also cushioned by internal bumpers.

“The machines (were) subjected to factory testing to destruction (and) field testing by children.”

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If anyone wants to buy this one, let me know.