How to order an XO laptop

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chombee
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How to order an XO laptop

Post by chombee » Fri Nov 23, 2007 4:16 pm

Cause I think a few people round there might want to, there is a way to get one delivered to the UK using a courier service:

http://www.olpcnews.com/sales_talk/g1g1 ... bally.html

Basically get them to deliver it to a mail-forwarding service in the US, and then get the mail-forwarder to ship it to you. You might find you have to phone them up to make the order though, cause when I tried the website would not distinguish between a billing address and a delivery address (so unless your bank card is registered to the address of the mail forwarder...)
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chris
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Post by chris » Fri Nov 23, 2007 4:27 pm

this might be better though (chombee and tech experts please verify deny..)

an eee pc:

http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=24 ... odelmenu=1
Maybe it could work? But it will be a kaleidoscopic blend of mysterious shadows and rainbow hued-dreams seen through compassionate tears.

chombee
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Post by chombee » Fri Nov 23, 2007 6:05 pm

The Eee looks better in paper cause its' a higher spec than the XO, but I think the Eee is fugly, the XO is much cooler. The Eee just looks like they've made a cut-down laptop and squeezed a cut-down desktop operating system onto a tiny machine with a 7-inch screen. Checkout this screenshot:

Image

It's just the exact same applications that are designed to run on full-sized, full-powered Linux desktops, but they're all crammed onto that tiny screen, and it looks utterly heinous. The lack of consistency in the visual design is probably a clue that it wasn't really designed, just rammed together. If it has windows, that means you have to do all the mousing necessary to move windows around and stuff, which is gonna suck when your mouse is a tiny touchpad. The desktop interface for windows is meant for a computer that sits on a desk with a big monitor, mouse and keyboard. It's not even very appropriate for normal laptops, never mind a tiny one. I bet it runs like a dog too, cause that software is made for full-powered machines.

It actually runs OpenOffice ... which is a dog even on my 10 billion gigahertz university computer. That's gotta be awful on the Eee.

The XO is much cooler because it's not a cut-down laptop running cut-down software, they've designed the hardware and software from the ground up to be something new. So there's no destkop interface with windows and applications and all that, instead it has a zoom interface and activities and journaling. Much more interesting, and it's gonna be a lot more pleasant to use. You can see from the screenshot that there's a lot more visual consistency, which means it's probably better designed below the surface too, and things look a lot less cramped because it has an interface that was meant for a small screen:

Image

Also the XO is more humanitarian.

There's Intel's Classmate PC too, but it just looks like a XO rip-off that has Windows XP stuffed onto some tiny hardware. The windows Start menu will hardly fit on the screen:

Image
I've had it with you. If I had an image of a laser gun I would absolutely position it right here in my hand...
Ha! I have a real laser absolutely positioned in my hand!

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martinmckenna
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Post by martinmckenna » Fri Nov 23, 2007 6:19 pm

I for one welcome our new xo overloads!

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bill
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Post by bill » Sat Nov 24, 2007 7:39 pm

what are you all atlking about?

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Post by swithun » Sat Nov 24, 2007 10:58 pm

zOMG imagine a beowulf cluster of these

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Post by Jimmy Bastard » Mon Nov 26, 2007 11:47 am

I'm utterly fucking bewildered...
so I think I've overheard conversation of stupid cheap laptops
and I think I understand the third world exchange
but 'boewulf cluster'
whatinheavensname is that?
so chombee
in sterling what's the cheapest you can get one of these sent to your door?
Pep Up The Turmoil

chombee
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Post by chombee » Mon Nov 26, 2007 1:14 pm

It costs about £200 right now (depending on the exchange rate) to buy one (this is the price of one laptop for you, and one for a child in the developing world), add to that the cost of delivering it to a mail forwarder in the US (about $30 I'd guess) plus the cost of getting that mail forwarder to ship it you in the UK (I have no idea). I'm getting Shannon to collect one for me, so I don't have to bother with all this.

Swith, do you know they automatically form a mesh network with presence whenever they're in range of eachother? I saw one video where several laptops were each playing user-created tunes on different instruments, automatically synchronised over the wireless. That was cool.
I've had it with you. If I had an image of a laser gun I would absolutely position it right here in my hand...
Ha! I have a real laser absolutely positioned in my hand!

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Post by swithun » Mon Nov 26, 2007 2:25 pm

There is some protocol for mesh networking. I don't know anything about it, but it sounds cool - being able to extend and strengthen a network just by adding more nodes.

A Beowulf cluster is the name given to a network of computers which run software which enables them to appear like one super computer, for performing tasks in parallel.

It is a geek cliche to say things like 'imagine a beowulf cluster of ...'. Initially it was cool to say that when talking about individually powerful computers. Then it became naff. And now it is ironic, especially when applied to not very powerful computers.

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Post by chombee » Mon Nov 26, 2007 3:48 pm

As it happens, I think the XO's do automatically form a beowulf cluster when you turn them on within range of each other. At least I think I heard that they share processing power.
I've had it with you. If I had an image of a laser gun I would absolutely position it right here in my hand...
Ha! I have a real laser absolutely positioned in my hand!

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martinmckenna
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Post by martinmckenna » Tue Nov 27, 2007 1:28 am

i like the sound of the mesh networking , being able to extend networks outwith the range of a fixed wifi point via someones laptop is something ive been interested in for a while , in theory i guess from very few wifi access points lots of people can get the internet , coupling this wiht the thing that infoseed did with updates for the computers , in which the data was cached then spread within a local area , i think this could be done with also could be done with web sites reducing bandwidth and power , just an idea!

ive also downloaded that Gos

http://www.thinkgos.com/

its an interesting concept in an os as its pretty much internet based apps on it , i was thinking that it may be good os for cafe computers , as people without computer or internet access are able to store there stuff somewhere via google , kind of roaming profiles


Image

and just for fun

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRAUlK8_2VE

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Post by chombee » Tue Nov 27, 2007 9:51 am

Yeah it is kinda cool. Does GOS run on any of these little computers, or is it just for cafe computers? Personally I wouldn't like to promote one particular company like Google too much (and give them all your data), but if it could be made to either work with lots of different online services or work with an open source one, that'd be good. I bet GOS is actually pretty handy though. Carry it around on a LiveCD or USB drive.
I've had it with you. If I had an image of a laser gun I would absolutely position it right here in my hand...
Ha! I have a real laser absolutely positioned in my hand!

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Post by martinmckenna » Tue Nov 27, 2007 11:33 am

am not sure if ot runs on the xo , it also does feel a bit like a promotion of google , which am uncomfortable about . but i like the idea . its based on ubuntu so you can install on it what you like . and you can install on any computer

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Gandhi
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Post by Gandhi » Fri Nov 30, 2007 11:28 am

It's like God's vagina!

chombee
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Post by chombee » Fri Nov 30, 2007 2:28 pm

Hmm. Thin-clients are cool, but it's a bit lame that the BBC doesn't cover it until some commercial company shows up and claims the idea is theirs.
"The key to the technology is our software that turns the machine into multi-user system," said Mr Booth.
Thin-client stuff has been in Ubuntu for years, edubuntu comes with it by default, and people have been using it. It's free software. So, you can setup a thin-client lab yourself, you don't need to get the software from this company.

It's cool stuff though. It's a good point that the average desktop PC these days is practically a super computer per person. Having just a terminal on your desk and the actual computer in another room is luxury, no fan noise at all.
I've had it with you. If I had an image of a laser gun I would absolutely position it right here in my hand...
Ha! I have a real laser absolutely positioned in my hand!

chombee
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Post by chombee » Wed Jan 02, 2008 3:31 pm

Actually the thing about the Eee is that you can install another OS on it, there is even an Eebuntu already. So you could try out different interfaces until you find what works well on such a small laptop, there's quite a variety to choose from. Might make it quite a good thing in the end. Ofcourse you can do the same thing on an XO, which I still think has more cool factor.

Also the woman who co-founded the OLPC project has left now and is starting a private company, her plan is to license all the XO laptop patents from OLPC and use them to develop a commercial version, the 50 euro laptop. Is it the beginning of the end for big desktops and laptops?

http://www.joeinc.tv/

All these new small laptops will probably be running different variations of Linux, it could be how Microsoft finally begins to lose it's monopoly.
I've had it with you. If I had an image of a laser gun I would absolutely position it right here in my hand...
Ha! I have a real laser absolutely positioned in my hand!

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Shannon
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Post by Shannon » Thu Jan 03, 2008 7:17 pm

Yours still has not come in the mail...

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Post by chombee » Fri Apr 25, 2008 1:32 pm

Thought people might be interested in this. Edlug are hosting a live demo of a pair of XOs and what you can do with them:
"One Laptop Per Child" by Arron Finnon

The next meeting of EdLUG is on Thursday 1st May at 7.30pm
at The Edinburgh Training and Conference Venue, St Marys Street Edinburgh.

There will be two OLPC XO laptops for attendees to play with.

* Overview
* What is the OLPC Project
* How we got the XO's and what we've got them for
* The XO's

* --break for tea/coffee--

* Technical Details
* Questions
* Play with the XO (no fighting)



More information: (http://www.scotlug.org.uk/wiki/EdLUG:2008-05-01)
Arron M Finnon (AKA finux) is the current president of the University of
Abertay Dundee Linux Users Society (http://www.thelinuxsociety.org.uk).

The Linux Society is a group of individuals from all walks of life who
meet once every two weeks to discuss aspects of both linux and open
source software. Membership is made up of students/staff and members of
the general public.

The Linux Society has been privileged enough to get its hands on two
XO's from the one laptop per child project through the give 1 get 1
scheme ran over Christmas, to promote and demo to people interested in them.

We'll be bring them along and this is your chance to see them live in
the flesh and to have a little play with them. Arron will be talking
about the OLPC project (http://www.laptop.org), and how this project
utilises Linux in a number of ways. The OLPC project is not a laptop
project but an education project. So if you want to come and have a look
and see the XO's on action then we look forward to seeing you there
I've had it with you. If I had an image of a laser gun I would absolutely position it right here in my hand...
Ha! I have a real laser absolutely positioned in my hand!

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