I found this article from Digg, telling about a $100 PC developed in Philippines.
Developed by University of the Philippines Los Banos Development and Management Professor Rufino Mananghaya, the budget PC uses a Taiwanese mini-motherboard with 256 megabytes of memory and integrated with a Via C3 800 megahertz processor.
Instead of a hard disk, this budget PC uses a memory card adapter that allows it to use a Compact Flash card. The PC is not encased in solid metal; it is fixed in a 50-peso transparent plastic briefcase that can be bought in school supply shops.
“œThis computer uses Puppy Linux, which only requires less than 50 MB of memory. Then it has Open Office as a cost-effective alternative to proprietary desktop applications. Both software run in less than 128 MB of memory but the card’s adapter can accommodate cards with up to 2 gigabytes,” Mananghaya said.
Take that, Negroponte!
23 comments
Commercializing the product may not work.
who is Negroponte..?
why wouldn’t it work? And what would it take to make it work?
a 2GB CF card would cost more than $100 for sure, not to mention the display to be used for the computer. The OLPC combines almost everything in a single package and the display itself has been developed from scratch because of power and cost considerations.
A small cheap transparent plastic briefcase? Won’t that thing melt under all that cramped heat?
hmmmmmmmmnnnnn…
how about the maemo (linux based) powered nokia tablet bought in bulk. will it be close to $100?
cheers!
nox
@bloggementarist
Nicholas Negroponte is the architect for One Laptop Per Child initiative.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%24100_laptop
ill buy a cellphone instead of this. but thats just me.
nice initiative though.
@jan2x, thanks for that info, really appreciated..
i hope Professor Rufino Mananghaya will also throw in an additional feature on that notebook, like a self-powered, rechargeable hand crank battery.. thats is gonna be like awesome..
You, too, can do it. Get a Pentium II PC, make sure it has at least 128 MB RAM, throw away the hard disk and all bulky components (replacing the power supply with a smaller one), and squeeze everything in a small package (under your seat will be nice :).
Then go to http://bexa.org/pup , download/burn the minipup ISO and use a regular PC to install the OS to your flash disk (128 MB flash will do).
If your board can’t boot from USB, use an old 420 MB hard disk instead (you can spare 128 MB swap partition in that drive).
You’re right, it can’t be commercialized – it IS already everywhere!
(More news later this month about a truly new build of the $100 PC.)
Cheers!
Hmm, I mentioned Pentium II ‘coz I’ve seen small boards for the socket type Pentium/Celeron PCs. The base CPU speed of such boards is 333 Mhz, fast enough to outrun its P4 cousins (with P2 using the minipup software, of course. 🙂 The secret of speed is in the liberal use of RAM – use 256 MB whenever possible.
Questions, whatever they are, need answers. 🙂
Later this month (November), there will be an elearning conference at NCC where OEM builds of the cheap PC will be shown. To join the event, please visit http://elearning.ph
$100 for a PC like that?Why not instead buy 2nd hand parts and assemble them together and add a few more moolah for a 2nd hand crt monitor? 2ndhand packages like these cost less than $100… and what’s the use of a budget $100 PC without a monitor?
OLPC created too much hype that it shadowed the truth that pinoys can build budget PCs for every poor public schools in the country (and it’s environment friendly too.. recycling old parts 😉 )
@bloggementarist.. it’s a PC not a Notebook.
i have to answrs for you jepoy, pick your choice..
1. what do you want me to do jepoy, stand on my ground even if i know i am wrong like what you did..?
2. oh im sorry, i percepted a computer on a plastic briefcase as a notebook.. my mistake..
@bloggementarist – o defensive ka naman masyado. I merely told you that it’s a PC not a notebook. Dami mong sinabi na parang high ka sa pinagbabawal na gamot. Tigilan mo yan. Masama yan sa kalusugan mo 😉
bloggmentarist wrote “i hope Professor Rufino Mananghaya will also throw in an additional feature on that notebook, like a self-powered, rechargeable hand crank battery.. thats is gonna be like awesome..”
@bloggmentarist: i think you’re the one who needs it, attach the hand crank near your head to re-charge your brain
for the past three months i have never read any comments from karlopogi that actually really refers to the post.. i dont wanna sound like lex luthor but i have to admit, im flattered..
OT:
@bloggementarist – you should be flattered since great bloggers (from time to time) message me at YM, post a message at my tagboard or even sometimes email me just to say you’re posting here again. You could always check my tagboard 😉
Frankly, this $100 PCs for poor people is simply missing the point — a lot of Filipinos don’t even have decent classrooms, why would they want a $100 PC? And for those who can afford to buy this hobbled PC, why would they even want it? They’d buy a second-hand PC with a pirated Windows XP instead.
So while many Filipino bloggers were wailing and gnashing their teeth that Philippines wouldn’t be getting the $100 OLPC laptop, India’s Education Secretary rejected the idea out of hand saying “We need classrooms and teachers more urgently than fancy tools.”
puppy linux weren’t designed for full operating system though. but pretty sure its development is going well even before when they didn’t use the ubuntu repositories.