[COLUG] OLPC

[George Yeager]

I have found the device quite usable, and I'm an adult (more or less).
It is important to recognize, however, that the machines WERE designed
for kids and for a specific purpose. If one wants a small, low-power,
Windows machine, this is not it, and one should not complain to OLPC
when it does not behave like such a machine.

If you're pumped about a new cutting-edge open source architecture
(hardware and software) and want to help it along while learning
something new, this is it!

I've put Xfce on top of the existing Fedora it for a try, and that works
fine. The OLPC wiki has a Debian Xfce "upgrade" page that is easy to
follow. It allows you to switch from Sugar to Xfce by pressing a key
during boot. Presently, I'm just using the machine as it was designed
(re-flashing is a snap).

The free T-Mobile Hotspot access works fine. I had no trouble with the
hotel wireless in Minneapolis last week.

I have not measured power consumption in the reader mode, but I got 6
watts with no backlight and 8 watts with full backlight in the normal
mode with no battery installed.

The monochromatic display mode (no backlight) is really sharp and clear.
I just let the machine run on a side table in mono when I'm reading a
paper book and use it to take notes.

USB mice and Ethernet adaptors just work. USB flash drives work.

Very cool device.

It might be fun to demo chat and application sharing at a meeting.

-- George



-----Original Message-----
From: colug432-bounces at colug.net [mailto:colug432-bounces at colug.net] On
Behalf Of Scott Merrill
Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2008 7:21 AM
To: Central OH Linux User Group
Subject: Re: [COLUG] OLPC

On 1/9/08, Duane <duane at e164.org> wrote:
> Are they actually usable by adults, I always see these teeny tiny
> devices look like they have teeny tiny keys that would cause most
adults
> to have trouble pressing the keys cleanly.

Yes.  The keypad is undoubtedly small, but it's bigger than the
keyboard on my Palm Treo, which I've learned to use quite well.

> Also do they really go 30 mins on a wind, and all the other things
they
> claim about it?

The handcrank has been removed from production models.  It's available
as a hand- or foot-operated accessory, but I didn't purchase one.

When you turn the device into "e-reader" mode it's claimed that power
consumption drops to 0.5W by turning off everything except the screen.
 When you change pages or otherwise cause something to happen, the
device wakes up, executes the task, and then goes back to sleep to
maximize battery.
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