One Laptop Per Child

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http://laptop.org/

Starting November 12th The One laptop per Child Organization (OLPC) will start selling their unique $200 laptop to the public, so long as you buy another $200 unit for a child in Africa. I think this is an excellent opportunity for polybots to do something great for the world, as well as get some interesting tech to play around with. I would love to see Poly students hacking and developing software on this platform (especially for robotics applications). I'm betting they'll sell out quickly, and 400 bucks is allot to raise, but if you get the whole school involved ( especially the CS dept) we can afford it.

[ddraga01]

Where is the hand crank? lol (for power generation)

The specs on the thing basically prevent most modern desktop usage (on purpose I think). The CPU is a joke. 433 mhz Geode. I have a MediaGX brand system . The Geode is the direct descendant the MediaGX. My MediaGX's performance per MHz is that of a 486 according to a benchmark I ran. At 433mhz, ill guess the Geode will act like a 233 to 350mhz P2. Browsing modern web pages will feel like dialup due to rendering speed. Running Windows 95, maybe 98, and then current programs and then current usage of PCs by normal people, this machine will be fine or great at, but anything remotely modern will be impossible.

RAM count seems prtty good. 1 GB flash storage onboard, with flash expansion slot is good. The wifi is runs off the USB bus. No Ethernet or dialup modem. Other than USB and the flash slot look like the only expansion routes without hacking. RAM is soldered on.

Cons are the very poor CPU and poor expansion. For something off the shelf, and little to no zero preparation for it, the laptop seems very good and quick to me in embedding. But its not the best answer for flexibility (maybe worst answer). Its low power, its screen, and its camera and mesh-designed features are its best points I guess (maybe missing some features), which is screaming for AI and something autonomous.

Other alternative for extreme embedding is a PC104+(google it) modular board system. 3.5"x3.5" boards (even for the CPU (which has normal x86 cpus)). Endless amount of modules. Just stack them and they work (inter board connection system is ISA and PCI). But they have a high learning curve and require moderate EE and moderate computer hardware knowledge. They aren't user friendly, and have no case. They are raw PCBs.

Edit: The laptop has USB 2.0, which greatly expands expandability. You can add a USB Video card (if the CPU can handle rendering). Also the wifi chip has a onboard ARM/Xscale cpu so it can operate without the main CPU being on (packet forwarding for mesh when cpu is off). Also one of the USB ports can be turned into a USB peripheral port (the laptop is now like a USB printer, a USB mouse, a USB hard drive, a USB camera, a USB device that can be pluged into other computers).

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good question about the crank. On the website they talk about foot pedals, cranks and solar power, but I don't know what's included in the "consumer" version. I would like to know a bit more about the "mesh wifi" ability of the computer too.
As for the learning curve on robotics, I don't think anyone makes easy-to-use out of the box, multi-platform controllers and programs (at least not for cheap). I may be able to learn more about Basic stamp, arduino, Max/MSP, but i'm no sure how far that can go. Possibly an expert java or C programmer would be needed even.

Also, a bit on/off topic. the ER1 robot is capable of being controlled over wifi (via the GUI or expertly written java/python/telnet code). Is there such a thing as getting a non-static IP on wireless, even when moving router to router within the university?