Once Upon An OLPC

I don't understand it, does it talk?

2008-01-15T18:32:00.000-08:00

Actual quote from my Daughter. I think the thing that most impressed her first was that she could bring it with her when she came to work with me. Why, oh why a 5 year would think it was cool to come to work with me defeats me... but there is at least hope that I may even have a retirement plan in place now.

So first impressions? The form factor (i.e. small), the "ears" for the wireless antennae and the colors all contributed to the "its mine" moniker. She knows her way around an eMac and then an iMac at home, got to grips with fast user switching and passwords. OLPC? Piece of cake. The machines does not have a name yet. She thinks its a dog so maybe "lap dog".

Applications used so far? Loves

Paint
In built camera
Browser for noggin.com and nickjr.com
Watching The Clangers, Rooarb & Custard and Danger Mouse on YouTube
Taking it around to her mates house

What has not worked out?

No easy bookmarks in the browser. She has got very used to just clicking on the toolbar for the web sites she likes.
Does not go to sleep, need to either shutdown or turn off
Its hung a few times

So far so good. The experimentation continues... in the meantime, here's a video of the unwrapping...

...and running the first activity

..

The countdown is almost finished

2008-01-12T09:32:00.001-08:00

Its my daughters birthday on Tuesday. I did the final run through the OLPC, made sure it could see the wireless network, the wired network worked through a Linksys USB200M, a really old Apple (no wheel) mouse worked etc. I tried some of the software so I think I know how that works as well... you know, I want to be one step ahead of her because I know I will get questions and more questions and more questions... I'm starting to understand what I did to my parents!

So my daughter has a huge interest in Photography, always taking pictures. Then we gave her her own camera last Christmas and then she lost some interest. Will her interest in Pinky-Dinky-Doo and other gems on nickjr and Noggin now subside since she has her own computer? Time will only tell. If nothing else my wife has "dibs" on the OLPC. She thinks its cute and wants to take it down the cafe with her...

Eeekk -- Intel quits OLPC board

2008-01-04T06:55:00.000-08:00

Breaking news is that Intel has quit the OLPC board. So is this important? Well not sure, the current XO has an AMD processor so it does not effect the short term and Intel has been on the board for just 6 month. The OLPC team do seem to be hurting in getting NGOs and other to buy these machines, but 50k orders as part of the "Buy 1 Get 1" program is decent if not Dell like volumes.

I think it does say a lot about Intel. God-dam-it, leave your politics and product plans at the door and actually give something back to your future customer base in the developing world.

SSIDs and other wireless complications

2008-01-02T19:31:00.001-08:00

So setting up wireless. Lets say I love the network viewer (see above)

You are marked with an a large "X" (from XO)

I can see all the access points (circles)

The padlock indicates that its secure and need a (WEP/WAP)password

How full the circle indicates the strength

Hats off to the team that came up with this. A lot of information that is presented very simply.

Problems? Well... here's what happened next...

I first had to turn the SSID on my access point so that it shows up in the display (no shock)

Entered the password and then I was good to go (as you would expect)

Shutdown the OLPC

Turned off the SSID broadcast

Restarted the OLPC

Could no longer connect to the the Network!

I need to go through this again, but with the SSID being broadcast and the WEP password set, it re-connects first time each time I re-boot. I need to check whether this is a one-off or it just needs the SSID always broadcast. I'll keep you posted.

Wot on Flash? Updated

2008-01-01T18:45:00.000-08:00

We all love Flash right? Its in just about in every web site these days. I know that I can’t live without YouTube or a vast range of other sites. My 5 year old spends a vast majority of her time on the my wife’s iMac on nickjr.com, noggin.com or other kids sites kicking ass on platform games. So imagine the horror when I find out that all these Flash based sites are toast. So Flash is there, its just that none of the Flash based web sites I tried delivered any content. Not determined whether this is a wireless throughput issue or just that the OLPC can’t deal with the load or the graphics.

Will keep you posted. Very bad day in the OLPC ownership world. Not sure how I’m going to explain to a 5 year old that whilst she has her own computer that all her favorite websites are hosed and she cannot watch episodes of The Clangers, Rooarb & Custard and Danger Mouse on YouTube.

If she does not kill me within the first 15 minutes of ownership, I promise to keep you posted on workarounds...

Update 2-Jan-2008

So I hunted around and found the background materials on the OLPC Wiki. Turns out that a Flash player in included, just not Adobe's... following the instructions and install Flash (I used 9048) and I now have Noggin!

OLPC versus Amazon Kindle... who cares!

2007-12-31T18:43:00.000-08:00

So the OLPC is getting into a few peoples hands, but I came across the most strange of strange comparisons on the O’Reilly Radar blog space. I first have to thank my friend David Haimes for first pointing me at this.

So lets start with the Amazon Kindle. There’s plenty already said about its industrial design out there in the blogsphere but I fear the same fate as the Sony E-Reader. Why? Well I guess that I’m some sort of 40-something stick in the mud. I know when I started to fool around with Wordstar on an x8080 with CP/M, my Dad said that I was a complete fool. Bear in mind he was a University Lecturer in all things very complicated that I never really got my head around, but he used a manual (read not even electric) Olympic typewriter. He had custom ordered it (I’m guessing in the 1960’s) with extra symbols like a 1/2 and other way out mathematical symbols. So I remember making my own “Top Trump” cards using this device and trust me when I say this, it took no prisoners. I think to some extent its why I still type with two fingers at a speed that at least keeps up with the nerds that can touch type. Tipp-ex and Wite-Out were some years away from being available in rural England so its all about accuracy and not the ability to locate the delete key with your pinky.

What’s my point? Well I still print stuff on to paper to review. You know, design documents, long email threads, papers etc. I thumb my way through 5-7 magazines a month (at least Evo, Macworld, Fast Company, Wired and British GQ) and whatever books lay to hand. Why? Well I like the tactile feel of paper. I like turning pages. I like the portability and the fact the I never need to charge a book when its running low on power. Its the ultimate of low powered portable devices.

I am my dad. Holly crap Batman. Maybe Hendrickson is right in his O’Reilly piece, its the way ahead for mass distribution of materials for education. Give it out electronically on demand on something that on a good day with the wind behind it plays like a book. It the same sort of way AstroTurf is like like grass right. But where do I, or more importantly my children, scribble notes of their current sweethearts for future generations to enjoy? Who knows. But its all going digital all very quickly. Times are a changing my friends.

And the OLPC? Well its still so much more way cool than a Kindle. Case rested.

Trick or treat?

2007-12-21T18:33:00.000-08:00

So one of the first things I got asked, well no. Probably the
eighth thing I got asked after

Take me to your leaders... or other tricks the OLPC can do including making a Cappuccino.

•How did you get that? [coz i’m cool]
•Can I get one at Best Buy / Wall Mart [no]
•That’s cool, but not as cool as my iPhone [wrong]
•How did you get that? [please stop asking the same questions]
•...

You get the picture. Going back to the eighth question... well how big is it? TINY (see right)! As you can see sitting on top of my 12” Apple PowerBook, its dwarfed and that’s amazing based on how tiny the PowerBook is to start with.
Just image how enormous your Leveno/Dell is in comparison. Sitting in Coach, no problem even when the bugger in front of you goes into full laid back mode 30 seconds after lift-off. I then found out then next coolest feature, the movable screen. Oh how sweet. I love my Apple gear, but dream on Mr. Jobs, you laptops aren’t this cool!

Arrival

2007-12-18T17:38:00.000-08:00

When I first ready about One Laptop Per Child, I though it a noble effort but seemed like a dream to get a $100 laptop built and delivered. I then read about the “Give one, Get One” program. Its seemed just a great deal, do some philantrophy, help somebody else out who would never get access to this type of technology and get something that the kids would get something from. The obvious question is what does a 5 year old with their own Laptop. Well, what did they need when they were 3 and 4 with my wives desktop system... well nickjr.com and episodes of the “Clangers” dad found on YouTube. Enough said.

So the OLPC arrived today, and I had the pleasure of opening it and setting it up. Not quite the pleasure as opening a product from Apple, but a genuine buzz about what it would look like and how it would perform. There was even flutter or three in my stomach.

First impressions? Well its *tiny*. I mean really tiny. The keyboard is a bit rubbery but will survive a spilt juice and other eating debris. Like the fact the the Antenna ears act as the lock to keep the two halves together. Like it has a carrying handle (like those old Apple Laptops). I even got it hooked up with a 128-bit Hex WAP Key onto my network first time.

Application look cute so far as well. Interface seems to be very simple as well. Not Windows, not OS-X, not Linux flavor of the month.

My daughters birthday is not for another 3 weeks... so I get to play (hee hee hee).