[geeks] OLPCs for sale...

[Lionel Peterson]

>From: "Geoffrey S. Mendelson" <gsm at mendelson.com>
>Date: 2007/11/13 Tue PM 01:16:03 CST
>To: The Geeks List <geeks at sunhelp.org>
>Subject: Re: [geeks] OLPCs for sale...

>On Tue, Nov 13, 2007 at 12:42:26PM -0600, Lionel Peterson wrote:
<snip>

>Linux is a fairly nice OS, although I would prefer a commerical release
>of a different operating system and someday may actually work on it.
>I don't know hat distro they include, but DSL (damn small linux) runs
>well with about 50 meg of distribution and includes FireFox, video
>and audio players, a word processor (obviously not Open Office),
>etc. 

Xandros Linux, IIRC (per Wikipedia) - includes Open Office suite of programs, others...

>Ubuntu has been very well received by the Windows users I've given it
>to, but it needs a lot more "disk" space. 

Supposedly you can boot off the SDHC card, which can take up to 16 Gigs of 6 MB/Sec storage...

<snip>

>> I have heard unconfirmed reports from sources I trust that the EEE can
>> be used for "one arm monitor adjustments for skin tone" - that's what I
>> hear anyway...
>
>I don't get the reference, please email me privately and explain. :-)

Sorry, I can't elaborate ;^) Let's just say it was, uhm, "second hand" information and leave it at that...

>> It appears to be pretty robust, and the form-factor is great - it is
>> just as big as a typical O'Reilly book, and can be carried along with a
>> couple books without needing a laptop bag. Also, the screen resolution
>> is very nice - sites like boingboing, slashdot and sunhelp display
>> nicely (800 x 480 is very usable on a 7" screen)...
>
>Sounds good to me. Maybe I won't have to do it after all. Do you think
>they might get down to $100 retail in a few years? My goal is to build
>an "information appliance" that costs less than a high end toaster.

The way the dollar is heading in the world market, not any time soon, but it will get cheaper.

The size is smaller than an O'Reilly "Heads Up" series book (in all dimesnions, save weight)...

>> Wikipedia page on the EEE is pretty good (they say RAM can be upgraded
>> to 2 Gigabytes - that *is* interesting...
>
>That does soud interesting, but bear in mind that more RAM means more
>heat, more cost, slightly more weight and most importantly less
>battery life. 

I get the heat, cost, and battery life concerns, but come on - weight? No true geek would ever say "I can't upgrade my laptop to 2 Gig of RAM because it will increase the weight"! (how much can one SoDIMM weigh? And since there is only one slot, the real question is "how much *more* can a larger SoDIMM weigh?")

I'm going to put off the RAM upgrade for a while, but I ordered a 16 Gig SDHC card for it, I can install WinXP on it and not compromise the factory install...

Lionel