3mo ago

In 2005, OLPC’s $100 laptop was going to change the world — then it all went wrong

www.theverge.com

OLPC’s $100 laptop was going to change the world — then it all went wrong

In the early 2000s, the concept of “One Laptop Per Child” (OLPC) captured the imagination of the world. The ambitious project aimed to provide every child in the world with a low-cost, rugged, and connected laptop, revolutionizing education and bridging the digital divide. It didn't happen.

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It just so happens I have one of the first ones from 2005. It's been in my garage for 20 years. Fired it up as I read this article, and it still works:
- that thing is going to hold on to all that remains of human knowledge after the AIpocalypse
  
  I feel all powerful. If I could only get the volume to work...
Fun concept tho. Especially in 2005:
In late 2005, tech visionary and MIT Media Lab founder Nicholas Negroponte pulled the cloth cover off a small green computer with a bright yellow crank. The device was the first working prototype for Negroponte’s new nonprofit One Laptop Per Child, dubbed “the green machine” or simply “the $100 laptop.”
The $100 laptop would have all the features of an ordinary computer but require so little electricity that a child could power it with a hand crank. It would be rugged enough for children to use anywhere, instead of being limited to schools.
A Linux-based operating system would give kids total access to the computer — OLPC had reportedly turned down an offer of free Mac OS X licenses from Steve Jobs.
Here's a nice little intro docu about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLJYWc6NZt0&ab_channel=ThisDoesNotCompute
- Good intentions, bad execution
I actually had one for a while (I got it second hand)
Also Pine64 did something similar with the Pinebook. It was a much better device as it didn't try to be the perfect device. It was simply a cheap single board computer put into a plastic shell with a battery and screen.
- Oh, I'll look that one up, because I'm not familiar with it. Thanks!
  
  There current stuff isn't all that great but the pinebook was amazing 8 years ago or so. It is underpowered but at the time it was fine for a few tabs in Firefox
Though it failed, it sounds like it drove innovation all the same.
- Yeah, and I appreciate the goals it had, and even tho if failed, they tried. I am using mine and trying to figure out to post on Lemmy with it, but the browser is old and doesn't do https sites, but if I can figure it out, I wanna use it for my lemmy machine. lol
  
  Sounds like you need a proxy inside your network to connect to the https site and serve it to you without encryption
Wrote a paper for one of my finals in college on the efficacy of these. Havent thought of the project for probably 15+ years.
It really was a fantastic idea, always hoped it would catch on but alas, the Chromebook took over in education spaces thanks to subsidies from Google for the data collection.
- It really was a fantastic idea, always hoped it would catch on but alas, the Chromebook took over in education spaces thanks to subsidies from Google for the data collection.
  Yep. I do wish they would revisit the whole "water-resistant, rubber/plastic tought as a Tonka truck, drop-resistant, hand crank to charge-up" ideas though!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OefB1PG0vY8
The Children's Machine -- Dual Core
- Giving it a listen. Thank you!

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