OLPC's XO Generation 1.5 Laptop dances from GNOME to Sugar, on video!
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted September 17th 2009 3:44PM
posted September 17th 2009 3:44PM
We know how thrilled you were when you first witnessed the XO 1.5 outpace an overclocked XO 1.0 earlier this month. Still, there's no doubt in our mind that even that level of excitement will soon be overshadowed by the insane craziness you are about to experience in the form of a video showing the newest OLPC machine as it glides softly from GNOME to Sugar Linux environments... and back again. Wild, right? Don't let us spoil it for you -- you can peep the 1GHz powered ultraportable in all its glory after the break.
Update: Whoa, boy. Liliputing was able to get a peek at this unit's motherboard, and they were even kind enough to take us all on a video tour. Enjoy!
Update: Whoa, boy. Liliputing was able to get a peek at this unit's motherboard, and they were even kind enough to take us all on a video tour. Enjoy!
Most of the children targeted by OLPC would probably don't care it's faster and would rather have a hamburger.
These kids will notice the difference if the porn comes out faster on the other machine!
Maybe they can use this to tweet how hungry they are.
Kids in most poor nations don't need a laptop - they need someone to get rid of the corrupt governments that keep the citizens poor while enriching themselves. However, that's too hard and politically incorrect, so a bunch of people will act like giving these kids free laptops will change the world when all it really does is make the people running the program feel better about themselves.
Yes, they do need a laptop.
Do you know it is very offensive that you all state food is the only thing they need? Of course it is the most urgent but it is not the only thing they need.
They need to know there is a better world than the one they live in, and these laptops give a glimpse of that to them, and after that they start to want something better. That is the first stage, to know the sh1t you are into and to want to live a better life.
"Kids in most poor nations don't need a laptop - they need someone to get rid of the corrupt governments that keep the citizens poor while enriching themselves"
I'm from the UK and most western governments are corrupt and in the pocket of big business, what country are from sounds like a utopia you invented in your mind !
"Do you know it is very offensive that you all state food is the only thing they need? Of course it is the most urgent but it is not the only thing they need."
Yes, I'm sure starving kids in zimbabwe, whose currency is more valuable for kindling and toilet paper than buying food, would be really happy with a new OLPC setup. Until some of mugabe's thugs stole them and gave them out to his followers or sold them on the black market. The few that were able to keep the laptop could look at pictures of food and wonder what it would be like to eat on a regular basis. The most ironic thing is that the people who think they are helping with all this foreign aid and feel-good programs usually end up perpetuating the problem because they aid they send (money, food, etc) ends up in the hands of the dictators instead of the poor, and it gets resold or given away, and the proceeds are used to keep the thugs in power.
Again, it's a nice sentiment, but the real world results are usually 180 degrees away from what is the expressed intent. But most people who do these programs don't care as much about the consequences as they do their intentions.
"They need to know there is a better world than the one they live in, and these laptops give a glimpse of that to them, and after that they start to want something better. That is the first stage, to know the sh1t you are into and to want to live a better life."
Well that's nice and touchy feely, but that's not the real world. They don't need a freaking laptop no matter how good it make you feel. What they need is someone to go in, overthrow people mugabe and their regimes, and institute a system where people actually have property rights and can keep the things they make and have (like land, food, and even laptops once people have land and food). Anything else is meaningless. You may want to think and feel this will make a difference, but it won't. These kids will still be starving and the mechanisms that keep them that way will still be in place no matter how many laptops you throw at the problem.
Wow... not what I was expecting... this is a complicated issue. We're talking about two thirds of the world here, not one specific country, and even in specific countries the needs of the people and the political scenes vary widely depending on location. There are lots of places where bringing in some cheap computers would be a way of vastly improving the education and economic prospects for the population - including places where I've been in Central America.
Of course there are other places where food is a broader concern, but bringing in food doesn't address the long term needs of a population. Still... if people are starving it's a good stop gap.
I'm somewhat concerned about how quickly some people bring this conversation to violent government overthrow. For the most part violent attempts at state building from the outside have proven extremely difficult or disastrous, it needs to come from the people inside the culture (with outside help if necessary).
Is giving laptops out like this going to solve all the world's problems? Of course not. Is it potentially going to make a difference in someone's life and help to spread education? I'm sure that in many places it will.
I know this is off topic, but what is the laptop they show on Zune.net running the Zune software?
Here:
http://www.zune.net/en-us/products/software/default.htm
It's a Compaq http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/product_detail.do?storeName=storefronts&landing=rts_notebook&category=rts_notebook&orderflow=1&a1=Brand&v1=Compaq+Presario&product_code=NW159UA%23ABA&catLevel=2
I've seen these at Bestbuy it's a rather sexy laptop.
Thank you, good sir.
Fee-Fye-Fo-Fum!
Apple trolls can take it in the bum!!!
They should use the 8GB iPod Touch for the OLPC (OiPC) program. It's one of the most powerful computers on the market right now and it will give the poor little children a lesson in style and functionality.
What!? Don't hate the playa, hate the game.
To be honest, I don't care much about the Zune HD right now, so your trolling doesn't effect me.
I'm not normally a first-release adopter for any product with such a uncertain future ahead of it.
I just wondered about the laptop because it looked swanky.
they should be playing ball in a cup.
how do you play ball in a cup?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoUly6OoS7M
I think ball in a cup is too technical, they're probably more suited to Log.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0xsqV3zk1Y
Sugar looked really nice
WHAT? A PC that can dual boot 2 OSes? No kidding!
What next, dual channel RAM.....?
The tubes inside a stick of RAM are far too small to split until further developments in tiny tools.
This is not dual booting. This is changing between desktop environments. Get yourself a desktop Linux distro and try it today. To mention a few DE with different user interfaces. GNOME, KDE, XFCE, LXDE, E17, Sugar, Openbox.
Happy to help.
@kingu: not new at all too, sorry.
Gnomes + sugar + dance = ????
Oompa Loompas!!!
What the hell is happening, Zune and Apple fanboy are on OLPC stuff?
I am curious as to how many of those who have commented on the OLPC project have been to a developing nation. The overwhelming negativity from this posts astounds me. I have worked with children in developing nations, and I have posed the question (directly to the children themselves), "If you could have anything in the world, right now, what would it be?" Their answer was not once clean water, more food, clothes, more money, to remove a leader from power or better medical care. 100% of the time, the answer was "an education." While the other things are nice, they did not see the value of food for today, because that did nothing to make for a better tomorrow. And yes, I even had children express their interest in obtaining an education while at the funeral of one of their friends who died, most likely from water-born illness. While some may think this attitude is a "feel good" sentiment, it is what these struggling children believe. They want to make permanent change in their nations, and they know they need an education to do that. OLPC and other programs that help bring that education to these students are changing lives for the better. The current research coming out of Peru right now is showing tremendous gains in learning since the implementation of OLPC. I would encourage you to take the time to dig deep into the actual research regarding any project before spouting off hollow, negative accusations.