One Laptop per Child undergoes final beta version

(Credit: One Laptop Per Child)

The $100 laptop project for children in emerging nations is headed toward the finish line.

The One Laptop per Child (OLPC) non-profit organization Monday announced its final beta version for the XO laptop.

Beta-4 (B4) will undergo final testing over the next few weeks, then enter mass production in October. The OLPC expects to ship 3 million XO laptops to more than three emerging nations, as part of this initial order, an OLPC spokesman said.

The OLPC has been particularly busy these past few weeks, gearing up for its final beta version, as well as striking a peace accord with Intel. Intel is joining the OLPC board and may serve as a potential supplier to the project.

Currently, AMD is supplying its Geode LX-700 chips to the XO laptop. Other components include 256MB of memory and 1GB of NAND flash, as well as a system designed to offer a fully readable display in bright sunlight, and durability to withstand water, dust clouds and a drop from as high as 5 feet.

[MarkBentley]

OS?

I may be behind on this story, but does this have a custom operating system? If the 1GB of flash memory is all it has, then it will need something minimal in terms of OS. The flash memory, assuming it replaces a hard disk, will save a lot on battery life. Good thinking.

[abqdan]

Such a waste

Clean water and food are the priorities for much of the world's population. There are plenty of ways money could be directed to technology that would improve - or even save - the lives of these children. A laptop, regardless of the price or features, is definitely not a priority when you are hungry, thirsty, or dying of some easily cured pathogen.

[ben::zen]

It's Linux

Since Linux is a very portable system, they
thought it would be perfect. The interface was
custom-designed for the systems, with a word
processor, art program, and other tools.

[rbanffy]

Priorities

abqdan,

Most of the communities these computers are aimed at already have decent health-care, energy and water. They are aimed at offering a better education opportunity for less money. Many countries could benefit from it, not only developing ones and having a computer at hand all the time could help people even do a quick search on the web before posting some blatant misinformation.