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Cool project. Personally I like the idea behind RetroBSD [1] - port of 2.11BSD Unix intended for microcontrollers. I was thinking if a system like this power

by hawski 10y ago

Cool project. Personally I like the idea behind RetroBSD [1] - port of 2.11BSD Unix intended for microcontrollers. I was thinking if a system like this powered by solar panel would be a good idea for poor countries. The idea is to have computing of the past in sustainable form available for poor. The main problem is probably to have a cheap and low energy display. Maybe epaper made in bulk would be enough? But probably such a computer can only be cheap if made in bulk. Maybe it could be cheaper than RaspberryPi? The question that remains is what about networking? Maybe they could function in similar fashion to BBS, but using shortwave radio? [1] http://retrobsd.org/ http://retrobsd.org/

pjc50 10y ago
It sounds like you're about to re-invent the failures of "One Laptop Per Child". The one thing people in poor countries do not want is special weird incompatible systems designed for the poor. They want a solution which is adequately close to the western ones, just cheaper. Look at cellphones: http://qz.com/451844/africas-smartphone-market-is-on-the-rise-as-affordable-handsets-spur-growth/ http://qz.com/451844/africas-smartphone-market-is-on-the-ris...
- nickpsecurity 10y ago
  Perhaps a cheap phone combined with a cheap, keyboard accessory and bundled software would be better? Definitely include Wikipedia app on homescreen and Python w/ learning guide somewhere on there.
- hawski 10y ago
  I also think that smartphone will get there faster. Maybe Chromebooks if Google will play it nice, because of Android apps support and normal keyboard. However I think OLPC is different from what I have in mind. OLPC targeted children with OS designed for children. I am thinking about something more like RaspberryPi with integrated power and display systems, but with external keyboard. Also I think about it to be extremely cheap. $100 laptop is already done by Chromebooks, but it is not cheap enough. It would have to be around $25 or less. It should expose GPIOs like RaspberryPi so it could be used in more settings. It would be black and white and mostly text only. Basically my pipe dream. Maybe I would just like to go back in time sometimes and I am just projecting? It is just a loose idea, but outside of people's preferences economics of scale are certainly supporting smartphones.
  - pjc50 10y ago
    Sure, that's what you'd want; is it what the target market wants? Would people be happy limited to B&W text? For something like what you've described, the cost is driven by casework, screens, touchscreen components and batteries. Not the processing electronics. It sounds like something halfway between a Kindle with a keyboard and one of the cheap Windows tablets, now below $100. (http://www.dx.com/p/onda-8-v820w-quad-core-dual-os-tablet-pc-w-2gb-ram-32gb-rom-white-436403 http://www.dx.com/p/onda-8-v820w-quad-core-dual-os-tablet-pc...)
  - goligo 10y ago
    Maybe something like a PocketChip (https://getchip.com/pages/pocketchip https://getchip.com/pages/pocketchip). But cheaper.

by hawski 10y ago

pjc50 10y ago

It sounds like you're about to re-invent the failures of "One Laptop Per Child". The one thing people in poor countries do not want is special weird incompatible systems designed for the poor. They want a solution which is adequately close to the western ones, just cheaper. Look at cellphones: http://qz.com/451844/africas-smartphone-market-is-on-the-rise-as-affordable-handsets-spur-growth/ http://qz.com/451844/africas-smartphone-market-is-on-the-ris...

nickpsecurity 10y ago
Perhaps a cheap phone combined with a cheap, keyboard accessory and bundled software would be better? Definitely include Wikipedia app on homescreen and Python w/ learning guide somewhere on there.
hawski 10y ago
I also think that smartphone will get there faster. Maybe Chromebooks if Google will play it nice, because of Android apps support and normal keyboard. However I think OLPC is different from what I have in mind. OLPC targeted children with OS designed for children. I am thinking about something more like RaspberryPi with integrated power and display systems, but with external keyboard. Also I think about it to be extremely cheap. $100 laptop is already done by Chromebooks, but it is not cheap enough. It would have to be around $25 or less. It should expose GPIOs like RaspberryPi so it could be used in more settings. It would be black and white and mostly text only. Basically my pipe dream. Maybe I would just like to go back in time sometimes and I am just projecting? It is just a loose idea, but outside of people's preferences economics of scale are certainly supporting smartphones.
- pjc50 10y ago
  Sure, that's what you'd want; is it what the target market wants? Would people be happy limited to B&W text? For something like what you've described, the cost is driven by casework, screens, touchscreen components and batteries. Not the processing electronics. It sounds like something halfway between a Kindle with a keyboard and one of the cheap Windows tablets, now below $100. (http://www.dx.com/p/onda-8-v820w-quad-core-dual-os-tablet-pc-w-2gb-ram-32gb-rom-white-436403 http://www.dx.com/p/onda-8-v820w-quad-core-dual-os-tablet-pc...)
- goligo 10y ago
  Maybe something like a PocketChip (https://getchip.com/pages/pocketchip https://getchip.com/pages/pocketchip). But cheaper.