| Amazon offers Linux XOs |
Nov. 12, 2008
 One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) confirmed it will start selling its XO mini-notebook on Amazon.com starting Monday, according to a report. The XO will go on sale Nov. 17 at Amazon in a reprisal of OLPC's "buy one, get, one" program from 2007, says the story.
Only Linux-based XOs will be available from Amazon, stated the PC World story, not the recently introduced Windows XP version. The Linux version comes with a 7.5-inch 1,200- by 900-pixel LCD screen, a digital video camera, built-in 802.11b/g WiFi, and a customized version of Fedora Core Linux with an education-oriented "Sugar" interface.
OLPC primarily sells its notebooks at discounted rates to developing nations, with the agreement that the governments will give them away free to poor students. However, last year it experimented with a "buy one, get one program", in which consumers pay for two XO notebooks, sending one as a donation to a poor child overseas. Due to manufacturing delays and OLPC's lack of experience with consumer interactions and fulfillment, the program was quickly cancelled.
OLPC first mentioned the Amazon partnership in September, while also announcing a partnership with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to help distribute the notebooks overseas. According to the PC World story, Amazon will offer a similar scheme, selling two notebooks for $400, with one donated to a poor child in a developing nation.
A prototype of
the XO-2
(Click for details) |
The story also mentioned that an incremental XO 1.5 update will ship in the first quarter of 2009, offering "a faster processor, increased flash storage, a new wireless chip and rubber bumpers for improved screen protection." Meanwhile, OLPC has demonstrated a prototype of a next-generation XO-2 (pictured), due to ship in 2010. The XO-2 will be smaller, use only a single Watt of power, and instead of a keyboard will offer dual 16x9-proportioned, sunlight-readable touchscreens, says OLPC.
The PC World story on the Amazon sales should be here.
-- Eric Brown
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