OLPC News posted a hands-on review of the Elonex ONE, UK’s first sub £100 laptop. It’s aimed to compete with the OLPC XO. The design is very similar to the XO in that the guts of the machine is behind the screen rather than below the keyboard.

Some interesting details:

• The motherboard is behind the screen like the OLPC
• Detachable membrane keyboard
• Mouse stick on the back for navigating in slate mode
• 22×15x3 cm
• 0.95 kg
• 7″ 800×480 LCD
• 300 Mhz LNX Code 8 (?) processor
• 1/2 GB Flash storage
• 128/256 MB RAM
• Debian based Linux OS

What colors does your OLPC XO logo have?

I took a snapshot of the Neighborhood view using alt-1. There’s quite a few people in the mesh now.
If you just received your OLPC, here are the instructions for connecting to the xochat.org jabber server.

I’ve set up a shared Write activity called ‘3 Word Story’ since the start of the jabber server and it’s quite popular so far. XO users have been joining and submit their 3 word entry to try to form a dynamic and potentially endless story. When I set up a similar thread in the Second LIfe forums, it was very popular, so this seemed a perfect exercise in the collabortive environment of Sugar’s mesh.

Oh ya..this is officially my first blog post from the OLPC XO. I saved the snapshot to a USB stick, fired up Opera, uploaded the photo to flickr, and now writing this in the wordpress admin.
This whole process does take time since this is all running on a 433Mhz AMD Geode processor with 256MB of RAM, but hey it’s working.

.. while another at least got theirs, but it ended up a brick.

One very disappointed person was charged but isn’t even showing up in the system and is ready to "..  contest the charge of $423.95 that was placed on [his] Visa – as is the case with any credit card scam online – and let [OLPC] take it up with XXXXXXXX’s lawyers, who presumably will receive a response."

Meloukhia in the OLPC News forums pretty much summed up how OLPC is blowing it in this post.

I feel real bad for this guy. OLPC has been shipping units via Fedex but not requiring a signature. So while Fedex tracking shows the unit was delivered, it was not found at the door. He’s not the only one with this situation.

The list goes on and on…

*****

As for me, I am one of those folks who didn’t receive a order confirmation.  I ordered mine November 12th, the morning right when the G1G1 program started.

All I received since then was a Pay Pal receipt and a welcome email from OLPC on November 28th.

So I finally called the OLPC Donor Services number (800-201-7144) per instructions from this thread.  After an hour wait, I was relieved to find I was actually in the system and they not only had a confirmation number but a Fedex Tracking number as well.

I should be getting mine tomorrow the 21st. 

Our Stories
While waiting for the OLPC to
arrive, I’ve been messing with Sugar OS on VM Ware.
One of the interesting ‘Activities’ in
development is called Our Stories.
A joint project by UNICEF, OLPC, and
Google; it strives to allow anyone-
anywhere to share their stories with
the use of an OLPC. On the main
site, there’s a Google Maps mashup
with stories that have already been
posted.
So far, it appears the activity simply
records audio and archives it for now.
It’ll be interesting to hear stories
from around the world that will
enter the ‘cloud’ with the help of
an OLPC.

—–
Here’s their welcome message presented by Queen Rania of Jordan:

This is what is expected for those who bought a OLPC XO through the Give One Get One program.

Since I ordered the first day the program started, I should be getting mine sometime between December 14-24.

Via OLPC News

Thank you for being one of the first to participate
in Give One Get One.
All of us at One Laptop per Child were inspired by the number of people who joined our Give One Get One program on its very first day! Your participation makes you part of the growing community of people working to give children all over the world new opportunities to grow, explore, learn and express themselves.

Your XO laptop is on the way.
Your donated XO laptop will soon be delivered into the hands of a child in Afghanistan, Cambodia, Haiti, Mongolia or Rwanda. In one of our recipient children’s own words, "I want to thank you people because you had given us the laptop and I love it so much." Your generosity will make a world of difference in these children’s lives, and in the future of their respective countries.
Thanks to your early action, your XO laptop is scheduled to be delivered between December 14 and December 24. Our "first day" donors are our highest priority and we are making every effort to deliver your XO laptop(s) as soon as possible. We will send you an update upon shipment.

You can participate by going to www.laptopgiving.org.  Orders are being handled through PayPal.

I’m ordering one right after I hit the publish button.

—–

From all of us at One Laptop per Child, thank you for your interest in our mission. Today marks the first day of our limited-time "Give One Get One" program. Starting today, when you donate an XO laptop to a child in the developing world, you’ll receive one for the child in your life. The price for the two laptops will be $399, $200 of which is tax-deductible. Additionally, T-Mobile is offering donors one year of complimentary access to T-Mobile HotSpot locations throughout the United States, which can be used from any Wi-Fi-capable device, including the XO laptop.

Please visit www.laptopgiving.org to participate in Give One Get One and discover more about the revolutionary XO laptop. You can also donate by calling toll-free 1-877-70-LAPTOP (1-877-705-2786). This is the only time we’re making the XO laptop available to the public and quantities are limited, so early purchasers have a better chance of receiving their XO laptops by the holidays.

Once again, thank you. We sincerely hope you’ll join our growing community of people working to create a connected, educated, enlightened future for the world’s most essential resource – it’s children.

David Pogue of the NY Times got a hold of the OLPC XO and created a video expressing his views.  No there’s no singing and dancing in this one.  Instead he highlights the main features that set it apart to show why this is such an amazing device.

It should be available in November through the OLPC Foundation’s Give 1 Get 1 promotion.

I’ve made it clear I’m definitely getting one of these.  Can’t wait.

NY Times via Engadget

Starting November 12th, you will be able to order a OLPC XO for yourself and another kid for $399.  I wonder if it’ll be like one of those Sally Struthers advertisements.  Get a picture of the fortunate kid we’re sponsoring.

Via Engadget

LAPTOP Magazine visited OLPC labs and got their hands on OLPC XO laptop.

I’m pretty excited about this. Not only for the technical feats and price (now $188), but for the potential of an exciting new platform developers will flock to. I definitely want one.

I’ll quote some snippets from the article that makes this device so intriguing.

Even the XO logo on the front panel of the machine, which is customizable in 400 color combinations so children can tell their notebooks apart, screams that this is not an adult machine.

The first thing we noticed was the 7.5-inch screen, which was designed with two display modes: a transmissive, full-color mode for indoor use and a reflective, high-resolution mode for outdoors, which you can switch between by pushing a button above the keyboard.

Specific keys on the top row of the spill-resistant keyboard can launch the home screen, as well as adjust the brightness of the display and volume.

Below the keyboard is a horizontal touchpad. Longer than most touchpads, it’s divided into three segments. The middle section functions as a capacitive touch pad with two mouse buttons beneath it. The right and left of the pad is intended for free writing with use of the included green stylus.

In the OLPC engineering room we witnessed systems baking in an oven at over 120 degrees Fahrenheit. We even got to drop one of the little green and white systems from a four-foot table, resulting in no damage at all.

However, the computer’s LiFeP battery can be recharged with a solar panel or a peripheral pull cord.

According to Walter Bender, president of OLPC Software and Content, the goal is a 10:1 charging ratio–ten minutes of power from one minute of pumping.

The Red Hat Fedora Linux-based Sugar operating system is fairly basic, and we got comfortable using it within a few minutes.

The first shortcut button resembles a Honey-Comb cereal pellet and launches the “My Neighborhood” interface. This is the mesh-networking interface that allows you to see the other XO laptops in your geographic area.

Although you can chat easily with any other XO computers on the mesh network, the real purpose of collaboration was seen in the Write application; it easily lets any number of XO computer users to participate in the same writing session.

Because XO laptops were designed to be deployed in places where there’s very little or no Internet infrastructure at all, they’re built with mesh networking capabilities. That means laptops in the same vicinity can connect with each other regardless of whether there’s an Internet connection.

The machine’s mesh network capabilities allow it to function as a node to provide a stronger Internet signal for other units.

The browser allows for multiple tabs, and we launched our e-mail in one tab, our Facebook profile in another, and the LAPTOP Magazine Web site in a third.

*****

This is going to be an amazing machine. Here’s a short list why I want one.

• Cheap. $188
• Dual mode display. Indoor/Outdoor screen.
• Super rugged. Water proof. Dust & sand proof. Can withstand hot temperatures. Can survive a drop.
• Easy to use. Hey it’s for kids.
• Rich browser.
• Green. Long battery life. Charge via solar or pull-cord generator.
• Collaborative.
• Great network range. With the rabbit ears and through the mesh network.
• Linux. Tons of apps out there. Can run Pepperpad’s OS.
• Fat touchpad. Awesome. Great for inking.
• Makes you feel good about yourself. Each purchase will go to pay for another for a kid.

Read the full article here

If you’re following the OLPC, you may have noticed the nifty pull-cord generator seen with it. Amazingly, it can generate up to 20W average peak power. That’s easily enough to charge small devices such as cell phones and iPods, and may be just enough to charge my Tekkeon MP3400 battery.

Here are the specs:

• Compact: 2.5? high x 3.5? diameter
• Lightweight: 14 oz.
• Efficient: 20W peak average power
• Quiet: 59 dB at 1 foot, <50 dB at 5 feet
• Rugged: Water, dust and drop resistant
• Smart: Automatically adjusts to your fitness and energy level
• Ergonomic: Uses a variety of muscle groups

If you are interested in charging devices using natural energy, I’d check out Steve ‘Chippy’ Paine’s Solar UMPC blog. He just finished his Solar UMPC Tour which was a great success.

EDIT:
Found a YouTube video.

Revisiting Potenco’s Innovative Pull-Cord Generator – TreeHugger
Potenco: Powering Possibilities – TreeHugger
Potenco Products Page

OLPC Reviewed By Children
Found a cool
article on Slashdot.
From the look
on this kid’s face.
he loves the OLPC.
I hope this project
works out.
What’s interesting,
the use of this device requires no
training. Kids are able to pick this up
right away and learn how to use
it within minutes.
They can even swap the motherboard
themselves! (see Youtube video)

OLPC News via Slashdot