OLPC R.I.P.? [Intel R.I.P. ?!]

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Dougal
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Re: best so far

#16 Post by Dougal »

raffy wrote:Sad to say, the XO is felt by many to be slow, so it must be the software that is slowing it down. Puppy Linux runs happily in the processor abandoned by OLPC, the GX466.
I think any recent computer that doesn't run fast means software bloat -- I use a 450MHz PIII and it never has any problems (except maybe for playing videos, but that has to do with my 8MB of video memory...).

The reason the OLPC is slow probably has to do with various security related things: anti-theft (it phones home if stolen!), the fancy new busyness where every app runs in it's own "jail" for protection from malware etc.
However, there's also the fact that pretty much all the "special" apps (including the Sugar interface, as far as I know) is written in Python! So you can expect Sugar to be slow on Puppy, too.
However, Intel is seeing success of its eeePC, and many geeks were convinced that it is THE low-cost laptop.
What I don't understand is why there isn't a AMD-based eeePC! Just think how much better such a laptop will be with a AMD (or VIA) low-power processor...
Luckily for Puppy, mdd is donating an XO to Barry:
I'm not sure how lucky we are: Barry being given the Classmates only seems to have caused a stall in the development, focusing on trying to get things to work on them.
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niche

#17 Post by raffy »

I'm not sure how lucky we are
As you've noted also, low-speed and low-cost but (still) productive computing is Puppy's niche, so to us, these goodies are irresistible. And to Barry, it will be fun to play Puppy's tricks on them.

The issue to many consumers is the availability of choice, which software-hardware bundling stifles. The XO is a bundled product, and you're right, the fun ends there.

Intel has leveraged on this bundling of the XO in promoting software choice in the Classmate. Yet we can predict where this is all leading, most likely in W-landia: "Tell me who your friends are..." :wink:

In this regard, I'd say that the time spent on the XO should be better than on the Classmate.

Now, if there is a sub-500 mhz PC wanting a small and able OS, that should deserve Puppy's total attention. :)
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Sage
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#18 Post by Sage »

Like I said, all this Wintel tail-chasing, go-faster HW is proving an huge distraction - esp. to the smarter guys like BK. This week's CES is only going to ratchet up the whole sorry saga. There's already enough components existing to last the millenium.

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Aitch
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#19 Post by Aitch »

Like I said in another XO OLPC thread on these forums,
unfortunately it's the kids who lose out
Even this 'buy one get one free' ploy isn't going
to help revive the project
Many people see it as a failure because they haven't
read Negroponte's original pitch for the project
Publicitywise, I think he acheived his goal
The chip giants feuded where they could have taken
it onboard, but they aren't as altruistic as Negroponte
and many people now buying the laptop, just aren't kids,
who the device was intended for
There are many innovations apart from the AMD chip
which make it the better product, even down to
the built-in generator for recharging the battery
However, the feud will take on a new dimension,
with the Green Computing agenda now set to storm
through the industry
Who's going to produce the most energy efficient PC,
has as much to do with the way software writers utilise
the chips abilities, & I agree with Sage that there's a need
to get away from modular programming, & go back to machine code
How many people remember waiting for a tapeloader on a Z80
to play space invaders, watching an amazing display & listening to some manic music, on a 1Mhz processor?
Isn't the very speed of Puppy, the thing that attracts so many?

With Micro$oft predicting that we'll be touching interactive screens
and speaking to our PCs, exchanging pictures [yuk!] and the whole web based phone direction, being adopted by rich nation's youth,
As an elder, I can't help feeling that there's loads of skilled people here, not getting the best use of what we know,
and that many have a problem disposing of!
Nothing's dead yet!

Aitch

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#20 Post by Sage »

Let's hope the good news from New Hampshire doesn't eclipse the fallout at yesterday's CES. Got to dissuade the good citizens from buying WIntel cr*p!

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Aitch
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#21 Post by Aitch »

HI
Talking of CES, the other worry is that we'll all be worse off,
if the news from CES goes un-noticed
AT&T are going to try to strangle the net - again
I thought that Net Neutrality was accepted - but it seems not
No worries about OLPC & Intel RIP, now it's Internet RIP!!!

http://www.savetheinternet.com/blog/200 ... r-the-web/

Is the Corporate money machine going to strangle your use of your PC?

Are they going to do it, quietly?

:cry: :evil: :x :wink: :lol:

Aitch

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MU
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#22 Post by MU »

Now it becomes clear, why the OLPC project wanted to stop Intel selling concurrent products.
The OLPC now is sold in US-schools running Windows XP using dual-boot.

This certainly is a big market.

There will be already announcements in english news-sites, I found it in this german one:
http://www.golem.de/0801/56942-2.html

Interview with the head of OLPC:
http://www.computerworld.com/action/art ... Id=9056399

Here is an english interview with Bill Gates about the OLPC:
http://www.news.com/8301-13860_3-9843783-56.html

This will be the first school:
http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/i ... xml&coll=2

Mark

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#23 Post by Sage »

Huh! Beelzebub rears his ugly head in that other Birmingham. Might've guessed.
So that's the challenge folks - kill Windoze!
Best way is word-of-mouth, Interweb, get yourself interviewed on local radio, etc.
So we need to identify the clever young guys like PG to get to work on his college mates, put the word around. Promise to vote for presidential candidates who offer to neuter M$? But this is a global challenge. Try to tell ten folks every day to kill 'doze. Get them to tell ten..... just like the old chain letter and pyramid selling. It's the evil empire where the maximum damage will be done, though. Ignorance, indifference and inertia are the main enemies.

Apart, of course, from those with the skills to make distros like Puppy function on OLPC. Ditch those damn Classmates!

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MU
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#24 Post by MU »

grin.. yes, it was my intention with my above "protection" of intel, to warn that others are not better.

With "Business as usual" I wanted to express, that for every company money plays a role.
And if you have such a big market - who can resist?

As I also now work for a company that makes money with Puppy (or better PLANS to make money *lol*), I may have a less "idealistic" way of seing things.

Though I see a difference between OLPC and minisys.
We don't sell PCs with Puppy (though that might come somewhen), but we are just a regional supporter for manufacturers.
Puppy is an enhancement of Minisys, what gives us the income at moment, because it is used here since 30 years.
So we play in a completely different league than OLPC.

Another difference is, that Stefan and me don't like the microsoft way.
I think open source has also several other advantages. It is not "only cheap".
But it allows to easily modify important parts if required.
This really can be an issue in the companies we have as customers.
For a OLPC that is different, as the whole PC is a "closed Box". Most customers will not add any modifications after they buy it.
It is a consumer-article, while we use our systems to control complex machines, what needs very specific modifications.

But for a consumer-product that is made for the masses (by a company), there always is the risk, that open source concepts are dropped, if just someone winks with enough money (I'd really like to know, how much money there already was moving from MS to OLPC, because OLPC is a prestigue-project).

Mark
Last edited by MU on Fri 11 Jan 2008, 07:09, edited 1 time in total.

raffy
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higher horsepower

#25 Post by raffy »

From the time OLPC upgraded the processor from the GX466 to LX700, you can see this coming (the use of Windows).

However, I guess the clincher is the demand from buyers to use a familiar OS. OLPC buyers have hesitated because of Intel's offer of alternative OS for the Classmate, and the unfamiliar XO desktop. OLPC has to sell their product because of the commitment to order millions of units from Chinese factories.

Red Hat's reaction to these developments should be interesting.

This development somehow opens up the free choice of OS for the XO, a happy development for Puppy Linux. This is echoed in the German page: "greater number of XO notebooks [for] critical mass: A greater number of computers [for] the developer community". OLPC must have learned quickly from the eeePC experience.

Sage, this slogan is for you: "From Vietnam to Birmingham, it's Puppy" (substitute the next locale that will use Puppy in laptop for schools to "Birmingham"). So, no more R.I.P. then. :)
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#26 Post by Fossil »

And now, another new development....
Reuters.
"BOSTON (Reuters) - The scientist who designed a notebook computer for poor children that is being produced and sold by a nonprofit foundation has set up a company to commercialize the technology with a goal of producing a $75 laptop computer."
http://uk.reuters.com/article/technolog ... 7920080110

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the ironic rise of the OLPC phoenix

#27 Post by mcewanw »

If you can't beat them you have no choice but to join them and beat them that way; that is fair enough, in my opinion.
"Them", in this case, refers to Microsoft and not of course Intel. The latter were a particularly nasty bunch in this episode and hopefully the dual-bootable XO will rub the dust of their nasty little Classmates in their faces.

I am quite sure that Negroponte himself hasn't privately changed any of his own views at all, and would rather have kept completely open-source as per his originally touted philosophy, but he had no choice to make a sensible adjustment to his preferred deals when faced with demons like Intel. Wouldn't we all have done the same?

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#28 Post by Aitch »

An answer to beelzebub
courtesy tkarr savetheinternet.com

10. The Dawning of Participatory Politics

While “Internet 2.0″ jargon may have grown tired in 2007, a truly decentralized and participatory Internet became more real. Users took to available tools (and created some widgets of their own) on social networks — such as Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, YouTube and others — to organize others and make the Web experience their own.

More than a million Internet users fought the telcos to a stand still over Net Neutrality; campaigns rallied the youth vote and raised money on Facebook; bloggers were no longer treated as a political sideshow but helped shape many of the year’s main events; people formed online social networks and fan sites around political causes, sharing potent YouTube videos, music and games that had the potential to be seen, heard or played by millions.

The tools needed to organize and act on our beliefs are becoming more accessible online. With them, we can have a public conversation about what the future of the Internet and our country should look like — and finally gain an upper hand against the special interests that have dominated our democracy for generations.

Here's to a successful 2008

:wink:

Aitch

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dual-boot XO

#29 Post by raffy »

Linux.com about "A dual-boot OLPC XO with Linux and Windows XP?"
By Joe Barr on January 09, 2008 (4:50:03 PM)
http://www.linux.com/feature/124323
Reactions to the story this morning on the OLPC developers channel on irc.freenode.net ranged from shock to anger, with one developer saying that it is "utter crap, and is exactly the opposite of why I support this project."
Expect developers to troop over to http://www.pixelqi.com/ Mary Lou Jepsen's new company. However, it has copied the hype from OLPC, as it claims to pursue the "$75 laptop".
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#30 Post by Sage »

The goodwill and generosity of spirit of folks visiting this Forum is most laudable. Are we to understand that Mr Gates has been on that Damascus road? That Mr Ballmer is about to distribute $10 bills around the developing world? Or is the truth that they are convicted felons running a criminal organisation; that is, according to their own Department of Justice. There is no Robert Oppenheimer about these two gentlemen. BK might sling his Classmates in the nearest rubbish dump and ensure that his own masterpiece works on OLPC/XO and Ms Jepson's putative creation? US capitalism can't even attend to its own 50m destitute citizens. Way to go.

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#31 Post by mcewanw »

Sage wrote:BK might sling his Classmates in the nearest rubbish dump and ensure that his own masterpiece works on OLPC/XO and Ms Jepson's putative creation?
Notwithstanding the less than altruistic intentions of Microsoft, I am personally delighted that Negroponte has apparently signed such an agreement with the deil. Intel needs what is coming to them. Anyway, the technological "emancipation" of the world's poor will not suffer in a dual-boot system; once they have tired of the temporary attraction of the XP side of things they can always reboot into the open source world for a true educational experience. They will also have the added advantage of now being able to create some commercial software for running in the XP world too; its good to provide them with the testing ground for that money-bringing marketplace rather than hold them to the restrictions imposed by the Stallman gods of GPL heaven.

One thing we can all thank the OLPC project, including Ms. Jepsen of course, for is the obvious technological innovation that has came from it (and, of course, that other devil Intel would never be selling any low priced subnotebooks at the current prices were it not for their greedy desire to squash the altruistic OLPC opposition.
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if you are still not convinced

#32 Post by mcewanw »

No doubt much still needs to be done software-wise on the XO, but if you are still not convinced that the OLPC/XO is the greatest thing to happen in the world of computing (and more than that) for decades, read the following:

http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?stor ... 7182525297

Oh, and really I should maybe say that Mary Lou Jepsen will be remembered as one of the greatest ever innovators in the field. Yes, a woman, no less... and we can look forward to the low-cost, high-efficiency $50 - $75 Jepsen lappie (or, for those living in Europe, the 50 Euro laptop). A rugged environmentally friendly laptop that will last for a long long time. Don't complain about the XO's temporary shortcomings, promote it and improve it.

It is also misplaced arrogance to imagine that RedHat's engineers are less than capable of greatly improving the XO's operating system. These guys will know Linux inside-out. I'm quite sure there are very many talented people working on Puppy Linux, including BarryK himself of course, but this is a small ship. Some of the best Linux gurus in the world work for Redhat (and why not... Redhat pays their wages).

I feel sorry for Nigeria (and others like them); they have been conned by Intel into adopting a machine they can't even read outside in the sun like alone afford to power. They are needing to use diesel backup generators to compensate for their country's unreliable national grid suppy. And then they will (if they can find the resources) have to build large, expensive and extensive wireless infrastructures to compensate for the very limited range and capability of the Classmate's wireless connection provision. Intel are indeed criminals and conmen. Nigeria's remote and widely-spaced rural villages would have benefited greatly from the XO's far superior wireless signal strength and its mesh capabilities.

Don't be greedy and whinge about the XO not yet matching up to your rich consumer expectations. Think of the planet as a whole for once. These are exciting times... Viva the XO!

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#33 Post by Sage »

Yes, a woman
Perhaps the world will benefit from a female President?! Sharing, caring, multi-taking and all that jazz................

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#34 Post by mcewanw »

Somebody (I think it may have been Dougal) mentioned earlier the probable reason why the XO is sluggish: Sugar is written in Python. Of course, Python is a good language choice for producing a sophisticated new interface in a short time, but yes, that comes with a speed penalty. But at least the strategy gets the machine out on the road quickly, and cheaply (part of the mission afterall). Python is a nice clean language; easy to re-engineer; don't be surprised when Sugar is later ported to something much faster (Python will remain a great choice for development purposes though).

It is Intel who will have to change. The Classmate will be dead and forgotten about in a few years. Intel will be paying to use Jepsen's designs.

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#35 Post by Aitch »

Sage said
US capitalism can't even attend to its own 50m destitute citizens. Way to go.
Seems like Negroponte's even trying to tackle that one!

http://www.computerworld.com/action/art ... Id=9056398

I just wish that somehow all the goodwill referred to could realise a genuine shift in global rebalancing of the economy

I don't feel as though the things I enjoy cheaply need to be provided at the expense of another nations unfortunates,
& would happily give something back, even if the governments & capitalists won't

Mary Lou Jepson is quite an amazing woman, who is lucky to even be alive

http://spectrum.ieee.org/feb07/4900

Her own response to the story, from The Inquirer :-

"Not really flying the coop...
This change has been long standing and well planned.

Also please note: I am continuing with OLPC and contracting
with them to develop next-generation hardware.
I am using OLPC's IP to start a company by mutual agreement."

- Mary Lou Jepsen
posted by : Mary Lou Jepsen, 03 January 2008

Aitch

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