OPLC purchase period extended

[Aahz]

Apparently demand has been such that you can buy an OLPC through the end
of the year:

http://www.laptopgiving.org/en/index.php
--
Fortune cookie: "Focus on the color purple this week to bring you luck"

[Paul Rubin]

Grant Edwards <gr****@visi.comwrites:

The most imporant thing is that the "control" key is to the
left of the "A" keay where god intened. Not too surprising
when you realized the design was headed by folks from the media
lab at MIT. MIT requires everybody to use Emacs, right?

You've got to remember that the OLPC was made for little kids, and as
such, the keyboard is quite small. Also, because of its expected
physical environment, the keyboard is water resistant (membrane
cover). These two things make the OLPC difficult enough for a
grown-up to type on that although I've played with a few, I don't
remember where the control key was, and as an Emacs user I usually do
notice things like that. If you get an OLPC and plan to use it much,
you'll probably want an external USB keyboard. The built-in keyboard
is ok for occasional portable use checking email and stuff like that.
It's really unsuitable for a full-time computer.

[Grant Edwards]

On 2007-11-25, Paul Rubin <httpwrote:

You've got to remember that the OLPC was made for little kids,
and as such, the keyboard is quite small. Also, because of
its expected physical environment, the keyboard is water
resistant (membrane cover). These two things make the OLPC
difficult enough for a grown-up to type on that although I've
played with a few, I don't remember where the control key was,
and as an Emacs user I usually do notice things like that. If
you get an OLPC and plan to use it much, you'll probably want
an external USB keyboard. The built-in keyboard is ok for
occasional portable use checking email and stuff like that.
It's really unsuitable for a full-time computer.

It's not going to be a full-time computer. It's mostly going
to be something to play with -- though using it in tablet mode
as an e-book reader sounds like it might work.

--
Grant

[Paul Rubin]

Grant Edwards <gr****@visi.comwrites:

It's not going to be a full-time computer. It's mostly going
to be something to play with -- though using it in tablet mode
as an e-book reader sounds like it might work.

It is fairly nice for that. It's especially cool that the screen
works outdoors (reflective). I don't know why regular laptops don't
do that any more.

[Damjan]

It is fairly nice for that. It's especially cool that the screen

works outdoors (reflective). I don't know why regular laptops don't
do that any more.

I think because they can't reproduce colors correctly with reflective light.
The OLPC is black&white (and grey) when in the reflective outdoor mode.

--
damjan

[Grant Edwards]

On 2007-11-26, Damjan <gd*****@gmail.comwrote:

>It is fairly nice for that. It's especially cool that the screen
works outdoors (reflective). I don't know why regular laptops don't
do that any more.

I think because they can't reproduce colors correctly with
reflective light.

It's hard to acheive much constrast with transflective color
displays.

The OLPC is black&white (and grey) when in the reflective
outdoor mode.

The other significant feature is its extremely high resolution
(200dpi) in B/W mode.

--
Grant