skippy dot net

The XO laptop I ordered was waiting for me when we returned from vacation, and I've been playing with it on and off since. It's a very clever little gadget, and while it's not the kind of thing I'm likely to use for everyday computing, I'm glad I bought it. I'd like to sit down with the twins and try to introduce some basic computer programming to them on the XO, but I don't know that either one is particularly interested in learning how things work. Maybe I'm selling them short, though.

There are lots of XO reviews online, so I'm not inclined to provide any in-depth coverage of the system. I really wish that someone in my neighborhood had one of these laptops, so that I could experiment with the mesh networking and activity sharing -- what I consider to be the real benefit of the device. Last night I installed Doom for the XO and enjoyed playing that for a few minutes -- deathmatch on the XO might be a fun diversion.

The acquisition of the XO laptop brings the total number of laptops in the house to six: the twins each have their own laptop, Carina has her's, and I have mine. In addition, I have an Apple PowerBook I purchased moons ago. And now the XO.

I've been struggling to find a way to justify having all this technology. I am currently planning on hooking the PowerBook to the television in our bedroom, so that we can watch movies stored on the NSLU2 storage device. I think that the PowerBook running VideoLAN plus a wireless mouse will provide almost all of the functionality I would have hoped for from a MythTV installation (since we don't watch broadcast or cable television).

I guess the XO laptop will finally be a good motivator to learn Python so that I can figure out some fun uses for that device around the house.

I recently placed an order for the OLPC XO-1 laptop under the Buy Two Get One program: I buy two laptops, one of which is sent to me and the other is sent to a child in a developing nation.

I read TechCrunch's complaint of the OLPC donation program, and got a little agitated. It's short-sightedness like this that helps to perpetuate poverty, in my opinion.

I heard a terrific story on NPR some moons ago about crop farmers in a developing nation somewhere. These crop farmers had historically been making a subsistence living because they lacked the tools to engage in meaningful negotiations with the distributors who purchased crops from them. One farmer obtained a laptop, and began keeping records of crop yields year-to-year, along with expenses and revenues. He was occasionally able to acquire crop prices in other parts of the world, so he was able to assemble for himself a better, more informed bargaining position when he went to sell his crops. He was quickly able to identify when he was being ripped off, and negotiated better prices for himself. He extended his efforts and began helping all the farmers in his community, and now they're slowly moving beyond subsistence living.

My sister shared an interesting story about the construction of a well in Africa:

There’s a story posted in the office now of a PCV in an African village where the women walked hours every day to and from a far-away well for water. The PCV realized how much time and energy would be saved if there was a well right there in the village, so he got funding, organized workers, and they dug a well. There was a big celebration to “christen” the well, and people used it for awhile. A few years later, the PCV returned to the village and was confused and distressed to see the women again walking miles to the far-away well. When questioned, the women said the time to and from the well was the only time they had together as women, when they could talk, gossip, and socialize. The PCV had failed to consider the cultural and social implications, and he had tried to fix a problem that the community didn’t really think needed fixing.

So while the OLPC laptops themselves, and the project as a whole, might not address immediate (and very legitimate) issues faced by folks in developing nations, it will hopefully help them in important socio-economic ways that are more meaningful and longer lasting than $200 worth of rice.

I read with interest Ben Armstrong's post about his Asus Eee Pc 4G. I've long been casually interested in ultra-portable computing devices, and this thing looks like a real winner. Solid state storage means fast boot times and no worry about failed mechanical parts. The specs look decent for the price, and I'm sorely tempted to buy one for myself. Amazon sells the Eee for $399.

We've decided to get the twins laptops for Christmas this year, and I immediately thought of them as I reviewed the Eee specs. Small, sturdy, low-power consumption, and it runs a free-as-in-speech operating system! I think the kids could easily enjoy using something like this, as it should support all of their major activities: word processing for school, email and web, YouTube (and presumably Club Penguin), and I could install a JVM so that they could play RuneScape. I'd feel a lot more comfortable with them using something rugged like this as opposed to a traditional laptop with a hard drive that is susceptible to the not-always delicate handlings of a 10 year old.

I also thought, briefly, about the One Laptop Per Child XO laptop for the kids. In November the project is running a Give 1 Get 1 campaign, whereby you buy two laptops: one for yourself and one for donation to a kid in Africa. I think the XO laptop would be a lot of fun to use personally, but I think it's a little too do-it-yourself for my kids at this time: they've grown up using computers, and have certain expectations about what they can do with them. It's not clear to me that the XO would satisfy their YouTube and RuneScape requirements.

Finally, for $100 more, I can get a name-brand traditional laptop. Best Buy currently has a Compaq for $499, complete with 1GB RAM and 120GB hard drive. It comes with Microsoft Vista, but that should be easily remedied (although I'd try to boot an Ubuntu LiveCD at the store to confirm hardware compatibility before purchasing). A traditional laptop computer would probably be the best choice for the kids, as much as I'd love to see them use something more unique. After all, 7" is quite small and probably not the best long-term choice for a general-purpose computing device.