In a preview of what will be possible for poor kids in Peru or Nigeria—once memory prices drop—I’ve gotten an 8G memory card working on my OLPC XO.
So it can now store 8,000+ books of typical length.
All the more to enjoy with FBReader!
Yes, the estimate is conservative for text-only books, especially if you’re using ASCII, .epub or MobiPocket rather than PDF format. Oh, well. The new card means I don’t have to worry quite so much about PDF bloat.
Library potential
In developing countries, yes, cheapie memory cards would be one way of giving kids access to scads of books without the need to use wireless connections, even though that’s vastly preferable—the XO after all is intended for communications and collaboration.
Here in the States and other countries with good public library systems, just imagine the eventual possibilities for libraries that can catch up with XOs. They could store not just public domain books and suitable Creative Commons works, but also locally originated content, such as agricultural information or scans of documents associated with local history.
Still buyable
The card for now is still available from TigerDirect for $40. Now if the gods are on my side, I’ll be able to pick up my main library of public domain goodies in one swoop. There is a catch. My HP Pavilion, several years old, can’t read the A-Data 8GB SDHC Class 6 card, but my plan, when I have time, is just to transfer the library to a USB memory key and do a copy command on the XO.
Long term, is the solution a more up-to-date card reader than the one built into the Pavilion, which acts as if the card doesn’t exist? Will I need a new driver, too?
Hardly the first
No, I’m hardly the first to install an 8G card for the XO, and the new frontier is in fact 16G; but it’s still fun see the A-Data working on my XO. Installation instructions for memory cards for the XO are here. Consider attaching Scotch Tape to the card so you can more easily pull it out.
Housekeeping: The big XO review may be delayed, ugh, yet another day. Actually I’m glad I’ve waited, given all the talk about XP for the XO. I remain committed to the idea of linux and Sugar. I can understand XP for business users and whatnot, but not for the laptop’s target audience, as I’ll explain in the review.
If that is your XO, thumb, and card in the photo, I am expecting *many* photos of that screen displaying ebooks in various modes. If you must, post to Flickr so we can see them BIG.
Hi, Mike. Picked up image from the Wiki to which I link. Various screen images exist already on Flickr, and if I have time, I can come up with others. Meanwhile here’s a less-than-perfert image that I snapped. David
The issue with your older laptop is that it’s not an 8GB SD Card, it’s a 8GB SD HC Card. There are SD cards of 8GB in size as well, and will be ready nearly by anything these days, however SDHC are a different format and require updated firmware or an already compatible reader.
Great stuff on the XO!