0

By David Rothman

OLPC screenHere’s a photo of the dual-mode display for the $100 laptop in the color mode. It lacks the full monochrome resolution of 1200 horizontal by 900 vertical. You can also see a larger image, plus a whole collection of related photos.

OLPC is apparently sticking to its promises that the dual-mode screen will be readable inside even with the backlight off and offer 22.5 frames per second. Via the machine’s built-in video camera, we could see a flood of images from the Third World, taken by local people. Imagine the social and political implications.

I know. The $100 laptop, aka the 2B1, which will start out selling for a bit more, is being promoted for K-12 purposes in developing countries. But I find it absolutely impossible to believe that the screen technology won’t make its way into commercial apps, and same for the rest of the machine. If the inevitable happens, this could be, as I’ve written before, a mighty interesting challenge for sellers of E Ink machines. Full hardware specs, at least as of June, are here.

Related: OLPC’s Walter Bender writes: “After several minor iterations, the OLPC document format is close to stabilized, and the release of a Version 1 is expected shortly. The release will be largely or completely compatible with the upcoming WikiCreole specification, an attempt at a standard subset of wiki markup that wiki systems can support in addition to their native markup.”

(Via Engadget, which has published a photo of a prototype of the screen. Also see images in the unofficial One Laptap Per Child News.)

 
0