Bummed over green laptop

Dang.

Saw a newspaper clipping about a $100 laptop that is being developed. Hand-cranked for electricity, so it can work in regions with unreliable power. And -- a green casing! Yeah!!!

Looked it up on the web, via the supplied URL (http://laptop.media.mit.edu/), to see how to go about ordering one. See photos beow.

(Photos from http://laptop.media.mit.edu/laptop-images.html)



Glamor shot:


In use (note the small size, as indicated by the size of the kid's hands):


Folded:

Wi-fi equipped, loads o' USB ports. 500MHz, 1GB HD, 1 megapixel display. Can't store large amounts of data, but can do typing, e-mail, and basic web-browsing. Keyboard looks a little small, but I could always jack a full-sized keyboard into one of the many USB ports.

And: It runs Linux! ;) (They didn't say which distro; could be a custom one?)

But -- they won't be available for public sale. Instead, they'll be distributed directly to schoolkids in non-industrialized countries, through their schools.

Dang. International impoverished kids get all the breaks... :(


But, persevering, I did e-mail them and express my interest in buying two, should they become available. And I suggested that they do offer them for sale publicly -- perhaps under a scheme of ''buy two, send one to a poor kid.'' In other words, spend $200 [still a bargain!], keep one for yourself, they send the other one to a poor kid.


--GG