OLPC gets a robust test on field

A software engineer James Cameron, or ‘Quozl’ as he is popularly known, has spent the past two years testing the prototypes of XO, a low-cost laptop. The device is specifically targeted towards the not-so-rich in the developing nations and is eco-friendly too. Cameron works for the US charity organization, One Laptop Per Child, volunteerely. The engineer, who often devotes up to five hours of a day in his work for charity, compares his activities to missionary work based on goodwill. Quozl, however, is extremely scared of flying, and his dislike of traveling in planes prevents him from traveling to other countries. Still, he believes he can indeed be successful in his attempts to aid and educate the less-privileged children worldwide, even by working only from his own property.

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Cameron has shaped his own farm, located about 60 kilometres from Coonabarabran, as an ideal testing place for the laptops, since the conditions there are similar to those in the Third World countries. Cameron has developed the free software that is used in the XO and has also found a major impediment through his testing, he revealed that the battery used in the early versions of XO stopped charging in temperatures over 45 degrees centigrade.

In order to enable collaboration on any computer activity by the children, a wireless mesh network is used in the XOs. The network connects all laptops within a specific range, without any additional infrastructure (routers, cables,etc). Testing the range of this wireless connection between laptops is probably the most significant achievement of James Cameron.

The XO laptops have a screen that is readable in bright sunlight, tough handles and dust-resistant keyboards that are designed to suit the fingers of children, in addition to the usual laptop features, including a camera, microphone, game pad keys and USB ports. The laptops can be powered by a solar panel or the provided hand-crank.

Jim Gettys, the vice-president of software engineering at the One Laptop Per Child charity, was in Australia last month. Adressing a conference of free-software developers, Gettys provided an update on the XO project. He also provided a list of the major problems that had to be conquered in making this project a success, including absence of electricity, poor rates of literacy, lack of internet-knowledge and an ignorance of cyber terminologies among some third-world communities.

Emphasizing the fact that the less-privileged children were as capable of learning as their richer counterparts, Gettys also said that these kids might have no place to study except, maybe under a tree. The screen of the XO laptops, unlike those of ordinary laptops, is ideally suited to be used in such a scenario. Cameron's effort to test the OLPC projects is a great help in the effort to provide perfect environment for the poor children who often fail to get their hands onto devices like a laptop.

Source: SMH