XO2, the Coolest Computer Ever

Thursday, July 3rd, 2008 | Editorial

I didn’t know what if I was going to write about anything this week. Then a comment on this site led me to this news bit. I just about fell off my chair.

I’ve been watching the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project since I first heard about it, long before it was called the XO. Now I’ll admit, philanthropic as it is my interest in the program was personal. I wanted one. But it’s limited specs probably would have kept me from getting one even if they were available to the pubic.

Unrelated to OLPC (or so I thought) I had a dream one night where I was using a portable computer that had dual screens. When needed one screen changed into a keyboard. Then it changed back to just an output screen. I loaded a game and the touch screen turned into a game pad. I think my dream was combining a laptop with the Nintendo DS with Star Trek. When I woke I thought that such a machine would be feasible with current technology, but I concluded it would be crazy expensive. Still, I have voiced on several occasions the idea of using a touch screen as an interchangable input device and my assertion of how awesome it would be.

Then I see the article above where in the OLPC people are making a new economical laptop that does pretty drew its specs from my sleeping fantasy, and they’re manufacturing it for a song. Somebody pinch me. Granted it is going to have less processing power than a high end laptop, but this could set a precedent for a new breed of laptop. Since the OX2 isn’t going to be available until 2010 it’s entirely likely that by the time they’re in the hands of the public that this sort of design will not be so ground breaking. But even underpowered this machine, by virtue of it’s unique design, will still have many applications. As long as it can process txts, pdfs, and cbr files I could keep my self occupied for a long time with one of these, longer if I could use it to type simple C/C++ programs.

I had the idea that Cymon’s Games would be perfect for the original $100 computer. It’s original specs wepre pretty low and had it running Linux which generally comes with a C/C++ compiler. Now, as I said I don’t have a $100 computer, so I don’t know for sure, but it looks like they’ve burried the compiler under a GUI, if it’s even there, and replace it with a graphical “authoring environment” (yuck) and python (better). But I’ll bet C/C++ is still there for anyone who knows where to look.

Not having a OLPC laptop I really can’t check for myself. I really wish I were in a position to recive one. Maybe my 2010 I can position myself so that I can get my hands on one. Anyone know anyone at MIT?

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