CCNA 4 WAN Technologies (Version 3.1)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5 in Personal Computers
• Brand: OLPC
• Dimensions: 1.20" h x 9.00" w x 9.65" l, 3.20 pounds
• Memory: 256MB DDR SDRAM
• Hard Disk: 1GB
• Processors: 1
• Display size: 7.5

Features

• Dual mode sunlight-readable display screen, 1200x900 resolution
• Video and still camera
• Rugged water resistant low power laptop, no hard drive
• Open Source, Linux OS, encourages community involvement and self-exploration
• Standard WiFi as well as 'Mesh' networking that allows laptops to communicate with each other with or without a network infrastructure

Amazon.com Product Description
What is the XO Laptop?
The XO is an impactful learning tool designed and built especially for children in developing countries, living in some of the most remote environments. As such, it has several features you won’t find on any other laptop.

For starters, it’s about the size of a small textbook and made with a rugged plastic exterior. It has built-in wireless and a unique screen that works in full color or black and white to make it readable under direct sunlight for children who go to school outdoors. And finally it’s ultra-low power using only about 4 watts of power (most laptops use about 60 watts). This means, when there’s no electricity, it can be recharged with alternate power sources like solar power.

See a larger view and learn about the XO laptop's design.

The Children
Currently, there are XO laptops in over 30 countries from Peru to Rwanda, and everywhere it goes, the results are the same. The laptops help children build on their active interest in the world around them to engage with powerful ideas. When the laptops arrive school attendance goes up, teachers download lesson plans from the web and kids begin teaching each other how to use the machine. With the XO, kids actually learn how to learn.

Product Specifications
The laptop hardware was designed by experts from both education and industry. This team brought together extraordinary talent and decades of collective field experience to create the perfect machine to help carry out our mission. Built in hardware includes:

• Microphone
• Speakers
• Webcam
• 3 USB memory ports
• SD memory slot
• Game controller

XO comes pre-loaded with free and open-source software. Our commitment to software freedom gives children the opportunity to use their laptops on their own terms. The children—and their teachers—will have the freedom to reshape, reinvent, and reapply their software, hardware, and content.

• Pre installed software activities include:
• Music editing
• Drawing
• Writing
• Recording (includes audio, images and video)
• Basic computer programming
• A simple web browser
• Distance and sound wave measurement

For an even more detailed description of the XO please read the extended product description below visit laptop.org.

The One Laptop Per Child Organization
Founded in 2005 by MIT professor Nicholas Negroponte, One Laptop Per Child has a simple mission: to create educational opportunities for the world's poorest children by providing each and every one with a rugged, low-cost, low-power, connected laptop with content and software designed for collaborative, creative, self-empowered learning.

By giving a laptop, you are helping bring education to children in some of the world's most remote areas.

You are connecting them to each other. To us. To hope. And to a better future.

From Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (photo by Daniel Drake).

Design
Many years and an infinite amount of sweat equity went into the creation of the XO laptop. Designed collaboratively by experts from academia and industry, the XO is the product of the very best thinking about technology and learning. It was designed with the real world in mind, considering everything from extreme environmental conditions such as high heat and humidity, to technological issues such as local-language support. As a result, the XO laptop is extremely durable, brilliantly functional, energy-efficient, responsive, and fun.

Design factor was a priority from the start: the laptop could not be big, heavy, fragile, ugly, dangerous, or dull. Another imperative was visual distinction. In part, the goal is to strongly appeal to XO's intended users; but the machine's distinctive appearance is also meant to discourage gray-market traffic. There is no mistaking what it is and for whom it is intended.

XO is about the size of a textbook and lighter than a lunchbox. Thanks to its flexible design and "transformer" hinge, the laptop easily assumes any of several configurations: standard laptop use, e-book reading, and gaming. The laptop has rounded edges. The integrated handle is kid-sized, as is the sealed, rubber-membrane keyboard. The novel, dual-mode, extra-wide touchpad supports pointing, as well as drawing and writing.

Experience shows that laptop components most likely to fail are the hard drive and internal connectors. Therefore, XO has no hard drive to crash and only two internal cables. For added robustness, the machine's plastic walls are 2mm thick, as opposed to the standard 1.3mm. Its mesh network antennas, which far outperform the typical laptop, double as external covers for the USB ports, which are protected internally as well. The display is also cushioned by internal "bumpers."

The estimated product lifetime is at least five years. To help ensure such durability, the machines are being subjected to factory testing to destruction, as well as in field testing by children.

It features a 7.5-inch, 1200×900 pixel TFT screen and self-refreshing display with higher resolution (200 DPI) than 95 percent of the laptops on the market today. Two display modes are available: a transmissive, full-color mode, and a reflective, high-resolution black and white mode that is sunlight readable. Both consume very little power: the transmissive mode consumes one watt--about one seventh of the average LCD power consumption in a laptop; the reflective mode consumes a miserly 0.2 watts.

The laptop selectively suspends operation of its CPU, which makes possible even more remarkable power savings. The laptop nominally consumes less than two watts--less than one tenth of what a standard laptop consumes--so little that XO can be recharged by human power. This is a critical advance for the half-billion children who have no access to electricity.

The XO is fully compliant with the European Union's RoHS Directive. It contains no hazardous materials. Its LiFePO4 or NiMH batteries contain no toxic heavy metals, plus it features enhanced battery management for an extended recharge-cycle lifetime. It will also tolerate alternate power-charging sources, such as car batteries.

A close-up of the XO's keyboard.

Operating System and Software
The Sugar operating system is a "zoom" interface that graphically captures the world of fellow learners and teachers as collaborators, emphasizing the connections within the community, among people, and their activities. The XO comes pre-loaded with free and open-source software. OLPC's commitment to software freedom gives children the opportunity to use their laptops on their own terms. The children--and their teachers--will have the freedom to reshape, reinvent, and reapply their software, hardware, and content.

There are no software applications in the traditional sense on the laptop. The laptop focuses children around "activities." This is more than a new naming convention; it represents an intrinsic quality of the learning experience OLPC hopes that children will have when using the laptop. Activities are distinct from applications, focusing on collaboration and expression. And in order to facilitate a collaborative learning environment, the XO laptop employs a mesh network that interconnects all laptops within range. By exploiting this connectivity, every activity has the potential to be a networked activity.

Some of the unique aspects of the XO laptop's interface and software include:

• The Journal is an automated diary that keeps a record of all of your activities and the things you create--photos, drawing, writing, etc. You can search for individual items in your Journal or sort the entries by type or date. You can also click on an entry to get a detailed view. Finally, you can resume an activity by clicking on the small gray icon at the far right of the entry. The Journal is also used to access external media (USB thumb drives, etc.), delete files, and access an optional backup system.

The Journal.

Draw activity.

• The Draw activity provides a canvas for a child or a group of children to express themselves creatively. Children can draw free-form images with a paintbrush and pencil, and use the dedicated toolbar to play and experiment with shapes. Text support, image import functionality, and an interactive placement system give children limitless ways to explore their creativity.

• Simple enough to be used by even the youngest ages, TamTam Mini is a fun, powerful way to perform music and play instruments. Designed for older children who are ready to venture into more sophisticated sound design, SynthLab is a mini-lab for acoustic- and electronic-circuit construction.

TamTam Mini.

SynthLab.

"I like the laptop because I always snap pictures... I snap pictures and I play games; we use... Google [Internet]. I put it in Write and use it in class work." -- S. (Primary 4), Galadima School, Abuja, Nigeria

"Sometimes I play football and sometimes I stay in the classroom... I operate my laptop: I write, draw, and record music... At home, I go turn on the television and record music." -- C. (Primary 5), Galadima School, Abuja, Nigeria

"I think the laptop is very good. It helps us to find some words, like our uncle [teacher] will teach us... The things we didn't know, we go check on the laptop." -- T. (Primary 6), Galadima School, Abuja, Nigeria

What Teachers Are Saying
"With the laptop we can say that our school is really elevated because the children are really learning more... They see themselves discovering things that they have never been doing before." -- Mrs. M., Galadima School, Abuja, Nigeria

"Pupils go even beyond what I can teach in the class. It's a very interesting thing to use. I personally have a better idea about teaching... We discovered that giving them time to discover something and to do it in their own way, they feel more happy and they are so excited in using it that, 'Yes, I discovered it! Yes, I can get it!! Yes, I can do this on my own!!!' Teaching is getting more interesting and less stressful." -- Mr. O., Galadima School, Abuja, Nigeria

"Some children are naturally faster than the others; we discovered that they go ahead of the class. They can teach their mates that, 'Look I got it, this is how you do it, this is how you do it, this is how you do it.' This way the slower children also are catching up. When the children can learn on their own, apart from what they can learn in class, they go faster above their mates in other places." -- Mr. O., Galadima School, Abuja, Nigeria

Frequently Asked Questions

From Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, where 20,000 XO laptops were deployed thanks to the 2007 Give One, Get One program (photo by Carla Gomez Monroy).

Can I load other Linux distributions onto the XO laptop?
Yes. Soon there will be a fedora classic desktop product available via SD card for the XO. Community members are working on Ubuntu and Debian for the XO as well. Please see wiki.laptop.org for more information.

What kinds of power sources can I use with the XO laptop?
In addition to plugging the laptop into an electrical outlet (110-240 volts AC), the XO laptop can be powered by solar energy and human energy. The XO laptop can take a DC input ranging from 11 volts to 18 volts, a range that's far more flexible than most portable devices. The XO laptop is remarkably energy efficient, using only 10 percent of the average wattage of a standard laptop.

How will my donation be used?
Your donation will be used to cover the cost of manufacturing, sending and setting-up laptops in some of the most remote and isolated parts of the world. This may also include power and connectivity infrastructure, teacher preparation and other technical and educational support.

Why are these laptops going to children in developing nations when there are needy children in the U.S.?
In the U.S., the average expenditure for education is $7,500 dollars per child. In developing countries, the average expenditure is typically less than $300 dollars per child. One Laptop Per Child is initially focused on where the need is most urgent.

Why are the Xs and Os different colors on each XO laptop?
Individual child ownership is a core principle of OLPC. Ownership of the XO laptop by children in developing nations is coupled with new duties and responsibilities, such as protecting, caring for, and sharing this valuable equipment. The Xs and Os are made in 20 colors each, resulting in 400 different color combinations ensuring that each child will have an easily identifiable XO laptop. These colors are mixed and shipped randomly, so the XO laptops cannot be customized.

How do I access Tech Support?
Because OLPC is a non-profit company, we are unable to provide direct technical support. One goal of the project is that children will learn to troubleshoot the XO themselves and subsequently use their experiences to help others. In this spirit, volunteers have created great guides and forums for your XO laptop and its software, which can be found at: support.laptop.org. If you have questions that are not addressed in the troubleshooting section, please click here to send us an email.

Who is the manufacturer of the XO laptop computer?
Quanta Computer Inc. of Taiwan is the original design manufacturer (ODM) of the XO laptop. Quanta is the world's largest laptop manufacturer and makes laptops for Apple, HP, Dell among many others.

Is my donation tax deductible?
OLPC Foundation is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. As such, financial contributions may be deductible for federal income tax purposes. Please consult with your financial advisor to determine the extent of tax deductibility.

What is your Employer ID Number? (EIN)
Our US tax-exempt ID number is 20-5471780.

Message from One Laptop Per Child
The OLPC Foundation is a non-profit 501c(3) organization that is committed to delivering as many laptops to children in developing countries as possible. Due to costs associated with manufacturing, transporting, and setting-up laptops in some of the most remote and isolated parts of the world, we can never predict the full cost of delivering a laptop to a child. Frequently this will include power and connectivity infrastructure, teacher preparation and other technical and educational support. Therefore, given the magnitude of our mission and fulfillment costs covered in each donation, your contribution may advance this mission in vital ways beyond simply supporting the donation of a laptop.

Customer Reviews

Consider the XO for what it is and for its purpose
The XO laptop is a first-time computer for children who live in places without regular electricity or in harsh climates. It is designed to tolerate a lot of things much of our first-world laptops couldn't endure for long and still function as well. It was made to be inexpensive to produce and simple to repair. It comes with a variety of software that allows a child to read, write, draw, do math, use the Internet, write music, learn to program, and more. The programs come at no cost to the end user, are frequently updated and available in many diverse languages. There are lots more programs under development.

I received my first XO laptop last year during the first Give One, Get One promotion. I liked the idea and I liked the technology. My XO has been my travel laptop, my ebook reader, and my media player. I have been pleased with the way the software has improved in usability. I like the screen and the quiet, soft keyboard. Although the on-board storage is only one gigabyte and part of that goes to the operating system, SD cards are not so expensive now, so I have one always installed. If I were a child in a school, there would be a school server to back up my work.

The XO is convenient for me because of its small size, the light weight, the carrying handle, and the way the screen rotates to lay flat. It runs quietly and doesn't get hot. I wish the battery life was longer than the 3-4 hours I tend to get, but that may yet happen as the operating system evolves. I like that I can charge it from my car with an adapter. I hope to invest in a solar panel too.

The XO even did for me what it is supposed to do for children: it got me excited to learn. I've had a lot of fun using the software the kids use. I've made up music and written simple programs which are both things I would probably never have done otherwise. This laptop was well worth the cost to me because while I am enjoying mine, a child somewhere in the world is enjoying the one I donated.

This is not a cheap replacement for a business laptop, a media center pc, or a gaming system. The system, as shipped, probably wouldn't appeal to many adult computer users. But for what it is, I think it is amazing. XO laptops are helping kids learn at 13,000 feet in the Andes and at sea level in the Pacific, in the desert of Mongolia and the jungle of Thailand and the American city of Birmingham. If you don't want one for your own use, please consider donating one for a child. If you get one for yourself, please know there are vibrant and helpful community forums online and user groups in several large cities. And know that you will be part of something big that is changing the world.

XO is terrible
The XO is a brilliant little computer, but the organization is backed up with technocracy. There is no way to know these computers get to children, since they are simply sold to the government. There are no official XO tech support teams, since they are a non-profit and cannot offer such services. There is no infrastructure to back up the XO once it gets into the 3rd world countries, unless the government chooses to spend what little it has on internet connections for all the children to use ridiculous little Linux machines that have no bearing on the real world.

In short, the organization sucks.

dissapointing in the extreme
fails on all fronts:
Pros: it's green, I like green.
the screen is an interesting idea poorly executed, the two mode thing is cool, i'd like to see that attached to a real computer.
it was a nice idea to begin with.

cons:Hardware:
the keyboard is small, that I expected, i didn't expect the terrible action, the cheap plastic membrane covering it that seems rip to come loose. all the extra buttons on top waste space and appear to be without functionality as of last testing.
the webcam is not centered, every other built in webcam on the planet is centered, and for good reason.
it's rather top-heavy.
parts of the touch pad are present but inactive because there aren't drivers for them yet! useless!

software:
terrible, TERRIBLE. surely the GUI designers are on drugs. the 'philosphy' here is asinine, if you want children to learn how to use a computer you should build from the desktop computing model that every other GUI OS on the planet uses, there is not a single computer on earth that uses anything close to this scheme for displaying information, it's idiotic and confused. AND it's ugly as sin.

the chipset here isn't even vanilla x86 so you can't run a different light Linux distro without heavy modification to the kernal.

1gb flash memory is paltry, the ram even more so.

it runs badly, boot times are well over a minute and things run slugishly when you're just running one app. running more than one thing takes forever.

the wireless drivers are totally useless, acquisition of a strong signal on an open AP takes forever and since it's completely open source there are kinds of Wireless encryption it can't do, there's no package managers so there's little to no hope of ever getting them working.

also: large chunks of the original software team left the project 6-9 months ago I think, so there's even less hope that talented people can make the software usable.

the worst computing product I have ever encountered. I pity the poor child that got one of these via my donation. A first gen EEPC would have been a much better choice. there's one thing this project taught me: never buy anything designed by a committee and don't trust a non-profit to design my software, there's a reason that companies make millions selling software: because good software is valuable, nothing related to this project is.