The $100 One Laptop per Child, OLPC, project was launched by MIT Media Lab chairman Nicholas Negroponte in January 2005 and has been moving forward slowly but surely. It was given a boost last week with the news that it has received the support of the United Nations Development Program.
Raleigh, North Carolina-based Red Hat is one of the founding members behind the project, along with Advanced Micro Devices Inc, Brightstar Corp, Google Inc, News Corp, and Nortel Networks Corp, and has confirmed that it will drive the development of the operating system for the machine, and is also contributing to plans for community participation, training, support, updates, and technology integration.
The machines will use the Linux operating system as part of the plan to keep costs down and encourage participation in software development projects. The machine itself will be a ruggedised notebook with a dual-mode display and wireless broadband connectivity enabling multiple machines to operate as a mesh network.
Taiwanese design manufacturer Quanta Computer Inc will design and manufacture the machines, which will also feature power innovations, such as a wind-up capability, and are expected to start shipping at the end of 2006 or early 2007 once at least 5 million machines have been ordered and paid for in advance. The machines will sold to governments and then issued to children.
