November 16, 2005. Copyright 2005, Graphic News. All rights reserved

A low cost laptop to teach the developing world
By Mark Rutter

LONDON, November 16, Graphic News:  A clockwork laptop computer might sound like a wind up. In fact thatŐs exactly what it is. Powered by turning a hand-operated handle, and costing less than $100, its developers hope it will increase education opportunities for tens of millions of children across the developing world.

The economy laptop was pioneered at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Laboratory, founded by Nicholas Negroponte, who is due to unveil the prototype at the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunisia, where his non-profit One Laptop Per Child Group is receiving a good deal of attention. Negroponte claims to have witnessed first hand in Cambodia how computers have transformed childrenŐs learning, and plans to deliver 15 million computers to children in the developing world over the next year. If things go according to plan, the group should be churning out up to 150 million per year by 2007.

Inexpensive laptops are not new -- the British charity Ndiyo, and scientists in India have made cheap computers available for use in developing nations. One of the crucial features of this latest computer however, is its retractable winder used to generate electricity. This is vital given that the majority of children in the developing world do not have access to mains electricity or batteries. The technology is based on the clockwork radio, developed in the 1990s by English inventor Trevor Baylis, and which was a great success in giving the poor in South Africa access to a communication medium. In its current form, the laptop will require a minute of winding for every ten minutes of power, although it does have an AC adapter for use with an external power supply.

Cost saving features include a free Linux operating system, instead of Windows, and an innovative low-cost full size LCD colour screen that can be used in black and white mode for viewing in bright sunlight. Savings are also made as advertising and marketing the product -- the cost of which can be significant -- is not necessary. Instead the laptops will be supplied in their millions directly to ministries of education for distribution. Corners have also been cut on specification. With a processor speed of 500MHz -- around one third of todayŐs cheapest laptop models, and relying on flash memory instead of a hard drive resulting in just 1GB data storage capacity, it isnŐt a match for the modern commercial laptop.

But the laptop will have several USB ports, and support WiFi and cell phone connectivity. Low cost access to the internet is also currently under investigation. The project has benefited through sponsorship from Google. It is providing the software for linking the computers together, aimed at allowing several machines to access the internet by sharing one online connection.

Initially, each country will have to pay for one million laptops in advance to ensure sufficient numbers are produced to keep the costs per computer down. Once mass production begins it is hoped the price will fall further, particularly as a $100 laptop is still beyond the reach of many of the poorest nations.
/ENDS