Comments on: Free software needs hardware entrepreneurs http://gondwanaland.com/mlog/2006/09/23/hardware-entrepreneurs/ My opinions only. I do not represent any organization in this publication. Mon, 13 Oct 2008 02:22:12 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: Wes Felter http://gondwanaland.com/mlog/2006/09/23/hardware-entrepreneurs/#comment-38951 Wes Felter Thu, 12 Oct 2006 03:41:55 +0000 http://gondwanaland.com/mlog/2006/09/23/hardware-entrepreneurs/#comment-38951 OLPC doesn't even own their design (AFAIK it is co-owned by them and Quanta), so they won't be open-sourcing it. My understanding is that the parts (with the exception of the DCON and the LCD) are off-the-shelf and connected in more-or-less obvious ways, so you could probably hire a manufacturer to design/build something that is 90% similar to an OLPC and runs the OLPC software stack. OLPC doesn’t even own their design (AFAIK it is co-owned by them and Quanta), so they won’t be open-sourcing it. My understanding is that the parts (with the exception of the DCON and the LCD) are off-the-shelf and connected in more-or-less obvious ways, so you could probably hire a manufacturer to design/build something that is 90% similar to an OLPC and runs the OLPC software stack.

]]> By: David http://gondwanaland.com/mlog/2006/09/23/hardware-entrepreneurs/#comment-31654 David Sun, 24 Sep 2006 17:16:34 +0000 http://gondwanaland.com/mlog/2006/09/23/hardware-entrepreneurs/#comment-31654 Speaking at last week's AMD Global Vision conference, Nicholas Negroponte was quoted as saying that OLPC's laptops will be commercially available on ebay for around $450: http://www.olpcnews.com/people/negroponte/ebay_olpc_sales_inev.html There's no mention of whether the commercial version will be distinguishable in anyway from the charitably distributed one, so we can assume they will run linux. They won't be that keenly priced though, so its arguable as to whether the product will make a dent in the west. As for harware manufacturers outside the west, a few offer linux already. A South African manufacturer, Sahara, used to do it, although I can't seem to find any linux PCs on their site just now. There are some Brazillian and Argentinian manufacturers who offer Linux too - I came across a few examples a while back when I was looking into the sort of market Microsoft was targeting with their FlexGo PAYG product. Speaking at last week’s AMD Global Vision conference, Nicholas Negroponte was quoted as saying that OLPC’s laptops will be commercially available on ebay for around $450:

http://www.olpcnews.com/people/negroponte/ebay_olpc_sales_inev.html

There’s no mention of whether the commercial version will be distinguishable in anyway from the charitably distributed one, so we can assume they will run linux. They won’t be that keenly priced though, so its arguable as to whether the product will make a dent in the west.

As for harware manufacturers outside the west, a few offer linux already. A South African manufacturer, Sahara, used to do it, although I can’t seem to find any linux PCs on their site just now. There are some Brazillian and Argentinian manufacturers who offer Linux too - I came across a few examples a while back when I was looking into the sort of market Microsoft was targeting with their FlexGo PAYG product.

]]> By: Luis http://gondwanaland.com/mlog/2006/09/23/hardware-entrepreneurs/#comment-31588 Luis Sun, 24 Sep 2006 12:30:30 +0000 http://gondwanaland.com/mlog/2006/09/23/hardware-entrepreneurs/#comment-31588 I had avoided that, and stuck to resale, because, well, hardware is hard :) To a certain extent, though, this is what system76.com does. If they'd sold a lightweight tablet, I'd almost definitely have bought from them instead. I'll probably buy my next desktop from them as well (though I have no plans to do that any time in the near future.) I had avoided that, and stuck to resale, because, well, hardware is hard :) To a certain extent, though, this is what system76.com does. If they’d sold a lightweight tablet, I’d almost definitely have bought from them instead. I’ll probably buy my next desktop from them as well (though I have no plans to do that any time in the near future.)

]]>