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From: Don McKenzie on 5 Apr 2010 16:17

One Laptop Per Child delivers 200 laptops to Territory kids in Yirrkala
Non-profit outfit continues to roll out budget XO laptops to children in
remote areas

Non-profit organisation, One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) Australia,
continues to roll out budget laptops to primary school children in the
Northern Territory with 200 devices being delivered to the remote town
of Yirrkala.

Globally the organisation has shipped 1 million of its purpose-built
budget XO laptops over the past 24 months in 31 countries to
disadvantaged children. It began its Australian rollout in May 2009 and
is aiming to deliver 15,000 devices domestically in 2010.

http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/341757/one_laptop_per_child_delivers_200_laptops_territory_kids_yirrkala/

Cheers Don...




--
Don McKenzie

Site Map: http://www.dontronics.com/sitemap
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These products will reduce in price by 5% every month:
http://www.dontronics-shop.com/minus-5-every-month.html
From: John Tserkezis on 5 Apr 2010 18:41
Don McKenzie wrote:

> One Laptop Per Child delivers 200 laptops to Territory kids in Yirrkala
> Non-profit outfit continues to roll out budget XO laptops to children in
> remote areas

This brings up another somewhat related point. What's the appeal of
laptops?

My 10yo niece was whining to me that they were originally told they
were getting laptops, but her school had taken delivery of a bunch of
brand spanking new desktops instead.

The laptops were to be permanently tethered (presumably via a
Kensington lock) and never intended to be moved at all. Like the
desktops will be.

Perhaps this was a 10yo's over-active perception here, but the reaction
was akin to expecting 15 PCs, but actually taking delivery of two second
hand pocket calculators instead. The non-scientific kind.

It's not just her either. Family friends upgrading, are looking at
laptops to replace their aging desktops. They don't need the
portability, they tether the machines to one spot, but they appear happy
to make do with a smaller screen, smaller keyboard, limited upgraded
potential, a F%#king trackpad instead of a more useful mouse, AND a
generally higher price to boot. On top of that, because they'll never
cycle their batteries, it's almost guaranteed to bed dead within the
year. I'm expecting them to whine about the few-month warranty on
batteries for this exact reason.

What makes people do this? I understand the "flavour of the month"
attraction, but this is way past silly.




Don't get me wrong, lap/note/netbooks have their purpose, I have three
myself, (seven if you count the broken ones), but I have a higher end
desktop, a server, another server (that I only use for destructive
testing), another server that will go into service when I get some time,
and another two PCs that are quite old that I haven't found an embedded
purpose for yet.
I do the *vast* majority of my work on the one desktop simply because
it's the ideal hardware base for the work.

The lap/netbook(s) are good for portability where I need a wintel box
while I'm on the move. I certainly don't do (or try hard to avoid
doing) any heavy duty work on them. And for that they serve nicely.
From: Clocky on 5 Apr 2010 19:43
John Tserkezis wrote:
> Don McKenzie wrote:
>
>> One Laptop Per Child delivers 200 laptops to Territory kids in
>> Yirrkala Non-profit outfit continues to roll out budget XO laptops
>> to children in remote areas
>
> This brings up another somewhat related point. What's the appeal of
> laptops?
>
> My 10yo niece was whining to me that they were originally told they
> were getting laptops, but her school had taken delivery of a bunch of
> brand spanking new desktops instead.
>
> The laptops were to be permanently tethered (presumably via a
> Kensington lock) and never intended to be moved at all. Like the
> desktops will be.
>
> Perhaps this was a 10yo's over-active perception here, but the
> reaction was akin to expecting 15 PCs, but actually taking delivery
> of two second hand pocket calculators instead. The non-scientific
> kind.
>
> It's not just her either. Family friends upgrading, are looking at
> laptops to replace their aging desktops. They don't need the
> portability, they tether the machines to one spot, but they appear
> happy to make do with a smaller screen, smaller keyboard, limited
> upgraded potential, a F%#king trackpad instead of a more useful
> mouse, AND a generally higher price to boot. On top of that, because
> they'll never cycle their batteries, it's almost guaranteed to bed
> dead within the year. I'm expecting them to whine about the
> few-month warranty on batteries for this exact reason.
>
> What makes people do this? I understand the "flavour of the month"
> attraction, but this is way past silly.
>
>
>
>
> Don't get me wrong, lap/note/netbooks have their purpose, I have three
> myself, (seven if you count the broken ones), but I have a higher end
> desktop, a server, another server (that I only use for destructive
> testing), another server that will go into service when I get some
> time, and another two PCs that are quite old that I haven't found an
> embedded purpose for yet.
> I do the *vast* majority of my work on the one desktop simply because
> it's the ideal hardware base for the work.
>
> The lap/netbook(s) are good for portability where I need a wintel box
> while I'm on the move. I certainly don't do (or try hard to avoid
> doing) any heavy duty work on them. And for that they serve nicely.

Kids would be better off learning stuff like long division multiplication
tables and actually learn to use their brains to work stuff out.

My nephew is an top level student yet I'm astounded more about what he
doesn't know then what he does.



From: SG1 on 5 Apr 2010 19:49

"John Tserkezis" <jt(a)techniciansyndrome.org.invalid> wrote in message
news:4bba670a$0$5591$afc38c87(a)news.optusnet.com.au...
> Don McKenzie wrote:
>
>> One Laptop Per Child delivers 200 laptops to Territory kids in Yirrkala
>> Non-profit outfit continues to roll out budget XO laptops to children in
>> remote areas
>
> This brings up another somewhat related point. What's the appeal of
> laptops?
>
> My 10yo niece was whining to me that they were originally told they
> were getting laptops, but her school had taken delivery of a bunch of
> brand spanking new desktops instead.
>
> The laptops were to be permanently tethered (presumably via a
> Kensington lock) and never intended to be moved at all. Like the
> desktops will be.
>
> Perhaps this was a 10yo's over-active perception here, but the reaction
> was akin to expecting 15 PCs, but actually taking delivery of two second
> hand pocket calculators instead. The non-scientific kind.
>
> It's not just her either. Family friends upgrading, are looking at
> laptops to replace their aging desktops. They don't need the
> portability, they tether the machines to one spot, but they appear happy
> to make do with a smaller screen, smaller keyboard, limited upgraded
> potential, a F%#king trackpad instead of a more useful mouse, AND a
> generally higher price to boot. On top of that, because they'll never
> cycle their batteries, it's almost guaranteed to bed dead within the
> year. I'm expecting them to whine about the few-month warranty on
> batteries for this exact reason.
>
> What makes people do this? I understand the "flavour of the month"
> attraction, but this is way past silly.
>
>
>
>
> Don't get me wrong, lap/note/netbooks have their purpose, I have three
> myself, (seven if you count the broken ones), but I have a higher end
> desktop, a server, another server (that I only use for destructive
> testing), another server that will go into service when I get some time,
> and another two PCs that are quite old that I haven't found an embedded
> purpose for yet.
> I do the *vast* majority of my work on the one desktop simply because
> it's the ideal hardware base for the work.
>
> The lap/netbook(s) are good for portability where I need a wintel box
> while I'm on the move. I certainly don't do (or try hard to avoid
> doing) any heavy duty work on them. And for that they serve nicely.

#5 a (cute) daughter purchased a lappie so it could be moved to where the
3yo & 18mo could not get their little grubbies on it. The stationary 32"
plasma makes an ideal target for the 18mo. The bad news is it is my tv.
I have 2 lappies a P2/3 (not sure) Toshiba 4000CDT for DOS and a P4 HP for
well I am not sure what it is for. As I never paid for either it does not
really matter.


From: SG1 on 5 Apr 2010 19:51

"Clocky" <notgonn(a)happen.com> wrote in message
news:4bba756c$0$27875$c3e8da3(a)news.astraweb.com...
> John Tserkezis wrote:
>> Don McKenzie wrote:
>>
>>> One Laptop Per Child delivers 200 laptops to Territory kids in
>>> Yirrkala Non-profit outfit continues to roll out budget XO laptops
>>> to children in remote areas
>>
>> This brings up another somewhat related point. What's the appeal of
>> laptops?
>>
>> My 10yo niece was whining to me that they were originally told they
>> were getting laptops, but her school had taken delivery of a bunch of
>> brand spanking new desktops instead.
>>
>> The laptops were to be permanently tethered (presumably via a
>> Kensington lock) and never intended to be moved at all. Like the
>> desktops will be.
>>
>> Perhaps this was a 10yo's over-active perception here, but the
>> reaction was akin to expecting 15 PCs, but actually taking delivery
>> of two second hand pocket calculators instead. The non-scientific
>> kind.
>>
>> It's not just her either. Family friends upgrading, are looking at
>> laptops to replace their aging desktops. They don't need the
>> portability, they tether the machines to one spot, but they appear
>> happy to make do with a smaller screen, smaller keyboard, limited
>> upgraded potential, a F%#king trackpad instead of a more useful
>> mouse, AND a generally higher price to boot. On top of that, because
>> they'll never cycle their batteries, it's almost guaranteed to bed
>> dead within the year. I'm expecting them to whine about the
>> few-month warranty on batteries for this exact reason.
>>
>> What makes people do this? I understand the "flavour of the month"
>> attraction, but this is way past silly.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Don't get me wrong, lap/note/netbooks have their purpose, I have three
>> myself, (seven if you count the broken ones), but I have a higher end
>> desktop, a server, another server (that I only use for destructive
>> testing), another server that will go into service when I get some
>> time, and another two PCs that are quite old that I haven't found an
>> embedded purpose for yet.
>> I do the *vast* majority of my work on the one desktop simply because
>> it's the ideal hardware base for the work.
>>
>> The lap/netbook(s) are good for portability where I need a wintel box
>> while I'm on the move. I certainly don't do (or try hard to avoid
>> doing) any heavy duty work on them. And for that they serve nicely.
>
> Kids would be better off learning stuff like long division multiplication
> tables and actually learn to use their brains to work stuff out.
>
> My nephew is an top level student yet I'm astounded more about what he
> doesn't know then what he does.

Try asking a kid to do maths in their head. What a radical idea today. When
I am having a good day the brain gets used if not then silicon.

>
>
>


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