My daughter’s OLPC XO finally arrived today (Jan. 3, 2008). In the photo above there is an iPod touch on top of it and an Apple Macbook beneath it to help provide a sense of scale. The first thing I want to make clear is that I think the OLPC is a great idea with startling (in the good sense) design features especially given its low price. So, anything I say that sounds like nit-picking is just that… Little nit-picky notes to help those still waiting for their XO to learn more about the device while they wait. There’s a lot of good reviews and XO focused blogs out there. So, I’ll just mention a few things that I haven’t seen noted elsewhere.
First my decidedly non-techie daughter who is a bit above the target audience’s age range (7th grade) is very excited about the XO. This actually surprised me. I was even more surprised when she showed a lot of interest in the Python-based Pippy component that is designed to help children understand programming concepts. I used to write a lot of code in Python before I discovered Ruby, so this means I may spend some time back working with Python if she remains interested in learning more about Pippy.
Second, returning to the theme of a non-techie kid’s reaction to the XO… This week is still part of the winter holiday school break. I was at work when the XO arrived. But, my daughter was at home with her mom. If a Windows based PC or Macbook had arrived, she would have waited for me to come home to plug it in and configure it. But, because the XO is designed to be opened and setup by very young children (much younger than my daughter), she popped XO out of its container, put the battery in, plugged it in to charge it, and started playing with it right away. I actually don’t know what the initial setup screen(s) look like since she had put her name on the system before I got home.
Third, my daughter commented that the Mac seemed easier to use. But, that is because she has used that at school for several years now. However, she also commented that she liked the circular activity ring that builds as you launch applications. That surprised me a little since it is so different from the more familiar GUI conventions she has used with Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X.
Fourth, the browser is very fussy about SSL certificates. What do I mean by that? Since the OLPC does not have an IMAP4 email client, I pointed the browser to the web interface for the account I created for her email account. Like many web hosting services, the SSL cert does not match what the browser expects to see. Most browsers complain about this as a potential security risk but let you continue on by pressing a button. XO’s browser rejects the invalid SSL cert and stops dead in its tracks. The non-SSL (plain http:// instead of https://) web interface works. But, of course, this means that everything is transmitted in clear text.
Fifth, although the XO has some kind of Flash player built in, it is apparently based on an older version and rejected by sites like DisneyChannel.com. This is too bad since so many child and tween friendly sites are Flash based.
Sixth, the XO’s 802.11b/g WiFi radio doesn’t support WPA (it does support the weaker WEP). The bigger problem for me was that it couldn’t see my 802.11g access point even with just WEP turned on for it. It could see my old 802.11b access point though. So, I was able to get it online this evening.
Seventh, I was able to briefly get to play with it and opened up a shell window to take a look around. The XO seems to have a good set of tools including ssh and scp. I was able to ssh into a Linux test server with no problem. The XO does not support X Windows (too heavy). So, I couldn’t run X applications remotely. But, a secure remote text shell is usually enough for 99% of quick little systems tasks.
Eighth, I plugged in an old USB optical mouse and it worked fine. No setup. No configuration. It just worked.
Ninth, there are apparently two different batteries used by the XO: LiFeP and (the more familair) NiMH. The LiFeP based XO’s are slightly lighter than the ones with NiMH batteries (3.2 lbs. vs. 3.48 lbs.). The one we received has a LiFeP battery.
Finally (for the moment), the OLPC XO has what looks like a rich set of tools both in the sense of the graphical ones it provides for children as well as under-the-hood ones for systems people. As an old UNIX/Linux hack, I’m looking forward to asking for some play time on the XO to look under the hood a bit more. My daughter had a lot of questions about the XO that I can’t answer yet: Can you change the default screen colors? Does a USB flash drive need to be dismounted before physically removing it? Can we plug in a USB printer? Can the word processor read and write Word files? And many other reasonable questions that we need to dig into over the next few days and weeks.
I think 2008 is going to be the year of the ultraportable. the Asustek EEE PC led the way in late 2007. The OLPC XO followed up. And, the rumored Apple subnotebook may be announced in less than two weeks at Macworld.
We received our XO in March, played for a day, discovered the difficulties installing Flash, and didn’t touch it again until yesterday.
My 5-yr-old son is beginning to play with music and some of the other apps. He loves the size, carrying handle, and that it physically is just right for a child.
We don’t need any of the office software (spreadsheet! presentation software!) that an adult asked for above. We do need Flash. Can anyone help me figure out how to download it fast, please?!! I would be so grateful (to get the kid off my macBook).
I’ve signed up for RSS feed, but am not sure it will work, so would also appreciate an email jkopf at wtamu edu
Thanks,
Jen
Well. I guess I will be the first negative reviewer here. I love the concept as a geek engineer and peace corps volunteer. It is a completely wonderful idea. The hardware is cool although very slow at times. Its ability to pick up wireless signals in the area is much better than wireless on my pc. So what is the problem? The software interface beyond just initially starting up is terrible. It is not a true GUI and not much better than old Red Hat windows emulator. The running program ring is fine and is the only intuitive aspect to the operating system. Moving around in the screen quickly makes me nauseous as you get near edges you pop in and out of application windows and toolbars. Not best idea when talking about kids using this who do not have necessarily fine motor control with a touch pad. To improve efficiency I guess, they have browser and journal programs providing double duty as surrogate file explorers. For example, deleting a download in journal removes the program. Not the greatest idea. There literally is no manual for the computer, and what you have are some web pages that you hunt around to do very basic things but nothing that would happen if you run into any trouble. And trouble is what occurs when you start using a not ready for prime time operating system and activity programs that are not beta tested. This is the real downside of this whole project. It is nice to have open source setup but this is nowhere near a professional software system. The frustration mounts when you try to do something simple like download files of a memory stick. The apps themselves are awesome when it comes to programming exercises and music composition. Unfortunately the drop off is steep after that. The write program is very minimal and the paint program is a complete joke. There are no other office type software such as spreadsheets or presentation. I am geek but even the hardest core geek will have to admit that most of these students will need to use real word processing, spreadsheets,and presentation type software. The other serious drawback is that it appears that they eschewed using all of the great linux software and apps that have been around for years instead reinventing the wheel. This is really the downfall of the laptop. Imagine this hardware using pocketpc or i-phone like software and could sell hundreds of thousands to millions of these in this country alone. This would decrease the cost and make the 100 dollar laptop more a reality.
@shiloh
The color of the X and O are varied randomly. This is done to make it easy for children in a class room to identify their own machine.
@todd
I read (somewhere…) that the XO wants the wifi base station to use a stable channel, and not use channel ‘hopping’.
Really looking forward to getting my hands on ‘my’ XO, it should arrive any day now. I think this is THE product of 2007 (and 2008). They broke out of the box by realizing that in order to make a cheaper machine, you need to put in MORE ideas and technology. I still can’t believe you get advanced hardware + a new UI paradigm for only 140 euros. Pinch me!
Imagine how good a 300 euro commercial laptop _could_ be, if only someone would decide to make one…
I forgot to add, that the XO I own is slightly different in color. The X and O on the top are in Blueish tones, I wonder if that is a way to tell what version it is. I would also like to thank the author for the suggestion of an older USB mouse, the one that we use doesn’t work. I think that I should mention how well the XO detects internet. It found at least ten more access points than my mom’s laptop. I have been able to connect to the internet basically everywhere I tried which is everywhere I go. I was even able to access internet on a road trip. Although with it lagging because its so small I lost some connections before it would finish connecting.
I recieved my OLPC XO laptop on th 19th of last month. I was out of town, so my mom decided to open it up and set it up for me. My mom is not very technologically inclined, she didn’t even know how to turn on the TV without telling her the instructions 12 different times. But when I got home everything was set up. I am somewhat knowledgable about computers and I still can not figure some things out. I am still trying to learn how to do things, and I just can not seem to find instructions anywhere. I agree with the author about most of his complaints about the laptop. I wish I could find a way to get java and flash player to work. I am sure if I could get some things to work then I would be really really satisfied with the laptop.