$100 PC – here and now
p2pnet.net News:- It’s here. And now. A solid-state Net PC, for a mere $100 – as long as you buy 100,000 or more.
SolarPC’s SolarLite. “serves as a response to last month’s challenge by Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer for the computer industry to build a $100 PC,” says the company.
The computer offers, “an ecologically and economically viable method to provide information to billions of disadvantaged people around the world,” it states, going on:
“In conjunction with the SolarLite announcement, SolarPC circulated details regarding the Global Education Link (GEL) project, an initiative with the goal of giving away a million SolarLite computers to schools in poor countries around the world.
“The objective of the GEL project is to improve education in third world countries and thereby encourage self-sufficiency and promote world harmony.
K-12 education specialist Dr James Johnson says, “The Global Education Link project has the potential to break down the barriers that prevent people in the developing world from getting a good education.
“The recent release of the FireFox Internet browser makes the timing of this announcement extremely auspicious. The open source FireFox browser provides a solid foundation for the development of non-proprietary educational software. It will facilitate the creation of thousands of educational programs that can be distributed to millions of students at no cost. This is a fantastic opportunity to leverage technology that will make the world a better place.”
The SolarLite is a fully featured, book sized (9″ x 7″ x 1.75″) machine that weighs approximately three pounds. It features a rugged no-moving-parts design that includes a Compact Flash drive, “loaded with dozens of software programs, plus links to free development software and educational programs”.
Design and construction are consistent with the goal of an environmentally friendly computer, says SolarPC, adding:
“It uses a lightweight, recyclable, aluminum case that has a 20-year warranty. Its VIA chipset based “long-life” motherboard is a ‘green’ lead free product. Like all SolarPC computers, the SolarLite operates on 12 volt DC power and can be run from a solar panel, car battery, or human powered (with a bicycle-based generator). The cool and quiet SolarLite uses approximately 10 watts of energy, just a fraction of what a standard PC consumes.
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See:-
$100 – SolarPC Announces the $100 Personal Computer, Linux PR, November 20, 2005
March 30th, 2005 at 5:25 pm
Hello Sir,
We are Crown Venture Company in Gambia, we are intrested in your [solar PC Linux computer],we want to order,do you shipp to Gambia,kindly let us know.thank’s in anticipation as we look forward to your reply.
Best regard
General manager
Crown Venture
John Welem
Banjul The Gambia
Tel;;00220-9947224
Fax;;+220-4397212
John_welem@yahoo.com
December 13th, 2005 at 6:33 pm
I am called Joseph sekiku. I work with a local development charity called FADECO in the far north western part of tanzania. This is a very remote area far from the capital city (about 2000 km away). it is here in the middle of nowehere that FADECO is trying to introduce the use of ICTs for rural development, trying to bridge the digital divide.
FADECO is trying to implement a rural ict based project including: ICT training in basic computer literacy, establishment of computer labs (2-3 PCs) in the secodnray schools, sharing of offline resources via CDs (CDROM Project), and internet connectivity.
One of the biggest challenges is power supply. The remote rural does not have grid. The Pentium 1 computers that we have require 240 Volts. This is a biggest challenge. Also the costs of computers is another constraint. There are no computer shops here and so we depend on purchase of second hand stuff from dar es salaam. You can imagine problems associeted with these.
I find your article very interesting. I would request the you partner with FADECO to try out and roll out these cheap low power consumption computers in deep rural tanznia.
More information about us can be found at http://www.fadeco.org. Alternatively, i will be very happy to hear from you personally at sekiku@satconet.net