OLPC A-test board arrives
The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) effort aims to develop a laptop that costs U$100 which will be used to educate children, particularly in the developing world. For quite a while now our friend Chris has been heavily involved in the project (that’s him!).
Chris finally convinced me that tackling some of the technical problems, particularly in getting the kernel to run efficiently on such lean hardware, would be a lot of fun. I’m excited by the notion of a project I can spend hobby time on that lots of people are actively interested in. So I requested a board and here it is! I have to order some USB kit to get a development environment up and running but that shouldn’t take long at all.
boolean wrote:
Cool!
What’s that white socket with the red blob on it? Is there an empty slot on there for something?
Posted on 06-Jul-06 at 4:41 am | Permalink
graydon wrote:
Neat. I have to admit I’m pleasantly surprised that the whole thing has gone through to the point of production. Now I feel like a jerk for not having been more positive about it.
I hope the software comes together in a similarly positive way!
Posted on 06-Jul-06 at 8:18 am | Permalink
zab wrote:
Yeah, I think there are parts that aren’t included yet.
It’s not so much a white socket as a pad that has a chunk of white silk-screen in it. It’s from the same process that makes the white text. Apparently putting big white bits in the pads helps the pick-n-place machines find the pads? And the red is a bit of glue that would usually hold the part in place as the board is flipped to do the underside before going into the soldering oven?
I don’t know what I’m talking about but I’ve listened to a friend who does.
Posted on 06-Jul-06 at 9:40 am | Permalink