The Coolest Netbook You’ve Forgotten About: The OLPC XO-1

Nicholas Negroponte founded the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative to bring affordable computing to the impoverished in the U.S. and abroad. Their first production machine, the XO-1, broke traditional computing paradigms with a radically different design compared to traditional laptops and a FOSS philosophy. Quanta Computers filled an order for 1 million XO's in February of 2007. In this video we are going to take a look at this innovative little machine and talk a little about what makes it so interesting.
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[@MrCorrectify]

Its called a transreflective LCD. They are popular on some tablets that act as Ereaders in asia, but never really caught on in the west, though you can sometimes find them in ATMs and gas station displays.

[@kensmith5694]

@hyper Most of them are the exact same with and without sunlight. On some, the colors change because of two trips through for sun vs just one for the backlight.

[@aesthet1kal]

There’s Smartwatches that include TransLCDs, for example the Xiaomi Amazfit Bip

[@Neko-kun-dp1hq]

Would there be any benefit to having TransLEDs in smartphones? Of course, being able to see the screen better under bright conditions is a given but what about battery life, enabling/disabling it, etc?

[@beatricemeyers4640]

This is a Pixel Qi display, transflective indoors, reflective outdoors: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixel_Qi

[@plasmar1]

@@beatricemeyers4640

[@aileenbordelon7884]

I actually remember seeing advertisements for this.

[@rangerdanger1922]

same, tbh i wanted one but now i know the specs i wouldnt be able to run anything i was planning lol

[@GraveUypo]

i remember there was a whole thing around these.

[@sowhazupguy]

wow i do too, i didn't know it was that long ago holy shit

[@AriaPosting]

My sister was a teacher at the time and she brought one home for me to borrow

[@billythekid5996]

I remember seeing ads for this on pbs kids and I was so jealous of the kids in the ads

[@walterrbender]

(0) The XO-1s we deployed in rural Nepal in 2007 are still being used, perhaps the most remarkable thing about the laptop; When things do break, the kids are able to fix them -- we included extra screws inside in case the kids lost some along the way; (1) The display was invented by Mary Lou Jepsen. wiki.laptop.org/go/Display is a good place to start to learn more about the display -- Pixel Qi was a spin off from OLPC to develop the display commercially (OLPC was a non-profit association); (2) Windows XP never worked well enough on the laptop to be used in field beyond some pilots -- as soon as you turned on anti-virus software, the machine became overburdened; (3) the XO-4 can be powered by a $10 solar panel; (4) the desktop (Sugar) and apps are still maintained (https:www.sugarlabs.org) and since Sugar runs on top of Fedora (or Ubuntu, Debian, etc.) it will run on almost any computer (runs great on a RPi-3, for example).

[@WingDings_666]

Walter Bender I wanna know how you even got Windows XP running on the X0-1 to begin with

[@Raderade1-pt3om]

wow creator himself, wish I I had gotten one as kid. Thanks for your contributions,

[@gekotagirl]

That looks like something you'd see in icarly.

[@itskevinjustkevin]

or serial experement lain

[@digitalranger4259]

Yes, those features are draw jopping. :)

[@quinnhenry6719]

I REALLY hoped someone else picked up on that XD

[@maxwelsh6121]

2:20

[@schmodedo]

@@quinnhenry6719 As soon as I heard it. I rewound three times just to make sure that's what I heard LOL !

[@SpaceCat223]

Quinn Henry I just heard it, had to rewind it to make sure I heard it right. 😂

[@yo-quese]

In my country Uruguay all children have one, that is an old model, they already brought 2 more models of the XO one blue and other white, I think they all work with ubuntu.

[@VouEuSou]

Do they still fix these old models? I have both the blue one and the green(1.75), but they doesnt work anymore. i was thinking that maybe they will fix them (even if that costs some money). (For some context, my gf is uruguayan, both OLPC's are from ceibal project and they arent blacklisted)

[@lucamagnani5243]

@@VouEuSou Vamo arriba uruguay nomas!!! En mi liceo los nenes todavia usan las verdes, nunca nos llegaron las azules, y me acuerdo que tipo habia rumores de que cuando llegabas a bachillerato te daban una que era re pro y era roja

[@cide241]

as someone who literally had a xo-1 from school at 2009, it was one of my favorite computers when i was young and stupid. 10 years after it's blocked as shit and broke as shit but i love its form factor

[@VouEuSou]

@@AnonymousGentooman So, my gf came to Brazil with 2 brothers (so we have two XO 1.75 and one 1.5), they just brought them and it was working before they left them off for some years. She is planning a trip to Uruguay and she thought that maybe they will fix hers, even if its a paid service

[@VouEuSou]

@@lucamagnani5243 Tengo la XO azul (1.5) y el verde (1.75), ningúno de ellos esta funcionando, pero eso quería saber se ai en Uruguay irían arreglar mismo cobrando, sabes si ellos tienen algún projecto para arreglar la XO, mismo fuera de la escuela? Fotos de los modelos: imgur.com/a/4rZ329g

[@romajimamulo]

I had one of these as a kid. Not like, because I was where these were being deployed, but because my dad did the "one for them, one for you" thing. I remember being frustrated by it, not being able to do all the things a windows computer was able to do, but in retrospect, I was young enough that I'd probably mess up a real laptop. It's wild seeing one again

[@wordart_guian]

back in 2008 Microsoft tried to make a Windows XP version that would install on it there were so much hate comments from the usual linux fanboys they couldn't imagine the idea of a 7 years old kid wanting to use Windows and office in 2008 I was 7. I spent my time playing with word and discovering tons of stuff just by playing around. WordArt was my favorite (of course). Fonts got me passionate about Writing systems and calligraphy. besides I was playing mahjong, solitaire and Purble place. Later I would discover Windows movie maker which would spark my love for video making. Those people who argue that kids will never need a full PC Don't know what they are talking about. Under sugar, the XO was pretty much useless (my sister had one in 5th grade)

[@pr1mefire]

As a kid I had an insane obsession with these devices for some reason. Before they went on sale to the public, my 8-year-old self wrote a physical letter to the OLPC initiative asking how I could buy one haha. Interestingly enough they responded back explaining the new program for give one get one. Unfortunately never got the chance to own one of these but WOW did this video bring back some good memories!

[@dylanchilders4527]

I remember seeing this on commercials back in the day, was starting to think this was something only in my memory

[@manamaster_]

I always wanted one of these as soon as I had seen the commercial on nick toons. I begged my parents but that said no.

[@dylanchilders4527]

@@manamaster_ i never asked because i already knew the answer lmao

[@MegaManNeo]

I was curious what these laptops have actually been like. Thanks for sharing this bit.

[@mi-nk]

Why do I see you everywhere

[@MegaManNeo]

@@mi-nk Probably coincidence, I usually do not comment that much.

[@flooferjay3245]

I want one to mod. Like, MOD. A lot . Such as the internals of like two Chromebooks and a touchscreen with a Windows 10 os, and more

[@simonherrera284]

hint: they were awesome

[@agustinalejandrogerosa7069]

We got this for free in uruguayan schools. Jeez, this brings back memories

[@Zulf85]

What do you use yourself nowadays?

[@agustinalejandrogerosa7069]

@@Zulf85 well, I'm in 12th year now, in what we call "law high school" (roughly) so I don't use a computer in class. Also, since I studied 3 years of highschool in a private, Catholic school I didn't get the free upgrade XO, getting stucked with an old model from 2011

[@thecountofmontezero]

Aguante el juego de Vascolet papa.

[@agustinalejandrogerosa7069]

@@thecountofmontezero sabeee

[@sumitsri]

Hi, I'm from SugarLabs, the organisation that makes the software that OLPC laptops (and a lot more devices) run on. Happy to answer any questions. Please ask.

[@genericjosh96]

Do you know if the display is switching modes with the greyscale thing? Very curious how the screen works

[@Alex-dn7jq]

Have the laptops been upgraded over the years or have they stayed with the same exact hardware as initially? Eg bigger storage, Ram, a touchscreen, etc?

[@sumitsri]

@@genericjosh96 I have a better resource for you to read up on this display: wiki.laptop.org/go/Display It serves a good intro to the OLPC display. (Thanks to Walter Bender for answering this question on mailing list and providing the link)

[@sumitsri]

@@genericjosh96 Thanks for asking. I posted this on mailing list, and an expert who knew about the details got back with the answer. Thanks for your help, James Cameron! Here's what James from OLPC told me over the mailing list: A kernel configuration file is used to select colour or grayscale mode in the driver, and thus the display controller ASIC. This is in the kernel sources. The keyboard shim detects brightness control keys and manages the backlight power. When the backlight is turned off, the grayscale mode is enabled. When the backlight is turned on, the grayscale mode is disabled. This is in the keyboard shim sources. On the XO-1.75 and XO-4 models, a reverse biased red LED in the same SMT package as the green storage LED is used as an ambient light sensor. The power management daemon (powerd) detects high ambient light and turns off the backlight and turns on the grayscale mode. The backlight is turned off to save power, and increase running time on battery. This is in the powerd sources. However, without any change to backlight brightness or mode switching, full sunlight does appear as greyscale, because the human eye can't discern the small amount of colour emitted by the backlight compared to the large amount of white light reflected from the sun.

[@sumitsri]

@@Alex-dn7jq The hardware has been regularly updated with release of newer models. For example, XO-4 (the latest one) has a touchscreen variant and improved hardware.

[@timg2727]

That screen technology is ridiculously cool. I can't believe we haven't seen it on more devices.

[@Someone-ci8wf]

Instead of this, mobile device manufacturers try to make the screens as bright as they can so that they are readable outside. The advantage is that they can display colors in the sunlight unlike this one. The disadvantage would probably be battery life

[@Embrio4119]

My school (Us, Alabama) they actually ordered theres for every kid. Supposedly we where supposed to give then back but that never happened. Miss the little guy. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

[@ANeMzero]

In fairness Alabama is basically a developing nation.

[@therealestdrea]

Amythest We had these computers at my elementary school too for free back in 2008. (Alabama) I forgot about these but remembered it randomly. They were fun to use as kids.

[@atonomical8489]

I love the thought of this guy walking around his neibourhood throwing a 2007 laptop on the floor and spraying it with water. 😂

[@singletona082]

I remember being hyped for this thing. Yes it was gonna suck but the idea behind it was a solid one that I wanted to support.

[@awesomeiphone597]

That is so cool someone like you still like old tech like me keep up the good videos

[@leeuniverse]

Absolutely brilliant... They need to make this again, of course updated, and improved as necessary. Brilliant for kids.

[@lucasodelta2591]

This was my first pc I had varius or this They gifted this laptops to us in Uruguay to us students we had the 1.0, 1.5 and 1.75 We used them to play games and this video gives me so much nostalgia The X-O 4 was free for students Sadly i did not get this one

[@Kentrondk]

The display is a Pixel Qi. They also made 10 inch display replacements for netbooks.

[@MorganHunter92]

Thanks for pasta-ing that in the comments.

[@carlwheezerofsouls3273]

@@MorganHunter92 just say pasting you redditor

[@zraylin.khalitzburg2968]

Remember this. The idea was cool especially the whole mesh network idea.

[@mashedpotatoes5323]

I think I vaguely remember seeing ads for this as a child

[@KokoroKatsura]

kitten!

[@madmonk1041]

Bought one of these off ShopGoodwill and it was a totally different experience. Have the distro ISO for it in a folder

[@HK_808]

The swivel screen reminds me of the thinkpad x230 tablet

[@Heidegaff]

That's probably the only thing that those two machines have in common.

[@lalakuma9]

And Fujitsu Lifebook T series

[@irontobias]

I found one in a goodwill toy section for $5 a few years back; gave it to my kid as his first computer. Theres an option to switch to a gnome os easily if you play around a bit. Think i paid as much for the adapter on ebay as i did the pc itself

[@PanHyridae]

Man this brings back memories. Had one of these when I was in the 4th/5th grade and we would use it all the time in class as part of assignments

[@minecraftcorpsofengineers6510]

"Really draw-Jopping" 2:18 Lol the perfect description of this thing.

[@TheGamingGeek2001]

I remember seeing this thing on Nickelodeon all the time in commercials, always wanted one, and forgot they existed

[@aileenbordelon7884]

Steveg101 same

[@Reachforitify]

I started with a TRS-80 and been on the PC wave ever since. Its been an amazing ride. Great time to be alive.

[@kingedwin]

I picked up one of these in a thrift store a few years ago and used it as a shop computer. Indestructible, easy to fix, and perfect for displaying technical documents. I'd love to have a modern version.

[@quantumanimations5688]

I remember my school had these and we each had personal ones. I was a crafty individual at the time and I got into a weird OS called Gnome and that's what I used. I remember playing around in the console and installing applications that way. 5th Grade was amazing...

[@Thelango99]

It's too bad that AMD dropped the Geode line of CPU's. That CPU architecture is actually based off of Cyrix Media GX line ( except from the GEode NX CPU). It's main feature was an incredibly low TDP (The Geode GX had a TDP as low as 0.9 watts!).

[@Thelango99]

@@owowowdhxbxgakwlcybwxsimcwx Nice, did they ever update to the Puma architecture?

[@riotone7341]

As knowing the original creators for a long time, and getting one for my birthday at the age of 4. It makes me happy to see a video about it. Because most people I talk to have no idea what the XO-1 is.

[@nootkallamas]

This was my first ever laptop. I learned so much about Linux and Fedora. It introduced me to the world of computing, and for that I am ever grateful. I'm in school right now so I can start a career in Linux Administration - I owe this laptop for my interest. I hope the kid on the other end of the program who got the free laptop learned as much as me.

[@foxknapp2199]

They should make a rugerized raspberry pi zero w with a touch screen and keyboard for students in developing countries

[@sumitsri]

Guess what, there's exactly that! Check out Sugar on a Stick.

[@anon-iraq2655]

Plenty chinese tablets sell for extremly low price with better preformance for price than r-pie i got a 30$ Prestegio 7" tablet for my grandmother to read on

[@ratedasmr7811]

I vaguely remember the advertisements for these in school. 2007 was a long time ago

[@Varue]

This was gonna be my first laptop. I saved every dollar until I had enough for one. Then my grandparents said they'd match me on what I'd saved so far so I could get a better machine. I still have that laptop on the corner of my desk :^)

[@prfo5554]

I remember seeing advertisements for these on cereal boxes.

[@fargoflagrant7796]

Yo my first job was at the state run company in Uruguay that distributed this computer to every schoolkid in the country. Never actually had one though.

[@air5096]

I remember seeing those in commercials as a kid, that talked of distributing them to kids in developing countries. I never saw anything like them sold in real life and always thought they looked strange, but it's cool that I just got reminded of something that hadn't been in my head for years

[@WhatDaHeckIsThat]

Oh my god that laptop was on Homestar Runner

[@mwbgaming28]

still more ports than the latest macbook

[@mwbgaming28]

@dood ayev better than yours

[@PongoXBongo]

@dood ayev He's correct in stating that stars are not visible through a crescent Moon. ;)

[@alherrera9390]

A friend of mine was involved in the OLPC proyect. Is job was to make the Pame translation, and I had access to this exact machine. It has an outstanding good quality considering the price.

[@auricom242]

i had one of this when i was a child in Mexico, i've always been interested in computers and my uncle who was studying engineering taught me of linux when i was 8, when i saw the terminal i opened the Totem video player and everyone was impressed, but the XO couldn't play videos regardless of opening totem, it crashed. Then, i overclocked it, it was my first aproach to overclock and this laptop definetely gave me a ton of fun.

[@Omegadoomship]

I remember seeing this in a magazine back then and I was blown away. Of course looking back at it now, I probably wouldn’t even touch it.

[@nolanheistad2526]

those things are really, REALLY cool. been wanting one since i was 12 in 2008. just thought it was realluy cool. ive got a laptop as well as a chromebook, but that thing looks FUN.

[@notvelleda]

It kinda is, but most of the time it's not powerful enough to do anything with

[@SubterraneanChick]

I believe I still have my Asus eeepc. Can't remember the distro it was running. Something likely now defunct.

[@foxknapp2199]

I bought one of those at a garage sale last year, it was my first laptop and it came with a cut down version of windows 7 and only had one gb of ram, but I quickly upgraded it to 2 gb of ram and lubuntu Edit: I still use it

[@tyg3rpro]

I have a eeetab which asus later renamed to a transformer, it needs a new charger but Ive had it running anything it could like android, linux, and even a very old version of ubuntu touch

[@mitch075fr]

The first EeePC came with Xandros, a custom Debian-based distro - the only way to fit a whole software ecosystem on the puny 4GB SSD using a compressed bootable image. Later models came with either the resurrected for the occasion Windows XP (and a 8Gb SSD), then Windows 7 Starter Edition (on a 16Gb SSD). Several other manufacturers soon followed with other "netbooks", and Intel actually got the Atom series of chips out to power these little things with something a bit more responsive than a Celeron 900. I still have one of these early single core, dual threaded Atom 1600 netbooks as an emergency field computer (upgraded RAM to 2Gb). It's too slow for anything other than the simplest browsing and listening to music now, but 32-bit Ubuntu 18.04 with LXDE runs fine and it's more than enough to open a terminal window, download an ISO and create a boot disk, or type a quick note on the go. I'll retire it soon though, as there is no upgrade planned for 32-bit Ubuntu and I don't feel like formatting it anew.

[@jerrell1169]

I remember these, they used to run commercials about giving these to kids in Africa and South America.

[@MM-fc9fz]

It's Homestar Runner's laptop.

[@GymMasterAlex]

Nuclear Hedgehog Get the Mountain Dew.

[@EVRLYNMedia]

Woah, they took the transflective lcd to a whole new level

[@floydlooney6837]

Today we can just send them $65 Walmart tablets like the 8" ONN

[@quirble]

It can't run desktop operating system, and it can't survive anything more than a basic fall. How about we don't do that?

[@PongoXBongo]

@@quirble It doesn't need a desktop operating system. They can use it like a Chromebook with Office365 or Google Docs. And you can always pair a Bluetooth keyboard, which gives options for size, style, ergonomics/accessibility, etc. Just slap a rugged case on it to protect against falls.

[@GANCHO1997]

@@PongoXBongo You have to think these computers go to poor people who might not be able to afford an internet connection or any hardware accesories.

[@Nurse_Xochitl]

Lol so accurate. It can even game some.

[@Zinkolo]

I remember wanting this as as a child!!! It's so cool looking...

[@SilverStone-rq6sz]

I have just saw this video and a nostalgia feeling overwhelming-ly caught me. This's going to be very interesting... When this all-plastic-looking machine was released in 2007, it was my ultimate dream. Haven't seen it in real life. Why this plasticly design is my ultimate dream but not a good-looking laptop? Because it's the cheapest! I started reading PC tweaking magazine in 2005 and apply what I read to broke my PC. Then I started learning FAST-typing, I read ebook and do a lot of typing. And having a laptop is TO TYPING wherever I am is a dream that seem almost impossible (my family could afford it but there were many other important things). Here what option we had at the time: - My dad want to buy a Sony point-and-shoot camera, back when a point and shoot was deadly expensive. - My mom want to save as much money as she could for me to go to university, which also deadly expensive, some families couldn't even afford to have their kids to high school, many couldn't get to college without selling their real estate. (consider the continuous explosion in real estate price, selling real estate/land for college is bullshit now) Also, she use her own money for her investment. How my dad used his money is a myth. - Buying a laptop for me (while we had two desktop-computers at home) is obviously unnecessary. But when your kid love something so much, it's became a de-facto that you need to consider buying it. 1. Thinkpad, the black, matte-finish, is the dream that I didn't even dare to dream. It's business-grade machine that only professionals, companies and rich families could afford. Back at the time, the Thinkpad T400 was the prize for many contest. 2. Asus eeePC is the cosliest among cheap laptop/notebook, it beautiful and like modern laptop. Half the price of a Thinkpad T400. 3. When I read about the OLPC XO-1 Netbook I thought, wow, my fam could afford this. In fact my dad kept boasting that he made a lot for a low rank supervisor, back at the time he made double my mom money, and he could easily buy me a Netbook every two month. I don't know where all that money gone (?): he didn't buy me a gaming desktop (my dream before laptop) in high school (my friend's parents did), he didn't buy me a latop in highschool (my friend's parents did), he didn't buy me an 135cc Exciter when I turned 18 (well, my friend's parents did NOT, too). 4. Also, at the time, I read on news paper (in 2005 highspeed Internet was not widely wildly available like in 2022) and they advertised the Chinese's copy of the HP 12 inch notebook, double the price of the Netbook but . But: it's a Chinese copy-cat. How things turned out was magnificent in real timely order: - My dad bought himself a Sony point-and-shoot, I also got to learn some photography. Turned out it's a good hobby for me, and comes in handy when I travel on my own. - My parents didn't buy me any new PC or laptop during highschool. What's the dream laptop of people in 2011: Sony Vaio and Macbook pro, most "consumer" users only know those two, Dell was very hot (in term of hardware) but not that hot with ther user (not very popular), Asus was quite cheap, Acer was (and is still) cheaper, but Thinkpad is for the real-deals (performance user who also need reliability) - Finally he bought me my first laptop when I enter National University (my 2nd option, I didn't make it to the first option), you bet: it's the T400! - Later I lost my father beloved point and shoot camera! - He bought himself another DSLR camera, cost the same as the point and shoot (aka quite a lot of money) - You wonder how my mom options turned out: she bought a very large piece of land (again, on her own made money), the profit from it 1/ by planting and selling tree on it alone covered the amount to buy it 2/ help paying my first year of university. The luckiest thing ever happened in my life is my decision to earn-it myself. And later on, I realy own my life. It's great how life turn out. To stick to the topic, let not talk about the broad topic of working and life balance, on the hardware story, I own at least 18 laptops, half of them are business laptops and workstation, I also own hyper-workstation and home server. Back when I was a kid, I had all kind of dream, but I couldn't really belive or imagine one day I could actually build my life wrong working with both one leg in tech and one leg on business-facing, say 10% of my work is connect with R&D, I'm a team leader, not a developer. So, at point, this netbook was a big thing in my life, although I didn't own it. What a long amazing journey. Thank you this Netbook for being in my life.

[@my4trackmachine]

O man. I remember these. I studied the work on one laptop per child in college which was right around when these were coming out. I haven't thought about these things in forever.

[@superrloca]

Here in Uruguay In 2009 the president at the time had a company for these computers. The company is still known as the ceibal plan. And they had a song for OLPC I really speak Spanish but I hope you understand the lyrics of the song. (🎶 a river made of light 🎶 river made of light and birds in flight a square of sky I want to be navigator through the astral sky I want to be navigator through the astral sky without leaving my back in the shadow of the ceibal 🎶) 🥺💖

[@TheMongooseOfDoom]

The display technology was specifically developed for the laptop. They later tried to market it by founding a company called Pixel Qi. At some point you could buy laptops with the tech, but it didn't succeed in the market. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixel_Qi

[@Crazy___Ginger]

I actually had this laptop as a child. even though its really cool, as someone who was young and didnt understand how to really take advantage of the customizability of the OS, it was not really a useful computer since it wasn't really compatible with any printer i had access to. So even though my parents got it for me to use to write notes in class on, i ended up using it to mess around with linux and not get any real work done. The OS was just way too simplistic for me at the time to actually take advantage of. It was really cool to see this little machine again. It also has some hidden features that not many people talk about like if you hold down the game keys on the display while booting it, it will boot into other applications like Pong, a self test mode, a Conway game of life simulation, and other things that i cant really remember well

[@deedevon7468]

I feel like I saw this everywhere for all of my childhood; then one day it just vanished until I came across it another a week ago. Nostalgia is weird.

[@simonherrera284]

i was an owner of an xo 1 and then an xo 1.5 throughout primary school in uruguay and man were they awesome, it was the best computer 6 yo me could have wished for and it was free. those were good times

[@MrIshaans]

The amazifit bip has the same screen technology but with colour, it's amazing

[@ShinxiMMDs]

I have one of these in storage! Love playing with it once in a while

[@randomstuffchannel4327]

I remember seeing these as giveaways on Cereal boxes

[@braelinmichelus]

When I first saw the thumbnail, I was wondering if it was the laptop from those giveaways in the early 2000s. I remember really wanting to do that giveaway as a kid! Good thing I never did though, looks like shit for the dawn of the internet age.

[@randomstuffchannel4327]

Brenden Michelus yeah I remember really wanting one too. I agree with it was probably good thing that none of us ended up with one.

[@joj.]

It's just a Transflective screen isn't it? The same technology was used in the Sony SWR50 and a couple of other devices.

[@polirycynooleinianpoliglic9200]

Same in my Nokia E72

[@Fernando-ek8jp]

My dad was involved with education iniatives here, so he actually managed to get me both an OLPC XO1 and a classmate pc to try them out and give some feedback

[@ergosteur]

I believe the display was using tech by or related to Pixel Qi. I actually bought a Pixel Qi display to install into my Acer Aspire One netbook in 2009. Super cool display tech.

[@pack5056]

OMG I REMBER SEEING THE COMMERCIAL FOR THIS IN 2ND GRADE AND I HAVEN’T SEEN IT SINCE THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS VIDEO

[@somethingsuspicious6630]

I remember their A-Z letters XO is for hope Nostalgic af! And didnt SunMicrosystems also make Solaris OS?

[@somberrhombus]

Really wanted one of these during the original run but never had the money back then.

[@Pikachufarts]

I remember seeing these searching for "free laptops". Also remember the ads on Cartoon Network.

[@enthusiasticgeek7237]

i remember seeing these when i was younger on a commercial. i really wanted one!

[@user-74652]

It's interesting to see so many comments here from people who have fond memories of these because they were one of the kids in the developing countries who received them.

[@nathanlamaire]

I have to say, this was my childhood dream laptop. I really hoped this will be mine in some days, until I got my first tablet PC in 2013 and I almost forgot about it.

[@BlackCatRedScarf]

Wow... Such old project! I forgot the existence of these OLPC. Such cool idea, but unfortunately never got a chance to see one of those working. The display is quite amazing.

[@sl21ls]

I got one for Christmas when I was 8 and I still have it also if you want a more traditional operating environment ui there is an option to switch from the sugar linux shell to a gnome linux shell in the settings

[@StopChangingUsernamesYouTube]

I still have one of these that I bought back around launch. Haven't used it in forever, but constrained development is an occasional passion of mine. I remember having so much fun with it as a wee lad (as wee as you can be with a full beard you still think looks good, I suppose). If you have a kid interested in computers give him or her a "piece of junk" (or all the parts for said piece of junk) and the means to work around and within the limitations of the hardware, maybe not this bare, but not some expensive perfect machine. Before this, I had an old Compaq Armada with a Pentium MMX and an IBM Eduquest with a 486SX (it still lives to play Rogue when there's nothing better to do). It's like giving a mechanically-inclined kid a box of parts when they want an RC car.

[@Mrcake0103]

I remember reading about this thing _ages_ ago! Holy crap I feel old now.

[@MegaPolarbear22]

😭 right?!

[@chloemccarthy2297]

I remember as a kid, I tried to win one of these from a Gushers sweepstakes (or some other candy brand). It's really cool to revisit this laptop!

[@_swiggityswooty_2271]

I was thinking about these the other day because I was in elementary school when these were on TV. I always wanted one. Thank you for sharing what these were like cause I always just never got these outta my head

[@Lauren_C]

Not sure if it's the autofocus pulling shenanigans, but the B-Roll early in the video had some (for lack of a better word) jumping.

[@AAComputersandTechnology]

Yup, it's a case of a bad auto-focus implementation. I just got a new phone so I have been shooting 4K video with it. The built in camera is pretty good, however the auto-focus tends to change every couple seconds in some video environments.

[@Lauren_C]

@@AAComputersandTechnology Is there no way to use a manual focus? Seems like a pretty major oversight on part of the manufacturer if manual focus can't be used.

[@Why_It]

Whoa, this is bringing me places I didn't even think I would ever be brought back to.

[@callowaysutton]

This was my first laptop when I was around 7, it was amazing! Built in Python, Web Browser, Ad hoc mesh network, and tons of other things. I wish I could find it :( Anyone know where I can buy one?

[@callowaysutton]

@@AnonymousGentooman I would say maybe ~80-100 since the hardware is dated but you tell me what you think it's worth?

[@mspeter97]

People who find these, here's what to do, keep the internal storage intact if it has the original Give one/Get one OS and apps (even if you can redownload that build), upgrade the firmware as it corrects that RTC battery issue and install a newer version of the OS (latest released in december 2018) on an SD Card. These things are gems

[@dojomojomofo]

I have a couple of these! The battery in the one I opened is really done for, even following their steps to recalibrate it. If you install a newer software version, you can switch over to a Fedora desktop. The touchpad was always extremely flaky for me and would start getting hyperactive or even reacting before I got to it. In those cases, I would need to do the " four finger salute" where you momentarily press the keys at all four corners of the keyboard to recalibrate it. It was always kind of slow and frustrating to use this thing, but I think we can really thank it for kicking off netbooks as we know them. Also, that screen really is super cool, especially in an era where e-ink readers were both rare and expensive, only existing in Japan for a few years at launch time if I remember right. Too bad transflective displays seemed a fad... I had them on this, the Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, and Nokia 3220, and never again... However the OLPC screen's designer founded a company called "Pixel Qi" if you want to dig further on what became of it.

[@awesomeiphone597]

B Bishop pc world did an old video on that same laptop

[@douglasrogers4675]

I have an xo4 developer preview in the US. the later 1.5, 1.75, and 4 can also have a more traditional keyboard. they also switched to ARM, which killed XP compatibility.

[@douglasrogers4675]

I also had a 1, and a 1.5, but not anymore.

[@ZincLeadAlloy]

ChatGPT: The type of computer screen you're referring to is commonly known as a "transflective display". This type of display is designed to reflect ambient light, allowing it to be visible in bright sunlight without requiring a backlight. Transflective displays are capable of displaying color images and text in normal lighting conditions, but when exposed to direct sunlight, they switch to a grayscale mode to improve visibility. This technology is commonly used in outdoor displays, such as those on laptops, tablets, and smartphones.

[@TheBaldr]

My Linux machine is a 1.2Ghz 6 core with 4GB mem, 64GB eMMC cost me $85 (another $60 for the 512GB nvme SSD). Not a single moving part all use passive heat cooling. Putting that in a rugged laptop is totally doable.

[@MichaelFlatman]

1.2 ghz hexacore, what cpu is that?

[@manoflego123]

I had one of these as a kid, and it was really neat. The issue was because of its proprietary software and OS, my 1st world Windows XP using child self had trouble using the more interesting features. But it was still really neat, and felt like it was built like a tank.

[@alexandrutereify]

From the looks of it, it most certainly is just a front lit tft. So the light that lights up the tft is in front of the panel not in the back. When outdoor, that light simply shuts off, and sunlight is used in the front polarised panel, to make the screen visible. Same tech used in early nintendo handhelds

[@jvanegas14]

My mom works for Nick! He's a super chill guy

[@brianlanning836]

About seven years ago, my kids were each given one of these by the public school in Uruguay. They're terrible. They were so hard to use and unreliable that most of the students abandoned them before the end of the school year.

[@varximity3442]

Holy shit, this looks exactly like the laptop I wanted when I was a kid, and could of been won from a box of cereal. Jesus the memories.

[@GarlandCoulson]

Very interesting. I remember then these first came out. Very intriguing design.

[@kght222]

i saw the ted talk back in the day, it was a great idea back then and would still be a great idea today, hope the organization behind it is still working on getting more funding to keep it going, might know where my next donation is going to go.

[@ericbazinga]

I remember this thing being advertised on the back of cereal boxes. You could win one of these, and you'd also get the pleasure of knowing that some other kid somewhere would get one too.

[@KJ7JHN]

This was an amazing idea. It was only leased to schools. The one hick up I came across was that once the BIOS battery died, it would require a custom UART serial connection loader. Since that loader was made, patches have been developed, however the loader runs $100.00. I love my little laptop, however this loader has prevented me from following up with it. I hope an Arduino patch is developed. Until then, or until I work out UART, mine sits happily.

[@Montisaquadeis]

$200 can still get you decent basic laptop with Intel Celeron and running either WIndows 10 or ChromeOS with a 11.6" or 14" screen with up to 1080p resolution. Many OEMS are still selling "Netbook" style devices like HP and their Stream but have dropped the "Netbook" Moniker basically. I am also glad they have dropped the low resolution 1024x600 screens many Netbooks of the era came with this one included when indoors. Many will have 32gb or 64gb of emmc storage which is plenty for Linux but NOT so much for Windows 64 is the bare minimum I would personally go for Windows while 32gb is fine for Linux as long as you don't go HAM with the programs you install.

[@jm036]

Early netbooks had 7" 840x480 displays. Jesus.

Windows is not FOSS and its no laptop where you allways have to have power.

[@silvy7394]

Well I mean 32GB is enough for 10 to run fine and update, even with programs installed.

[@Montisaquadeis]

@@silvy7394 not really as I own one of these laptops with 32gb of emmc storage and run out constantly as the thing tries to update and I said screw it and installed linux mint 19.1 onto it

[@leexgx]

Yep 32gb is nearly useless

[@minecraftcorpsofengineers6510]

I Had one of these! Great lil machine... Never used it for anything worthwhile, though...

[@VouEuSou]

I have 2 of them laying around, currently trying to get one to boot just to play around with it. The OS looks very interesting and i was told that people ported some games for these systems

[@geovani60624]

The OS uses 150mB in iddle? It's basically how much lubuntu uses on my arcade system i'm putting together

[@bandombeviews6035]

This pc would probably do better with lubuntu, since it could access modern software

[@geovani60624]

@@bandombeviews6035 maybe not, i've tried it with a dual core ddr3 amd processor at 1ghz, it could barelly open firefox

[@geovani60624]

@@bandombeviews6035 maybe if you really optimize the os but still... it's 400mhz...

[@silvy7394]

Must be a very old lubuntu version. Lubuntu uses 512MB idle.

[@geovani60624]

@@silvy7394 actually no, i downloaded it this year and have in mind that it uses what you give it, i have 1gb of ram installed on this system, so lubuntu uses as little resources as it can (1gb is perfect for the games i will run on the bartop)