The cool thing about the OLPC was how they were able to get some really rugged gear that would function in extreme conditions. I saw one a couple months ago at a local pawn shop selling for over $200.

I remember reading that perhaps the most innovative features was the LCD display, which supported multiple modes and resolutions. I believe the person who worked on that ended up spinning off her own company.

The ideas behind their security system was also pretty innovative, a lot better than the digital signing direction that Microsoft has been going on .NET.

Another neat project is the Raspberry Pi, a $35 credit card size computer which takes the OLPC idea in a different direction. Instead of making a rugged, all-in-one laptop, it assumes that you've got the peripherals (including a power supply), and gives you a unenclosed circuit board.

Sadly, it's based on an ARMv6 processor, so it's not going to run Windows, WINE, or any x86-based software. Plus, it only has 256Meg, so going the QEMU route won't work, either.

It might work nicely as a web-browsing PC, though.

I think it shows that a $100 PC is basically doable. The real question is whether there's any demand for such a thing, since there will invariably be design decisions which will limit the device in some way (graphics, memory, etc.).

-- David Cuny
My virtual singer development blog

Vocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?