DailyTech - OLPC Now Officially called the XO

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IT OLPC Now Officially called the XO
Tuan Nguyen (Blog) - October 24, 2006 3:32 PM

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15 comment(s) - last by rocco86.. on Oct 26 at 6:13 PM

Yet another name change

With the OLPC project on its way to acquiring government accounts, the OLPC machine itself has gone through a number of changes, the latest being its name. Now officially called the XO, the OLPC machine was previously called 2B1. DailyTech previously reported that 2B1 was slated to ship at roughly 5 million orders but today the organization responsible is waiting to accrue more orders.

XO, which was originally called CM1 and then later named to 2B1, has gone through a number of hardware changes too. One of the changes is the way the unit receives power. The original concept was to have the machine receive power from its user. An OLPC user would use a crank handle and turn it quickly in order to charge up power reserves in the machine. This design was later changed when a crank-based OLPC broke during a public demonstration. The XO now has a module with a string that users yank on.

Just last week, DailyTech reported that Libya put forward an order for 1.2 million OLPC units. Quanta will be the official manufacturer for the OLPC project and said that production will start sometime in November of this year. Analysts are looking forward to seeing OLPC XO units in action. Many are excited about the project's long term goals although some people still have doubts about the effectiveness of an XO over traditional books.

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String

By IronGeek on 10/24/06, Rating: 0

RE: String

By othercents on 10/24/2006 5:49:00 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
String sounds much better than crank!

Actually I wonder if they did any child proofing on the string. I know when I was a child I would be swinging the laptop over my head by the string. Usually using it to hit someone with or playing with it like a lasso. Just by doing that you would have more force placed on the machine when it actually hit the ground compared to someone dropping or throwing it down.

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RE: String

By lemonadesoda on 10/24/2006 7:07:02 PM , Rating: 2

What happened to Henry King?

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kisses

By Mudvillager on 10/25/2006 5:43:20 AM , Rating: 2

and hugs?

RE: kisses

By rocco86 on 10/26/2006 6:13:04 PM , Rating: 2

that's right: this little laptop is the world's "kiss and hug" to all the Internet-starved children

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XO?

By PrinceGaz on 10/25/2006 7:54:20 AM , Rating: 2

Is "XO" an abbreviation or acronym of anything, or is it just a name they thought looked catchy? If the latter, they might want to mention just how "XO" is meant to be pronounced.

RE: XO?

By Scorpion on 10/25/2006 12:13:54 PM , Rating: 2

Yes I assumed the article would explain the meaning or origin of "XO", but I was wrong. So they've changed their name and we have no idea why... great!

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