14 DAY TRIAL // Taiwanese notebook manufacturer Quanta has sampled the first version of its XO-1 laptop that will take part in "One Laptop per Child" project. The actual machine is a "B-1 Test" version and gives an idea about how the final product will look like. The manufacturer says that there are actually no big differences between this test product and the final one, with small "glitches" such as a slower flash controller and faulty touchpad being almost solved.
The guys working at the OLPC project in Cambridge had received an X0-1 prototype which they have already tested. Some 200 laptops already sampled from the factory and have been thoroughly tested in order to see if the performance is in par to the hardware capabilities. Guys working on OLPC project stated: "This is the first time that all of the parts have really been assembled together for testing. Those machines will start making their way out to people soon. Countries, individual open source developers, and interested parties."
OLPC project is similar with AMD's PIC idea, at least when it comes to hardware. Using 128MB of Ram and a 500MB flash memory, the 500 MHz CPU runs a reduced form of Linux. Producers say that it can execute about 90% of the tasks a $1000 laptop runs, excepting the fact that it does not have extended storage capabilities. Well, at least it looks way cooler than PIC.