Birmingham Schools' XO laptops

OLPC's XO laptop

The Birmingham Schools' XO laptops are 15,000 laptop computers designed for collaborative education which are being purchased from the One Laptop Per Child Foundation for use by first- through eigth-graders in Birmingham City Schools.

Birmingham's order is the first commitment to put this type of computer in the hands of American schoolchildren. The program was designed to provide low-cost computers to children in developing nations. The $3 million cost represents $200 for each unit. Langford proposes that the money come from a $7 million fund which also includes a scholarship program for seniors who graduate with a C-average or better.

The laptops should be delivered in time for an April 15 distribution. Students will be able to take their laptops home and will keep the same unit until completing the eighth grade. Any laptops that go missing can be disabled by the system administrator. Wi-fi internet access will be implemented in every Birmingham school using part of its share of the Jefferson County School Construction Fund.

Langford reported that he was asked to serve as a spokesman for One Laptop Per Child's use by U.S. municipalities.

Specifications

The XO laptops purchased by Birmingham have a 500-megahertz processor, 256 megabytes of DRAM and 1 gigabyte of flash-based on board memory. The laptops contain no internal, floppy or compact disk drives. The screen is a 7.5" LCD with 1200 x 900 pixel resolution. Other hardware features include dedicated game controls, an internal microphone and integrated 640x480 video camera. USB ports enable connections to supported peripherals. The battery and power management are designed for flexible charging situations. The computer operates with very low power requirements.

They run a specially-designed graphical user interface called "Sugar" which runs on the Linux operating system. Each laptop can connect to other nearby XO laptops through a built in wireless mesh connection. Internet access is available through a Wi-Fi connection.

References

• Leech, Marie (December 4, 2007) "Birmingham City Schools will be first in nation to get $200 XO laptops." Birmingham News.]
• Stecklow, Steve and James Bandler (November 24, 2007) "A Little Laptop With Big Ambitions" Wall Street Journal.

External links

• One Laptop Per Child website
• Interactive tour of OLPC "Sugar" interface