CherryPal's $99 "Odd Lots" Netbook 234
Robotech_Master writes "CherryPal, which Slashdot last covered back in 2008, has released a $99 netbook, the Africa, aimed at the developing world but (unlike the OLPC) available for sale to the consumer. But unlike most netbooks, the Africa is not actually made to a set design. Instead, it uses a hacker-like approach similar to the way home PC builders build their cheap beige boxes. CherryPal purchases odd lots of whatever components are available most inexpensively, builds netbooks out of them, and calls them Africas. The resulting machines will at least meet and may exceed the minimum specs given on CherryPal's website, and may be built around an ARM, MIPS, or X86-based CPU depending on what parts CherryPal has on hand at the time. The device ships with 'at least' Windows CE or CherryPal's custom 'Green Maraschino' Debian-based Linux distro."
seems a bit pricey (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:seems a bit pricey (Score:4, Insightful)
Even worst, a bag o' random crap.
cool (Score:5, Insightful)
That's not bad for an open device that will run hostap. At that price, these are essentially disposable. 1800mah is fully powerable by a 28 watt solar charger. You could build motion capture field cameras or something out of them. I love it when tech gets cheap.
Re:It's the anti-apple (Score:5, Insightful)
Have you ever heard of linux?
Debian (the basis of Ubuntu and by the sounds of TFA the basis of the cherrypal distro) has most applications compiled across very many architectures. It's already in place, drivers for a lot of stuff will be in the kernel. No problem!
(well, not quite, but it does help).
Niche Market (Score:4, Insightful)
If you:
1. Have a 2 year-old who's obsessed with daddy's laptop who really needs his own so he'll stop bugging you
2. AND you don't want to have to hunt on ebay for an OLPC child-proof laptop that costs the same as it did when it was purchased two years ago
3. AND you don't want to pay over $100 for something that will get destroyed in the first 6 months of usage
Then it's not a bad deal.
ARM/MIPS or X86? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:In other words (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:seems a bit pricey (Score:5, Insightful)
And you'd pay five bucks shipping...
Re:It's the anti-apple (Score:3, Insightful)
You assume they need to offer binary compatibility for different architectures; they don't. You install everything from the repositories, which will have ARM, x86/x86_64, MIPS etc versions for everything; and those versions will have been tested by the large Debian community for each architecture. All that is needed is source-code compatibility, which is usually ensured in FLOSS.
Now, WinCE is another beast. I have no idea about their plans for that; but in Linux, there is no problem with this strategy.
Re:ARM/MIPS or X86? (Score:3, Insightful)
Obviously, none of your standard corporate IT minion strategies are going to work with this stuff; but I'd take a mix of architectures, all running linux, over a bunch of machines of a single architecture, running a mix of linux and WinCE.
Once you get beyond the bootloader, debian/X86 feels almost the same as debian/ARM. WinCE feels like neither linux nor real windows.
Re:In other words (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:This is democratisation of hardware (Score:3, Insightful)
"It's what the OLPC should have been.
Commodity hardware, whatever's cheapest.
And a Linux-based OS"
OLPC is that and more: sunlight readable screen, robust, wireless mesh networking, even more energy efficient than this "Africa" device.
Re:It's the anti-apple (Score:3, Insightful)
Why would you do that?
These things are going to be built in batches, not in one-off weird configs. If I'm reading it right. There may be a bit of work every time the hardware changes, sure, it's not a trivial thing, but I didn't get the impression that every one was going to be a unique snowflake.
Re:Interesting (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:They will get buried in returns (Score:1, Insightful)
I hope they charge a restocking fee at least. It wouldn't be unreasonable, and would curb that problem.
Re:Interesting (Score:1, Insightful)
Yes, it was all cake and ponies before the white man showed up. The intrinsic nature of mankind as a whole is pure and wholesome. Greed, war, slavery, and famine were new concepts originated by Europeans.
There may be truth in what you say, but if so, I think the underlying causes have to do with economics and technology. Basic human nature is roughly similar across cultures. Right?
Re:seems a bit pricey (Score:3, Insightful)
Assuming the website doesn't crash.
Oh BoC, why hast thou forsaken me?