(2008-01-03) Olpc Arrived

Our OLPC arrived!

Took a couple pictures, but not uploaded yet.

Only had a little time, here are initial notes

• has AC adaptor, no foot pedal or other human-energy source

  • but comes fully charged which is good for immediate feel-good

• wow that is a tinier Keyboard than I remember from demo: tiny enough that it might not be usable by an adult (at least one who knows how to Touch Type).

• only a couple pages of documentation

  • might have been good to include "how to get online via your home WiFi" in there

  • might have made sense to include more info on the machine for when the net isn't available (like before you figure out how to get on your WiFi).

• how to get on your WiFi

  • hit the little "Neighborhood" symbol in the upper-left

  • find the icon representing your WiFi

  • click on it to connect

  • (my WiFi is open, so don't know how you'd deal with a secret SSID)

• haven't figured out how to have multiple open Web Browser windows. That could be a deal-breaker for anyone. Basic support page says nothing useful.

  • ouch - This browser can only view one web page at a time. You can't keep a copy of one page, go off and look at a second page, and come back to the first one, without a lot of manual work.

• argh, have to re-remember passwords for web services like GMail.

• doesn't automatically hibernate when closed - battery was dead this morning.

  • hmm, seems like it's supposed to.

  • ah, that hasn't been released yet (Olpc Update 1)

• no printing yet

Next actions

• register it, activate T-Mobile WiFi deal: done Feb02

  • actually, the register function is to register with a "school server", so not applicable

• figure out stuff above

• check status of SimCity; see what EToys are pre-installed, to pitch to kids. Done

Jan06: got email saying it's on the way! Obviously their logistics folks have some work to do....