OLPC scraps XO-2 dual screen laptop, moves toward ARM-based XO-1.75

Remember that dual-touchscreen concept machine that the One Laptop Per Child folks were working on? Yeah, it's toast. In a recent interview, OLPC founder Nicholas Negroponte told Xconomy that the team is killing off the XO-2 project and instead focusing on an XO Laptop version 1.75.

Concept image: XO-2 Laptop

For anyone keeping track, the first XO Laptop had an AMD Geode processor. Version 1.5 had a faster VIA CPU. And the new XO 1.75 will basically look the same on the outside, but it will feature an ARM-based processor on the inside, which means that it won't use an x86 chipset and won't be capable of running Windows.

That's not a huge problem, since the XO Laptop is designed to run Linux, but there had been a project to make the laptops available with Windows XP booting from a flash card.

The decision to scrap the ambitious XO-2 probably shouldn't come as a huge surprise. Earlier this year the organization got hit with some budget realities and had to reduce its staff significantly.

But that doesn't mean Negroponte and friends aren't still thinking big. While the dual-screen XO 2 isn't going to happen, they're already thinking about version 3.0 which could feature "a single sheet, completely plastic and unbreakable, waterproof, 1/4″ thick, full color, reflective and transmissive." The goal is for the XO 3.0 to run on just 1W of power and cost $75. The team is shooting for a 2012 release. If that all sounds rather ambitious, that's because it is. But so was the first XO laptop, which sparked the netbook revolution.

via OLPC News

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OLPC scraps XO-2 dual screen laptop, moves toward ARM-based XO-1.75

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