Network bridge when traveling with the kids... I have patched into the hotel Internet with the Ethernet adapter on one of the XO-1s then meshed them; I surfed on one while the kids surfed on the other (in the next room over), and when it was bedtime I knocked on the wall one minute before cutting the connnection. Parental control system! Unless of course there is an open wifi network in the neighborhood :-/ but since the Sugar Journal records the "student's" activity, they wouldn't get away with it for long :-)
I heartily dislike using airport wifi with my usual laptop stuffed full of compromising documents (such as the next netbook I want to buy), while I surf without fear with the XO-1. Its range is fabulous. It's also easy to turn off the radio now before boarding a plane, the very first production version required a CLI command since most kids in African and South American villages don't have that problem often. Ruggedized: Having suffered a broken screen years ago by an overzealous security person (an ancestor of the netbook - the Compaq Contura Aero - on the left in this photo from last October: http://www.canalpda.com/files/images/2967213682_90a7ccf751_o.preview.jpg), I like that the XO-1 is waterproofed and tough. Small footprint (though larger than the recent netbooks because of the carrying handle) means it can coexist with a food tray. Also, security people tend to think you are less of a threat when toting a kid computer, especially with kids in tow. Although I have met lots of parents in airports as their kids join mine to see what games are on... Fast charging, and 2 XO-1s = double the battery time! XO-1s draw 5 watts and have between 2 and 4 hours of autonomy depending on the task. I recently picked up an external iPod-sized battery which is supposed to last 12 hours or so (I have to locate a connector). And a solar panel I got as a BP petrol station freebie which might work too. What I really want is the Freeplay hand crank (http://www.olpcnews.com/hardware/power_supply/olpc_power_xocto_plug_freeplay.html), that would keep the kids busy all right, an hour's autonomy per 10 minutes of cranking. But it has only been deployed in Peru I think. Sean On Tue, Mar 17, 2009 at 2:47 PM, Steve Jolly <[email protected]> wrote: > Sean DALY wrote: >> >> I have two XO-1s from the previous G1G1s and a third I picked up on >> eBay. It's rather magical the way they look for and find each other in >> the mesh network. I've actually traveled with a pair instead of my >> usual laptop (the 2 XO-1s together aren't larger or heavier). > > Do you get any interesting benefits from having 2 XOs instead of a single > conventional laptop? It sounds like there ought to be some nifty > possibilities... > > S > - > Sent via the backstage.bbc.co.uk discussion group. To unsubscribe, please > visit http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/archives/2005/01/mailing_list.html. > Unofficial list archive: > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > - Sent via the backstage.bbc.co.uk discussion group. To unsubscribe, please visit http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/archives/2005/01/mailing_list.html. Unofficial list archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/
