(I'm re-posting this from yesterday because somehow it got lost in route to the AMSAT-BB web site -- Tom)
Some of you may have heard about the efforts of Nick Negroponte (MIT Professor, brother of the Top Spook) to develop a really low-cost computer (the target is $100, but they are just at the $200 level now) intended to bring modern technology to children in 3rd world countries. As I understand, their initial target audience is in Peru. More about their program and plans can be read at http://www.laptop.org/vision/index.shtml. All the software is to be developed open source (see http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_on_open_source_software)
I noted in Time Magazine a month or two back that they planned an initial "public" release with an offer that if you buy two, you get one to keep and the other goes to a foreign school. Tonite I got this announcement from them announcing that this campaign begins next Monday. Of the $399 you contribute, $200 is a 501c3 deductible item.
I can imagine AMSAT developing several "Space Cadet" software packages for the OLPC (see http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Content ). I can also imagine the OLPC serving as a terminal for the ACP (Advanced Communications Package) for Eagle/Phase 4, especially for the Emergency Communications application.
FYI -- The O/S specs are based on Fedora LINUX, running Python, Java, Csound, Squeak & Logo (see http://www.laptop.org/en/laptop/software/specs.shtml ). You can see more info on the hardware and on developing widgets for the OLPC at http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Developers_Program.
73 de Tom, K3IO (ex W3IWI)
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