$70 desktop?

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
If they can make a $100 laptop it must be possible to make one without screen, battery, wind up generator, keyboard and touchpad for less than $70.



I could see a lot of use for such a computer. Home automatisation, iTunes server, Internet radio, simple web server and webcam server.



I could identify five uses on the top of my head and would buy a ten-pack if it was offered for $1000.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 30
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Anders

    If they can make a $100 laptop it must be possible to make one without screen, battery, wind up generator, keyboard and touchpad for less than $70. <SNIP> and would buy a ten-pack if it was offered for $1000.



    Maybe you could also use one as a calculator...
  • Reply 2 of 30
    andersanders Posts: 6,523member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by dutch pear

    Maybe you could also use one as a calculator...



    The $100 laptop is only possible because its sold in one million packs and without resellers getting their part. It would probably be $250 on the free marked. The $1000 price tag for a ten pack was to factor in that.
  • Reply 3 of 30
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Anders

    The $1000 price tag for a ten pack was to factor in that.



    this is a good point. even for regular desktop use, there are plenty of functional 15" monitors lying in scrap heaps.



    for community centers, schools, and third world countries, a $70 mac mini clone could be great. plenty of non-profits exist that could handle the volume buying and distribution.
  • Reply 4 of 30
    Quote:

    If they can make a $100 laptop it must be possible to make one without screen,



    Thay can't make $100 laptop. Not yet.
  • Reply 5 of 30
    Quote:

    Originally posted by skatman

    Thay can't make $100 laptop. Not yet.



    Sure they can.
  • Reply 6 of 30
    From the FAQ:



    "Kids in the developing world need the newest technology, especially really rugged hardware and innovative software."



    How about kids in the United States of American? You know, where the federal government subsidizes a university such as MIT with taxpayers dollars.
  • Reply 7 of 30
    andersanders Posts: 6,523member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by fahlman

    How about kids in the United States of American? You know, where the federal government subsidizes a university such as MIT with taxpayers dollars.



    Sure. Ask your congressman for passing a bill guaranteeing every kid access to computers. Maybe the american tax payers will be ready to use a little bit of their record income in creating a future for all kids in your country.



    What private firms and foreign countries governments are willing to give/donate to kids with even fewer life chances are really nothing of your concern...
  • Reply 8 of 30
    A friend of mine (well, i suppose boyfriend of a friend.... but o well) is one of the few people from Red Hat who is working on this project. He was telling my family about it this summer when we visited them in boston. anyways, the low price isn't totally accredited to buying them in million-packs (though it helps), but most of it is buying extremely cheap parts from many companies, and getting the parts in bulk. the computers themselves don't contribute to the low price, the components do (does that make sense?). they also are using older hardware and an open source version of linux so that everything is cheaper. they also have eliminated hard drives for flash memory, eliminated li-ion batteries, etc etc, which all drives the price way down. its totally possible, its just a huge project that requires a lot of collaboration between companies. it seems hard to believe, but i think it'll release very soon
  • Reply 9 of 30
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Gene Clean

    Sure they can.



    Don't believe eveything you see in popular media.

    I already spoke to the peeps at MIT... it's stunt and nothing else.
  • Reply 10 of 30
    Quote:

    Originally posted by skatman

    Don't believe eveything you see in popular media.



    ArsTechnica is hardly 'popular media'.



    Quote:

    I already spoke to the peeps at MIT... it's stunt and nothing else.



    Don't believe popular media, but believe a complete stranger in a message board? Come on.
  • Reply 11 of 30
    andersanders Posts: 6,523member
    This is a sidestep from the $70 desktop thread...



    What is the cheapest PC you can build? It needs the bare essentials, nothing more than VGA, a laughable harddrive or flash memory, no optical drive, no ethernet. It does, however, need to include 802.11 in some form and USB and be able to run Linux. The hardest task it need to be able to do is managing a standart webcam.



    You can boot from a USB drive, right?
  • Reply 12 of 30
    does it need to have liquid cooling ???
  • Reply 13 of 30
    a_greera_greer Posts: 4,594member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Anders

    This is a sidestep from the $70 desktop thread...



    What is the cheapest PC you can build? It needs the bare essentials, nothing more than VGA, a laughable harddrive or flash memory, no optical drive, no ethernet. It does, however, need to include 802.11 in some form and USB and be able to run Linux. The hardest task it need to be able to do is managing a standart webcam.



    You can boot from a USB drive, right?




    Call any nearby universities, see if they have a salvage store open to the general public...



    A $50 unit will likely be a ~500-800MHz CPU, 2-10 GB HDD, and 32-128 MB ram depending on which models are being phased out with the latest upgrade cycle. They all will have VGA graphics and some PCI slots.



    Also, Newspaper classifieds and ebay are your friends here.
  • Reply 14 of 30
    andersanders Posts: 6,523member
    Nono. I mean build from new products.
  • Reply 15 of 30
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Anders

    If they can make a $100 laptop it must be possible to make one without screen, battery, wind up generator, keyboard and touchpad for less than $70.



    I could see a lot of use for such a computer. Home automatisation, iTunes server, Internet radio, simple web server and webcam server.





    Actually there is something like that - it is called Linksys WRT54G (around 60$ after resellers get their cut, so the actual price is MUCH lower)



    As with the 100$ laptop, it has NO HDD , but I believe that soon there might be better alternatives ...
  • Reply 16 of 30
    andersanders Posts: 6,523member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by xdesk

    Actually there is something like that - it is called Linksys WRT54G (around 60$ after resellers get their cut, so the actual price is MUCH lower)



    Not quite. It needs to be able to run an OS to be versatile enough.



    Quote:

    Originally posted by xdesk

    As with the 100$ laptop, it has NO HDD , but I believe that soon there might be better alternatives ...



    I don´t really see the need for a HD for most uses (iTunes server would be one). One gig for OS and programs and one gig to play around with should be enough.



    I have made a thread in general discussion that I hope will input on how such a machine could be.
  • Reply 17 of 30
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Anders

    Not quite. It needs to be able to run an OS to be versatile enough.





    Actually it already does better than that - it runs Linux - and is THE MOST SUCCESSFULL wireless router to date, precisely since people could (dramatically) extend the software features !!!
  • Reply 18 of 30
    andersanders Posts: 6,523member
    Can it serve files? Can I add a webcam? Can I make it into a home automation unit? Can I listen to internet radio on it? I am asking because I don´t know. If it can do most of those things it could be it
  • Reply 19 of 30
    majormattmajormatt Posts: 1,077member
    Would the enclosure be a cereal box?
  • Reply 20 of 30
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Anders

    Can it serve files? Can I add a webcam? Can I make it into a home automation unit? Can I listen to internet radio on it? I am asking because I don´t know. If it can do most of those things it could be it



    Actually you can do some of those things - which is amazing given the production price of the device in the first place!!!



    "Serving files" will only be of limited use - since it has no HDD, and only a VERY small amount of flash and RAM ...



    That model also does not have USB ports - but a "general purpose" model will certainly have ... and that will probably solve all of your other requests from above...



    So the overall idea is that YES, it is possible to do such a machine, but (as with the 100$ notebook) the major problem is "the initial huge order" that will kick things from "a plan on paper" to "the real world".



    So far the only people that had the means and the need for such a device were people building more specialized things as the Linksys (now owned by Cisco) from above - that sells very well as a specialized "consumer wireless router with firewall and Ethernet mini-switch" and which is easy to transform with various open-source projects into "pro wireless routers" with very advanced features, including wireless mesh routing, proxy serving, traffic shaping and so on ...



    Obviously that if Linksys or another manufacturer would have the guts to do a more generic model with more memory, more flash, 2-4 USB ports, maybe even the space for an optional notebook HDD and sell it under 100$ it will also be a major hit ... it might even be a hit at 200$ if they add the new but expensive wireless pre-n stuff that they are now trying to sell for 150$ ... but they must also add more memory, more flash, more connectivity and extensibility...
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