“Derek Lomas, Jesse Austin-Breneman and other designers want to create a computer that Third World residents can buy for less than you probably spend on lunch,” Jerry Kronenberg reports or The Boston Herald.
“‘We see this as a model that could increase economic opportunities for people in developing countries,’ said Lomas, part of a team that’s trying to develop a $12 computer at this month’s MIT International Development Design Summit,” Kronenberg reports. “‘If you just know how to type, that can be the difference between earning $1 an hour instead of $1 a day.’
“Lomas, an American graduate student who stumbled across the computers in Bangalore while on an internship last summer, hit on the idea of upgrading the devices’ 1980s-era technology,” Kronenberg reports.
“He and others at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology symposium hope to soup up the systems – which are based on old Apple II computers – with rudimentary Web access and more,” Kronenberg reports. “‘My generation all had Apple IIs that we learned to type and play games on,’ the 27-year-old said. ‘If we can get buy-in from programmers, we can develop these devices and give (Third World) schools Apple II computer labs like the ones I grew up with.'”
Full article here.
All together now!
I always thought using the Apple IIe/IIc as the basis for a small and cheap text-based PDA-sized computer would be an excellent idea.
If this actually happens, all those old 8-bit Apple II programs, such as the original AppleWorks, become valuable again.
Actually, I think these guys have an idea. How much computer do you really need to view the internet, print out, and type and enter data. An iPhone can do most of the work and this computer does not even have to make calls. Just make it simple.
Just a thought.
en
Wait a minute. The Mac came out when this guy was 3. And he spent all this time with an Apple II?
Apple up $6.47 after a sluggish start. Keep moving up!
maybe this is what Oppenheimer was talking about when he said Apple will deliver products with amazing technologies at price points the competition just won’t be able to match…
I’d shell out for an upgraded Apple II.
@loganson
My HIGH SCHOOL kept a fleet of Apple IIs through the late 90s. I have every confidence the 27 year old guy touched an Apple ][ during computer class.
Oooh, I wonder if they’ll upgrade Logo Writer!
At that price, they’d be forced to use slave labor for assembly, no doubt.
@Mr. Reeee “use slave labor”
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You mean the graduate students?
Apple // forever!!
*sniff*
Great.
Now I can look forward to letters from Mr. Mogamma’s ten year-old son speaking of his father’s immense wealth and why I should help them all to flee to the US.
@old timer
That was Apple /// and Apple ][.
there’s already been a handful of web browsers developed for a2’s. gs/web, contiki, spectrum, etc. and lets not forget the super nes was based on the 65C816.
Being able to type on the cheap is all well and good, as long as you can read. First things first.
HA HA! Eat that Microsoft! The tipping point has begun! You know the saying, ‘As with the poorest, impoverished villagers in Africa, so goes the world.’
…or it is something like that
I have an original Apple II, from 1979.
My little treasure, hehehe!!
I’m a nerd
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Grifterus ..sounds like you saved the machine so you could sell it and have money for have a retirement
@ Crazylegs – ROTFLMAO!
Peace.
Rudimentary web access on an Apple II? Yikes. Talk about World Wide Wait. Hope they don’t hit a page with Flash.
I’m more concerned with getting rudimentary web access on my TV. Fsck the kids.
I think we should give al qaeda old computers that run Windows. The war will be over within a month.
rws,
Or give them iPhones. They would either be having too much fun or too much aggravation to mess with anyone.
Can you even GET 128k memory chips and 1mhz processors anymore?
Being able to type on the cheap is all well and good, as long as you can read.
And can get food.
And water.
And shelter.
And electricity.
And Internet access.
And not get your family butchered by the local junta for having any of these…
MW: help. Indeed.
@loganson
You artard the apple II came out in the early 80’s, if you had a brain and call yourself a computer person you would know that…. dimwit
basic needs,
Exactly.