Digital publishing is becoming a central theme and focal point for several industries. This finding results from a consistent body of evidence: the enrichment of the supply of electronic books, the emergence of computer-type digital tablet, the maturation of educational computing projects, particularly in developing countries .

The relevance of the questions that are raised by these developments is illustrated in the immediate present, for the following events:

A study day

The third BookCamp , a day of workshops devoted to digital books, will be held in Paris, September 25, 2010, the premises of the canteen .

"The idea of ​​this day is to offer half-day experiments and thoughts about the book and digital. A series of "hands on" to better share the impact of digital innovation in the book chain. An opportunity to meet and exchange among librarians, booksellers, publishers, authors, critics and readers with the slogan, "all participants". "

A manual for producing digital books

Written by James Simmons, the manual " Reading and Leading with Sugar "(version PDF draft) aims to democratize the production and reading e-books, including the Sugar learning platform of Sugar Labs , in the context of extension of the OLPC educational project, in which more than one million children in developing countries now have access.

Digital publishing in the South

An invitation to tender (in French and English ) coordinated by the International Alliance of independent publishers on the attainment of a study on digital publishing in the countries of the "South" has been opened. Project proposals are to be submitted to the organizer for August 29, 2010, the selection committee will deliver its opinion on 20 September 2010.

Clearly, the synergies of this theme of digital books with digital library projects communities Sugar / OLPC around the world, and in particular with the digital library projects that OLPC France is involved (such as our partnership with the Malagasy editor Prédiff, which resulted in the first book in digital Malagasy youth ), are obvious.

This theme is indeed seen in the context of the upcoming release of the tablet XO 3 , for which he will find content to offer OLPC deployments, especially in the Francophone world, Africa, the Caribbean, the space Indian Ocean and elsewhere.

We now have more information on the technical characteristics of the new XO computers that will be used next fall by 90 000 students in secondary education in Uruguay, as just announced the educational portal CEIBAL Plan (" para Laptops secundaria There UTU "), after the previous postings (see" One Laptop per Child design updates for older Pupils ").

New features include a real keyboard, which replaces the keyboard of the first generation XO (XO 1).

Another detail: the color blue!

In addition, this new computer more powerful and efficient, running GNU / Linux Fedora 11, will be equipped with the updated " XO-HS High School Editon ", the new platform developed jointly by the Sugar Sugar Labs, the association Paraguay Educa and the OLPC Foundation (see " Deployment Team/Sugar-0.88 ").

The power gain between the XO and the XO 1.5 is certainly not negligible, even if it is important to put this setting, particularly in an educational project, as outlined in Martin Langhoff, OLPC CTO (" Con a Procesadora más rápido APRENDE is no más rápido "[A faster processor does not mean that we learn faster]).

Thus, the two desktop environments Sugar and Gnome will be usable with the possibility for the user to choose one or the other alternately.

Demonstration video, on a previous prototype:

Of course, the Sugar environment can be tested here and now, regardless of the platform, so on a standard PC, even if you do not have an XO or XO 1.5, the solution with Sugar On A Stick ! All in French if the language of Molière is your preference!

The announcement has already been much written: Marvell and the OLPC Foundation announced Friday, May 28, 2010 the common output of a tablet on the basis of the tablet Moby Marvell and the concept of XO-3 announced by the foundation in November 2009 . The tablet will cost under $ 100 and will be presented at the next CES in January 2011.

As usual, everything is anything that has already been written on this tablet, it is useful to specify a number of points. Detail why the announcement of the foundation and try to answer some simple questions.

The announcement of the foundation

Here is the translation of the announcement of the Foundation published on its official blog :

XO-3 update: OLPC and Marvell partners to develop a range of shelves.

I am pleased to announce that today we finalized a partnership with Marvell to design a range of computer types shelves oriented education. Some of these machines, such as the XO-3 will be OLPC machines to countries in the developing world. This product range will be based on both the reference implementation has made for its Marvell Moby tablet and the concept of the OLPC XO-3 (particularly for low-energy models of the range). Machines distributed by OLPC will run Linux on our standard image, with the Sugar and Gnome environments.

Marvell is a longtime supporter of OLPC and a founding member of the board of the foundation, and has a real interest in education. Marvell provided the chips used by the XO network and contributed to testing and debugging. This partnership marks an even more serious collaboration in the design of the OLPC hardware.

The first tablets will be produced closer to Moby as the XO-3 and will target children in developed countries. They will appear at CES in January 2011 and will be available next year for less than $ 100. The original design of the XO-3 is still planned for 2012.

The Moby is currently pilot a school in Washington DC and Marvell invested in a campaign called "Mobylize" to improve technology adoption in the classes of the United States. This should help to advance the OLPC association in developed countries, the United States is behind many European countries and Asia, both the bandwidth and the adoption of technology in the classroom.

The OLPC Foundation continues to advance the design of the XO-1.75 version to have a low-power ARM processor fitted with a current of XO. This model will be the next destination of our target schools. The XO-3 is still planned for 2012 and will benefit both the experience of the 1.75 and the efforts of Moby.

Weili Dai, Marvell's co-founder, said of the partnership:

"The tablet Moby and his platform and our partnership with OLPC, embody our passion and our shared commitment to give students the ability to create, connect and collaborate with a completely new way. I am immensely proud of the capabilities of our Moby tablet and I am extremely honored to partner with the inventor of the netbook market and education, Dr. Nicholas Negroponte. I applaud his leadership, vision, passion. Together we will make the world a better place. "

Decryption

In a previous blog post, we will detail the "roadmap" of the foundation . This announcement does not upset her, but rather it happen. To understand, try to answer some simple questions:

The XO-3 will come out in January 2011?
The XO-3 was a "concept car" designed to determine what are the objectives of the foundation for the coming years. The partnership announced today will be to realize this concept but it is not just the XO-3 but a "product line" will be produced in partnership between Marvell and the foundation. It is clear that the model due out in January 2011 will be closer to Moby as the XO-3. The XO-3 is scheduled for 2012.

The XO-3 will he destined for developed countries?
The foundation OLPC target countries in the developing world, it is also the target of the XO-3. But again, the ad for a product line not a single machine. It is therefore likely that some machines in the range will be marketed by Marvell to developed countries. It is as if there was now a version of the XO that would be less demanding hardware side (for power consumption and support of weather) and would be destined for developed countries. Nicholas Negroponte also recall that in the interview he had given us did not exclude a new "Give One Get One" (A at home, a home) for the XO-3.

The XO-3 will work there with Sugar?
Yes! It is written explicitly in the ad. However the first machines of the range will probably be fitted with Android as it is today. Moreover, the adaptation of Sugar ARM processor and the new hardware will require some time.

The XO-3 will have there screen multi-mode Pixel Qi?
This is not the case today, but the Moby Pixel Qi has renewed its partnership with the Foundation a few weeks ago. No doubt it is intended that it be a screen PixelQi that will equip the XO-3 in 2012.

The announcement of this partnership has a meaning close to the worldwide release of iPad?
The partnership was announced the same day as the release of the iPad in France. It is a coincidence but the timing is very interesting comment. Let us say immediately that the iPad is a superb machine, several members of OLPC France have bought one and use it daily, it is not to denigrate this great tool! But the iPad is the opposite of XO-3 and the goals of the OLPC Foundation.

• The iPad is not based on a free and open as Sugar but on a proprietary OS and closed, controlled by Apple.
• The content on the iPad are not free. The iPad is primarily a machine to consume premium content (music, movies, applications, books, newspapers), non-free and often protected by DRM. The opening of the contents is a need for the OLPC project for wider dissemination, to be adaptable and be locally accessible at low cost.
• The iPad is not adapted to harsh climatic conditions. Despite the efforts of Apple's consumer requires regular loads, the screen can not be used outdoors and it is too fragile (shock resistance, humidity and dust).
• The iPad is expensive (between € 400 and € 800). The OLPC foundation aims to produce machines at cost as it is now the XO-1 while Apple makes a comfortable margin on the hardware and the content it distributes.

In short, as when the OLPC foundation has created the concept of the Netbook with the XO-1, XO-3 will demonstrate that ICT and the shelves are not reserved for an elite able to pay hundreds of dollars but they can be used at lower costs, education of children today have no access to information.

In recent days the press and mailing lists around the OLPC project (including that of OLPC France ) echo the recent interview with Nicholas Negroponte on xeconomy.com .

I must say that it is not less than three versions of XO that are mentioned! It therefore seemed necessary to make a little explanation text and specify what those different versions of the XO that hide very different realities.

It should be noted first that this article is that our analysis, and does not correspond to a "roadmap" official OLPC Foundation.

A small diagram will help clarify the issue already (click to view details):
(Note: This article and the following diagram is updated regularly with the latest announcements of the foundation)

Existing machines

Two versions of the XO currently exist: the XO-1 and XO-1.5.

The XO-1 machine is the first series was produced by the foundation. This is the machine that you all know, which was produced almost 2 million copies.

The XO-1 is equipped with an AMD Geode 400Mhz in, 256MB RAM, 1GB of flash memory, a dual screen mode and WiFi mesh (see the features detailed here ).

The XO-1 was announced in November 2005 at the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis. At that time he had his little crank

Before it is available in its final version, the XO-1 was preceded by five pre-series models (1 and 4 Alpha Beta versions):

• A in April 2006
• B1 in November 2006,
• B2 in February 2007,
• B3 in May 2007,
• B4 in June 2007.

Three updates were minor technical took place:

• C1 in August 2007,
• C2 in November 2007,
• CL1A in June 2009

The XO-1.5 is a technical evolution of the XO-1 which contains the complete design.

The XO-1.5 is equipped with a VIA C7-M 1GHz, 1GB RAM, 4GB Flash, the same dual-mode screen that XO-1 and WiFi. Its detailed specifications are available here .

The XO-1.5 was announced on the mailing list OLPC in April 2009 but there are already traces on one of the first posts of this blog in May 2008 !

The XO-1.5 went into production in May 2010. Several pre-production models have been developed previously:

• A1 in May 2009,
• A2 in July 2009,
• B1 in August 2009,
• B2 in September 2009
• [UPDATE 15/11/2009] B3 in November 2009

A first test of the machine B2 was produced by OLPC France.

Three updates of the production model have occurred:

• [UPDATE 16/12/2009] C1 in December 2009
• [UPDATE 30/05/2010] C2 in January 2010
• [UPDATE 30/05/2010] C3 in May 2010

It is important to note that the XO-1.5 replaces the XO-1 whose production has ceased. In short, future deployments will therefore use the XO-1.5.

[UPDATE 20/07/2010] The XO-1.5 HS is the declination of XO-1.5 announcement for older children.

Future directions

Chronologically the next generation of XO, which was announced in May 2008 is the XO-2.

The XO-2 has a lot of attention with its innovative design of dual-screen e-book. An overview is available on the Foundation wiki . A "mock-up", ie a non-functional model, has also been seen at the economic summit in Davos in January 2009.

Since the announcement of the XO-2, several manufacturers, such as, Asus , proposed prototype netbook with a dual screen.

Alas, in the interview xeconomy.com , Nicolas Negroponte said the idea to develop the XO-2 was abandoned because its production cost is too high.
Instead of the XO-2, Nicolas Negroponte announced two other concepts: the XO-1.75 and the XO-3.
The XO-1.75 is an evolution of XO-1/XO-1.5 but with an ARM processor instead of a processor based on x86 architecture.

One of the main advantages of this type of processor that is specifically designed for low power computers. Indeed, this type of processor that the team most of the SmartPhone : Nokia, BlackBerry, Palm and even the famous iPhone .

It is interesting to note, especially for those who still believe that Microsoft is the devil behind the OLPC, Windows 7 does not run on ARM processors and is compatible with Windows 8 is far from certain.

Instead, Sugar based on GNU Linux is already running on ARM processors. Moreover, as it relies primarily on interpreted code (Python), it is insensitive to changes in architecture.

The XO-1.75 is quite close to the XO-1.5 and less ambitious than the XO-2, it seems reasonable to think that he could emerge. The foundation actively working on the XO-1.5, it seems nevertheless difficult to imagine that a prototype is available before the last quarter of 2010.
[UPDATE 21/11/2010] A first prototype A1 was launched in October 2010.
[UPDATE 02/08/2011] A second prototype A2 was launched in January 2011.
[UPDATE 31/12/2011] A third prototype A3 was launched in June 2011.
[UPDATE 31/12/2011] A machine beta B1 was launched in July 2011.
[UPDATE 31/12/2011] A pre-production version of C1 was launched in September 2011.

[UPDATE 01/21/2012] Read the test of XO 1.75 here .

The XO-3 was described succinctly by Nicholas Negroponte . It would be great as a single sheet of paper, plastic thin, tight, with a reflective and transmissive color display without opening. It consumes just one watt and cost $ 75.

The XO-3 could be available in 2012.

Clearly, the XO-3, as was the XO-2, is only a concept, direction studied by the foundation. So do not expect more information at this time. The next step is probably a "mock-up" of the type used for the presentation of photos of XO-2.

[UPDATE 23/12/2009] Images of the mock-up have been published by Yves Behar on his site .
[UPDATE 30/05/2010] The foundation announced a partnership with Marvell to produce by January 2011 a first version of a tablet that is the basis of the XO-3.
[UPDATE 31/12/2011] A first prototype A1 (just the motherboard) was born in December 2011.

Or olpc OLPC?

Now that we have completed this overview of hardware and tracks studied to date by the foundation, it is useful to understand how it works, to emphasize a different part of the interview with Nicholas Negroponte : the separation of the foundation in two different entities. As well commented our friend Christoph Derndorfer in OLPC News , this is important to understand the view that we have just presented.

The foundation has indeed split into two entities:

• The association supports olpc deployment, developments and support,
• The OLPC Foundation support to publicize the project and performed research and development.

The XO-1, XO-1.5 and, soon, the XO-1.75 are the responsibility of the association olpc which will probably be under the supervision of Chuck Kane which is the current mission.
The XO-2 and XO-3 are each the responsibility of the foundation that Nicholas Negroponte is the visionary. The foundation then feed the association, in the same way that the engineering departments of car manufacturers supply them with "concept cars". All "concept cars" do not see the day (that's what happened to the XO-2) but the ones who breathe the dynamics in the automotive industry.
One can only hope that the OLPC foundation will continue to inspire ideas that will achieve a little dream of one computer per child.

Note that the diagram at the beginning of the article is freely available here in PDF format and we will try to update it regularly as and when announcements of the foundation.

A few days ago we had the chance to receive one of the founding XO 1.5.

The XO 1.5 is the next evolution of the XO computer. This is an evolution of the components of the machine, not a change of form and design of the computer. Do not worry so it's always the little green computer that you like!

Characteristic

The main changes are internal:

• Processor VIA C7-M clocked at 1GHz (instead of an AMD Geode at 433)
• 1GB (instead of 256MB)
• 4GB flash memory (instead of 1GB)
• New video card,
• New network card

Visually XO XO 1.5 is identical to the one prepared with two exceptions:

• The touchpad is now in one area instead of three (along with the other two were not working on an XO )
• Food is different. It seems to deliver a higher amperage. Moreover, the fact that it is in two parts should simplify its "location": just change the cable to go from a European decision to US.

Beware, however: it is only a pre-production machine, the final version may be different.

System

On the software side, the XO 1.5 embeds Sugar 0.84 .

This new version of Sugar is the version of maturity. In addition to various small ergonomic improvements, the most visible changes concern the newspaper that makes this.

So when you leave an activity without first informing its name, you are now requested.

On the home page, the icon of the activities for which log records are displayed with a different color. In addition it is possible to choose the icon for the recording to be used when the activity will open.

As a reminder, here is the video that I made a few months ago to present these changes:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8zwgr

Activity

Regarding the activities installed several new activities are now installed as standard.

New activities are:

• InfoSlicer (creation of web content)
• Jukebox (media player)
• IRC (IRC client)
• Typing Turtle (learning of the seizure, nothing to do with Logo)
• Labyrinth (mind mapping tool)
• Physics (balancing act)
• Words (translator).

Of these some are geared towards the teachers, but the list of activities set up is probably not final.

Performance

Necessarily improve the performance of the machine at start point (about thirty seconds only) and when opening or closing a business (almost instantaneous).

For cons, I would have liked to test the video playback but unfortunately I was unable to trigger the display of OGG on DailyMotion (single site public to natively support this format). Maybe a bug in the browser ... Similarly, the firmware does not yet support the camera which remains inaccessible from Save the activity.

Disk space is obviously significant as well. He proudly displayed when you select in the newspaper.

Note the double-battery icon: it is a bug , there is of course only one battery.

Network side, the WiFi connection works without difficulty. Network Neighborhood shows surprise of friends around the world! It is not however the WiFi mesh which is also not yet supported by the firmware, but access to a public Jabber server.

Gnome

Big news of the XO 1.5, the "double boot" that will switch from Gnome to Sugar (and vice versa).
This is done via the Control Panel. A simple click on the icon and the machine restarts Gnome in an instant on a standard GNU-Linux.

The return of Sugar is via a shortcut on the Gnome desktop.

To be continued

For those interested, more photos of the machine are available: here and here .

In addition, our exploration has just begun. A Wiki page will reference our progress as and when. We will also be in the coming days workshop presentation which will allow you to see and manipulate it: we expect many of you.