I have the top-left guy's shirt.

Oh, and uhh...Go Nintendo!

michaelwiggins

Monitor? Am I missing something? Does it have a video card that can allow output to a variety of TV inputs, like 75ohm, coax, RCA, etc?

Git Em SteveDave displays attention-grabbing vanity

well, given that the MIT kids are on it, I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up kicking the s**t out of the OLPC

Norcross

Why not just use the C64 design and update it a bit?

DarkNight_DS

@michaelwiggins: I have ps1 controllers!

Ariel_Wollinger

Congratulations, MIT. You just made a cheapass NES clone plastered with copyright-infringing characters. Of course, China's hodge-podge industry has beaten you by how many years? This might be a handy toy for kids to learn a thing or two, but I can't see it as a particularly effective educational tool, and it definitely won't prepare anyone to today's world of computing.

Hey, I've got a crazy-ass idea! Take the Dragonfly BSD kernel, slap it onto a server farm offering various data services, optimize it for thin clients on a relatively low-bandwidth virtual network, and hand out extremely cheap ultrathin clients (for a certain fee) that can use a TV as a monitor and a phone line or cable TV line as a data service line. Then, you can serve up all sorts of data services with a minimal monthly fee. Hell, it can't be any worse than OLPC.

@Norcross:
OLPC was made by MIT guys. Where the hell but MIT's Media Lab do you think the "Let's save the world with cheap PCs!" idea came from?

@Git Em SteveDave displays attention-grabbing vanity:
It's an NES-on-a-chip, and by the looks of it, it's got a build quality comparable to those cheap Chinese NES knockoffs.

DisposableInterloper

PS1 controllers?

Ariel_Wollinger

@michaelwiggins: I have the top-right guy's shirt.

Migo

@Norcross: OLPC kind of started @ MIT too.

albertojb

I have the guy in the top right. Actually, I am dictating this to him now......

OH and NES is possibly the greatest invention of all time, next to Apple! *Glances nervously over shoulder*

Storm490

I don't understand what it is that they are doing here ?
they bought a NES on a chip with a keyboard and basic built in already from India , what exactly are they bringing to the table ?
apart from the wrath of Nintendo possible ?
i'd rather see a computer based on a computer like the c64 or spectrum for $10 .. hack one of those DTV units ( [picobay.com] ) much more useful

coderneedsfood

Obviously most people neglected to actually read what this project is about:

"The Educational Home Computer Initiative (eHCI) is organizing the development and deployment of educational software for highly affordable computers that connect to a family's television set. These 8-bit systems are currently available in China and India for less than $10. These computers are sold with a fully functional keyboard, mouse, and game controllers, and hundreds of cartridge-based programs. We are exploring the possibility of using 8-bit computers as a platform for locally-relevant, effective educational software for middle income families, particularly in developing economies. "

BoinK

@Git Em SteveDave displays attention-grabbing vanity: There's the first thing I noticed. If you're looking into the $12 NES-PC market, I doubt you already have the scratch to afford a TV for it.

Griffehpoo

@BoinK: Well, to be fair, Mr. Hickey did say "Forget the OLPC laptop, MIT's new hotness is the $12 desktop computer for developing countries based roughly on the NES" in his writeup of the article. It makes more sense now that I know they're just developing software for an existing cheapo-PC design, though.

Griffehpoo

This is one of the most positive thing I read on this site for a long time.

We may take for granted powerful computers with slick operating systems, but the market for these PCs will most likely not have even seen a PC or even less likely used one.

Congratulations and the best of luck.

aussie

So many computers are being tossed in the garbage nowadays - why can't a system of repurpose be initiated rather than a whole new piece of tech? I bet it'd be cheaper than $12 as you could figure the $12 to go into the collection/distribution infrastructure... something which the OLPC and this new number doesn't include in its pricetag... just raw materials (from what I gather). You keep the stuff out of the landfill and help out others in need - what a novel idea!

zarchitect

valiant, but seriously? more e-trash ready components when there are BOAT loads being shipped out for scrap? seems like a great time for a recycling venture, if technology would trickle down instead of being thrown away, we'd see the big change all these ppl hope for... I didn't have to get my Nana hooked on PC's by designing one for her, she learned on an older one we'd been saving... Unfortunately several hundred entrepreneurs would have to get regular jobs.

Mike8606

Sexy sonsabitches.

bobdobbs

They need to scrap this project and start a boy band.

bobdobbs

@BoinK:
Actually, I didn't neglect it. We're talking about an 8-bit system here. Unless you wish to load an encyclopedia on it, which might or might not be useful considering the medium, it's nothing but a gimmicky piece of shit.

With this, you don't have the processing power to show any decent atlas or world map or interactive diagrams, you don't have voice feedback for any language program, you can't view Internet content or connect to peers à la OLPC, you don't have diddly squat. All you've going to get are a few MIDI sing along games and boring edutational shit on par with Mathblaster.

DisposableInterloper

@bobdobbs: MIT boy bands FTW

crayonwaxy

@bobdobbs: Boys 2 Mem?

Git Em SteveDave displays attention-grabbing vanity

@Griffehpoo: Man I've seen extremely poor people sacrifice basic needs food,clothing,decent shelter to own a TV. Their life is so fucked up that the only affordable way to escape is to stare at the tube and get drunk or sniff some glue. Plus you can get B&W TV's for free in most junkyards. Id say the $12 price point is more like to make it cheap on a government scale.

@DisposableInterloper: I think your missing the point, this computer is not meant to be amazing, just cheap. Given the low price point poor poor poor people could own it without having to resell it at some point.
These people do not know how to touch type, can barely read and write and never have played pong. So i kinda like the idea to bring the less fortunate to 1980

applesgoinpies

I think that this is a very creative way of using something that is incredibly cheap to provide basic skills to people who desperately need assistance. Sure we should be passing along obsolete home and business computers but the people they are targeting in this program aren't ready for that yet. We are talking about a community that may have a single battery powered TV between them. These are not people who have access to luxuries like the Internet, software or even clean power.

Congrats MIT Mavens for thinking outside the box!

Blastfemur

so what are they developing ?
software or hardware , from the headline its Hardware
yet from the page it looks like software ?
I do encourage the goal of low cost computing for the masses i just am not clear what they are doing ?

coderneedsfood

They found these cheap NES clone systems that have a keyboard, are labeled "Educational computer" and sell for about $12. This is what you see in the photo.

So these MIT guys want to use the basics of the system to make a higher functioning system that actually is educational and keep the price around $12.

They really do need to get a display screen for it though.

se7a7n7

So basicly they mean they can build a unit from $12 worth of parts. So by the time it hits a students desk it will still cost somewhere around $80+

JEmlay

I'm not saying don't try to create something new or anything like that. But!!! Instead of trying to make a $12 small green-computer for the 3rd countries(I'm not talking about Us,but we are getting there)give them the ones that we are destroying and make it powered with solar power or anything and that could be done for $12.

kas1370