Recently, I had the privilege of being interviewed on the FLOSS Weekly podcast. This was a tremendous pleasure for me not just because I got the opportunity to talk about OLPC progress in Nepal, but because I have learned a lot about managing open-source projects from listening to FLOSS Weekly.
I want to thank FLOSS Weekly host Randal Schwartz for giving me ample time (60 minutes) and essentially free reign to talk about OLPC in Nepal. If you have a little time:
There is one significant error in the show. Randal got the false impression that Nepali teachers were surfing porn and that is why we had to set up content filtering for the schools' Internet connection.
We have never recorded teachers viewing objectionable material through the school Internet connection. We were worried that adults might consume the schools' limited bandwidth for "adult content" and for that reason and others we installed a content filter.
I apologize for having gotten the wrong impression regarding the "adult" use of the 64k lines. Thanks for clarifying that.
no problem Randal. Thanks again for the opportunity to appear on FLOSS Weekly
Great podcast.
What is the solution for the touchpad problem?
Is it really good or just a bit better?
I experienced improvement with newer builds (using 800 now), but I wouldn't say the problem is solved.
It has been resolved in the most recent XO's produced. The XO's Nepal is distributing last month and this month feature a touchpad that is 1 million times better and even better than the touchpad on my dell.
Credit for that improvement goes to John Watlington and Richard Smith for their fantastic and tireless work.
Great interview! As someone involved locally with OLPC and Sugar for possible future deployments, you gave great ideas for groups starting out with their educational initiatives. The XO-1 might not be the most powerful solution out there, but it does have the advantage of experience from people like you.