Mine just arrived this morning via FedEx to my Minnesota address. I was a first day, first hour buyer. It's very cool. Battery is nearly fully charged. Connected to my wireless signal right away. I can get to the preassigned web addresses, but can't figure out (yet) how to get to other sites. When I type in "New York Times" in the Google search box, I get a message "Address Not Found". So, I'm reading the online site "Getting Started" and trying to figure it out.

Say, is there an itinerary? I'd love to stop by for an hour or so... but I don't know which hour would be best.

Well, I'll be there in spirit, since I live in Philly. But, take good notes ... and have fun !!

Bryan:

The first hour is meet/greet and Bryan/Aaron/Christoph discussion and OLPC LC/DC organization. Second hour is pure geek in small working groups.

If you have limited time, make it 7-8pm.

Harlan: Look in the OLPC News Wireless Mesh Forum for more help: http://olpcnews.com/forum/index.php?board=18.0

We just unboxed two XOs at my company's offices in downtown DC near Chinatown. The two XO boxes were placed in a bigger shipping box. We passed one of them around during our staff meeting this morning and will be offering the two as loaners to our web team who are curious about them. Unboxing photos and scans of the manual here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/curiouslee/tags/unboxing/

I'll be bringing one of these tonight along with two B4 prototypes.

I'm still waiting for two to arrive at my house.

No point in the meetup when Californians don't have an OLPC...

:(

Bah. Sucks being a "Day 7" G1G1 donor. And I'm in the DC area, too.

Darn you, Brightstar! Darn you to HECK!

*pout*

McNair,

Before you pout, think. Tonight you'll get the chance to geek with an XO so when yours does arrive, you can show off your mad XO skillz to others as you lift it from the box.

I know the game I'm gonna play for hours on my XO Day One: http://www.olpcnews.com/laptops/xo1/how_to_open_xo_laptop.html

Why not have a meeting where each person attending brings a kid of primary school age and focus the meeting on them and their input.

Sorry I didn't make the meetup; one of my XO recipients (Luke, 2.5 yo) is down with stomach flu. I live in Arlington VA, and the 3 XOs I ordered came today. Unlike many geek-lust-driven XO enthusiasts, all 6 computers that I purchased are for *children* - 3 overseas donations & 3 at-home progeny. I unboxed one after the older 2 recipients were in bed, and wife & I played with the XO for about an hour, until the youngest recipient needed attention. Since she is only 4 months old, I figure I can use her XO for the next year. I admit I'll probably be cryin' the blues when she's old enough to want daddy to stop playing with her laptop!

FWIW, to the folk who are worried about theft and logos on the box: the OLPC logo is on the box of an individual XO, but if you ordered more than one they're apparently boxed into a larger shipping box which did not have an OLPC logo - just a Brightstar Computers return address.

I think the narrative of the OLPC is starting to get a little muddled with all this U.S-centric geek out gadget lust. Can we get a story about Uruguay or Peru in here please?

Hope things are working out for your group. I got our 2 little greens yesterday. The local mess net works well but we can't get on our wireless network. We can see it once in a while but it will not take the WEP key. I guess I will have to keep tinkering and maybe I can listen in next time. I think group like yours will provide the kind of leverage this project needs.

Hi there!

Of those who've received theirs already (I'm not bitter ... yet), I have a specific question: How do you find the reflective (e-Book / monochrome / screen light off) mode?

I look forward to the day when a lot of the XO's coolest stuff is found in more conventional laptops, and that's one of the most exciting to me.

timothy

@justin: While I agree that North Americans and G1G1 don't comprise the originally intended users/distribution program for the XO, the XO can ultimately benefit from a bunch of enthusiastic G1G1 participants posting about their experiences.

One of the critiques of the OLPC idea was that maybe developing countries will hesitate to purchase an unproven product whose OS was in general use nowhere else. Well, as G1G1ers receive their devices and put them into use, that criticism is rendered invalid. Now, what we have is a device that is being employed in developed countries. Our success stories, if posted, comprise the kind of positive responses that governmental decision-makers might use in making their decision whether to go with OLPC or not. And our putting the devices through their paces, and posting our resolutions to issues that crop up, will assist any other users or school programs who have encountered a similar situation.

In short, I look forward to seeing news items regarding OLPC's deployment, on large scale, in developing countries. But in the meantime, the sharing of G1G1 experiences serves a constructive purpose here,as well. :)

@timothy:

To enter the reflective monochrome hi-res ebook mode, simply turn the brightness all the way down. The backlight will go off and the colors will disappear. The resulting display is incredibly sharp and easy to read in bright light.