I'm posting from an XO laptop

roymond · Post by **roymond** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 7:11 pm

this thing is so cool! And green. The squishy keyboard will take some getting used to though.

Reist · Post by **Reist** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 11:37 pm

That is very cool! Is it true you can put it in B&W mode to save batteries?

ps - I also have the cd in the bottom pic. Good choice.

Post by **Lunkhead** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 11:47 pm

I'd love to hear about your experiences with it. I wish I had followed through on the impulse to order one myself when they were available.

roymond · Post by **roymond** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 12:01 am

Lunkhead wrote:I'd love to hear about your experiences with it. I wish I had followed through on the impulse to order one myself when they were available.

Well, it's got a bunch of games, Firefox, a music program that lets you jam with other XO users, gmail, chat and a bunch of mesh network stuff I don't know much about. And some other stuff. Apparently there aren't any others in the hood yet, since they would show up as little X kids. I can't wait to find another one and chat with them.

Where's the Guitar Hero? ohhh maaaannnnn!

The kids love it. They spent a lot of time on it the last few days. They'll probably want to bring it to Mexico next week.

I predict this will be a status symbol in Starbucks, as the Newton was back in the day. You get a year t-mobile hotspot account, which is handy.

Post by **Lunkhead** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 12:36 pm

roymond wrote:Where's the Guitar Hero? ohhh maaaannnnn!

You could try to get the open source knockoff "Frets On Fire" running on your XO:

http://fretsonfire.sourceforge.net/

Billy's Little Trip · Sat Jan 05, 2008 12:43 pm

Remind us how this program works, or worked. Is it still available? I really should have gotten one for my nephew.

Post by **Lunkhead** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 2:04 pm

Billy's Little Trip wrote:Remind us how this program works, or worked. Is it still available? I really should have gotten one for my nephew.

The way it worked was that you paid for two, one of which was sent to you, and the other of which was donated to somebody. I'm pretty sure they've stopped offering that deal. As far as I know, it was the only way for "normal" people to be able to get them.

roymond · Post by **roymond** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 2:19 pm

Billy's Little Trip wrote:Remind us how this program works, or worked. Is it still available? I really should have gotten one for my nephew.

You buy one and they send one to a child somewhere in the world, all for $400. You also get a year of t-mobile hot spot mobile access, which is $375 so I've canceled my Boingo account. But I think the deal is over now.

Billy's Little Trip · Post by **Billy's Little Trip** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 2:24 pm

Ahh, thanks.

drë · Post by **drë** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 6:43 pm

Lunkhead wrote: it was the only way for "normal" people to be able to get them.

Billy, if you really want one of them you need to send one of your kids to school for a year in Peru or Uruguay.
Ray just got off easy.

Post by **Spud** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 7:24 pm

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dl ... category0=

roymond · Post by **roymond** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 7:32 pm

There ya go.

And keep in mind, it's not like this is a fast computer that lets you switch between chat and games and web like you're used to. Tame your expectations if that's what you're looking for. But it is great for kids and has tremendous cool power.

Mostess · Post by **Mostess** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 7:46 pm

roymond wrote:I predict this will be a status symbol in Starbucks, as the Newton was back in the day.

The Newton? That's a pretty old Starbucks. And a pretty pessimistic view of the XO.

I'm really curious about how well it takes a beating. How old are the kids?

Billy's Little Trip · Post by **Billy's Little Trip** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 8:09 pm

roymond wrote:There ya go.

And keep in mind, it's not like this is a fast computer that lets you switch between chat and games and web like you're used to. Tame your expectations if that's what you're looking for. But it is great for kids and has tremendous cool power.

Actually, what I was interested in is getting it for my 7 year old nephew, and if I can help some less fortunate kid somewhere, even better. But I will admit, I'm not very trusting in these types of charities. Too much scum in the world.

roymond · Post by **roymond** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 8:42 pm

I hear you. Who knows how well or otherwise this will be managed and how long an effort they'll wage. But sometimes there are large-stroke concepts that deserve some support. And in this case there's a cute take-away toy to boot.

obscurity · Post by **obscurity** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 9:25 pm

Here's what I keep thinking - that little thing has no fans or hard drive in it, it must be silent or pretty close to it. And it has usb2 ports. Doesn't that make it pretty much ideal for recording audio tracks?

roymond · Post by **roymond** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 9:51 pm

obscurity wrote:Here's what I keep thinking - that little thing has no fans or hard drive in it, it must be silent or pretty close to it. And it has usb2 ports. Doesn't that make it pretty much ideal for recording audio tracks?

Well, some of the sound stuff is pretty impressive. SF Brooklyn should expect some live XO jam comps from roymond