The Manitoba UNIX User Group (MUUG) will be holding its next monthly meeting on Tuesday, April 8. The meeting topic for this month is as follows:
The OLPC XO Computer
There will be a demonstration of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) computer at this month's meeting. This laptop is meant to be a low-cost, perhaps $100, computer to be used by students in third-world countries. It is being developed by an organization headed by Nicholas Negroponte (from MIT) and, in his words, "It's an education project, not a laptop project."
Several members of MUUG bought laptops under the G1G1 (Give One, Get One) program, and this will allow us to demonstrate them at the meeting. If you happen to have one of these laptops, please bring it along and we'll set up a meshnet.
Here is a brief description of the laptop: it is really small (25cm by 23cm by 3 cm) with a high-impact plastic case and a membrane-covered keyboard. It looks like it came from Toys-R-Us! The release catches for opening the display are actually two antennae that allow wireless access. The display itself is surrounded by two speakers, two microphones, a camera, as well as power, battery and activity buttons. There is a variety of software that comes with the laptop. It includes a web browser (which also reads PDFs), a python interpreter, and programs for creating audio and video files. It also has journaling software that is user-accessible. This acts like a history that allows the user to jump back to a previous session. There is an installed window manager (called sugar) that is really different from what we are used to on a Linux machine. In addition and not surprisingly, the laptop comes with yum; there is a huge repository of files that may be transferred to this laptop.
The group holds its general meetings at 7:30pm on the second Tuesday of every month from September to June. (There are no meetings in July and August.) Meetings are open to the general public; you don't have to be a MUUG member to attend.
********************************************************************** Please note our meeting location: The IBM offices, at 400 Ellice Ave. (between Edmonton and Kennedy). When you arrive, you will have to sign in at the reception desk, and then wait for someone to take you (in groups) to the meeting room. Please try to arrive by about 7:15pm, so the meeting can start promptly at 7:30pm. Don't be late, or you may not get in. (But don't come too early either, since security may not be there to let you in before 7:15 or so.) Non-members may be required to show photo ID at the security desk.
Limited parking is available for free on the street, either on Ellice Ave. or on some of the intersecting streets. Indoor parking is also available nearby, at Portage Place, for $3.00 for the evening. Bicycle parking is available in a bike rack under video surveillance located behind the building on Webb Place. **********************************************************************
For more information about MUUG, and its monthly meetings, check out their Web server:
Help us promote this month's meeting, by putting this poster up on your workplace bulletin board or other suitable public message board:
http://www.muug.mb.ca/meetings/MUUGmeeting.pdf