"A Chinese company is touting an inexpensive Linux-based computer as a way to close the 'digital divide.' YellowSheepRiver's $150 Municator appears to be available now, with a three-month leadtime, suggesting it could reach market well ahead of MIT's $100 One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) device." reports LinuxDevices.com.
The Municator measures 7 x 5.7 x 1.5 inches (180 x 145 x 37mm), and weighs one pound, six ounces (0.65kg). It requires five amps of 12-volt power, and comes with a 45-watt auto-sensing 110/220 adapter. A lithium-ion battery pack is optionally available. Other options include Wi-Fi and a modem.
It can use a TV set as a display, as well as a monitor, and you can plug in a 40MB external hard drive. It runs a verson of Linux called Thinix 3.0, and open source Red Office. There's an impressive video demonstrating the Municator taken at the CeBIT 2006 exhibition at Google Video.
Comment: Unfortunately it's not PC-compatible: "the Municator is based on a 64-bit Godson-2 CPU from BLX Semiconductor" which is based on the MIPS instruction set. According to LinuxDevices, its legality is open to question.
However, it does prompt the question as to how close Chinese manufacturers could get to providing a decent working PC for $150 (without monitor) -- especially considering what you can already get for $300. And this sort of thing would be much more attractive than the $100 (or probably more) OLPC laptop, which has the sort of spec that makes it look of very limited practical use.
The $100 OLPC had some appeal when the alternative cost $1,000, but if it's a $135 OLPC versus a $270 PC, things start to look different. If Chinese capitalism finally beats American paternalism, don't be too surprised....
