fun - my xo laptop came today + pics

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

________________________________________
From: Steve Goldstein [steve.goldstein () cox net]
Sent: Sunday, December 23, 2007 9:58 PM
To: David Farber
Subject: [IP] Re:    fun - my xo laptop came today + pics

Just returned from Taiwan this morning to find my XO waiting for me.
Immediately tried to get on the net, but it would not recognize my
wireless access point.  Tried again and again.  I have to use WEP in
the house because one of the HP printers will not work with any
stronger encryption.  Then, I read on line that it would not work
with my Linksys WRT54G in any event!  Luckily some nearby neighbor
has an open wireless connection that I found that I could use.  But,
this is not a great thing to find in a supposedly wireless machine.
Later in the afternoon, we visited a friend.  There were several kids
at her house, and she has a wireless router, too.  So, I tried to
access hers (a D-Link) and could not connect, though I could see it
on the neighborhood screen.  Well, she was using WPA, so she switched
to WEP, and I still could not connect. Finally, she removed the
encryption, and then I could connect.  Bottom line: the wireless
drivers still need a lot of work!

We also tried some of the applications.  The pre-teen kids had more
success in figuring them out than the adults, but we never could get
the one with the drum icon to play any music.  And, a cursory look at
the Wiki was not all that yielding of details.

What I do like about the machine, pricing aside, is that it puts the
user at the center of the screen and then lets him/her network with
loads of other kids in a richly-equipped XO environment.  Relatedly,
the user interface is nothing like a standard Windoze or Mac GUI, for
that matter.  It is definitely designed for interaction and
collaboration among youngsters.  However, the on board math, and
maybe other things, too, would seem to be able to take a "kid" at
least all the way through high school (trig, Boolean logic in the
calculator, etc.).

But, I don't feel that the system is quite ready for prime time, as
the software and on line documentation leaves a lot to be desired.
That having been said, however, it will be fun tinkering around with
it and learning as I go along--maybe I should invite some youngsters
over to help me learn faster!

--SteveG

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