The "low cost" Solo Computer for Africa

A very interesting pointer by Rabin, and an extract from his email on TIER.

Key features:
- lower power - finally only 8.5 watts - primarily work on batteries etc versus upto 200-300 W for a regular PC
- rugged - small, in dusty env. etc
- no hard disk - FLASH
- LCD screen
- currently runs RISCOS - but will run Linux
- cost is aroun $1200 - but claim is that it will last for upto 15 years
- applications will include spreadsheets, word processing, PDF viewers

Specifications:
http://www.explan.co.uk/hardware/solo.shtml
Screen: 13.3" TFT LCD panel at XGA
Power: 6-40v DC at 8 1/2 Watts,
Weight: 8 kg
CPU: 500 megaherts on an ARM processor
RAM: 256MB of memory
Disk: 2.5GB of flash drive capacity.

Designed by Fantsuam Foundation in Nigeria. The Fantsuam will soon produce Solo computers for the general market - deadlines are still awaited. Workshops and demos are underway. There is one problem though: it costs around US$1,200, far out of reach of the average African.

The only thing you might want to replace is your battery. These are nickle metal hydride high-temperature batteries. They are triple A battery size, and stacked in two sets, in a box with an intelligent processor, which makes it hot-swappable so you can swap one out when low on charge.