Dec
10
Windows XP running on new Gecko Edubook
By
Introducing the new Gecko Edubook, the lowest cost netbook with an 8.9 inch screen capable of running Windows XP or x86 based Linux distributions. … EeePC Windows Microsoft Linux “Net Book” UMID OLPC “Asus 1″ “low cost” “energy efficient” HP Dell “Open Source” x86 Xcore NorhTec wifi wimax “Ultra Low Cost PC” laptop
26 Comments
December 10th, 2009 at 1:22 am
It’s very impressive. You’ve made a lot of smart design decisions, especially considering that you’re targeting developing countries. I will consider buying one in the near future.
December 10th, 2009 at 1:33 am
intel atom killer?
December 10th, 2009 at 2:29 am
Is Flash working on the edubook? Can we expect to be able to watch video on it? Youtube? VLC?
December 10th, 2009 at 2:38 am
The excellent inexpensive kid-notebook
, in USA 200 $, and in Ukraine 400 $,-
It is our reality here,-wild business
December 10th, 2009 at 3:33 am
The RAM is now included on the Xcore86 module. The choices are 256, 512 and 1GB. The RAM is DDR2. Today, we are shipping 512 as standard. 1GB is possible but only by using double density RAM which is proportionately more expensive but is likely to be less in the future.
The goal is to offer upgrades to the module that would include new generation of processors with RAM included. Hopefully, one will be able to buy a CPU upgrade and RAM upgrade at the same time. This is currently a goal.
December 10th, 2009 at 3:41 am
Excellent product – waiting anxiously for it to hit the shelves here on Canada!!
What are the chances that it can accept off the shelf sodimm memory?
December 10th, 2009 at 4:08 am
We will not produce 256 unless some customers want a special — low cost edition. For expample, Puppy Linux runs fine with 256 MB RAM. If a customer wanted an utra low cost version with 4GB of storage, 256 MB RAM and Puppy, we could do that with a quantity order. The same thing is possible with potential CE customers.
512 puts us under $200 with a very nice configuration and 512 is good enough for the light weight work the Edubook is designed for. If we add 1GB the price gos over $200.00.
December 10th, 2009 at 4:56 am
I only see the 512MB RAM version available on the website so far. Will the 1GB and 256MB RAM versions mentioned on the datasheet also be available at around September 20th, or will that be on a later date?
Good luck with your search for dealers.
December 10th, 2009 at 5:49 am
well you do have a good point maybe one day i will buy this laptop.
December 10th, 2009 at 5:58 am
The only $98 Netbooks I have seen:
Have 7 inch screens with 800 x 400
Use Chinese Risc CPUs — not x86
Have 128 MB RAM
Have 1GB Storage
Require 1000 to sell at that price.
The Edubook is available at QTY 1 for $199.95 with 8.9 inch screen with 1024 x 600
1Ghz X86 CPU
8GB Storage
512 MB RAM
4 hour battery life
1000 Qty pricing to dealers will be very attractive
December 10th, 2009 at 6:08 am
that’s not the lowest cost the 98 dollar is better
December 10th, 2009 at 7:04 am
We have been shipping preproduction units to potential dealers since early June. We are shipping the xcore86 modules, carrier boards and power supplies to customers doing their own development. The production Edubooks will ship 20 September. The price is $199.95 with 8GB SD, WIFI, batteries, power cord, 1Ghz CPU and 512 MB RAM. I should post some new videos running Linux soon. We are still looking for dealers.
December 10th, 2009 at 7:27 am
I was just thinking…
Although this laptop should technically be available by now, I have found no unboxing videos, reviews, or anyhing of the sort anywhere on the web. Is it even available yet?
December 10th, 2009 at 7:38 am
thanks for the reply
December 10th, 2009 at 8:28 am
good question. if this is to appeal to younger users in middle-income countries (and not just developing countries) the chip needs to be fast enough to run youtube and other flash videos well. I doubt that this can do HD video, though that’s obviously not what this laptop is intended for.
December 10th, 2009 at 9:02 am
im from poland and i want to buy this netbook, but i dont know how
much is going to cost sending it to Poland.Buy 1 or 2 and send me
December 10th, 2009 at 9:07 am
vid like would it be as fast as a regular computer or would it take a few minutes to load and i like the idea of it being able to add storage with a sd card and i like the batterys
December 10th, 2009 at 9:48 am
im 12 and my parents computer is slow so i got a compaq presario laptop and its the cpu i use all the time the only problem is its huge so laying down on a bed with it is annoying and especialy with the fan cause it gets really hot so im really looking forward to getting one of these cause its cheap but it can still surf the web i have been looking at netbooks and the vaio p is small but youtube vids wont load so im wondering how long it would take to load a youtube…
December 10th, 2009 at 10:28 am
May I say that you have got a wonderful product on your hands here friend. I worked with building a similar system-on-a-chip for running mobile video servers for railcars (!)
I wanted a netbook anyway, but I REALLY want this. got one with 1GB RAM, and can you ship to Japan? This product would sell so well here in Japan… Any way I could help make that happen, let me know! Also I’d like to talk to you about other device ideas as well–I do mobile multimedia production here.
December 10th, 2009 at 10:57 am
please have a vid of it outside. I really would like to use one sitting on my swing outside, none of my laptops can do that until it gets dark out.
December 10th, 2009 at 11:22 am
Teh release price for quantity 1 fully configured with 512 MB RAM is $199.95.
December 10th, 2009 at 11:58 am
Thank you
December 10th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
We will have benchmarks and other reports soon. Product release is about June 10 or so. From the testing we are doing now, we can say that the performance is slightly better than the Geode LX800. The sound is HD sound so the quality is very good. The graphics is on a local bus inside the CPU with an external RAM chip for graphics memory. The graphics can support 1280 x 1024. The chip can support TV out as well as LVDS and VGA/DVI out.
December 10th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
We will work with customers who want us to build them small devices. The module that is used in the Edubook will work in a different carrier board which will be quick and inexpensive to build. We are talking to customers now wanting a variety of handheld devices.
We have plans to build a 16 hour netbook in the near future. I have been talking to our partners about a “OS agnostic” mobile phone .
December 10th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
Would be interested to see how flash performs on it (aka the youtube test) & sound quality.
Ideally it should probably ship with a linux distro that boots to RAM, like a puppy variant, or tinycore. Then it would fly!
February 1st, 2010 at 5:32 am
The comment above on building a 16 hour netbook in the future is interesting and a large market, battery life continues to be an issue of interest to most.
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