Coredump

I posted this article in Pinoy Tech Blog:

I got this from an article in LXer.com that extensively quotes a so-called “Chinese Halloween” document from Intel.

In a nutshell, it says that Intel is pushing for cheap desktop PCs (costs around $350, or roughly Php20,000) in rural areas in China, and surprise, surprise, the “Farmer PC” runs on Linux.

The document, which the LXer.com claims was from an Intel intranet site, discusses the strategy the hardware giant employs in gaining ground in a potentially huge market (”a whopping 73 percent of residents say they are willing to buy one”).

Wow, this is huge! Given China’s potential market, I think Linux (and open source) is in for a windfall when it comes to gaining market share in desktops. Intel is in a strategic position to influence the industry, and with it vouching for Linux on the desktop, it can create a snowball effect on the massive adoption of Linux.

Of course, this could all be part of Intel’s marketing hype, but there’s no reason not to think wishfully. (via

It was agriculture technician Rodrigo Hermosura’s first time to enter an Internet café.

“I was a bit afraid because I didn’t know how to use a computer,” he said. Two days later, he was already surfing the web, sending emails, and chatting with friends and co-workers. He has also learned how to do basic office productivity tasks using the computer.

Read the rest of Hermosura’s story at the Pinoy Farmers’ Internet.

To access rich content such as video and images on the internet through a broadband connection, extension workers and farmers need not look further than the kitchen.

In an effort to provide wider access to information for Filipino farmers and extension workers, information and communication technology (ICT) specialists from the University of Southern Mindanao (USM) and the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) have developed a “low-tech” solution to connect to the internet through Wi-Fi: using antennas made of pots and pans.

Read full article at the Pinoy Farmers’ Internet portal.

Now, that is cool indeed.

Nicholas Negroponte and several colleagues from the MIT Media Lab are developing a low-cost notebook to help bridge the widening digital gap in developing countries.

Specs for the laptop:

• Modest processing power and storage.
• Battery capable of being recharged using a hand-crank (similar to hand-cranked radios used in Africa).
• “Electronic ink” or rear-projected 12″ display.
• Wi-Fi access.
• USB ports for peripheral devices.
• Powered by Linux (what else? ;)).

Worth looking into for our project, methinks.

Update: They have a prototype already, and a wiki, too.

Recently read a blog about home-brew outdoor WiFi by way of the PLUG mailing lists and Migs Paraz’s blog post.

We have a somewhat similar project at PhilRice: Low-cost WiFi connectivity for Pinoy farmers, in partnership with the University of Southern Mindanao (USM), Preginet (ASTI-DOST), AFRDIS (DA), and DA BPRE.

The USM team fabricates low-cost antennas from common household materials such as pots and pans for use on off-the-shelf indoor WiFi equipment (Cisco, D-Link, Orinoco). The low-power antennas can be used as access points and bridges for last-mile broadband connectivity.

We have successfully deployed such configurations in our network clusters in Isabela, Nueva Ecija, Los Baños, Agusan del Norte and North Cotabato.

Soon, we will be also working with ASTI and NTT (of Japan) on WIPAS, a fixed wireless access solution using the 26-GHz range and capable of throughput up to 40 Mbits/second.