VIA’s PHD Appliance

The computer chipmaker, VIA Technologies, Inc., has developed a computer system called PHD Appliance, which is designed for developing and rural areas with harsh environment. PHD stands for “Power, Heat, Dust”. It’s capable of running Windows XP with a 12V car battery or solar power where power grids don’t exist or power supply is not reliable. This has been made possible by VIA’a highly energy efficient processor platforms such as VIA pc1000 processor and VIA C-Series. The system is developed for VIA pc-1 Initiative program, which seeks to bring down the digital divide by introducing and facilitating ICT in the developing world.

PHP Appliance uses no fans and this has several benefits, there is nothing to suck dust and particles inside the box. One of the new designs of PHD has outer casing that incorporates broad heat-dissipation shell which makes the system effective and reliable in extremely warm climates.

PHDs are being used by Geekcorps in Mali. Geekcorps is an international nonprofit organization that promotes stability and prosperity in the developing world through information and communication technology. One of the programs that they have developed and implemented in Mali is “Cybertigi”. Cybertigi is a mobile computing kiosk based on the VIA PHD Appliance to sell cyber services such as email, voicemail, copying, digital imaging, printing, etc. The services are offered to people in rural Mali without access to basic information or communication services.



For latest info please follow the links.

http://www.via.com.tw/en/initiatives/empowered
http://www.viapc-1.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=330&Itemid=1
http://mali.geekcorps.org/2006/06/15/cybertigi-a-recap

KickStart's MoneyMaker Irrigation Pumps

KickStart is an international nonprofit organization that was founded in Kenya in July 1991 by Nick Moon and Martin Fisher. KickStart’s mission is to promote sustainable economic growth and employment creation in Kenya and other countries by developing and promoting technologies that can be used by dynamic entrepreneurs to establish and run profitable small scale enterprises.

In a move to teach the poor men to fish, instead of just providing them with fish, Martin and his partner Nick Moon decided to give rural Africans the information and tools they needed to start profitable businesses. They developed a low-cost irrigation tool called "MoneyMaker Pump". The inexpensive ($52-90) treadle operated pumps irrigate plots up to 2 acres in size from water pumped from hand-dug wells, rivers, streams, lakes or ponds. They provide adequate irrigation, allowing small-scale subsistence farmers to turn their land into vibrant commercial enterprises.

With irrigation the Kenyan farmers can grow and sell as many as three to four high value vegetable crops every year, and ensure that the crop is ready for market when the price is high. These "farmerpreneurs" are increasing their incomes by as much as ten-fold and making as much as 400,000 shillings ($5400) profit per year.

Impacts of KickStart MoneyMaker Pumps to date:

1. 36,000 pumps in use by poor farmers
2. 29,000 new waged jobs created
3. $39 million per year in new profits and wages generated by the pumps
4. More than 50% of pumps managed by women entrepreneurs
5. 4 manufacturers producing pumps in Nairobi and Arusha
6. 200 retailers selling pumps in Kenya and Tanzania

KickStart has a market and private-sector oriented approach. This is to ensure the impacts of its program become fully self-sustaining in local economies. Technologies are installed in the private sector and continue to be produced, marketed, and used by entrepreneurs to create thousands of vibrant new businesses and jobs, long after KickStart's interventions have ceased.

Other low-cost tools by KickStart:

1. A manually operated oilseed press that extracts oil from sunflower, sesame, and other oil seeds.
2. Action Pack Block Press, a manual press that can produce 500 rock hard building blocks a day.

Links:

http://www.kickstart.org

$100 Laptop - One Laptop Per Child

One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) is a non-profit organization that is leading the $100 laptop project. OLPC was created by MIT Media Lab to develop and manufacture the laptops. The goal is to equip every child in the world with a laptop to enable access to information and modern education.

The organization and the project was announce by World Economic Forum in January 2005. The project is funded by sponsoring companies like Google, Red Hat, AMD, Brightstar Corporation, News Corporation and Nortel Networks. A working prototype was demonstrated at the World Summit on the Information Society.

Some known basic design requirements are as follows.

• minimal power consumption, with a design target of 2-3 W total power consumption
• minimal production cost, with a target of $100 per laptop for production runs of one million units
• a cool look, implying an innovative styling in its physical appearance
• eBook functionality with extremely low power consumption
• the software provided with the laptop be open source and free software

For more info please visit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Laptop_Per_Child
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/$100_laptop

Some criticism found here.

http://fonly.typepad.com/fonlyblog/2005/11/problems_with_t.html

Solo Computer runs on 8.5 Watts

Fantsuam Foundation from Nigeria have developed a computer which runs on 8.5 watts of power as compared to an average computer which consumes 300 watts. It's called "SOLO". It's build to withstand rough conditions in the third world nations such as Africa. Also, for very remote areas without electricity supply. ExpLAN Lmt, which is based in UK is manufacturing SOLO. Given below is how they describe SOLO.

"The Solo is an ultra-low power, transportable computer designed to operate from a number of different power sources including solar panels and lead-acid vehicle batteries. Its ultra-low-power design enables it to be used indefinitely away from sources of mains electricity."

"Solo is a transportable rather than a portable computer. The entire device can be solid state, having no disc drives or moving parts. The base operating system is in ROM, applications in Flash RAM and the usual RAM for workspace. For certain software requiring ongoing disc-access, a 1-inch microdrive replaces the internal Compact Flash. It uses a TFT Liquid Crystal Display, which may optionally be touch sensitive, removing the need for a separate keyboard and mouse. It may be supplied in a variety of configurations and screen sizes depending on the location of the manufacturer and their intended market."


For latest info refer as follows.

http://www.explan.co.uk

Simputer - Bridging the Digital Divide

Simputer is a low cost hand-held computer developed by a group of engineers in India. The word "Simputer" is an acronym for "simple, inexpensive and multilingual people's computer". It was designed to bring computing power to the Indian rural masses and other parts of the poor world. Imagine a farmer in a remote village using a computer in the simplest form to go online and check the latest price of crops, hence, avoids duped by the greedy middle men.

Well, Simputer runs on Linux operating system and equipped with a range of software, which include, internet browser, scheduler, spreadsheet, voice recorder and so on. It has a touch sensitive screen and operated by a stylus. As such, it’s also equipped with handwriting recognition software.

Some recognized large scale use of Simputer are as follows.

• Govt. of Karnataka – Automate the process of land records procurement.
  
• Chattisgarh for the purpose of e-education.
  
• Mahindra & Mahindra - automobile engine diagnostics
  
• Dempo, Goa - tracking of iron-ore movement from mine pithead to shipping point
  
• Microcredit (Sanghamitra, Mysore) - electronic money transfer between UK and Ghana (XK8 Systems, Kenya)

Picopeta Simputers Pvt Ltd of India is commercially producing Simputer, which is branded as Amida Simputer. It comes in a number of models with slightly different specification. Below is a general hardware specification list.

Specification

• 32 bit Intel StrongARM 206 MHz processor (Although current Simputer models are using the Intel PXA255 processor)
• 64 megabytes of RAM
• 32 MB of flash memory
• Can use cheap removable smartcards, each able to hold from 8 kB to 1 MB of data.
• 33.6/56 kbit/s V.90 Modem (external) Encore offers this as an internal option.
• Display Interface 320x240 LCD+ (Encore also offers a 16x4 character monochrome display in its lowest end version.)
• Accelerometer Only on the Amida.
• Built-in USB (Amida has support for 2 USB Masters and 1 USB Slave), speaker, and microphone (Builtin and Jacks provided), Legacy technology like CFII are also supported in Encores Simputer
• Infrared Option available on the Amida that conforms to the IrDA 1.0 Standard.

For the latest info please refer as follows.

http://www.simputer.org
http://www.amidasimputer.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Simputer&oldid=58457751