Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} laptops for a developing country (Vanuatu)

[Alan McKinnon]

On 27/04/2013 03:36, Grant wrote:
>>> My wife and I recently visited Vanuatu (island of Santo) and fell in
>>> love with it.  We got to know some locals pretty well and everybody is
>>> pining for laptops.  Internet service is becoming widely available due
>>> to Digicel and TVL cell phone signals but I didn't meet anyone with a
>>> real smartphone.  I promised to return with laptops and I'd like to
>>> make good on that.  Which ultra low-cost but functional laptops or
>>> netbooks would you choose for this?  I'm looking into OLPC but I'm not
>>> sure how that works.
>>>
>>> - Grant
>>>
>>
>> I heard Chromebooks are cheap, but I don't know what's their exact cost /
>> feasibility / etc.
>
> I think the problem there is a Chromebook needs to be online in order
> to do much of anything, and the connection needs to be fast in order
> to make them very functional.  Plus most people are paying by the MB
> in Vanuatu and a Chromebook must use a fair amount of data even on a
> fast connection.

I agree - tablets (and everything else in that category that superceded
netbooks in developing countries) are a) expensive b) somewhat fragile
and c) need to be online to do much of anything. They tend to use the OS
app-store for updates which is much harder than a distro repo to
replicate out on a tropical isle.

And I think there's your opening: netbooks.

They are cheap and once you get past that they are much slower than what
you are used to, they do work very well. And they work offline too. With
one more advantage from your point of view: Windows runs very suckily
one them, but a decent Linux runs rather unsuckily :-)

*Someone* has all those netbooks that Westeners ditched in favour of
iCraps, I recommend you look into who is now selling them 2nd hand.




-- 
Alan McKinnon
alan.mckinnon@×××××.com