MIT want to make $12 Apple II clone

[Sridhar Ayengar]

Alexandre Souza wrote:
>    These guys have NO knowledge of how things works. Doing a WEB BROWSER 
> for an APPLE II??? Besides being a stupid idea, recreating an A2 for $12 
> for selling for poor people is a dumb ideia on itself. Listen:
> 
>    - Cellphone connection? If the guy is poor, how will he afford a 
> cellphone?

That's actually the easy part.  Cell service in rural India is 
*substantially* cheaper than most other places.  There will, before too 
long, be more cellphones than landlines in India.

>    - The computer is the easy part, a FPGA can replicate an entire 
> apple//. But what about video!?

Yup, that's the hard part.  Doing a built-in display for $12.

>    - Keyboard anyone?

Probably not a problem.  There are tremendously cheap keyboards 
available for OEM use now.

>    - Web browsing in 280 x 192?

Could be web clipping.

>    No. Get back to the drawing board and bring me something USEABLE. 
> Maybe recycling old 486 boards and sending them to India. It is a good 
> destination for all those old PCs. Strip the boards, recycle the 
> cabinets in USA and build everything in a new cab there. What about 
> that? :o)

Still wouldn't work.  These ideas all assume a high literacy rate, and 
reliable power.  Neither of which exist in rural India yet.

They need books, not computers.

Peace...  Sridhar