One Laptop Per Child OS emerges

THOSE HOPING to get a taste of Nicholas Negroponte's One Laptop Per Child device can now download an image of the operating system.

Based on RedHat, the OS comes in at 291MB as a LiveCD.

The OS sports messaging functionality, a lightweight web browser, a simple text editor and other common functionality.

While the OLPC group has no plans to offer the device for sale in the developed world through retail channels, Taiwanese manufacturers of the device have nevertheless hinted that OLPC-derived devices could hit Western shelves before the year is out.

Those hoping to develop software for the laptop in either of its guises can now download the open sauce OS and get cracking. According to forum reports, whilst designed for the specific OLPC hardware, the OS runs quite happily on a wide variety of PC configurations. µ