OLPC’s $100 laptop was going to change the world (2018)
I think the biggest failure (ignoring politics, markets, etc) was its complexity. Tech with moving parts tends to break. You also can&#x27;t easily build something that is all things to all people, it&#x27;s better to do a simple thing well than a lot of things awfully.<p>If I were to set out with this challenge today, I would build a basic version of the Pi Top [1]. Literally just a keyboard, touch screen, Raspberry Pi, battery and battery circuit (input 5-24V DC, output 5V DC). A lot of people in hard-up areas still have phones and therefore some kind of DC power, but worse case a car battery can usually be come across.<p>Put the Pi behind the display (avoid bending the display cable) and expose the inputs&#x2F;outputs. Put the battery in the keyboard area to weight it down. Have everything just plug into normal ports (including the display) with visible cables on the back.<p>That way it&#x27;s simple, easy(ier) to fix and upgrade. Parts can be hacked and re-used for other projects. There&#x27;s tonnes of documentation and online support. People could feasibly take to broken devices to create a working one.<p>As for the meshing stuff, it&#x27;s overly complicated. I think you would just preload the machine with a bunch of learning resources (software, books, etc) and make it easy for the device to become a hotspot for file sharing.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;accounts.pi-top.com&#x2F;products&#x2F;pi-top&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;accounts.pi-top.com&#x2F;products&#x2F;pi-top&#x2F;</a>