Guided tour of the XO 1.5 Laptop motherboard

Guided tour of the XO 1.5 Laptop motherboard – Video

xo 1.5 motherboard

The OLPC XO Laptop 1.5 doesn’t just have a faster new processor. It has an entirely new motherboard. And OLPC volunteer Bernie Innocenti gives us a guided tour of the new mainboard in a video which you can find after the break.

The new board is exactly the same size as the motherboard found in the original XO Laptop, which means that you can take one of the new VIA motherboards and slap it in a laptop built for the original AMD CPU. But the components have been mixed up and moved around. And the power draw of the new motherboard is higher, so you would also need to upgrade the power supply.

The RAM, flash storage, BIOS, embedded controller for power managementand other featues are all soldered to the motherboard, which makes hardware hacking a little trickier than it would be with a commercially available netbook. But if there’s one thing the OLPC community has demonstrated, it’s that nothing’s impossible. You know, except for bringing the priced down to $100.

You can find the video tour of the new motherboard after the break.

thanks Wayan!

Posted on Thursday, September 17th, 2009, 1:57 pm by Brad Linder

Mikez

Let us hope that the XO-1.5 project results in better support
for the VIA hardware in the linux kernel.
This should be a big enough order that even VIA might be
willing to listen to requests by OLPC.
steve

Until watching this video I was unaware that the main guts of the XO are behind the display. Doesn't this make it top heavy and likely to tip backwards (especially when it's perched on your lap)?
http://twitter.com/wayan_vota Wayan Vota

The XO motherboard behind the display, does make it top heavy. So OLPC put a metal plate in the base, under the keyboard. The battery also helps.

The design benefits – a swivel screen, greater durability and dust resistance – outweigh the weight shift
steve

Thanks for the explanation Wayan.

I had forgotten about the battery. Makes sense that its placement under the keyboard (along with some extra ballast) would counter the screen components weight.

Cheers
Natgeo

The handle is there actually to stabilise the computer on your lap. I have one (an XO), and although it really is back-heavy, it pretty stable and tilts backwards much less often than say, an MSI Wind U100 with the 6 cell battery
steve

Until watching this video I was unaware that the main guts of the XO are behind the display. Doesn't this make it top heavy and likely to tip backwards (especially when it's perched on your lap)?
http://wayan.com wayan

The XO motherboard behind the display, does make it top heavy. So OLPC put a metal plate in the base, under the keyboard. The battery also helps.

The design benefits – a swivel screen, greater durability and dust resistance – outweigh the weight shift
Pingback: SalDee.com » OLPC’s XO Generation 1.5 Laptop dances from GNOME to Sugar, on video!
Pingback: SalDee.com » OLPC’s XO Generation 1.5 Laptop dances from GNOME to Sugar, on video!
steve

Thanks for the explanation Wayan.

I had forgotten about the battery. Makes sense that its placement under the keyboard (along with some extra ballast) would counter the screen components weight.

Cheers
Natgeo

The handle is there actually to stabilise the computer on your lap. I have one (an XO), and although it really is back-heavy, it pretty stable and tilts backwards much less often than say, an MSI Wind U100 with the 6 cell battery

Guided tour of the XO 1.5 Laptop motherboard – Video

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