[IAEP] [Olpc-Haiti] Need in Haiti: inexpensive portable projectors forOLPC/XO classrooms

[C. Scott Ananian]

On Wed, Feb 3, 2010 at 1:51 PM, John Rigdon <jrigdon at researchonline.net> wrote:
> I have not seen the XO, but I think we should be rather thinking about these
> new cheap netbooks for these other tasks and use the XO for what it is
> designed.  I am now evaluating a netbook I bought on Ebay for $79 and
> another that is priced at $139 on Ebay.  These types of machines can be
> configured for Administrative use and to do these other things.

Agreed. There's a new breed of extremely miniature projectors which
might be well-suited, for example:
  http://www.google.com/search?q=miniature+projector
  http://blog.laptopmag.com/mini-projector-face-off-3m-mpro110-vs-dell-m109s

These are priced at about 1.5x the cost of an XO, and combined with
the VGA output from a schoolserver, would probably make excellent
accessories for a classroom.

There's no real need to use the new ultra-mini projectors in most
classroom situations, something like
http://www.amazon.com/Torpedo-Entertainment-Game-Projector-BLACK/dp/B0033M5NXQ/
might work as well.  Note that the primary expense for a projector is
likely to be replacement bulbs.

I also wonder if
http://www.amazon.com/Porta-Trace-Mini-Sketch-5x-Opaque-Projector/dp/B000A3E2T2
might work, if just placed on an XO screen.  There might still be heat
issues, but it's cheap enough that an experiment might be warranted.
 --scott

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