[Edu-sig] Size of browser/window in school computer labs

Dethe Elza delza at livingcode.org
Wed Aug 22 11:44:09 CEST 2007


Not a school, but some data points for you in this world where
ultra-mobile computers (cell phones, PDAs, etc) may be out-pacing the
growth of desktops and faux-desktop laptops:

Nokia N800 web appliance (my travel computer, together with a fold-up
bluetooth keyboard it weighs about a pound, a third of that without
the keyboard): 800 x 480 resolution.  Runs PyGame nicely, has Python
2.5 as an optional install, Linux-based.

The OLPC XO is 1200 x 900 (and more amazingly, 200 DPI) and also runs
PyGame, so my N800 serves as a development platform for the XO until I
can get my hands on the real thing.

Right now I'm working on a Scratch-like environment for kids built on
top of PyGame.  My son just got an extremely powerful computer for his
7th birthday: a Nintendo DS (two screens, one touch-sensitive).  Every
game he plays, he sits down to sketch out how he would write it in
Scratch, complete with wireframes, event handling, etc.  Scratch has
been an amazing force in our house.  Right now he and his sister (who
also has a DS) are playing games against each other wirelessly,
without any support infrastructure (The DS creates its own wireless
network).  This is their world, they expect everything to be able to
be programmable, connectable, hackable (they read my copies of Make
magazine before I do and plan out their hardware projects: we'll be
building an MP3 player when we get back from vacation).

Hope all of you are well.  Greetings from Sofia, Bulgaria.

--Dethe


More information about the Edu-sig mailing list