SD connector good for everyone

SD connector good for everyone

Posted Dec 6, 2006 17:47 UTC (Wed) by dwheeler (subscriber, #1216)
In reply to: Everyone else can go home now by corbet
Parent article: Child's play: Sneaking a peek at the OLPC OS (Linux.com)

Adding an SD connector is good for everyone. It probably costs less than $1 to add, and anything - including Linux - could use whatever the SD connector connects to.

Anyone remember the original Mac? It had limited memory, and no reasonable way to add any memory, which limited its usefulness. The OLPC system is different in many ways, and making it IMPOSSIBLE to add capabilities that are widely useful elsewhere is probably too risky. Especially since it's hard to predict exactly what will happen with these machines.

And there's a big difference between adding an SD connector, and adding the memory as well. Adding an actual SD memory stick with fast memory (fast enough that it's plausible enough to use as more main memory) isn't SPECTACULARLY expensive, but it would significantly add to the price of these machines. And when you buy large numbers, that matters. A lot. But adding the CONNECTOR doesn't cost much, and lets you buy large lots of computers. That means you only need to add the actual memory for specific locations where it's desired. More flexibility is often worth a small amount.

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