OLPC stuck?
Is the On Laptop Per Child or OLPCcomputer in trouble? Joshua Topolsky’s post - Are OLPC XO keyboards having widespread problems? - at Engadget reports at what seem to be growing problem for the green colored ultraportable designed primarily for education - The first one at least. And a quick survey of the forums seems to point to this problem as well.
Topolsky wrote a number of interesting details about the problem. Read it here. What has OLPC have to say about it?
According to the OLPC wiki:
This is not a problem in increased “stickiness”, it is a problem of ineffective insulation between the two conductive membranes. There are several problems with the keyboard manufacture that can cause this problem. One is a mis-registration of the different membranes making up the keyboard. While there are several mechanical pins to maximize registration, a slight warping of the bottom layer (which is stuck to a metal plate) can still occur. Even if not mis-registered, the slight buckling of the bottom membrane which results can cause a sticky key. This problem was addressed in pre-production, and hasn’t been seen on dissected failing production units.
Another likely hypothesis is the spacing/insulating compound which is placed between the keyboard membranes is not thick enough. In particular, the ALT and CTL keys have much smaller central dots of this spacer than other keys, small enough that the manufacturing process may have trouble controlling their size. In response, a new silkscreen mask for this compound has been prepared, which both decreases the available contact area and increases the size of the central spacing dot.[Source]
This particular wiki page also discusses other possible theories, solutions and action taken to solve the problem.
Stuck Key problem seems to be a headache the OLPC does not need. At worst it could be an Achilles heel for the green ultraportable.
Tags: OLPC, One Laptop Per ChildRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Ultraportable
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