About Computers

The XO from OLPC

What is a computer?

A computer contains information and responds to instructions. Computers are used as tools to access and exchange information. They can be like a classroom or like a toy, and they offer a way to communicate with others.

Because computers take instructions and may be programmed, a computer can be whatever you want it to be. Many people use computers to write, to perform mathematics, to create art, to play games, to record sound and images, to communicate with others, to read, and to learn. The uses of your XO are limited only by the Activities you use and your imagination.

What can your XO do?

Your XO can store an entire library of written stories, videos, and pictures. It can make and play music. It contains Activities that you can use to learn math, play games, create pictures, and communicate with others. You interact with your XO using the touchpad, keyboard, microphone, or camera.

How does it do it?

Computers are built of component parts that work together to carry out tasks that you give to the computer by interacting with it. See wiki.laptop.org/go/Disassembly for pictures of the parts of the XO.

You can use your XO to figure out how computers work by reading about computers and learning their basic functions, and then learning about hardware and software and how it all works.