[photopress:PC_from_Sichuan.jpg,full,alignright]The RMB998 (US$129) Tian En GX-2 was developed by Sichuan Guoxin Technology, based in the western Chinese city of Chengdu. It is being sold as a low-cost system for China’s rural areas which are falling behind in the digital race.
It is based on a 400MHz MIPS processor from Raza Microelectronics and runs either a version of the Linux operating system or a Chinese-developed operating system FutureAlpha. It has 128MB of memory, a USB port, an Ethernet adapter and a double cunning move this, a 1GB SD memory card which acts as the hard disk.
True, the price does not include a monitor although it will bung out a signal at VGA standard and also has a TV output which may mean that in some homes it will be linked up to the telly.
It comes with software installed — an Internet browser, a Chinese-English dictionary and a calendar application for managing appointments.
The illustration could very possibly be the very machine. It comes from the same factory but whether this is it precisely has to be checked.
Yes, the price of the GX-2 is about the same as the laptop developed by the One Laptop Per Child project with Nicholas Negroponte whose name should forever be blessed. But the two machines are not in competition and, indeed, look nothing alike. However, they do attend to the needs of one very large part of the world’s population. And gives them Internet access.
Source: Pacific Epoch and others
 Tian En GX-2 was developed by Sichuan Guoxin Technology, based in the western Chinese city o){kind=link}
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