The seven and nine inch Linuxbased touchscreen gadget can also be run on solar power, besides the battery operated system. The computing device will support functions like video web conferencing facility, and multimedia content viewing.
The HRD ministry, under whose initiative the computer was designed and developed, hopes to bring down the price to $10 (Rs 470 approx) after the device is mass produced.
Accordingly, the ministry is reported to be in discussions with entrepreneurs, private firms and industries.
“If more companies decide to manufacture a similar device, prices will come down automatically,” Sibal said after unveiling the device.
Teams of experts, students and professors drawn from the Indian Institutes of Technology at Kharagpur, Kanpur, Chennai and Mumbai and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, offered their expertise to bring out the device with the HRD ministry.
The low-cost PC fulfils a mission of the government to provide free content to learners.
The HRD ministry undertook the initiative to develop the PC after meeting with lukewarm response from corporates.
One motherboard was reportedly designed by a student of Vellore Institute of Technology and was fabricated at IIT Kanpur. The cost had worked out to Rs 2,209. Thereafter, the processes of customisation helped reduce the price of the device.
IANS
