Solar powered computer
A new ruggedised RISCOS computer, the Solo is intended for use within Third-world countries where its ultra-low-power design enables it to be used indefinitely away from sources of mains electricity. Solo is a transportable rather than a portable computer. It is designed for ease of relocation within harsh and demanding environments, and may be supplied in a variety of configurations and screen sizes.
The production units will be a single-box design with the LCD screen in front of the computer motherboard. The entire device will be solid state, incorporating a derivation of RISCOS in ROM, applications in Flash RAM and the usual RAM for workspace.
Low Power requirements
The prototype Solo uses a meagre 17 Watts of power including the LCD screen, but despite employing a small disc drive unit and using a power-hungry analogue-signal driven monitor, which squanders a further 5 Watts.
The final design of Solo will use a digital screen interface and is expected to draw only 8.5 Watts including other power-saving refinements. These will permit it to be run from a single 10W solar panel, and still leave a little spare to charge a battery.
More over at Explan.
