Brad,
The Viewpoints "Steps Toward The Reinvention of Programming" (maybe I'll call the authors "The Gang of 5") does not go into detail on what their "metal" consists of. I'd like to find out more of what they are thinking. Maybe they'll start with a powerbook and use the XO in parallel. Maybe they have some ideas of building a new platform in parallel with the software development.
I should mention that there are more people working on the project (in addition to the authors who are committing to the project in different ways). The Gang of "5" wouldn't really match what is going on^^;
General XO specs:
There was a change on the spec while ago. The latest one is available at http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Hardware_specification#Beta_Test_3_Systems_.28BTes... but the following is the excerpt:
CPU AMD Geode 400 MHz x86
AMD Geode LX 433 (should allow 500, I think) Mhz.
Memory 128 Mb 133 MHz DRAM
256 MB.
Storage 512 Mb SLC NAND Flash memory
1GB.
Video 693 x 520 pixel color display capable of switching to a 1200 by 900 sunlight-readable monochrome mode
Did you devide the number by three to get the color resolution? It doesn't quite work in that way^^; Take a look at great OLPC screen simulator by Bert (http://freudenbergs.de/bert/etoys/OLPC-XO-Display.pr)
Mouse a touchpad pointing device
You might add that the touch pad has two "layers".
Interfaces 4 USB ports
3 are available to the outside.
-- Yoshiki