The Nigerian government has shunned the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) programme and placed an order for 17,000 Intel Classmate budget PCs.

The Intel systems will be used by students and teachers for IT training in the classroom. They will be running Mandriva Linux and come with 2GB of internal Flash storage and Wi-Fi mobile technology.

"We are delighted to participate in this project along with our partners, and to help bring Mandriva Linux and open source applications to Nigeria," said David Barth, chief technology officer and vice president of Mandriva's Consumer Business unit.

The announcement comes at a bad time for the OLPC project, following reports in the press that the planned $100 purchase price has now doubled. It is particularly galling as Nigeria was given OLPCs for testing purposes.

The OLPC group has been in conflict with Intel over its competing platform, and has accused the chip giant of trying to derail the project. But the two have recently been reconciled.

Other companies are also trying to get into the low cost laptop field.