A global education system in which Linux notebook computers are as common as pencils or textbooks even in the poorest nations has been outlined today by a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Nicholas Negroponte is aiming to accelerate an international drive to mass-produce Linux laptops costing as little as $100.

The "rugged" computers will have full-colour screens, and will be powered by "wind-up and other innovative sources of electricity for use in remote places".

The laptops will come enabled for wireless and mobile phone internet access, and "have USB ports galore" to accommodate additional peripheral devices such as printers.

Its current specifications include a 500MHz processor, 1GB of memory and an XVGA display.

Professor Negroponte outlined his vision at an event in Tokyo which was co-sponsored by Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the United Nations University and the International Telecommunication Union.

The goals of the event include the development of information and communication infrastructures that enable universal, sustainable and affordable access by all.

"Sadly, most educational systems that recognise the importance of computers provide a roomful of desktops to which a child might go for a few hours a week," said Professor Negroponte.

"But computing should be like a pencil: you have your own (versus community pencils) and use it for all kinds of purposes related to school, home, work and play.

"This model of computing calls for a lightweight, full-screen, full-colour, fully-connected laptop.

"To achieve this, the MIT Media Lab has been developing a $100 laptop which can be provided on a very large scale worldwide. The goal is to have one laptop per child in the poorest and most remote regions of the world."

Professor Negroponte added that, while desktops can be made more cheaply than laptops, the latter's mobility is vital.

"Bringing the laptop home engages the family," he explained. "In one Cambodian village where we have been working there is no electricity, and the laptop is, among other things, the brightest light source in the home."

Professor Negroponte insisted that the $100 laptop will accomplish "almost everything" possible with a much more expensive computer, although he acknowledged that "it will not store a massive amount of data".

The $100 machines, which will not be sold to individuals, will be distributed through ministries of education with initial orders limited to one million units. The first units are scheduled to be ready for shipment by the end of next year or early 2007.

The United Nations University is backing the initiative through its International Institute for Software Technology (UNU-IIST).

UNU-IIST director Mike Reed cited the critical importance of developing free software adapted for local needs. He pointed out that projects in the past have given computers to impoverished schools only to find they were unused because the schools could not pay for the software.

"The combination of a cheap laptop and free software would represent some of the most significant steps ever to bridging the digital divide," he said.

Through the UNU-IIST Open Computing Initiative, headed by Scott McNeil, software programmers in the West work with their counterparts in developing countries who are new to open source software.

The scheme aims to assist the localisation of open source software so that non-English language speakers can have the same access to computing as in the West.

As well as creating a fully internationalised font development tool that can be used by non-English language users, the project aims to "help empower local users to achieve technological self-determination".

Hans van Ginkel, UN Under Secretary-General, and rector of the UNU, said: "The realisation of a universally networked planet could contribute to the sharing of knowledge needed to collectively solve problems of pressing global concern, be they related to the environment, poverty, health or security."