Testing in the outback, Cameron discovered that the range of the XO could go up to 1.6km "quite easily" at 1.5m above ground.

But in the vast Australian outback, the Sahara or any other great rural expanse, 1.6km is still a very short distance.

"Imagine the kids are down at the waterhole after school, they will take their laptops there of course because they are on their way home, but they cant get to the school server without sending some of the kids back along the path to act as mesh nodes to get there. But if we've got a tall tree nearby, the school can organize to put a mesh node on top of that powered by a solar panel."

Cameron estimates a cost of about US$35 for a mesh node, a battery and a solar panel that can turn any tall tree, windmill, roof or rocky outcrop into a stand alone mesh node, ensuring coverage for the kids at an affordable cost.

"Assuming a range of 1.6km holds true, (the mathematical formula for area of a circle) Pi R squared tells us one well placed mesh node will cover up to eight square kilometres."

Cheap, conservable energy is also a big issue for the OLPC project, as many of the children who will use them wont have a way to charge their laptop at home, and will rely on their school to charge it for them.

"The school might have a generator or a solar panel, or in one school where we've got laptops deployed now we have two cows who walk around pushing a lever which rotates a generator that powers fifteen laptops for charging, so you get energy from wherever it's available," Cameron said.

The OLPC can also be powered by a hand crank, and can maintain an active wireless connection when it is hibernating.

Cameron isn't paid for his research and development work, but gets his rewards from being able to "play with some cool gear," and by knowing that his efforts are aiding an education revolution.

"I want to make a difference. I can't make a difference by creating some new fantastic computer for a company because all they will do is sell it. But on this we can change the way kids learn, we can improve education over the entire planet."