Opera Software reports that Linux and the Opera browser are being used by a non-government organization combatting HIV AIDs in Malawi. The Baobab Health Partnership runs Opera in fullscreen “kiosk” mode on low-powered, Linux-based network terminals used to register new patients and track… patient treatments.

(Click for larger view of Baobab kiosk)

The Baobab Health Partnership said it chose to develop its medical information system as a Web application to ensure that it can be “easily scaled up across an entire country, and perhaps an entire continent,” according to Founder Gerry Douglas. The Web application runs on refurbished $50 HP servers, with Linux-based “I-Opener” terminals providing the front end, running Opera in fullscreen kiosk mode as their only application.

Patient Registration (Click to enlarge)

The I-opener was a $100 loss-leader device marketed by NetPliance, an Internet service provider that counted on customers using the device with its service. However, the device proved appealing to hackers such that, much like Radio Shack's QCat, many were expropriated and re-purposed.

The I-Opener features a 10-inch flat panel touchscreen display, 32MB of RAM, a 16MB Flash disk, a parallel port, 56K modem, and a USB port. The device is powered by an x86-compatible 180MHz or 200Mhz WinChip MMX, the first processor ever shipped by the Texas-based Centaur processor company that was then funded by IDT, and later purchased by Taiwanese chip giant Via.

Baobab Linux

Opera said that the Baobab team initially used a Windows-based OS and browser on the I-Opener, but found performance to be poor. Subsequently, they moved to a “Baobab Linux” implementation derived from Midori Linux, the lightweight distribution created by Transmeta — another x86-compatible processor vendor — during Linux founder Linus Torvalds's tenure there.

According to Douglas, “There are 40 million people living with HIV on our planet, we need solutions, and we need them fast if we are going to have an impact on this crisis. Using Opera means we can rely on international standards like HTML and JavaScript [story] without requiring expensive hardware.”

Hakon Wium Lie, Opera CTO, added, “The reason many of us find working in technology so worthwhile is seeing projects like this.”

Lots more details about Baobab Linux and the health crisis in Malawi can be found at the Baobab Health Partnership's informative website.

 
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