Australia is set to get its very own OLPC arm, to deliver XO laptops to schoolchildren across the country.

The first hints of the Australian launch surfaced at linux.conf.au in Melbourne, with the organisation hoping to build support for the project amongst the open source community.

"We announced the OLPC Australia organisation at the open source conference because it is both an educational and open source project and because we wanted to build up the technical community around its launch," project organiser Pia Waugh told ZDNet.com.au.

OLPC Australia will be launched soon, Waugh said, adding that its Web site -- www.olpc.org.au -- will be up and running shortly.

"The general Australian community will be taking part in a little while," Waugh said.

Seventy XO laptops were also given out at the Linux conference last week but Waugh said the giveaway was a linux.conf.au initiative independent of OLPC Australia, meant to create interest around the project.

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