The Jhai Foundation is a non-profit organisation working mainly in Laos

Laos

Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...

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One of its projects is bringing communication services to rural communities lacking electricity or telephones. To achieve this goal they have developed the Jhai PC and Communication System, a solid state

Solid state (electronics)

Solid-state electronics are those circuits or devices built entirely from solid materials and in which the electrons, or other charge carriers, are confined entirely within the solid material...

, low energy consuming computer that can be powered by a foot-crank generator built into a bicycle frame or solar energy and uses a wireless network to provide VoIP and Internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

 services.

The JhaiPC runs Linux

Linux

Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...

 with a localised

Internationalization and localization

In computing, internationalization and localization are means of adapting computer software to different languages, regional differences and technical requirements of a target market...

 version of KDE

KDE

KDE is an international free software community producing an integrated set of cross-platform applications designed to run on Linux, FreeBSD, Microsoft Windows, Solaris and Mac OS X systems...

. The hardware and software design and user documentation for the JhaiPC are completely open and have been released through SourceForge.net

SourceForge.net

SourceForge is a web-based source code repository. It acts as a centralized location for software developers to control and manage open source software development. The website runs a version of SourceForge Enterprise Edition, forked from the last open-source version available...

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With the minimal communication technology provided by the JhaiPC small businesses, such as farmers in Ban Phon Kam, are able to get better prices for their products. Jhai is also introducing organic farming

Organic farming

Organic farming is the form of agriculture that relies on techniques such as crop rotation, green manure, compost and biological pest control to maintain soil productivity and control pests on a farm...

 techniques, fair trade

Fair trade

Fair trade is an organized social movement and market-based approach that aims to help producers in developing countries make better trading conditions and promote sustainability. The movement advocates the payment of a higher price to producers as well as higher social and environmental standards...

marketing and direct sales to these farmers.

External links

• Jhai Foundation website
• Jhai PC and Communication System at SourceForge