In August 2018 we launched KOOMPI at BarCamp ASEAN, Cambodia's first locally-designed laptop. The first part is the trivia. The name is the part that mattered.
KOOMPI means "book of knowledge" in Khmer, and that was the whole idea: a way for students to reach knowledge at a time when imported laptops cost $1,000 or more and they couldn't.
What we saw in schools
Visiting schools around Phnom Penh, I kept seeing computer labs full of dead machines. Donated from abroad, broken, no spare parts, no support, no budget to fix them. Teachers were afraid to let students touch them, because once something broke it stayed broken.
So students learned "computers" on paper. Or didn't learn at all, because the school had no lab.
Starting with what we had
We had no big factory and no venture millions. We had engineers who believed Cambodians could build hardware, a Linux system we could shape for the classroom, schools we already worked with, and enough patience to start simple.
The first KOOMPI was rough. But it worked, you could repair it, and it cost a fifth of an imported laptop.
From laptop to classroom
As we put KOOMPI into schools, it became obvious the laptop was only the delivery mechanism. The value sat in the software on it and the training we gave teachers.
We have since set up 63 computer labs in schools around Cambodia. Each comes with KOOMPI laptops loaded with learning software, teacher training on basic fixes, and a commitment to keep them running.
The hardware got us in the door. Education was the work.
Building for local conditions
Building hardware in Cambodia is hard. Supply chains are scattered, customs is unpredictable, and the bulk discounts hardware firms elsewhere take for granted don't exist here.
Those limits ended up shaping the machine for the better. We had to build for durability instead of replacement, make machines you could fix with basic tools, and write software that worked offline because the internet can't be relied on. All three made KOOMPI a better fit for the schools we serve.
KOOMPI will never beat a MacBook or a Dell on specs. It solves one problem for one market: reliable, affordable computers for Cambodian students and schools. That is the whole design brief.