In previous years it was goats, camels or other beasts of burden.

This year's ethical Christmas present has a more 21st century feel - a laptop equipped with wi-fi.

The project that aims to bring $100 computers to the developing world, One Laptop Per Child (OLPC), has said it will enable Western customers to donate machines as Christmas gifts.

For $399 (£197), customers in the US and Canada will be able to purchase two laptops - one for themselves, the other for a child in a poor country - as part of an initiative called 'Give One, Get One'.

From "day one" there had been "a lot of interest" in the developed world to participate in OLPC, the project's head of software development, Walter Bender, said.

But it is also hoped the initiative will generate orders for the machines among target countries, whose Governments have been slow to commit to buying them.

The OLPC laptop, whose price recently rose to $188 (£93), has been manufactured to endure difficult conditions in rural villages, and has a screen that can be read outside, as well as a wind-up crank to power it.

It is not immediately clear what wealthy American children, accustomed to the superior processing power of a Dell, HP or Apple, will do with it, and OLPC officials initially feared that recipients might post critical messages about the machine on blogs.

But research with focus groups aged 7 to 11 was positive, with respondents suggesting they liked that the green-and-white laptops were aimed specifically at children and that they could communicate wirelessly with one another.

One youngster even noted that the machine "prevented global warming," according to the New York Times.

Customers have to place their order - half of which is tax-deductible - in a two-week period beginning November 12 in order that it arrive in time for Christmas.

The first children to benefit from th in Cambodia, Afghanistan, Rwanda and Haiti.

The attempt to reach out to Western customers comes after a string of problems have affected the OLPC project, including increased costs and disappointing early sales.

“I have to some degree underestimated the difference between shaking the hand of a head of state and having a check written - it has been a disappointment,” Nicholas Negroponte, chairman of the not-for-profit project, said.

The project, which is due to begin production next month, is in discussion with a number of countries, but while several, including Peru, Mexico, and Uruguay, have made "firm commitments", there were no purchase orders yet, a spokeswoman said.

There has also been a fractious war of words with some of the world's largest technology companies, whose products have been overlooked for inclusion in the OLPC laptop, known as XO.

Following a decision that the XO should run on the Linux operating system, Microsoft's co-founder Bill Gates advised buyers to "get a decent computer," while the chairman of Intel, whose chips have been snubbed in favour of those of its rival, Advanced Micro Devices, described the laptop as "a $100 gadget".

Mr Negroponte responded by criticising Intel for launching its own low-cst PC, the Classmate, which he said was deliberately intended to undermine his project, and told CBS news that the company "should be ashamed of itself."

So far there are no plans to make the 'Give One, Get One' scheme available in Europe or elsewhere.

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