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The Humane Reader: A $20 'computer' — Parallax Forums

The Humane Reader: A $20 'computer'

UnknownUnknown
edited 2010-08-05 02:01 in General Discussion
The Humane Reader: A $20 'computer'

I saw this in the news just by searching the search words "microcontrollers" under google news.

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2010/07/19/humane-reader-a-20usd-pc/1

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/07/the_humane_reader_a_20_computer.html

Here is a challenge, find or make a parallax equivalent.

Comments

  • HollyMinkowskiHollyMinkowski Posts: 1,398
    edited 2010-07-20 13:51
    Now there is a project that should have used a sm prop
    instead of the three atmega328p chips!

    humanereader2.jpg

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    justasm.blogspot.com/
  • HollyMinkowskiHollyMinkowski Posts: 1,398
    edited 2010-07-20 13:56
    Someone at one of those sites had a good point.

    "how about something similar with a small projector display so that you dont need the tv, just a dark room"

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    justasm.blogspot.com/
  • BeanBean Posts: 8,129
    edited 2010-07-20 13:57
    I'm not sure what the data format is on the SD card, but that device would be (fairly) easy to do with a single Propeller chip.
    You could even make the output color and more characters.

    If I was building this to be SUPER cheap, I wouldn't even have the keyboard connector. Just up and down buttons. If the user doesn't have a computer, what is the chance that they will have a PS/2 keyboard ?

    Bean

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    If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice. [noparse][[/noparse]RUSH - Freewill]

    Post Edited (Bean) : 7/20/2010 2:28:37 PM GMT
  • mctriviamctrivia Posts: 3,772
    edited 2010-07-20 15:24
    i don't think this would be much cheaper then the $100 xo laptop. you still need a keyboard and monitor and a stable power supply.

    The XO laptop on the other hand can easily be powered by a hand crank and is a full linux computer complete with wireless network.

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  • BeanBean Posts: 8,129
    edited 2010-07-20 17:27
    mctrivia,
    This is for 3rd world countries that could never afford $100.
    $100 is probably a couple weeks wages.

    About the only thing they do have is a TV, so there is no internet or wireless or anything that "we" take for granted.

    Bean

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    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
    Use BASIC on the Propeller with the speed of assembly language.
    PropBASIC thread http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=867134

    March 2010 Nuts and Volts article·http://www.parallax.com/Portals/0/Downloads/docs/cols/nv/prop/col/nvp5.pdf
    NEW PropBasic Blog: http://propbasic.blogspot.com
    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
    There are two rules in life:
    · 1) Never divulge all information
    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
    If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice. [noparse][[/noparse]RUSH - Freewill]
  • mctriviamctrivia Posts: 3,772
    edited 2010-07-20 18:17
    have you looked at the xo laptop program? Yes $100 is a lot of money but reliable hydro and TVs are not exactly common place in the third world.

    The concept with the XO is people donate the money and they build the infistructure so students can get computers. They use a wireless mesh network so the computers can talk to each other. internet is possible but not the only reason to desire networks.

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    Lots of propeller based products in stock at affordable prices.
  • WBA ConsultingWBA Consulting Posts: 2,938
    edited 2010-07-20 20:01
    This should be a cake walk for the prop with the exception of managing the content. I do wonder how they are managing the content on the SD card. I know you can download Wikipedia for use like this, but the extracted files are in the range of 100GBs for basic Wikipedia. I assume they are using a reduced version of the download using the special export function.

    I haven't looked in a while, but a few months ago, I couldn't find much on using the prop to extract data from things like XML files. If that exists or can be made for the prop, you're in business. The $20 target could be easily met in volume.

    Do people in "3rd world countries" commonly have TVs?

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    Andrew Williams
    WBA Consulting
    PowerTwig Dual Output Power Supply Module
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  • BeanBean Posts: 8,129
    edited 2010-07-20 20:13
    According to this slide in the presentation, about 25% do.



    attachment.php?attachmentid=71889

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    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
    Use BASIC on the Propeller with the speed of assembly language.
    PropBASIC thread http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=867134

    March 2010 Nuts and Volts article·http://www.parallax.com/Portals/0/Downloads/docs/cols/nv/prop/col/nvp5.pdf
    NEW PropBasic Blog: http://propbasic.blogspot.com
    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
    There are two rules in life:
    · 1) Never divulge all information
    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
    If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice. [noparse][[/noparse]RUSH - Freewill]
    tvs.jpg
    1116 x 839 - 127K
    tvs.jpg 127.1K
  • mctriviamctrivia Posts: 3,772
    edited 2010-07-20 20:27
    I am surprised the numbers are so low in developed countries. Internet does not surprise me since a lot of people steal it from there neighbors. Computers more then TV make sense. Lots of people like me who have 3 computers and 0 TVs(Who needs a TV when you have a BluRay Rom Drive and a decent computer monitor.

    ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
    Lots of propeller based products in stock at affordable prices.
  • localrogerlocalroger Posts: 3,452
    edited 2010-07-20 21:29
    I am surprised that there are more computers than TV sets in developed countries. While there sure are a lot of computers out there now because of the internet, I'd think there would still be more TV's.
  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    edited 2010-07-20 23:14
    The graph is a little ambiguous. Does it show the number of devices/subscriptions per 100 people or the number of people in a 100 who have access to those devices/subscriptions?

    -Phil
  • Bernard MinukBernard Minuk Posts: 1
    edited 2010-08-04 20:30
    I think that a combination of TV - based display with USB master functionality for attachment to cell phones would be very powerful for the following reasons:

    1) TVs are cheap and have many purposes (like watching TV) and have some penetration in the third world (see above graph)
    2) Cellular phones are very popular in many of these areas
    3) It is possible to use a serial over USB interface with many phones to send and recieve SMS and possibly packet data
    4) SMS is used for many purposes, including banking in many of these places

    An "SMS" terminal can be used to
    1) Process large amounts of payments (for paying workers, etc)
    2) Running a drug dispensing program to reorder medicines when stocks are low in field hospitals
    3) Participate in social networks
    4) Emergency messaging when fires, break-ins, etc occur.

    Packet data may allow a wikipedia reader to check and receive article updates in the field.

    Porting a text-based www browser may be possible.

    Post Edited (Bernard Minuk) : 8/4/2010 11:00:39 PM GMT
  • Cluso99Cluso99 Posts: 18,071
    edited 2010-08-05 02:01
    Curious stats. However, after thinking, we have more computers than TVs (4:2) and that is less than 10 years ago when we had 6:1. I have not counted micros of course.

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