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Ask Slashdot: Teaching Typing With Limited Electricity, Computers?
An anonymous reader writes "I am tasked with developing a service project to teach students in a Bangladeshi village how to type. The school has about 500 students, 12 computers donated to them in 2006, and a limited electricity supply. The students will be given job placement opportunities at a local firm in the city once they reach a certain proficiency. Therefore, we are trying to teach as many of them typing skills as possible. The problem: limited electricity, limited computers, many kids. I have some additional funding collected through donations. Instead of buying more computers, I am looking for a cost effective way that does not need a steady flow of electricity. I realize that to teach typing, I do not need a computer. I could achieve the same using a keyboard connected to a display. A solar powered calculator is a perfect example of a cheap device which has a numpad for input and an LCD for display. But so far I have not come across a device that has a qwerty keyboard and an LCD to display what's typed. I know there are some gaming keyboards that have LCDs built in but they are quite expensive. I am aiming to build a device that cost below USD 50. I considered using typewriters but they are in limited supply on the market. I also considered OLPC but it is double my anticipated budget. Do you have other suggestions?" Considering that (at least in China) sub-$50 Android tablets with capacitive screens are already here, I wish the Alphasmart line was cheaper, but apparently it currently starts at $169.
What about an old fashioned typewriter?
I was under the impression that Bangladesh's education ministry itself would have to order those, not a private charity.
Mechanical typewriters. Paper. I bet there's a bunch of them already in India. You'll just have to look around.
Why does everything have to be electronic? Especially in remote or third-world conditions?
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
What about and old school mechanical typewriter? No electricity required, just some paper.
Typewriter?
If you can find just one or two models for which ribbon is still manufacturer, you could probably get some donations of compatible manual typewriters.
I realize it' a stretch, but it's not a completely impossible idea.
If you just want to learn to type, you could possibly provision some purely-mechanical keyboards.
The displays would not need to be particularly high-tech; you could go with a hemp or wood pulp WOD (write only display) that works by mechanically striking the pulp with an embossed pigment delivery die.
Do daemons dream of electric sleep()?
Out of curiosity, have you considered purchasing used mechanical typewriters?
I learned on a manual typewriter. People around me complain I pound on my keyboard. Sometimes the keys fly off.
AVR processors can do pretty good job getting text from PS/2 keyboards. They also don't consume too that much power. The only problem then would be getting a bunch of LCD's, perhaps SD cards for storage and some software...
"I considered using typewriters but they are in limited supply on the market"
" I also considered OLPC but it is double my anticipated budget."
"Do you have other suggestions?"
It would be fairly trivial to combine a low end Arduino platform, old PS2 keyboards, and an HD44780 based 40x2 LCD into a system that would cost under $30 each, and run on 4 AA NIMH batteries. You could recharge the batteries when the power was available.
Old AlphaSmart devices can be had VERY cheaply on e-bay. You already know what they are, since you did mention them, and other than mechanical typewriters, they may be your best bet. Just need a pile of AA batteries.
Pair typing. It's agile and totally moar extream.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Considering that (at least in China) sub-$50 Android tablets with capacitive screens are already here
The problem with trying to type (or to game) on a tablet with a capacitive touch screen is that most such screens have no texture to indicate the positions of the keys. A touch typist positions his hands relative to the keys by feeling the bumps on the F and J keys and the edges of the other keys, and he can't do that on a typical tablet.
Go to the district in Dhaka in that sells used stuff. Buy some manual typewriters. They, obviously, do not need electricity.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pd9As_DlH6E
Benkyo benkyo benkyo!!
Start out the class by having a screening test, then kill the worse performing half.
This both helps with overpopulation, motivates the others, and reduces amount of required hardware.
The Raspberry Pi project seems to be a good fit for this provided you can source the monitor/keyboard somewhere cheaply or already have one. The non-networked version (model A) is $25 and is probably perfect for this, unfortunately that is not out yet (I believe). The version B which has networking and is ~$35 would probably suit you very well in its stead. Throw a linux distro on there like Debian or Arch and you have yourself a great little machine that uses almost no power that you could teach typing. The only high power device at that point would be the monitor. You could probably get a line display and figure out how to get that working with the raspberry pi to resolve that as well.
Question: "... I considered using typewriters but they are in limited supply on the market. ..."
Slashdot: "Typewriters"
Hunger Games to see who gets to use the computer.
I think the key here will be virtualizing.
I did this a while back with Virtual Desktop and my Mac, I am sure other VM can do the same thing.
I took the VM and I Mapped the USP Device to that virtual machine, then I repeated the process with an other virtual machine. Then I used the laptop keyboard for the primary OS. I in essence had one computer with keyboards(and mice) that controlled 3 OS's at the same time.
I normally only did this with 2.
OS X and Virtualized Windows XP. And a seporate monitor plugged in it was like having two computers.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
about 500 students
The students will be given job placement opportunities at a local firm in the city once they reach a certain proficiency
OK huge call center moving in
The problem: limited electricity, limited computers,
The solution seems obvious, ask the call center how they're dealing with having limited electricity and limited computers. If the problems seem insurmountable to them, then your problem doesn't matter because the call center will not be opening. If they have a solution, presumably you can copy their solution.
Also some simple math here... you've got 500 students and 12 computers. Hmm. You can't really "practice" for too long at a time, even under ideal conditions. So 500 / 12 computers = 41 students per computer. Probably the best way to do this is 48 half hour practice sessions per day. So some kids session will be from 2:30 am to 3 am local, so what, welcome to transcontinental call center operations, he's gonna have to get used to it sooner or later.
Frankly, the biggest call center problem isn't slow typing. As long as the kids know the alphabet and numbers before learning to type, you'll be OK.
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
Well, I don't know much about what an average Bangladeshi village has on hand but I'm going to wager that it's a very wide spectrum. So my personal advice is no matter what you find to be your solution, you should provide the DIY equivalent any DIY-able components of the pieces. In this way you can treat yourself as a one man thinktank and you can publish this stuff under CCBY3.0 and your project may enjoy self sufficiency without requiring your constant attention.
So to start at the core of it, I would personally select a $25 non-ethernet (Type A?) Raspberry Pi, an $8 USB keyboard and $5 flash card. From there those little devices have the RCA Video (analog) out and also an HDMI out. So if one of your computers goes bad, you can always rig it up to one of these little guys. However, I also understand that you need more displays. Now this is where you have the option to become a rockstar superman. If you are not afraid of code and working GPIO pins I would suggest purchasing some of these little guys first getting it to simply display and read across what they are typing and secondly maybe use one row to take in a file that progresses in typing difficult and displays that on the first line while it waits for input and validates on the second line (might even have room to use LEDs or something else on the RPi for score keeper/carrot/stick. If you document all this, it might turn out that the villagers get wise on how to ripe a seven segment display out of anything and hook it up to these GPIO pins?
So how to power this? Well the easy way would be to use what you have already available for power but get some of these guys and daisy chain these guys from one of your existing computers until they don't produce enough power. I would suggest researching that screen and the Pi and figuring out what their power draw is. Maybe get some cheap fuses to protect your hardware. A lot of broken appliances still have good electric motors in them and electric motors often produce energy as turbines if you spin them. Now, the big problem is how do you clean the power if people are cranking these turbines with their hands or connected to a bike's gear set? That's something I'm not much of an expert in. I do know the Pis run off of two rechargeable AA batteries just great but you also have to take care if they're planning to try to charge those batteries with a hand cranked appliance motor. From my understanding it's pretty tough to not screw stuff up if you're dealing with human generated power. Had to keep that steady and to find existing ways to clean it down to what tiny sensitive devices need.
The upswing of all this would be that the RPis are versatile, any of those students could really do a whole bunch of things with these. And if you make this a part of the Raspberry Pi wiki, you might get people helping you with those screens -- might. At least others will be able to use your work.
My work here is dung.
The school has about 500 students
Plenty of manpower available for about 5 keyboards. Build a mechanical keyboard with 100 strings attached to students. Each student gets a key. When the learning student is typing on the mechanical keys, the string is pulled, and the key student shouts out his key. Rotate the learning and key students in and out.
No electricity, and it will make learning boring typing a hoot and a half for the students.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
You can plug a USB keyboard into any recent Android phone or tablet. Obviously, you can charge them when you have power and use them for many hours. If you look around, you should be able to get a Coby or other Chinese Android tablet and a cheap full-size USB keyboard close to your price range (you also need a USB-to-Go cable, but they are less than $1). I've used them and they are perfectly fine tablets. Students can also use them for reading books.
There are also some typing tutors, although more geared towards on-screen typing. There are also tons of text editors you can use for practice.
This might sound like a stupid question, but couldn't you start learning just using a computer keyboard disconnected from the computer, learn were the keys are, practice on getting better, etc. and then move to the computer?
I know there is a problem on not having feedback, but I've seen many people (and I've done it myself from time to time) that when they write, they are looking at the keyboard and don't even look at the screen. In a way, this provides all the feedback you need, since you have a visual confirmation that your fingers stroke on the correct key.
Send a request to HP / Dell or another large Corporation (Microsoft / Google etc). A lot of these corporations get really old PC's no one wants to use for recycling, and they may give them to you if the can write it off in taxes. You don't need gaming level systems or business level PC's, you need a very very very basic PC to teach typing, older models (3/4+ years old) should work perfectly for this.
So you're in an area where there isn't enough power available to enable computers, but you need to teach people to type on them?
The only other idea is typewriter, but if there isn't enough money for power, there probably isn't enough money for typewriters and supplies, either.
The need is what again?
You have effectively eliminated all of the commercial solutions with your boundary conditions. You indicate that you don't have reliable power - that means you need a power generation device - or a power storage device - as part of your kit, or a device which does not require external power, but you have ruled out typewriters.
You have $50, total, per piece, into which you would like to provide a monitor of some type. Given that you need a display device, a power supply, and a usable input interface, you have nearly priced yourself out of the market with this parameter alone. To that you need to add a keyboard and an interface (a raspberry pi would work) to the display. But even at the rock bottom price of a Pi, you've in for $30-35 between these two devices.
I suppose if you can come up with a display with a DVI or HDMI input, plus a power supply, for under $20, you can get close. With the world market these days, if you need it to be cheaper than a COTS solution (commercial off the shelf) - you need a different budget or enough units to justify hardware production runs.
Have you considered seeing if Dell will ship you a crate of 6 year old laptops for $40 a piece, and you can throw away or keep for salvage the ones which don't work?
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
Use a rasberry pi $25 for the core. Build it into a standard keyboard. (~$4 with some looking), you can get small lcd screens from amazon for around $25
They can be powered using batteries. (the lcd will need 12v so may need to use 2 6v lantern batteries, which can be found cheap at any discount hardware store)
For slightly more, solar panels could be used. Would put you above your target but save money in the long term. Or Small hand held 12v crank generators can also be had for ~$12 off amazon for possible battery charging.
Start a company and use the students as it-consultants. Your clients won't be able to tell any difference.
New alphasmarts are hilariously overpriced; but used ones can easily be a factor of ten cheaper, so that isn't a bad route to go down. You'll need to fleabay or otherwise scrounge; but you can get them at pleasingly low prices.
Another option, if the locals have some TVs, might be 'famiclones' or their slightly more modern ilk. The ones that just have controllers are no good; but there is a genre of 'c64' styled keyboard-based ones. RF and/or composite out to a TV, keyboard, usually some sort of BASIC or other typing environment of some degree of not-entirely-useless. Nasty; but cheap, cheap, cheap at the right dodgy flea market.
You could attach a character LCD to an Arduino (or an Attiny once it's working for the extra savings), a battery, and a keyboard and create a $50 typing tool.
Perhaps teach them the same way Kintaro (Golden Boy) taught himself.
Total Cost about $22, ultra low power.
Do a search on Home made arduino clone, it will cost you about 30$ to make your programmer (you'll only need 1), but then about 7~9 per unit after that, depending on the bulk of your purchase you can get the 2x16 lcd displays down to 12.00. If your keyboards are USB its a simply hack to make them work, but if they are ps2, it would take a little research.
Good Luck
Available CHEAP (Under $20 + shipping and seem like EXACTLY what you are asking for)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/251152640672?redirect=mobile as an example. 25 for $400, an surely AA batteries can't be beat for power.
That would limit them to, pretty much, 1 character a few second. It certainly is a good start though.
VTech makes cheap battery operated laptop like learning computers, with full Qwerty keyboard. - http://www.amazon.com/VTech-80-60580-80-60583-Learning-Laptop/dp/B00078ZJ10/ref=sr_1_14?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1347991838&sr=1-14&keywords=vtech+laptop
-- By all means let's be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains drop out.
I learned on a manual typewriter in the 1980s. This was in high school. The class was taught by a classic "proper lady" with gray hair. I have little doubt that she had been in the public school system for a couple decades, grooming young ladies for "secretarial" positions. I have no idea what the transformation was like for her, or what she thought of the boys in her class. IIRC, there were still more girls in the class than usual.
Arguably, learning how to type did as much to help me in computing as learning how to program! I made a lot of bad choices when I was young, but taking that one course was a stroke of genius. All I remember was that my C-64 had a keyboard and I wanted to be able to use it "as intended" instead of hunting and pecking. The fact that my Dad was a clerk in the Navy and had an old typewriter made it a non-taboo practice. There was no "sissy factor" as far as I was concerned.
Anyway, we learned on manuals. The problem? To this day I pound the keyboard. It's a habit that's hard to break. People complain about it sometimes. I try to tone it down; but it always comes back.
So. If you can find manuals and can afford paper and ribbon (ribbons may be hard to find these days) then yes, maybe that's an idea. Somehow I doubt it's the best solution though. I don't know if learning on a manual will gives most people the pounding habit or not; but why chance it?
Did you read the submission?
I also considered OLPC but it is double my anticipated budget. Do you have other suggestions
Use a PalmPilot and a folding keyboard - palm pilots start at $10 on ebay and keyboards start at $20. These run on 2 AA batteries.
The TRS-80 model 100 has a great keyboard and an integrated display. They run on 4 AA batteries if I remember right. They start at $10 on ebay.
If you just want to learn to read, you could possibly start by reading things to their entirety (like the summary).
I considered using typewriters but they are in limited supply on the market.
Print a keyboard on sturdy paper (possibly over sized) and pair the kids. Have one kid "type" and the other kid check. Make them compete. Should be fun!
It's a bit above your $50 price tag, but moments googling "typing tutor toy" took a total of 0.8 seconds to complete and brought me this solution not far from your price range.
I had something like this as the oldest of 8 kids, the batteries were C or D and lasted for months/years. It was sturdy enough to easily endure the abuse that 8 kids put it through. We weren't "nice" to it.
I have no problem with your religion until you decide it's reason to deprive others of the truth.
You have it all wrong. Breed them by typing proficiency.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
We used MANUAL typewriters and we LIKED it.
Whiny whiny babies.
You don't need a computer to type.
Heck, Neuromancer was written on a manual typewriter ...
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
combined keyboard, monitor, mouse, AND UPS into one easy to cary package.
the UPS part is a must for unreliable electricity.
depending on what your budget is, how about a single large, UPS for the entire room? or even a small generator?
I don't remember why my Slashdot Account is anymore, been a while since I posted.
Anyways, would you consider writing some custom software that will let you connect an arbitrary amount of keyboards to a PC, and then project each line of typing on a wall? (Your only limit is how many kids can type at one time, and still be legible on the screen)
That way, you only need 1 computer, but you will have many many (cheap!) USB keyboards. I'm guessing you will need to buy a bunch of (cheap!) USB hubs and have an ugly daisychain go across the classroom.
The trouble here will be programming, if you don't know how to do it, it could be tricky. I don't know of any "off the shelf" software that does the behaviour you want. The good news is that if you ARE a programmer, making a program that does this should be fairly trivial.
Done, and done.
Not sure if this ever happened, but it might work well: http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/business-brains/cheap-computing-35-solar-powered-laptop-unveiled-in-india/8836
Also the printed piece of paper works well. Have them type phrases. For touch feedback put bubble wrap underneath. Have them take turns using the real computer keyboards with or without power and do pop quizzes when the power is on to check accuracy.
What idiot modded this down? The parent is absolutely right. Overpopulation is the root cause of most of the world's problems.
Seems like that would be the most straightforward answer to learning typing.
Hell, I learned mostly on the old IBM Selectric type writers...granted that was electric, but only really a couple of steps above full mechanical.
I assumed they still made mechanical typewriters....?
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
The Chinese websites offer fairly cheap Arduino boards and LCD shields. How about that for simple typing?
I suppose you could power the Arduinos via a 12V car battery plus multiple adapters, charge the battery when electricity is available.
Limited supply or not, manual typewriters are the right answer for several reasons:
1. From the submission, it seems that everything else that is not in limited supply is too expensive in either cash terms or electricity usage.
2. High technology devices are more likely to fail, and if they fail, are much more difficult (or impossible) to fix.
3. Even if the limited electricity supply goes away, a manual typewriter still works.
4. A decently constructed manual typewriter will outlast any electronic device.
If it works in theory, try something else in practice.
That's a link to OLPC - the specific thing he mentioned was too expensive for his needs. (Plus, they don't sell small quantities to individuals.)
Fiddly, but on the right track for getting the most out of the 12 PCs. *NIX is your friend here - what you want is what X.org refers to as a "multiseat" system - your only limit is how many discrete graphics cards you can cram into your PC(s). Here's a walkthough of setting one up with six seats. If you can get them, you could also hook up some VT102 or similar dumb terminals to the same box and maybe rig up some UPSs so you can have power available when it's needed as opposed to when it's available.
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
I have two solutions.
Before going into the ideas, let me explain where the first idea comes from.
[ ] Backstory:
I come from a poor country. When I was younger, I was learning to play the guitar, but I had limited access to a guitar (only a few minutes per week).
I wanted to learn. So I took a piece of wood (dimensions: 3ft by 2 inches by ~1 inch), drew the strings and fretboard on the wood. And I would practice placing my fingers, playing all those chords and solos (I had access to guitar tabs!). I'd hum the sounds too.
[Idea 1]
The first idea is to take a sheet of paper and draw the keyboard (to size) (or print/photocopy the keyboard layout), and let them practice 'typing' on the paper! Probably put a thin plastic sheet on top of the paper (cheap version of lamination) to make sure their paper keyboards last! They won't get the keyboard press feedback, but this is good enough to let them figure out finger placement and relative positions of keys.
[Idea 2]
The second idea is to buy the cheapest computer keyboard (only the keyboard) available in the market. Alternatively, you can get donations of old keyboards (e.g. from local communities, NGOs, computer suppliers, government). "Shipping it" from other countries might be too expensive, but that is also possible. They can practice their finger placement on these keyboards, without getting screen feedback, but that is OK.
When they get their 15 minutes on the computer, they will be comfortable with relative position of the keys in the keyboard and it will be much easier for them to type.
Parallax Propeller would be a good CPU for this. It has ready-made libraries for PS/2 peripherals and LCDs, including video output if you'd need that. A project like this would run on a few dozen milliamps at 5V. A single solar battery charging a car battery could easily supply a few full classrooms of those.
A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
Try getting typewriters. Nobody wants them these days so if you can find some they'll probably be cheap, and perfect for the job. Paper-and-ink based feedback on how the students are doing, no electricity requirement, simple and relatively easy to maintain. And they'll develop finger muscles to crush a modern keyboard....
You clearly have not been in that part of the world. You can make paper in your back yard, if you're patient enough.
Actually, I *live* in a similar part of the world, and as much as I can indeed make paper in me backyard if I'd feel like doing so, paper (tons of it anyway) happens to be pricey -- as is ink. I'm very suspicious that the bottom line cost is in favor of the mechanical typewriter.
Use a mechanical typewriter that is how I learned. The teacher wanted to give us timed typing tests and it was obvious if you made a mistake using one.
I just checked eBay, and there are still plenty of Handspring Visors left for sale cheap. Those things go a very long time on a pair of AAA cells. You don't want the color model, you want the black-and-white that takes AAA cells.
Then for a keyboard:
http://www.amazon.com/LandWare-GoType-Keyboard-Handspring-Visor/dp/B00004TF4V
Finally, buy a stack of NiMH AAA cells and some chargers.
These should suffice for learning. The keyboard is a little bit small, but I was able to type on it, and my hands are not small.
I don't know if there are any actual typing tutorial programs, but you might be able to get a college student to write one for you as a project.
I do remember that there is at least one "typing speed" program for PalmOS. It was intended for users to test their writing speed using the stylus, but it should work for typing.
steveha
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
Err...do they not make mechanical typewriters any longer??
Yeah, my thoughts exactly. I learned with a mechanical typewriter when I lived south of the border. It is still far cheaper to get mechanical typewriters than to provide computers for each student (if the goal is to teach typing.)
Why are you building or buying some new thing when the stupid simple solution exists, works, and is cheap. You can easily recharge the batteries with a low cost solar system. Its certainly cheaper than buying a typewriter, after buying a ribbon, try to find those cheap.
My four kids have access to laptops, but choose the alpha all the time because there is no chance of losing their work, and battery life is in terms of tens of months. They then can edit and print from the computer. I have a stack in the garage I keep giving to their friends. I had forty that I had bought personally for my classroom but IT didn't want to support them after I took the year off, now i am down to about ten left.)
Most importantly easy to replace/repair.
http://www.ebay.com/sch/Typewriters-/163099/i.html
greed and self interest are the root of most of the world's problems.
Built in dot matrix lcd screen, qwerty keyboards, designed to take abuse, nearly eternal battery life, and have working mice. the ones for older children even look like real laptops. The price range is well within the budget. Since typing is the goal color graphics and big screen are rather pointless. much lighter than typewriters so cheaper shipping costs too.
Hope this helps
I know you said you can't afford OLPC computers. You could try just asking people to donate them, and see if you get any.
I used to have an OLPC and I gave it to a school in India. Before I handed it over, I bought a $10 USB keyboard, a USB mouse, and I installed a program called "Typing Turtle". Also, I bought an an SD card, and installed a copy of Wikipedia for Schools on it (this is a collection of Wikipedia articles, vetted to remove any vandalism, and indexed so you can use them as pure static web pages, offline).
If you follow my other suggestion and use Handspring Visor PDAs for students, and you get a handful of OLPC computers, maybe you can use the OLPC computers for test stations.
Be sure to get an external, USB keyboard and mouse for any OLPC laptops you get. The built-in keyboard sucks, and the built-in trackpad really sucks.
steveha
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
Take the PCs you have, install linux and do multi seat. Then all you need is cheap pci video cards, monitors, keyboards and mice. You should be able to get 5+ displays for each PC.
It might be better to get some typewriters.
I still keep a couple around. Not all forms are in PDF or other fillable electronic form. A typewriter is great for filling out a random paper form.
Use Manual Typewriters, they require no electricity and can be found used online cheaply and you will never need to worry about OS upgrades or crashes or needing to have everyone using the exact same model. http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=manual+typewriter
I found a 7" netbook that covers the basics (keyboard, display, low power consumption) for $46.99 USD here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834684001
Combine that with a free open source word processing program such as http://www.libreoffice.org/
I'm no expert but I think that would serve your purposes. I'm sure you could reduce that rate even further by buying bulk.
Take donations.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
take the kids to a place where there's reliable electricity.
Barring that, get a bunch of 50s-60s Royal typewriters, ribbons to feed them, and White Out.
I was under the impression that Bangladesh's education ministry itself would have to order those, not a private charity.
Nope. They elected a republican.
Admittedly, they would still affected by the lack of power, but another option for devices with keyboard and (single line) screen are old Teletype (TTY) devices used by the deaf prior to the advent of modern smartphones. They can be picked up cheap on eBay or the like, providing a similar keyboard feel to a computer and would require no assembly on your part.
Sorry for posting anonymous, but for the three Posts in the last 10 years I somehow never felt like aquiring an account.
I believe I might have an viable solution.
As other posters have already mentioned, the troube lies in the fact that you need a keyboard and a display.
My first idea was using an Raspberry Pi, but that did not solve the display issue.
The follwing Idea expects there to be some, but not much power. What is effectivly need ist the average power of one USB 2.0 Port , 5V with 500mA.
Material need to by bought used:
Materials:
Nook Simple Touch: With some luck can be acquired used for $20+
USB Keyboard: Unknown how much that will cost for a Bangladesh Layout, but $10 should be doable.
USB Powersupply ($5).
Selfbuild modified USB Cable ($3-$4) (Using a charged USB Hub + a MicroUsb Cable is simpler but a bit more costly)
Micro SDHC card (1GB+) (The cheapest and smallest you can find ) ($2)
What TODO: /Buy Adapter Cable that Powers an connects the the Nook and the Keyboard.
1. Root theNook simple Touch
2. Install USB Host Mode
3. Install a simple Text Editor from Adnroid Market
4. Build
The following Link should get you started: http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/BN_Nook_Simple_Touch/USB_host_mode
Good Luck!
learning to type
Nice job putting Americans out of work. I hope religious fanatics shoot those OLPC enthusiasts and "educators" in large enough numbers.
Where's a big box of TRS-80 Model 100's when you need them?
Of course, I know that it's not practical to dig up a bunch of these. The idea of building something using an Arduino (or similar), a cheap 40x2 character LCD display (or similar), and a regular computer keyboard is probably the most practical. It'll run on batteries, and you can teach the students about electronics and recycling (old keyboards) while building these things.
So much misinformation...
Royal/Olevetti still make manual typewriters. They suck. They are also damn expensive compared to a tablet, $150
Manual typewriters use a lever system with one lever per uppercase/lowercase character, IBM Selectrics are a ball typewriter.
Power requirements are significant, based on the heat they gave off, at least 60w, probably more.
They are still in demand, so a working one is around $350 and up. Way more than a tablet.
Never answer an anonymous letter. - Yogi Berra
I doubt there are any current manufacturers still in business.
And even if there are, they are probably only making electric models.
However, there are probably a gazillion of these things moldering away in warehouses or scrap heaps, or corporate basements, or still for sale as re-furbs.
The problem is that they are http://mytypewriter.com/1960sorlater.aspx>expensive and becoming impossible to maintain.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
1) Multiple keyboards/monitors connected to one desktop -- too expensive, a pain to setup
2) Mechanical typewriter -- need to restock paper and tape -- too expensive
3) Some kind of electric typewriter, like this one on Amazon.com Try to buy them from China, where they cost pennies, or hunt for bargains, like the one I linked. There is 12 of them available for US $28. As far as electricity being in limited supply -- that problem is much easier to fix: get a UPS power supply. (electric typewriters are not power-hungry), a solar panel, or even a power generator connected to a stationary bicycle (my father told me they used to use those during power outages)
You could plug USB keyboards into a PC or laptop and let two or maybe three students share a single screen. You'd have to make your own software setup though to send the keys from each keyboard to a different window.
/thread
The dude said manual typewriters are in short supply. I wouldn't believe that until I looked myself and I don't care enough to.
How about a generator powered by gas, runnning water or... a donkey?
Ok..where are you finding a tablet for $150 and less??
Also...you don't really 'learn' to type on a tablet...it isn't like real typing at all. You need a full sized keyboard to learn that on....and a manual typewriter still sounds like the cheapest solution to use to approximate a real typing experience (touch typing, not hunt and peck).
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
Repeat after me:
Thank you for calling Dell Technical Support...
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
Hey,
if it is just for the typing you could buy PS/2-Connector Keyboards for around $7 each.
A cheap microcontroller like Atmels ATTinyXX on a custom PCB could be used to connect display and keyboard. Lets say $10 for both.
Than you just need a display and a case. Depending on how many characters it should display it starts from $8 1x16 (1 line, 16 characters).
Lets assume a standard case for just $1. Programming this should be fairly easy as multiple projects on the internet have libraries available.
So you get your electronic typewriter for $26. It could be even cheaper.
These will consume much less than 10 Watt and it would be possible to power them with rechargable batteries or big capacitors.
some sources:
AVR keyboard: http://avrprogrammers.com/example_avr_keyboard.php
AVR display libraries are all over the web.
Just my two cents. This could be an initiativ of indiegogo or something similiar!
I learned on a mechanical typewriter in 1983. It is the obvious solution.
www.wavefront-av.com
Seriously people, stop suggesting typewriters - they're a bitch to repair assuming you can get parts, which you probably can't, are way overbuilt for what he requires of them and, at this point, probably cost more than his $50 budget anyway; all he needs is a qwerty layout with error-checking to make sure the kids are on the right track.
Just because something is mechanical or non-powered doesn't mean it's simpler, easier, or cheaper. Try to answer his actual question without getting all condescending about it.
--Triv
Even the oldest, slowest PC that have any kind of keyboard and can run Windows 95 or up would probably do.
The PCs don't have to be the same type. Some can be slower than others. The keyboard layout has not changed significantly over the years. There were many typing tutor programs for Windows 95, and programs for Windows 95 still work on even the newest PCs.
(Of course, you could go even back to 80188 cpu's and DOS, but I find it unlikely that you will find used PCs that are that old. Besides, it would be better to sell those to collectors and buy more cheap PCs for the money)
"We mustn't be caught by surprise by our own advancing technology" -- Aldous Huxley
Seems like a bunch of AlphaSmarts or equivalent would work pretty well -- they seem to be available for about $50 used. I learned to type on something very much like that in elementary school, though I have no idea what brand they were, just that they were red and had some simple typing games. They worked very well: I'm a pretty fast tough typist as a result.
Good grief. Manual, as opposed to electric, typewriters. How old are you?
Probably the sort of thing you can pick up on ebay. You may have to become proficient at finding ribbons and removing jams, though.
Brand new: http://www.hammacher.com/Product/81898?tid=pr81898. More than a $150 tablet, but better than a $150 tablet that you can't use.
Not so new: http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=manual+typewriter (One of those looks like what I did all my high school & some college papers with).
Have you considered using solar powered computers? Something like this http://www.thinvent.in/products/solar/solar-computing should do the trick. You could get one server, and a number of cheap $30 thin clients (see AliExpress). If you're just teaching typing, an Intel Atom, Ubuntu server can easily handle 10 thin clients. A lot of simple typing software should directly run on thin clients, without needing a server.
There are any number of Chinese producers of ridiculously cheap 7" mini-laptops that run Ice Cream Sandwich:
http://www.alibaba.com/showroom/7-inch-via-8850-mini-laptop.html
Hey, if it is just for the typing you could buy PS/2-Connector Keyboards for around $7 each. A cheap microcontroller like Atmels ATTinyXX on a custom PCB could be used to connect display and keyboard. Lets say $10 for both. Than you just need a display and a case. Depending on how many characters it should display it starts from $8 1x16 (1 line, 16 characters). Lets assume a standard case for just $1. Programming this should be fairly easy as multiple projects on the internet have libraries available. So you get your electronic typewriter for $26. It could be even cheaper. These will consume much less than 10 Watt and it would be possible to power them with rechargable batteries or big capacitors. some sources: AVR keyboard: http://avrprogrammers.com/example_avr_keyboard.php AVR display libraries are all over the web. Just my two cents. This could be an initiativ of indiegogo or something similiar!
I found a 7" netbook for $46.99 USD here that meets your basic requirements (keyboard, display, low power consumption) with the quantities you'd need.
Combine that with a freeware solution like LibreOffice.
I'm no expert but I think this combination would serve you well.
You could try using Arduino Unos.
http://amigojapan.github.com/Arduino-Retro-Computer-with-SD-card-and-LCD-display-and-Keyboard-input-with-BASIC-interpreter/
With standard TV sets
http://amigojapan.github.com/Arduino-Retro-Computer-TV/
And another variation
http://www.pyroelectro.com/tutorials/ps2_keyboard_lcd/
I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
Similarly, when I was a kid a friend of mine took piano lessons, but she didn't have a piano. Instead her teacher gave her a paper keyboard which she practiced on. It worked for her until she proved to her dad that she was committed to learning the piano and he shelled out the dough for a real one.
You can practice on the keyboard without it being hooked up to anything, similarly to the post above about using paper typewriters decades ago for practice.
Print keyboards on paper for practice! Learning key placement is a major difficulty for beginners, it will reduce the requirements for real keyboards, is cheap, and they can take it home for practice!
Back in 1992 my elementary school teacher went and got a whole bunch of keyboard faces that had no mechanical parts. This was a public school in the agriculture 'burbs so I'm guessing he paid for all the equipment himself. Basically a surface with all the keys and the texture of keyboards in that era. He would turn on some songs such as the one they use in the ol' Velveeta commercial and to the beat he'd yell out keys for us to press. I remember quite fondly the opening salvo -- A-S-A-S-A-S-D-F... J-K-J-K-J-K-L-semicolon. When I got to Junior High I was typing 60 to 70 words per minute after only a week or so of lessons in the computer class.
> Err...do they not make mechanical typewriters any longer?
Not in my lifetime (or, at any rate, not in the part of my lifetime that I can remember), and I'm pushing forty. I suppose there's probably some geek out there somewhere who _rebuilds_ old mechanical typewriters, but new ones, to the best of my knowledge, have not been manufactured for several decades.
Used ones might be possible to obtain, but I would not recommend using them as a tool for teaching typing. You'll end up with people who thunk the keys down so deliberately, they'll be doing well to hit ten words a minute, and eevverrrryyythhiiingg wwwill ccommme ouuut lllikkke thhhiss. You might about as well get them a Linotype machine. Yes, yes, they could learn the QWERTY layout. They could also learn the QWERTY layout, and finger positioning for that matter, from a printout on a piece of paper, which would be somewhat cheaper to ship to Bangladesh, as compared with fifty-pound typewriters. Any actual typing skill they learn from the mechanical typewriters will do them more harm than good.
New typewriters were electric when I was a kid. Notice I said electric, not electronic. These old beasts didn't have any logic circuitry (transistors or the like), but they did have an electric motor, which was responsible for causing the little letter thingies to swing up and whack the paper (through the ribbon) significantly harder than would have been the case with just the force of your fingers hitting the keys. Depressing a key just _released_ the relevant lever: it was the electric motor that smacked it up onto the carriage. There were also the ones that used a ball instead of levers, which was particularly useful in academia, because you could substitute in e.g. a Greek ball and type letters and symbols that were not available on the standard ball. Those had somewhat more complicated circuitry than the kind with levers, to control the rotation of the ball to select the right character, but they still were not electronic in the modern sense. Either way, no electrical power meant no typing.
People who learned to type on electric typewriters often have problems typing on a modern cheap membrane keyboard, because they press the keys down too hard. It's like switching from buckling springs to a touchscreen interface, only worse. It's not nearly as bad as having learned on one of the ancient purely-mechanical monstrosities, though. With *those* things you practically had to *hammer* the keys down to get the lever to hit the ribbon hard enough to fully strike the letter onto the paper.
Electronic typewriters (the kind with actual logic circuitry and, usually, little LCD built in) came along in the mid-to-late eighties I think, and by the wall came down practically all _new_ typewriters were electronic. The early ones had keyboards with some tactile feedback (maybe about comparable to a Model M keyboard I guess), but they were much more like a computer keyboard than their older electronic and manual counterparts. Later ones may have actually adopted computer-keyboard technology, because by the mid nineties computers were overwhelmingly more common than typewriters. At some point typewriters switched over to dot matrix technology (which was also very popular in computer printers at the time), so then the ability to type exotic characters was purely a matter of software (or, err, firmware). If there are typewriters still made these days, they probably use inkjet printing technology and have spellcheck. I wouldn't be surprised if they use OpenType fonts.
Dedicated "word processor" electronic devices came along around the same time (as the electronic typewriters) and might've really caught on if they'd had a few more years in the market, but microcomputers all started getting WYSIWYG interfaces just about then, and that was much better, and simultaneously microcomputers were getting to be rather a lot more affordable than previously and the notion of every household having one no longer seemed entirely ridiculous (in the developed world), and the rest is history.
Of course, kids these days do word processing on their phones. Try explaining *that* to somebody back in the era of mechanical typewriters.
Cut that out, or I will ship you to Norilsk in a box.
I still have my old Smith-Corona I went through College with. 100% mechanical. This was the one that looked like a small suitcase. Works perfect, but I would have no idea of where to get another ribbon for the thing. It uses the old cloth ribbons saturated with ink and it would shuttle back and forth as keys were pressed. Red and black ink too. Not many mechanical things nearly 100 years old still work ( this was the machine my mom went through school on ). They sure made things to last in those days.
No erase key. You had to use those old style abrasive eraser pens or a white paint-like fluid for that. If you made a significant screw up, might as well put in a new piece of paper and retype the whole page.
Would I go back to advocating this? No. I'd rather see them resurrect the old Radio Shack Tandy 100 with its low power processor and reflective LCD screen. With today's technology, these could probably be made with solar cells just like a calculator. I'd love to have one of those that could use a USB stick for program and data storage.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
That article was written in 2006. I would be amazed if anyone could actually put it into practice today. Also you generally get a pretty limited number of video outputs even if you use all the slots you can find.
Thin clients are probably a better way to go, but honestly, you'd have trouble getting them for that price as well, and then you'd still need to power them and have a server.
As another poster said, the solution is a null set.
If it starts talking to you and offering you drugs destroy it and don't do them.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
Look at toys. just like the barbie camera was the first cheap digital camera I'm sure there is a toy that will do what you need.
There used to be the Zipit, which had a qwerty layout, but didn't have a size compatible with touch typing. Leapfrog I'm sure makes something over complicated.
An earlier poster recommended just using a picture of a keyboard, but you can get a bunch of used keyboards, to play around with cheap. and even though it doesn't do anything the hands on training will at least help people who want to learn. and then you just rotate people onto the real computers.
An audio based feedback system could be much lower cost earbud vs monitor, but could be more work to setup.
if you looked into a heavily modified X multi seat setup you could plug in a large number ~30 USB keyboards into a single PC and then have them share a display, like a split screen game. Does tuxtype support multi-player mode?
HA! The spoiled kids of today requiring a computer.
When I was between jobs just out of school I didn't have a computer, but the house we were renting had an old computer keyboard stashed away in its cupboard.
I thought - great, I want to become a programmer so I should learn touch typing. Asked my sister where to put my fingers and away I went learning A B C D E F etc. In no time I was typing up a storm.
It wasn't till a few years later sitting typing away at my job that I realized that the dots to guide my fingers didn't match up, my right hand was shifted one key to the left >_ I still type like that to this day.
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> teach students in a Bangladeshi village how to type...[with] limited
> electricity.
Run an extension cord down to the McDonald's.
Next question?
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
If you are custom programming, you can have 127 USB keyboards per computer. 1 large display for your single computer. If you need to track individual progress, have your program request each student to type their name at the beginning of each exercise. Then track each keyboard and flash the numlock light when they make a mistake or have a small portion of the display allocated to each student.
Plug cheap easy to get USB keyboards into cheap USB hubs. 7 each, let's say. Plug one hub to each of the 12 computers you have.
Get your hands coding. A program that reads each connected keyboard and splits the screen into 7 rows were the typing is shown.
Simple task for an old computer. From the 12 computers you got 84 simple typing machines. Feasible to teach 500 students in turns.
It wont win the user interface award of the month, but might do the job
Ok..where are you finding a tablet for $150 and less??
This is probably the most user-friendly place to find a wide selection in that price range. But there's also AliExpress, some of the sellers there will sell you just one. Some will only sell you 2+ (or 5+ or whatever) but honestly you can probably find a pair of tablets with ICS, 512MB RAM and 8GB flash, 7" with capacitive touch and very very low resolution for $150 :)
For around $200 you can get 10-point touch, ICS, 10" IPS, Allwinner...
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Get the faulty keyboards that are thrown away by offices in Dhaka etc from the local recycler (or offices themselves). Give them to kids to manual practice the first couple of training sets (asdf jkl; etc). When ever slots have opened up on functional machines, and the kids have done their manual tests, promote them to those empty slots for practical training and testing.
The benefit of the faulty keyboards will be that by the time kids move up to the functional slots, they will have gained some muscle memory advantage. Plus the fact that the keys will be faded will be an extra advantage, it will eliminate the crutch of hunt-and-peck ;P
I am an ACCA student. Got a query on Accountancy/Finance? Maybe I can help!
You're talking an order of magnitude more power consumption than Raspberry Pis talking to LCD TVs and connected to bargain-priced keyboards. For myself living in the USA I am able to source LCD monitors with DVI connectors for $15 and less, I have three such here. And keyboards for $5. I hear the Raspi shipping price doesn't change much if you get more than one so I you can get say three of those for around $120, so call it $200 for three machines with displays and keyboards and throw the mice in really because you can get those for a buck or two. But that doesn't help someone who isn't here... Unless they're able to motivate someone here to send them anything that is very small and not easily sourced where they are.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
mechanical typewriters might actually cost more to build.. :-p
You NEED immediate feedback to learn how to type. othere ware is tlolooks like tooal shit.
Liar.
Harvest the mechanical energy of the keystroke. Either by using a manual typewriter, or using magnets and coils in the keys to generate tiny currents, which in turn charge a capacitor, which drive the mW level processor and LCD. If that does not work, make the kids exercise by taking turns on a stationary bicycle with a dynamo.
Except for the fact that raspberry pis don't work with keyboards. I've tried about a dozen keyboards with mine, none of them worked correctly (repeating characters, dropped key strokes).
I learned on a plastic mat. When I was 10 years old (26 years ago) we had a lab at school with apple 2s. Nobody could be expected to have access to a computer outside of school, a few might have had typewriters. We were given a plastic mat with the shape and size of a qwerty keyboard along with pages to practice. You don't need a computer at all. Just a simple plastic mat.
You could always rotate them through the computers for real practice and so they learn to touch type.
You can get a palm (V/T?) with an IR keyboard quite cheap.
They use batteries which might be more or less expensive for your needs (rechargeables?).
You can probably get them in bulk somewhere.
Less than your desired price and come with full size keyboards and VERY minimal power needs.
http://compare.ebay.com/like/280933843276?var=lv<yp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar
I already posted so I can not follow my own advice. MOD PARENT UP!
The things weigh a lot so would be expensive to get to where they are needed. I started with a mechanical typewriter but didn't really learn to type properly on it - I instead gained the habit of hitting keys so hard that coworkers are convinced that I'm angry.
For about $30 dollars you could connect an AVR to a serial enabled lcd and use a PS/2 keyboard. Run it on rechargeable batteries. I did this exact thing years back when I was studying communications protocols. My guess is that even if you don't have the skills to put together such a thing, if you contacted sparkfun and told then what you're trying to do, someone experienced would donate the 4 hours it would take them to design and program this.
If an officer ever threatens to taze you, say you have a pacemaker.
I I learned how to type on a V-Tech aparatus in '98. Vtech mostly makes toys and stuff. This thing had a normal keyboard layout and a small LCD display. I think it only ran on a couple of AA's and might be right up your alley. It was similar to this.
USB keyboards are cheap. USB OTG adapters are dirt cheap. And tablets under $50 that can be used as usb hosts for exist. What's the problem again?
1. set up a website where people like us, who have several old machines in the basement, can print a shipping label to a harbor on the coast where we can fill a container with more cpus monitors and keyboards than you can use.
2. teach the children about how power is made by constructing wind generators, or lower cost solar panels from cells on ebay.
Any PIC or microcontroller should be fast enough to handle keyboard input and put it onto an LCD display. If you have PS/2 keyboards it should be really simple, USB may require a bit of implementation (like a USB host with HID support) but it shouldn't be too much work for an average programmer.
Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
Focus on the students. Find the 10 best typers, teach them everything. Then each of them (with help, of course) can teach 10 more.
Many third-world countries are technocratic.
Defining Statistics and Social Research
Instead of typewriters, how about serial terminals? Vt100, Wyse50, etc. Whatever you can get your hands on will work. Set it to "offline mode" and when you hit a key, it'll appear on the screen, so it can be checked. They require power, but with no smarts, and a pretty tiny CRT, it's a tiny fraction of a computer. And if you get a multiport serial card, serial mux, a bunch of USB-RS232 adapters, or a terminal server, you could hook them all up to a computer, running whatever text-only typing tutor program you've got. If there's any long-standing call / order processing centers in your vicinity, you might find that they've stockpiled their old terminals as they switched over to computers.
A second option would be pretty much any old PDA with a keyboard... All the better if you go with a B&W screen without backlight. Something like a Psion 3/5 or Osaris will run for 40+ hours on a pair of AAs. String some wires from the battery compartments and supply them with 3V (should be simple enough if you've got a car battery handy) instead of going through batteries, and you should be fine. The WinCE devices out there are almost all high power, due to color screens and faster CPUs, but could still work for you, if you can secure a good number of them.
It wouldn't be hard to build a simple circuit that takes PS2 input, and outputs the letters to a small LCD, but since there's no such mass-market product, I think it'll end up costing more to get someone to assemble it, than it would cost to buy used junk.
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
What language are these kids being taught to type in? If it's Bengali, are we sure that the computer and typewriter layouts are identical? Hindi computers and Hindi typewriters use very different layouts, so teaching Hindi-speaking children to type on a typewriter would do them more harm than good. Bengali script is similar, so I'd check the layouts before screaming at the OP to use typewriters.
The cheapest thing I know to "connect a keyboard to a display" is a Raspberry Pi.
(It also happens to be aimed at educating children. I don't know if that's relevant to the OP or not....)
No sig today...
For myself living in the USA I am able to source LCD monitors with DVI connectors for $15 and less.
The Pi also has a TV output. It was included precisely for situations like this where old TVs are a lot more common than DVI connectors.
No sig today...
http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/30/8-bit-computer-now-available-for-all-your-homebrewing-needs/
Granted, you'll need a TV and electricity, but may be those can be lended for in house practicing and returned the following day, so they will run on house electricity and house tv instead of School electricity, keep the in school pc for those that do not have a tv and or electricity available at home
You don't even need a display for every student. You isn't need them to be able to see what their errors are when they're done.
The simplest cheapest solution would be a custom typing program attached to several USB hubs and keyboards. In theory, you could have each computer serve 100 students or more.
Toys R Us has a $20 CDN toy laptop with QWERTY keyboard:
http://www.toysrus.ca/product/index.jsp?productId=11495909
add 2 sets of rechargeable batteries: $2*6 = $12
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__25023__Turnigy_AA_LSD_2400mAh_Low_Self_Discharge_ready_to_use_.html
and a charger: $6
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__27991__NiZN_AA_1_5A_Battery_Charger.html
You can charge the batteries when you have power.
Alternatively reduce the number of batteries and chargers to less than 1 set per computer and pool the leftover $$$ to get a solar panel to power a charging station
----- "Profanity is the one language that all programmers understand."
Fedora 17 has a multiseat feature where you can hookup multiple keyboards, mice, monitors to one pc. If you can get more keyboards, mice, monitors, and video cards donated or purchased you could setup those 6 PC to support 12-24 (and possibly more) students. You may want to look at the Plugable DC-125 too. They are a bit over the $50 price range but might be worth it due to it's low power requirements. You might be able to consolidate some of the PCs to help with your power issues.
If your computers have USB ports, hook up 4 USB Keyboards to each computer and have four students share a screen.
You will probably need a special program that displays the text on the screen.
Here is a hint how you can get at input from a particular keyboard in linux:
http://www.thelinuxdaily.com/2010/05/grab-raw-keyboard-input-from-event-device-node-devinputevent/
Posted this elsewhere deep in a thread... wanted to make sure you saw it:
I suggest:
50% of your students get OLPC @ 100$; 50% get a 5$ disconnected keyboard. They rotate between exercises.
Or 1/3rd get OLPC and 2/3rds with disconnected keyboards, and rotate. Every third exercise they're on the real keyboard.
and he will search for a typewriter. teach a man to tweet and he will be hip
Connected 4 to 16 USB Keyboards (optionally mice as well) and connect same amount of monitors to a few video cards like: http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/products/graphics_cards/m_series/m9188pciex16/ or http://www.amd.com/us/products/workstation/graphics/ati-firemv-2d/ati-firepro-2450-mv/Pages/ati-firepro-2450-mv.aspx or USB to Video.... http://ca.startech.com/AV/USB-Video-Adapters/USB-DVI-External-Multi-Monitor-Video-Adapter~USB2DVIE2 There is software out here to create virtual machines for each monitor and to connect a set of Keyboard/mouse to each monitor. With Windows 98, you can connect up to 9 displays. With Windows NT, you can connect up to 20 displays to one system With Windows 2000, XP, you can connect up to 10 displays to one system. With Window Vista - you can connect minimum of 10 displays to one system. - possibly up to 16 With Windows 7 & 8, you can connect up to 16 displays to one system -possibly more
Oi!
Wait a minute. I know you used to get new manual typewriters in India for approx $50-60 or so. I'm sure Bangladesh will not be too different.
you'll get refurbished/second-hand typewriters for less than half that - most typists are now junking their old elephants for a PC. That's what you need. Oh yes, and a bunch of LED based solar powered lanterns that's very popular in the rural areas. Put them out in the sun in the day and they give you 5-6 hours light in the evening/night (so you can operate all the way till 11pm).
At approx $20-30 per typewriter & 1 lantern per 15-20 kids, you should have a good business model there. There's loads of people around who'd fund such a business + mentor you to boot.
All the best.
Set up a donation site and try to double, (or better) your budget. There are a number of donation websites out there, such as http://gogetfunding.com/ (I found that by Googling and it was top of the list). Even just setting up a PayPal donation site might work. Then, tell everyone you can about it.
You might even be able to afford some solar panels or a petrol generator and petrol to keep the computers going. Even ask some solar panel manufacturers if you can get some for free, and ask around places like the computer manufacturers who have lease agreements (such as HP finance) if they have any old computers being returned. Approach some big corporations as well, most have budgets for donations. Or even write to Oprah (I'm sure she'd love to get involved).
Sure enough, the cow costume was hanging up next to the superhero outfit and sailors uniform. (S,Spud)
The Raspberry Pi has audio out. Using a little bit of programming and some headphones, you could have the computer speak what was typed via text to speech software included with most Linux distributions. Then once those students using the practice devices are proficient, they could be tested on a few computers with displays.
I would like to discuss a solution for you, is there a way to contact you?
http://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/comments/10oa6u/slashdot_tackles_the_tough_problem_of_typing/