A TECHNICAL SEMINAR On SIMPUTER In partial fulfillment for the award of degree of Bachelor of Technology In Computer Science and Engineering Submitted by SANTOSH RAO CHANNAMANENI 07E71A0539 Under the guidance of MR.P.V.S.RAM PRASAD VATHSALYA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 1
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Seminar title · Web viewProf. Sri. Dr. B RAVEENDRANATH SINGH) Acknowledgement It gives us immense pleasure to acknowledge with gratitude, the help and support extended throughout
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A TECHNICAL SEMINAR
On
SIMPUTERIn partial fulfillment for the award of degree of
Bachelor of Technology
In
Computer Science and Engineering
Submitted by
SANTOSH RAO CHANNAMANENI
07E71A0539
Under the guidance of
MR.P.V.S.RAM PRASAD
DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
VATHSALYA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
(AFFILIATED TO JNT UNIVERSITY, HYDERABAD)
ANANTHARAM, BHONGIR, NALGONDA.
2010-2011
VATHSALYA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 1
VATHSALYA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
(Affiliated to JNT University, Hyderabad)
Anantharam, Bhongir.
DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
2010-2011
CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the technical seminar entitled “SIMPUTER” that is being submitted by SANTOSH RAO CHANNAMANENI (07E71A0539) in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the Award of the degree of Bachelor Of Technology in COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING to the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University is a record of bonafide work carried out by them under my guidance and supervision.
The results embodied in this technical seminar have not been submitted to any other University or Institute for the Award of any Degree.
Head of the Department Project Coordinator
(Mr. P.V.S. RAM PRASAD) (Mr. K.HARI)
Principal
(Prof. Sri. Dr. B RAVEENDRANATH SINGH)
VATHSALYA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 2
Acknowledgement
It gives us immense pleasure to acknowledge with gratitude, the help and support
extended throughout the technical seminar from the following:
We will be very much grateful to almighty our parents who have made us capable of
carrying out our job.
We express our profound gratitude to our principal Prof. Sri. Dr. B
RAVEENDRANATH SINGH , of Vathsalya Institute of Science and Technology,
who has encouraged in completing our technical seminar successfully.
We are grateful to Mr. P.V.S. RAM PRASAD who is our Head of the Department,
CSE, for his amiable ingenious and adept suggestions and pioneering guidance during
the technical seminar.
We express our deep sense of gratitude and thanks to coordinator MR.K.HARI for
his support during the technical seminar.
We are also very thankful to our Management, staff members and all our friends for
their valuable suggestions and timely guidance without which we would not have been
successful in completion of the technical seminar.
SANTOSH RAO CHANNAMANENI
(07E71A0539)
VATHSALYA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 3
INDEXINTRODUCTION 4
SYSTEM OVERVIEW 6
SIMPUTER LICENSING 10
SIMPUTER SPECIFICATION 11
APPLICATION SOFTWARE 13
ILMI 14
APPLICATIONS 19
INTERFACES 21
FEATURES 22
CONCLUSION 30
FUTURE ENHANCEMENTS 32
BIBILOGRAPHY 33
PPT
VATHSALYA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 4
INTRODUCTION
OBJECTIVE
Even the poorest of the poor will pay for the service, if that service improves in some
way their quality of life.Several corporates are now addressing rural markets and they
have the need for information and communication infrastructure in remote rural
locations.
For achieving this the Simputer project was conceived during the organization of Global
Village, an International Seminar on Information Technology for developing countries,
conducted during Banglore IT.com event in October 2001.
If the right service is made accessible in the right way information technology can impact
the lives of people all over the world.The Simputer is a low cost portable alternative to
PCs, by which the benefits of IT can reach the common man.It has a special role in the
third world because it ensures that knowledge of English in no longer barrier to handling
a computer.
VATHSALYA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 5
The Simputer is a self-contained, open hardware hand held computer, designed in
environments where computing devices such as personal computers are deemed
inappropriate.
It's simple, it's portable. At about Rs. 9,000 per piece, it's highly affordable. It is
compatible with your everyday PC, helps you check e-mail, browse the Net, keep
accounts, and get information.When the invention of the Simputer(Simple Computer)
was announced in 2001, it instantly captured the imagination of the world. The venerable
New York Times called it the most important invention of 2001 ahead of Apples G4 and
Microsoft’s Windows XP operating system. Here was a computer that was rewriting
every rule associated with computers.
The goal of the Simputer project is to harness the potential of Information and
Communication Technology (ICT) for the benefit of the weakest sections of society. The
software developed by the Simputer Trust will be under GNU GPL and the hardware
developed will be under Simputer General Public License (SGPL).
The Simputer is also known as a Simple Inexpensive Multilingual Computer, is
important in surveying its projected uses. The Simputer was originally planned to be a
stand-alone computing device with a simple user interface, and features like speech
synthesis that made it work for very low-attainment users. Various usage models were
considered, but the key to the ‘Inexpensive’ aspect was the shared model.
The device was to enable large groups of users to share one device, possibly
purchased communally. Individual users were expected to own smartcards that enabled
them to store their information offline. A potential owner for a Simputer would thus be a
village council, or a cooperative, or any group of people willing to share it. Public funds
could potentially be applied towards such purchases.
SYSTEM OVERVIEW
VATHSALYA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 6
ABOUT SIMPUTER:
The Simputer which is a SIMple compUTER, is known as,
Simple Inexpensive Multilingual Computer Simputer, in terms of screen size (320x240),
memory capabilities(32MB RAM) and the OS (GNU/Linux). It runs on an Intel strong-
arm chip. The chip is known for its low power consumption. The Simputer runs on three
AAA batteries or off the mains. It can also use rechargeable batteries, but the charger is
not built in. Thus, the Simputer is basically a low-cost computer with multiple
connectivity options. It will be modular and based entirely on free software from the
Open Source Initiative. Its primary input will be a touch-sensitive overlay on the LCD
display panel.
The primary application interface would be a browser that can render the
Information Markup Language. IML is a new XML application being designed
specifically for handheld devices like the Simputer. The use of XML-based language is in
line with the philosophy of utilizing global Internet standards. To the rural Indian poor,
and even to most city dwellers, a computer is probably as remote an option as a trip to the
moon. But things are about to change.
The Brains Behind The Concept
A small group of scientists of the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore
and some engineering professionals from the firm Encore Software have designed this
simple device, and set up a trust to take it to the world.
This device, called a Simputer, will be launched formally on April 25 in
Bangalore. This gadget is not a PC. It is a simplified device more like a pocket computer.
What distinguishes it from other hand-held devices is its smart card reader. Besides, it
also has an Information Markup Language that is, amongst other thing, smart card aware.
It will also have the use of extensive audio in the form of text-to-speech and audio
snippets.
VATHSALYA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 7
An important feature of the Simputer is the SmartCard Reader/Writer. The smart card is
emerging as a credible delivery vehicle for financial transactions on the Internet and has
become an important tool for electronic commerce. The incorporation of a smart card
reader/writer in the Simputer will, therefore, increase the functionality of the mobile
device for deployment of a richer set of value-added services, including services such as
home banking through personal ATMs and home shopping.
A user's individual profile can be stored on a smart card, which he can carry
around with him. Once inserted into the smart card interface, the Simputer will read the
profile from the smart card and also update changes if any, during the current transaction
cycle.
AFFORDABLE COMPUTING
The projected cost of the Simputer is about Rs 9000 at large volumes.But
even this is beyond the means of most citizens. The Smart Card feature that the Simputer
provides enables the Simputer to be shared by a community.
A local community such as the village panchayat, the village school, a
kiosk, a village postman, or even a shopkeeper should be able to loan the device to
individuals for some length of time and then pass it on to others in the community.The
Simputer, through its Smart Card feature allows for personal information management at
the individual level for an unlimited number of users.
The impact of this feature coupled with the rich connectivity of the
Simputer can be dramatic. Applications in diverse sectors such as micro banking, large
data collection, agricultural information and as a school laboratory is now made possible
at an affordable price.
What makes the Simputer special?
One needs to understand the Simputer’s main features text-to-speech
synthesis in Indian languages, pen-based input (called tap-a-tap), portable palmtop-sized
footprint, Linux-powered, open hardware licensing, and the smart-card interface, among
others.
The intended use of these features (and hence the Simputer) is for rural
areas. The text-to-speech features, portable size and low power requirements are meant to
VATHSALYA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 8
be of immense use to people in these areas. Some of the applications that have been
suggested are micro-banking applications, rural commerce, and micro-credit applications.
Simputer has an edge over any palmtop. Palmtops can’t compute in Indian
languages and don’t have text-to-speech interfaces for Indian languages. They are also
not aimed for the mass market that the Simputer is targeting, and still have a more elitist
user community.
The business applications of Simputer in Micro-banking or sales force
automation is useful. Insurance companies in India are looking at using this for each of
their insurance agents who go around. Now, they don't have to carry all these huge books
that they used to carry, with details of all the policies. They just carry the Simputer with
all the information already fed into that.
The impact of this feature coupled with the rich connectivity of the
Simputer can be dramatic. Applications in diverse sectors such as micro banking, large
data collection, agricultural information and as a school laboratory is now made possible
at an affordable price.
It's not only that it costs less than $200 (Rs. 9,306) but also what the
Simputer will be able to do. Put together by several academics and engineers – in their
spare time -- this Internet device will have the potential to help even non-literate users to
surf the Net and e-mail.
Once commercialized and put out in the market -- its designs will be freely
released to companies for reproduction -- the Simputer can not only be used as a device
for individuals to access the Net, but also by communities Sthrough kiosks. A smart-card
interface is being worked on to facilitate micro banking.
The non-profit Simputer Trust, a group of academics and technologists
from India’s computing industry, is creating the multi-purpose device. Their vision is to
create not only a computer, but also an "evolving platform for social change" throughout
the world by bridging the digital divide. They wanted a device that could be used by
literate people in Third World nations who lack computer skills, as well as by illiterate
people. The Simputer Trust is created basically to develop technology that will help take
information technology to rural areas.
VATHSALYA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 9
Its initial target is India. And if it is applicable in India, it will also be
applicable in the rest of the third world.
The Simputer had a tremendous response from all over the world -from
South America to Australia and every other country in between, including some of the
developed countries. Even the developed countries are interested in seeing how they
could use it; not just for applications for the poor, but also applications for the urban elite,
the urban affluent.
The Simputer is the result of coming together of scientists form the Indian
Institute of Science, Bangalore and technologists of a software company with a broad
imperative to harness its potential for the benefit of all sections of society. The Simputer
is not a projection of an end product but of an evolving platform for social change.
VATHSALYA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 10
“The Simputer a cheap, pocket-sized computing device designed for use by rural populations in India has been hailed as a breakthrough in bringing the world of computing to the poor”.
VATHSALYA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 11
SIMPUTER LICENSING
The system software of the Simputer, since it is Linux based is under GPL. We have been working on a license similar to the GPL, but applicable to hardware. We realized, after considerable discussions, that hardware has a significant difference that precludes the possibility of using a simple extension of the software GPL. We now have the first draft of the Simputer General Public License (SGPL) that we believe to be a practicable license which at the same time facilitates the rapid spread of Simputers.The SGPL has been reviewed further and the new version is now ready. The Simputer General Public License
The hardware specifications of the Simputer can be downloaded only under SGPL. The SGPL permits anyone to build devices out of the downloaded specification. However, once a product is ready for commercialization, one of two possible licenses needs to be obtained from the Simputer Trust. These are• The Simputer Device Manufacturing License.
The Simputer manufacturing License refers to a Core Simputer Specification, a functional description of the Simputer to be specified by the Simputer Trust and which evolves with the development of the Simputer. The first version of the Core Simputer Specification will be posted here soon.
VATHSALYA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 12
SIMPUTER SPECIFICATIONHARDWARE
CPU
Intel Strong Arm SA-1110 CPU
Memory
16–64 MB of SDRAM
08-32 MB Flash for non-volatile storage
Display Options
240x320 LCD Color or Monochrome Display Panel with backlight
Input Device
Touch-panel Overlay on LCD Display with a plastic stylus (Pen)
Direction and Selection Keys
Audio Interface
Audio Codec
Support for external head-set
Smart Card Interface
Smart Card Reader/Writer
USB Interface
USB Port
VATHSALYA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 13
Connectivity
Data Modem
IrDA Interface
Connectors in Basic Unit
Smart Card Connector
IrDA Transceiver
RJ-11 Telephone Jack
USB Type-A Connector
AC Adapter Input
Power Supply
2xAA-sized Ni-MH batteries
Internal charge management
Operates with external AC Adapter
ACCESSORIES
Expansion Docking Cradle
Compact Flash [CF-II] Slot, USB Slave and Serial Port
SYSTEM SOFTWARE
Operating System
Linux Kernel 2.4.18
Network Protocols
TCP/IP, FTP, Telnet, PPP, HTTP etc.
Application Libraries
GTK+, glibc
VATHSALYA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 14
APPLICATION SOFTWARE
Internet Access
Browser, Email, File-Transfer
Music
MP3 Player / MPEG4 Player
PIM Applications
Notepad, Address Book, Calculator
The new Simputer range from Encore thus attempts to meet the
requirements of various market segments. The entry-level Simputer will, at production
volumes, be priced at about $210, and has a monochrome LCD, 16MBof DRAM and
8MB of flash memory, IrDA and USB interfaces and audio connectors, but no modem.
Some of the enhancements include a built-in battery charger, a real-time clock, and
support for J2ME.
The top-end Simputer, priced at about $480, has a color display,32MB of
flash memory and 64MB of DRAM, a built-in modem, and a pocket-sized cradle with a
Compact Flash expansion slot for memory cards and wireless connectivity.In addition to
the cradle which ships with the high-end model, Encore is also designing specialized
cradles with built-in functions such as a micro printer, keyboard, and support for GSM
and 802.11 wireless connectivity. The company is opening up to designers the interface
between the Simputer and the cradle to encourage others to design their own specialty
cradles.
IMLI: The IML browser
VATHSALYA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 15
IMLI is an abbreviation for IML interface. The purpose of IMLI is to provide a simple and
consistent interface for displaying information and developing applications that are simple, user
friendly.
IMLI supports display of Indian languages, and is also integrated with a speech-synthesis system,
that is capable of synthesizing voice in Indian languages. The speech synthesis system is
distributed separately. It
uses a protocol called ITP, IML transport protocol. The novelty of the Information Markup
language (IML) browser(user-interface of the simputer) is:
uniformity across diverse applications
ease of use
support for multilingual text and speech output
support for smart card usage.
IML Syntax
VATHSALYA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 16
IML syntax is governed by the rules of XML syntax and its grammar is specified by a
Document Type Definition (DTD): the details of using tags, attributes, entity references
and so on are defined in the XML language specification and the details about IML
element, attribute names and their nesting etc. are specified in the IML DTD.
Tap-a-tap: cool character composition
Tap-a-tap is a method for generating keystrokes to be sent to other applications, for devices,
where a keyboard is absent. Tap-a-tap uses a3x3 grid for recognizing characters. For example,
each character of the
Kannada alphabet can be generated by "tapping" on the cells of the 3x3grid in a particular
sequence. The figure generated by connecting the "tapped" points, roughly resembles the way the
character is written.
Tap-a-tap starts of in "letter" mode; it can be changed to go into "number" mode by clicking on
the button at the bottom. This brings up the numeric telephone style keypad, for number entry.
Clicking again
on the button at the bottom, brings it back to the "letter" mode.
DHVANI: The Simputer Text-to-Speech Software
DHVANI gives resources needed to set up text-to-speech synthesis in Indian languages.
Using images in conjunction with voice output in local languages makes the Simputer
accessible to a larger fraction of the Indian population. Currently, Dhvani has a Phonetics
to-Speech engine which is capable of generating intelligible speech from a suitable
phonetic description in any Indian Language. In addition, it is capable of converting
UTF-8 text in Hindi or Kannada to this phonetic description, and then speaking it out
using the Phonetics-to-Speech engine.
Text entering
VATHSALYA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 17
There are two options on the simputer for entering text:
1. one is a soft keyboard, that can be brought up on the touch screen and you poke at it to enter
one character at a time.
2. The second option is to use a novel character entry software called tap-a-tap which is similar in
spirit to graffitti, but quite distinct. But to enter tons of text using the Simputer, you can attach a
USB keyboard. Simputer is not recommended as a mass data-entry device.
The above figure shows the text entering via first option i.e., touch screen.
The above figure shows the text entering via tap-a-tap.
Smart Card
The built-in smart card reader/writer of the Simputer is a critical feature that makes the Simputer
an ideal device for almost any kind of transaction. In addition, the smartcard is the mechanism
that allows a Simputer to be shared among a group of users.Rural communities could own several
simputers and hire these out for usage to individuals based on the ownership of a SmartCard. It
has a built-in chip. Each user's Smart Card would contain the minimum "personalization"
VATHSALYA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 18
information required to log into a Community Server(Simputer) which would maintain
personalized data about the user, which he can carry around with him. It can hold several hundred
letters like bank account information, personal information -driving licence, person’s identity,
picture and signature. Once inserted7into the smart card interface the simputer will read the
profile from the smart card and also update changes if any during the current transaction cycle.
User profiles can be stored in flash memory as accessible files and also in the smartcard. Sharing
would bring down the cost of the Simputer to that of owning only a simple smart card, and paying
for the usage of a shared Simputer. It is better viewed as a "personalization" and security device.
The Simputer internal design can be seen as above
VATHSALYA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 19
APPLICATIONS
The architecture of the Simputer integrates various devices such as Smart Card reader, a Modem,
a Touch Screen, a Multi-lingual Text to-Speech system. This makes Simputer an ideal device for: