A $20 8-Bit Wikipedia Reader For Your TV

An anonymous reader writes with this excerpt from Wired about another entry in the ongoing quest for low-tech-high-tech educational tools to take advantage of distributed knowledge: "The Humane Reader, a device designed by computer consultant Braddock Gaskill, takes two 8-bit microcontrollers and packages them in a 'classic style console' that connects to a TV. The device includes an optional keyboard, a micro-SD Card reader and a composite video output. It uses a standard micro-USB cellphone charger for power. In all, it can hold the equivalent of 5,000 books, including an offline version of Wikipedia, and requires no internet connection. The Reader will cost $20 when 10,000 or more of it are manufactured. Without that kind of volume, each Reader will cost about $35."

Blurry text

[wjousts]

I can't imagine that the audience this is aimed at is likely to own an HDTV, so presumably they'll be trying to read masses of blurry text on an older SDTV. Sounds like fun.

Re:Cool, but

[dave562]

On the other hand, a public library might not be updated as regularly as Wikipedia. Or if your library is like the ones in my neighborhood, the computers often have a wait time. This is something I think would be a great tool to be used in conjunction with a public library. At the start of every semester or school year, some kid's parent could go to the library and download the latest version of Wikipedia. Then the kid can access information at home. I know it's hard to believe, but not every home in America can afford a computer and a $30 a month DSL bill.

Re:Blurry text

[drHirudo]

Reading from the screen is not hard. Even on old TV sets. Teletext exists since ages and nobody complains about it being unreadable. In fact in today technological society there are already more people reading more from screens of some kind, than from paper. With such cheap device as the one in the article, the ratio of people reading from screen versus the people reading from paper will increase even more in favour of the ones readering from screen.

Re:Noble but useless.

[twiddlingbits]

Considering India just announced a $35 Linux laptop INCLUDING screen, memory and hard drive this product is overpriced and under capable. In the longer run the Linux laptop should be under $20. IThe laptop also allows the user to learn anywhere not just where the TV is located. I think most people would be OK carrying a laptop versus a TV. I would also think it takes less power for an LCD laptop than for a TV. Nice invention, only 10 yrs too late.

Re:Noble but useless.

[b0bby]

The difference is that this can actually be built for around $35, less than that in bulk. The Indian announcement is very unlikely to actually result in a $35 laptop.

Re:Noble but useless.

[twiddlingbits]

I seriously doubt that $35 claim on his device. If he sells it in the USA the requirements to make it "safe" will drive up the cost. Who even makes 8-bit microcontrollers? The last time I played with them was the Intel 8051 and 8031 in the early 1990s and they were hard to get then. The $35 laptop made in India for use in India..yea they can do that.

Re:"the each"?? Is proofreading too hard?

[Anonymous Coward]

Can't see the forest for the trees, huh? Some guy is trying to create a device to try spread knowledge and you're bickering over a simple typo.

I mean, you're using double question marks in your topic and failing to capitalize a bunch of stuff. Oh, and 'nonetheless' should be contracted into a single word. If you're going to wail about grammar and spelling, then at least try to contribute a comment that's properly formatted, rather than paint yourself a fool.

Re:$20 for 8 bits?!?!

[Anonymous Coward]

isnt 8-bit + 8 bit = 9 bit? (10011001 on controller 0 or controller 1, so could be represented by 010011001, or 110011001 respectively).

Perhaps if you concatenate them, THEN you can have 16-bit.

Re:Text only?

[Darkness404]

Sure, but seriously remember how expensive encyclopedias used to be? Really, times have changed immensely, I remember back when I was in school you had access to an edition of The World Book Encyclopedia or Encyclopaedia Britannica that was older than you, that never seemed to have the article you really needed. You had a library filled with old outdated books and no real easy way to search them (remember paper card catalogs?). And something like this for cheap would have been a godsend, far better than the old encylopedias and reference material.

Re:Noble but useless.

[Anonymous Coward]

8-bit microcontrollers are easy to buy. You just have to buy the part micro-controller. The arduino has an 8-bit micro-controller.

Re:Cool, but

[Joce640k]

A public library is where devices like this really belong.

WRONG! It's not about the USA

[mangu]

places where people have televisions also have public libraries

I'm Brazilian and you wouldn't believe how few public libraries there are in Brazil. Even most public schools don't have libraries. But every family, even the poorest ones, have a TV.

Re:Blurry text

[evilviper]

Reading from the screen is not hard. Even on old TV sets.

Yes. Yes it is. Interlacing is BAD. VGA-resolution is bad. No magic will fix that.

Teletext exists since ages and nobody complains about it being unreadable.

Teletext takes up, what, 1/5th of the screen for TWO LINES of text? Yeah, at those sizes, anybody can read them. Trying to read a lengthy document like that proves VERY cumbersome. Non-stop scrolling to the next few lines, and an exhausting experience as your eyes have to travel vastly further than they should, or would on a decent monitor, or book page.

Yeah, text as 24x80 is readable, but even them, you don't want to be subjected to it, if you have a choice.

Lame design!

[jmorris42]

The design is truly lame. Yes bitbanging ntsc video out of an AVR is neat but if you are really trying to build a mass produced device this design is about as stupid as possible. Bitbang video and bitbang USB via yet another AVR with a third as the CPU? Oh. My. God.

Use a single chip ARM or MIPS with a real framebuffer with video out and USB on chip. Can't cost more than the three AVRs in quantity and will do so much more.

And another benefit is that they are also pitching it as a computer but it isn't. I love the AVR line as an embedded colution but the Harvard arch is a killer in that you can't run programs from RAM and the program flash is only good for 10K writes.