Make: Technology on Your Time Volume 03

LET THERE BE SPEECH

How do you make a $200 computer for blind kids?

By Fernando Botelho

The Challenge

The lack of accessible media material in developing countries can place someone blind, such as myself, in a de facto Stone Age when it comes to productivity. In this context, an inexpensive PDA-type computing device can be nothing less than revolutionary for a blind student. A single device with the functionality of a talking notebook, calculator, textbook, calendar, and dictionary is particularly exciting when the alternative is having none of these.

Your mission, should you accept it, is to make a computing device accessible to millions of blind kids around the world. To do this, you need to find the cheapest device capable of handling Linux, ...